Leaders from the territorial and First Nations governments finished talking joint priorities – including First Nations’ consent on oil and gas exploration, traditional hunting rights, UNDRIP and progress on Calls to Action – at Sandy Silver’s final Yukon Forum as premier.

Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) Grand Chief Peter Johnston and Silver spoke about the final Yukon Forum of 2022 with media in a teleconference from Carcross on Tuesday.

The Forum is a quarterly meeting of representatives from First Nations governments, the CYFN and the Yukon government.

This was the 23rd Forum meeting since the Working Together Declar-ation was signed in 2017. The first Forum was held in 2006. 

Johnston started the teleconference by thanking Silver for his work with First Nations governments. 

“I cannot thank the premier enough for his time and dedication to the territory,” Johnston said.

Silver announced in September he’d step down from the premiership once a replacement is found. A new Liberal leader will be chosen Jan. 28.

Asked who he’d like to see replace Silver, Johnston said cabinet ministers Ranj Pillai and Jeanie McLean were top of mind.

Pillai, a former executive director of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations government, announced his candidacy last Friday.

McLean, who is the minister of Education, is of Tahltan First Nation ancestry and worked as the director of justice for Kwanlin Dün First Nation prior to her role in territorial government. She has yet to declare if she will run.

“Those two individuals obviously help support the momentum going forward,” he said.

Johnston said both ministers are committed to what’s good for the territory as a whole and to First Nations’ interests and relations.

“There’s many recipes for success,” he added.

“Going forward, obviously we want to resume and maintain the same commitment that has been given (under Silver).

“When you have individuals that are not only committed to the greater good, if you will, when it comes to the territory, but also have invested interests when it comes down to ensuring that processes, and obviously the relationships between First Nations.”

Chiefs and cabinet members will meet with federal ministers in Ottawa, Dec. 5 and 6, to discuss Yukon priorities. 

Leaders at the Yukon Forum agreed on a number of issues to raise at next week’s Yukon Days, as the annual Ottawa meetings are known, said Silver.

The agreed upon topics, he said, are Indigenous languages, Indigenous housing, Yukon River salmon, land use planning, the substance-use health emergency and Canada’s non-insured Health Benefits Program.

The two leaders said Tuesday’s Forum also tasked senior officials with reviewing and recommending updates to the Forum’s Joint Priority Action Plan to guide ongoing collaborative efforts of future meetings.

There were other issues at hand, like a recent contentious vote in the legislative assembly involving First Nations consent and resource exploration.

The Liberal party voted against an NDP bill this month that would have restored requirements for First Nations’ consent in oil and gas exploration and development in traditional territories.

Silver has been adamant his party couldn’t vote to reinstate a First Nations consent clause into the Yukon Oil and Gas Act because the legislature didn’t receive letters from all First Nations governments before the vote. Essentially, they need First Nations’ consent to reinstate First Nations’ consent.

The NDP noted that Silver has called the former Yukon Party government’s removal of First Nations consent from the act in 2012 a “historical error.” That removal sparked backlash from the CYFN 10 years ago.

But Johnston told reporters Tuesday that he agrees with Silver and his party.

“Obviously, it’s very important how we deal with, not only oil and gas, but also how we deal with the non-settled nations that do have respective rights under the Constitution of Canada,” Johnston said.

He was referencing the three First Nations that haven’t settled land agreements in Yukon. The legislature didn’t receive a letter from one of them, White River First Nation, before voting on the issue. 

“We definitely want… to ensure that not only the Nations that have agreements, but the ones that are left unprotected under the Indian Act, still have the integrity to play a role here.” 

Letters from seven First Nations governments overall were tabled before the vote to amend the Oil and Gas Act earlier this month.

“On these big matters, (it’s important) that we do come to a consensus,” Johnston said. “And I believe the premier has made the right decision.” 

When the government moves ahead on legislation without consultation or consent from all 14 First Nations Governments, Johnston said, court battles usually ensue.

The NDP had also been critical of Silver’s Government for delays in adopting the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP).

UNDRIP’s adoption by all levels of Canadian government is the Truth and Reconciliation Committee’s 43rd Call to Action.

Silver told the legislature there are complexities in applying UNDRIP to a territory with a variety of First Nations communities with their own needs, and said he would discuss the issue at the Forum.

Johnston said protections pro-vided for Indigenous peoples in the Canadian Constitution and the Yukon’s Final Umbrella Agreement are stronger than anything in UNDRIP.

“I think we’re above the UNDRIP legislation as through our agreements,” Johnston said. “I think that is our safeguard at the end of the day.”

He and Silver said First Nations governments and the Yukon government are still working to apply UNDRIP to the territory. Silver said more conversation is needed first.

“Whether it’s on all the amendments to the Oil and Gas Act, or conversations about UNDRIP specifically, the First Nations absolutely need to be leading in that conversation, not the political parties.”

The two leaders said the Yukon Wildlife Act was also discussed at this week’s Forum.

As the territory’s population grows, Johnston said he wants to ensure that the traditional hunting rights of First Nations people in the Yukon are preserved, while species populations are also maintained.

He said a big concern for First Nations hunters is moose populations.

He said he’s concerned mismanagement could deplete numbers, citing the territory’s diminishing salmon population as a cautionary tale.

“At the end of the day, we want to ensure that we look at this through a lens that is not only being respectful, but also sacred to how important our relationship as Yukoners – let alone as First Nations – are to the ecosystem,” he said.

Silver concluded the tele-conference with final thoughts on his government mandate to advance the Forum’s work. He said his government had been successful during his time as leader.

“You go back to the very first Yukon Forum, 23 Yukon Forums ago, and it was almost like a high school dance,” he said. “You’d have Yukon Government on one side of the room, and you’d have First Nations governments at the other side of the room.”

Silver said the Yukon government has since become integrated with First Nations in co-governing the territory.

The annual Yukon Days meetings with the federal government have been a success, he added. Those meetings came out of the Yukon Forums.

He also mentioned the recently created First Nations School Board as an advancement that sprung from the Forums.

“Not only are we seeing advancements here in Yukon that were long overdue,” Silver said.

“But then to see our relationships actually creating better tables with the federal government, with other jurisdictions, is indicative of the success that Grand Chief Johnston and I envisioned from the very beginning.”

Johnston agreed that Silver had been successful in his mandate.