Canada’s “First Nations” are a group of indigenous people who have lived over the Hart River and are adamant on preserving their land in the Yukon Territory.  The Yukon wilderness territory is highly coveted by the government because it is exceptionally rich in minerals.  The wilderness has coal, gas and about 18 billion tons of ore that has already been claimed by one of the largest petroleum companies, Chevron. The recent land quarrel between the indigenous people of Yukon and the Canadian government is over the Peel Watershed which is a large mountainous area in Yukon that contains 6 rivers and all of the rich minerals wanted by the government for industrial use.  The Peel Watershed has long been negotiated by the government and the indigenous people through a series of treaties in which the government promised not to touch a certain percentage of the land.  The Peel Watershed Planning Commission, which was set up in 2004 to mediate between the indigenous people and the government of Yukon, made a 7-year land use planning study which recommended that the government leave the majority of the Peel Watershed alone.   Recently however, the Yukon public government feels that elected officials of the region, and not the indigenous people, have the final say on the usage of the land and have proposed to open up 71 percent of the land to mining claims.  (Johnson)

The view of the indigenous people and the government over any piece of land is usually the same across society.  People who live on highly coveted land feel that they need to protect the natural beauty and resources that the land possess while the government feels that minerals in such abundance must be exploited for economic gain.  In this article an official from the Yukon government, Mike Burke, stated that, “Mother Nature has given us many gifts, beautiful rivers, the land they flow through, the mountains and the trees that we can see, but we should not forget that she also gave us minerals that allow us to live in a modern society.”  What the government fails to realize is that although mining for resources provides humans economic gain it further deteriorates the Earth and its atmosphere.  According to environment.co, mining causes high amounts of toxic minerals and greenhouse gas emission which effects human health by causing various respiratory diseases.  Mining and exploitation of land can also cause formation of sinkholes, contamination of soil and loss of biodiversity, which is especially great in the Peel Watershed region.   Although the Peel Watershed is still under debate various groups have made protests and websites to preserve the natural land and support the indigenous people in their lawsuit against the government.

 

Works Cited

Levin, Dan. “Canada Legal Fight May ‘Destroy the Faith’ in First Nations Treaties.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 5 Nov. 2017, www.nytimes.com/2017/11/05/world/canada/yukon-indigenous-treaties.html.

Ron Johnson – February 5, 2014. “Yukon Government Opens Vast Peel River Watershed to Mining.” Earth Island Institute, www.earthisland.org/journal/index.php/elist/eListRead/yukon_government_opens_vast_peel_river_watershed_to_mining/.

“Effects Of Mining on the Environment and Human Health.” Environment News South Africa, 20 Oct. 2016, www.environment.co.za/mining-2/effects-of-mining.html.