2019 Yukon Riverside Arts Festival YRAF_program2019web | Page 12

To Talk With Others
Written by Valerie Salez
S
panning from late 1800’s well into the 1960’s,  mass in-migration of
foreign gold seekers, military, proprietors, labourers and religious
sects altered Indigenous land and culture in Yukon Territory. For
the first peoples of these lands, the most impactful events included the
Klondike Gold Rush, the construction the Alaska Highway by USA military,
and church-run, federal government approved residential schools. Many
Yukon First Nations refer to this period of time as ‘The Dark Age”.
Within this span of time, Yukon First Nations lost many of their people,
languages, traditional lands and cultural practices. Plagued by traumas
affecting the mind, body and spirit, recovery seemed impossible. In the late
60’s a network of pipelines was federally approved to snake throughout
the territory. Formalized First Nations consultation did not exist at the time.
Pipelines were going to be built, and again, almost overnight, the Yukon’s
population more than doubled.
The threat of this major resource development did, ironically, force a long,
heavy fog to lift for Yukon First Nations. Change-makers and revolutionary
thinkers throughout the Nations began to talk. A common understanding
surfaced: The pipeline project(s) needed to be stopped and a plan towards
a self-determined future was necessary.