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Chief Dana Tizya-Tramm

Vuntut Gwitchin opt to rejoin central body

The Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation has voted to rejoin the Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) as an associate member.

By Chuck Tobin on August 14, 2019

The Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation has voted to rejoin the Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) as an associate member.

Vuntut Gwitchin Chief Dana Tizya-Tramm said this morning from Old Crow the resolution received solid support last Saturday, the third and final day of the First Nation’s annual general assembly.

“We are in different times,” Tizya-Tramm said. “There is new leadership in the CYFN and there is new leadership in the Vuntut Gwitchin.”

The chief credits what he described as the leadership of CYFN Grand Chief Peter Johnston, who attended the general assembly, as he’d done in the previous three years after being elected to lead the council.

“His vision is so inclusive, and that is a big part of my vision as well,” Tizya-Tramm told the Star.

The grand chief, he said, has attended the Vuntut Gwitchin general assembly every year since he’s been elected.

The grand chief goes out of his way to keep the door open at the CYFN, said Tizya-Tramm, who was elected chief last December after having served a term as councillor.

Tizya-Tramm said as an associate member, the Vuntut Gwitchin will not have a vote but will be directly involved with the many files the central council has on the go, from climate change to economic development to child welfare.

The Vuntut Gwitchin left the CYFN in the fall of 2008 under the leadership of the late Joe Linklater.

Linklater explained at the time the Vuntut Gwitchin felt the central organization was taking on too much political autonomy, and was delving into areas that were the sole responsibility of the individual self-governing First Nations.

Johnston said this morning it was the first time in his four visits to the Vuntut assembly that he asked the Gwitchin to at least entertain the question of whether to rejoin the central organization.

It is about inclusiveness, about working together, a team effort, Johnston said.

“It’s not about me, it’s about us,” he said.

He emphasized that the historic document that brought Indigenous land claim and self-government agreements to the territory – Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow – was all about the collective.

“We need each other.”

While the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation has not been a member, it has been attending the council’s regular leadership meetings as an observer for several years, Tizya-Tramm explained.

The chief explained there were two motions before the community: one calling for a return as a full, voting member and the other as an associate member.

The resolution calling for the return to the CYFN as an associate received 75 per cent support on the first ballot, he said.

“My observation, my speculation, is the community just wanted to dip in its toes first instead of jumping head-first.”

Tizya-Tramm said these are important times for First Nations rights across Canada, and he’s particularly proud of how Yukon First Nations are playing a leading role.

Of the 600-plus nations in the country, 26 have signed self-government agreements with Ottawa, and the first 11 were signed here, he pointed out.

Tizya-Tramm said even National Chief Perry Bellegarde of the Assembly of First Nations and federal Indigenous Relations Minister Carolyn Bennett hold up the local First Nations as leaders.

It was the leadership in the Yukon that led the way for the settlement of modern day treaties when they came together to pen Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow, the chief noted.

He said there is still much to be accomplished here in the territory and across Canada.

Sitting at the table with the other First Nations as a participating associate member will add to the strength of the central organization, Tizya-Tramm added.

Yukon First Nations, he said, are truly looked at as the leaders of modern First Nation government in the world.

“Eventually, I think you will see us go back to full membership,” he said. “I very much enjoy speaking with and sitting at the table with the other chiefs.”

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