Yukon First Nation fights to give river legal rights

There's a growing movement in the Yukon to give the Yukon River personhood. That means it would have some of the same legal rights as a person. The idea has broad support from Yukon First Nations governments. Right now, we don't know what personhood means for the Yukon River, but there is precedent. In 2021, the Magpie River in Quebec was granted personhood. The river was given nine rights, including the right to flow, the right to maintain its biodiversity, and the right to sue. Those are the kinds of things that could be given to the Yukon River, but it won't be easy. The Yukon River passes through many First Nations and two different countries. To learn more about where this movement is right now and the challenges it faces, I spoke with Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in and Deputy Chief Erin McClay. Deputy Chief, thank you so much for having this conversation with me today. Can you just start by telling me what your role has been in trying to secure personhood for the river behind us, the Yukon River? Okay, thank you. I'm happy to be here today. My role is really just to get the message out wherever we can, whether it's tables with Yukon governments, Canadian governments, other First Nations in Yukon, and it's just to keep the attention on the importance of the Yukon River to Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in people. Can you give me just a brief description, because I know this is a complex issue, about what you imagine personhood would look like for the river or what you're pushing for? Personhood of the river, I think, is multifaceted. But what it really comes down to is that as Indigenous people, we recognize everything as having a spirit and being its own entity. So the river is representative of that. and Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in people, we are the people of the river so the river is part of us, we are part of the river and we cannot exist without each other and that's what makes it so important to us It also strikes me in some of the conversations, some of the reporting that our colleague Julian Green has done about this issue as well that it's formalizing a different world view so it's formalizing an indigenous world view of the river, albeit in a colonial system what does that look like like what rights would the river have and how would that play out theoretically you're correct that it is a different world view and an indigenous worldview and as i mentioned like we have as a person we have rights and titles and interests especially as indigenous people and we want to have those same rights um put forth onto the river so in terms of like legislation and laws through territorial government Canadian government to recognize that the river needs to be protected just as people do and as people we have rights not to be you know to be treated a certain way to be cared for not to be abused neglected and we want the same thing for the river. And can you give us any update about what the status is and I know it's again a complicated process but where we're at in achieving that personhood for the Yukon River? So at this time what we're doing is just getting it out there for people to understand our point of view about it and just to draw as much attention as we can onto the river and what it means to us and what our relationship is with the river. So here in Dawson City we live in a in a colonial manner and but we still respect our traditional ways, our traditional rights, our livelihoods and we just want to have everyone understand what our relationship with the river is first and foremost. I have another kind of a theoretical question but if we were to achieve personhood for the Yukon River if the First Nations were able to achieve that what would fundamentally change about the way the river is governed now like how would it affect us all? That's a really difficult question because we have to change laws and legislation to match what Charnuk Chin people think and feel and how we view the river I think it's too early in this in this stage to to actually answer that question because there's a lot of information a lot of history a lot of knowledge that needs to come forth prior to any changes to how anyone else views the river yes I suppose that's part of that broader conversation too about changing a worldview and i'm probably coming up from a more colonial i'm a settler so a more colonial kind of worldview but perhaps the change in itself is we're starting to shift that worldview about what the river really means yes definitely and i can say that in yukon because we have so many first nations here and we're all closely connected every yukon first nation has relied on the Yukon River for something throughout our lives so we all have the same mindset and view of the river. Yeah talk to me more about what it's like because the Yukon River is massive it crosses many jurisdictions it's in two countries so what are some of the challenges in bringing forward something like personhood that would then cross so many boundaries that I suppose we've created our colonial construct but they still exist in the current system. I would say that the biggest challenge is just that, the river is massive, it covers a lot of territory and you're looking at different priorities amongst the nations that live along the river and use the river and that's the same with our relatives that are in Alaska. And then when you're, it's international borders, so different, you know, governments and styles. It's hard to cohesively put all that together where you can address everyone's concerns, everyone's priorities. I wonder if you can talk to me about why this issue is so important to yourself. It's important to me because this is where my people are from. And when I think about the history of Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in people and myself growing up here in Dawson City, so much was about the river. We don't have salmon anymore. We can't fish for salmon here, and no one along the river can. That's a huge part of our traditional knowledge and ways of life that's missing. The salmon really, during harvesting times for that, it brought everybody together. It brought the community together. not only Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in people, but all members of this community, that part's missing. And I think a lot of it is just about, yeah, the loss of a connection of our traditional ways and connection to each other. You talked a little bit about where we are kind of right now in raising awareness. What do you hope happens next? What are the next things on the agenda? Something that we do have coming up on the agenda is a water summit, which is next month, November 13th to 14th. It'll be held here in Dawson City. We've invited delegates from the First Nations here, and it's just an opportunity for everyone to come together and discuss and share what the water means to us and what we hope to see coming up in the future. Is there anything else that you wanted to tell us about personhood, about what the river means to yourself? I think that looking at the river from a Taanocchin viewpoint, it's an opportunity for us to really model our own Denesuline values and traditions and how we can share those with the greater public. and also how we can move forward in a really good way when we are changing laws and legislation when it comes to things like land use planning, exploration for critical minerals and any other development that could be along the Yukon River and or its tributaries. It's setting the stage for all the things to come and trying to put that viewpoint in place so that as everyone's working, they know what lens they're looking through. Yes, it certainly is. And it's always doing it in a respectful way and learning from what has happened in the past and how we can do things better in the future. Deputy Chief, thank you again for your time. This was a real privilege and I appreciate it. Thank you so much.