Many people rely on the Peel Watershed for their way of life.
First Nations have lived and traveled in the area for thousands of years and have strong physical and spiritual links with the land. These traditions continue to be strong today as First Nations balance their way of life with modern development.
The Peel Watershed is the traditional lands for four First Nations: Na-Cho Nyak Dun, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation, Vuntut Gwitchin and Tetlit Gwich’in Council
For more information see the links below:
First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun
Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation
Plusieurs personnes dépendent de la région de la Peel pour leurs traditions de vie.
C’est le territoire traditionnel pour 4 groupes de Premières Nations: Les Na-Cho Nyak Dun, Les Tetlit Gwich’in, Les Vuntut Gwich’in et Les Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in.
Ces gens, avec les Tukudh Gwich’in qui ont maintenant parti, ont vécu et voyager dans cette région pour des milliers d’années; Quelques une des évidences humaines les plus ancienne au Canada on été découvertes in the Vuntut Gwich’in territory dans les Blue Fish Caves.
Pour les Tetlit Gwich’in, la région de la Peel est le centre de leur univers; Le nom Tetlit Gwich’in veut dire: “Gens qui vivent dans le haut de la séparation des eaux”. Ils sont avec les Vuntut Gwich’in, dépendant des populations de caribous pour leurs nourriture, leurs vêtements, leurs outils et leurs abris.
Hey guys!
Just wondering… exactly what kind of message are you planning to send with this documentary? It seems like the point is to bring awareness to the beauty of the land, to encourage others to come to it, and thus protect it. I noticed you have a short paragraph about ‘the people’. I’m wondering if you are going to meaningfully give a background on the issues faced by these First Nations and accurately represent their perspectives. After all, this is their land and being that you are outsiders, I just hope that your documentary pays respect to that. If you are not including direct commentary from them, and are not going to ask permission from each nation to be in their territory– make sure you are careful about how you represent them.
Currently, the Canadian and the territorial governments are trying their hardest to take rights away from these nations and are overstepping agreements. There are deeper issues at hand in the Peel debate that relate to politics, sovereignty, ownership of the land, and colonialism.
My father’s family had fish camp at mouth of the Peel where they spent their summers, and they have called this region home for, as you say ‘a millennia’. I don’t want to come off as harsh or anything– I just really hope that you recognize this area is not just a pristine playground for anyone to come to. I just hope that you make en effort in researching the history of the people, how Yukon has been settled and how First Nations have been and are continuously being dispossessed.
Lastly– I don’t know where you got the info on the ‘now-gone Tukudh’. Tukudh to my knowledge is the old way Gwich’in language was written down by the first missionary in Gwich’in country (Archdeacon McDonald). The orthography has since been replaced by a newer system. But I don’t think there was a now gone Tukudh… unless it means the spelling of the language or what the missionaries used to call Gwich’in.
Anyways… just food for thought.
Hi Erin,
We totally understand your concerns. We have already applied for the permit to film in the Old Crow area and I have personally met with Esau Schafer which is the First Nation Liaison Officer for Parks Canada in Old Crow and elder Randall Tetlichi here in Whitehorse. Randall works at the college and we talked about organising a meeting to talk about the area and his views on it. We have talked about the trip with him several times already, and I even had the chance to go to one of his sweat lodge sessions about a month ago.
I also met with Sarah Jerome from Fort McPherson last week at the CPAWS “True Peel Consultation” here in Whitehorse. She was raised on the Road River, an affluent of the Peel just before Fort McPherson. She has received many paddlers to her camp before. After a short conversation with her and her son about our trip, she invited us right away to stop for a visit. Her talk was really inspiring, and she was pleased to see that so many people (around 250) showed up to help the cause to protect the region.
Our main goal is to help create awareness about environmental issues in the North and how important it is to protect those areas. (Not only the Peel, Yukon) We also believe that when people go out in the wilderness they become automatically more aware of how beautiful and unique it is, therefore help protect it. So we want to be able to show those aspects in our film, by having great images, meeting great people along the way, and having fun doing it.
I hope this clarifies the objectives of our trip and the relation with First Nations. Please feel free to email us at paddleforthenorth@gmail.com if you have more questions or concerns. For the “Tukudh” part, please give us a couple weeks to give you an answer as our team mate that made this part of the research is now out on the ocean.
Thank you for your valuable feedback.
If you know of anyone else we could contact to find more advice, please let us know.
Hey Gabe,
That’s awesome! It was not apparent from your website what you are doing and it sounds like you are taking these things into consideration. I also understand that this is a learning experience and you guys will learn so much being out there and I wish I could do something similar one day– which is something I guess you guys are hoping others will do. Hahaha… I directed Simon to that website but wasn’t sure if he’d looked at it because he was sailing. Anyways… it would be great if you guys could post more on your page and I think it would help garner more support from Yukoners if you were clear about your stance and were including updates.
Good luck! Especially going up the rat.
Thanks Erin,
We will make sure to add more details soon. We will always update our “blog” page as we meet with people concerning the trip as well, there’s a lot coming up, especially after Christmas, things will start moving pretty quick.