As the year’s final Yukon Forum wrapped up Friday, officials announced they will undertake a joint review of the Yukon Fish and Wildlife Management Board.

It will be carried out by an independent contractor.

The board was created under the Umbrella Final Agreement, which was finalized nearly three decades ago.

Premier Sandy Silver and Grand Chief Peter Johnston of the Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) were accompanied by Dana Tizya-Tramm, the chief-designate for the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, after the meeting of First Nations governments and YG late last week.

The review of the board “will ensure we continue to manage Yukon’s fish and wildlife effectively and sustainably,” Silver said in a release.

While the announcement itself was being made last week, he explained, the review will be carried out sometime in the new year.

Echoing this, Johnston said he predicted it would take about six months sometime in 2019.

It’s to be jointly led by the Department of Environment and the CYFN.

Fish and wildlife was a topic recently added to the forum’s long-term plan last June, a YG webpage notes – nearly a year and a half since the government renewed the forum and committed to four yearly meetings in January 2017.

In addition to that, the government announced there will also be a new joint committee of deputy ministers from YG departments and executive directors from Yukon First Nations.

This will be called the joint senior executive committee. Silver explained it has already met once – and will help in providing closer collaboration between the groups.

That may prove helpful as the forum heads into its third full calendar year since being renewed and works to implement its joint priority action plan.

Asked about the forum’s long-term progress looking back, Johnston explained there was a need to recognize the issues being dealt with were very complex – and varied widely from health care, the environment and judicial issues.

“We’ve been burdened by a lot of policies that have inflicted extra stress upon our people,” he said, referencing in part the opioid crisis which has seen 18 Yukoners die since 2016.

Just a day earlier, Johnston and other officials took part in the Together We Can Save Lives vigil and panel, which he credited for allowing “more off-script and natural conversations.

“I feel over the last two years progress has been made” in that respect, he added.

“This is going to be a mace in our hands when it comes to moving some of the contentious issues to a more expedited rate,” Johnston added of the joint committee also announced.

Asked specifically why the review of the board is being taken at this point in time, the premier said it’s simply the right time.

Within the span of 15 months (September 2017 to now) there have been more than a dozen groups struck to look at how to carry out the goals.

“Sixteen working groups is a lot of working groups,” Silver said.

“This is a solution that has been caused organically,” he added.

The decision to carry out the review was arrived at by both YG and First Nations leaders, the premier added.

“We’ll see if it works, but everyone is cautiously optimistic it will help get the job done.”

Meanwhile, the forum focused on land use planning, child welfare and corrections – something which was referenced through an inspection report done earlier this year on the Whitehorse Correctional Centre (WCC).

That saw about 40 recommendations that the government has said it accepts the intent of, and has since created a working group to look at implementing them.

“Corrections is very sensitive; we still see on a day-to-day basis that our people are still struggling,” said Johnston.

“From just the lack of programs and services until they get charged – which I think is kind of backwards,” he added.

Also referencing remarks made at last Thursday’s vigil, the grand chief explained it’s significant that some who use opioids are found alone as it points to perhaps a number of issues.

“Lots of people are helpless and lonely and feel they’re not being heard,” Johnston said.

“We need to take this crisis out of the corrections system and out of the enforcement system and look at it as a health issue – rather than charge people first then heal them.

“It is backwards in that sense,” Johnston sighed.

Seated nearby, the newly-elected Tizya-Tramm also offered his thoughts.

“What’s realized in our correctional facility has so much more to do with the fundamental elements that lead people into corrections,” he said.

“Regardless of if you don’t want to work with government, we have an obligation to be in the same room” during those talks Johnston said, noting the forum is an avenue that has allowed that.

Silver nodded as Johnston explained the ideal situation is to keep residents out of jails.

“We spoke about getting people back on the land – it’s hard to heal when you’re encased in concrete,” the premier said.

Johnston acknowledged that while the site can hold about 190 inmates, it may not always be full at a given time.

“Regardless of full or not, it’ll be really nice to see different opportunities to use it in a more positive manner.”

He noted that ultimately, the reality of a grand chief can be different from that of a YG employee because “it’s our families we’re governing.”

The WCC inspection report, for example, pegs First Nations people to make up about 62 per cent of all admissions to the site as of March 2018.

That’s almost triple the overall population of First Nations residents in the territory, listed at about 23 per cent – an overrepresentation the report called “striking.”

“It’s our families that we’re governing and trying to create a better place for our people,” Johnston said, noting he’s made such comments before.

The forum meets about four times a year, with last week’s session marking the final of one of 2018.