People in Mayo, Yukon, reflect on land claims milestone

Members of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun — one of the first four First Nations in the Yukon to sign a land claim agreement decades ago — are reflecting on what self-governance means as the territory celebrates the 50th anniversary Together Today for our Children Tomorrow, the document that kickstarted the land claims process.

"I think we didn't know what it meant to be self-governing," said Joella Hogan, a Na-Cho Nyäk Dun citizen, in a recent interview. 

"Now I see a shift in really making our acts, legislation, programs much more aligned with our values and culture, realizing that's what self-determination means. But I think there was that huge learning curve in figuring out really how to do that and to make it work."

The First Nation — based in the town of Mayo, approximately 400 kilometres from Whitehorse — became steward of its lands in 1995 when its final agreement was brought into effect. 

The Yukon's final agreements put an end to the Indian Act for 11 of its 14 First Nations, including Na-Cho Nyäk Dun. The Indian Act had been law in Canada since 1876, and part of a long history of assimilation policies.

And the community of Mayo was at the frontline of negotiations to deconstruct it in the Yukon. 

A look at the past

Together Today for our Children Tomorrow marked the beginning of land claims negotiations between First Nations in the Yukon and Canada. It took years of negotiations to draft final agreements after a delegation of First Nations leaders presented the cornerstone document in Ottawa to then-prime minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau in 1973.

Twenty-two years after that, on Feb. 14, 1995, four communities started implementing their treaties: the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, the Teslin Tlingit Council, the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation and the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun. 

Na-Cho Nyäk Dun Chief Simon Mervyn was a young man back then. He says he remembers the social tensions spoken of in the original Together Today document.

"I would say there was little cohesion in those days, in the sense that First Nations people were on one side of the fence, Caucasians were on the other side," Mervyn said in a recent interview. 

"Things have changed extensively in regards to the fact that in those days First Nations ... didn't have a foothold in their own society. And I think the start of the land claims issue started to bring people together, and started to react cohesively to the situation that we were in at that time."

Na-Cho Nyäk Dun elder Frank Patterson agrees. He says moving away from discrimination was one of the promises of the land claims and self-government agreements.

"[Discrimination] ... wrecked a lot of our people," Patterson, who's lived his entire life in Mayo, said. "We wanted a better life for First Nations people ... We are here to work together, to make it happen ... the discrimination, it's a feeling of people thinking the wrong way."

Right here, right now

While thinking of the children of tomorrow, Patterson, along with Mervyn and several others in the community, says there is one critical issue that needs to be addressed today: the substance abuse crisis. 

"It's sad, we lost so many of our young people," Patterson said.  

Addiction and substance abuse have hit the community hard in recent years, especially young people and their families. Several Mayo residents have described a devastating crisis, affecting not only one or two families but the entire community. All spoke of more than 10 people — out of the community of around 400 residents — losing their lives to addiction or suicide over the last year. 

A way out of the crisis, Patterson says, is to go back to traditional Indigenous teachings; the language, medicine and connection with the land and water.

"It's not right to point our fingers [at victims], they are addicted for a reason," he said. "Being pushed away and judged is not the way to handle it. We need to get together."

R'uh Mae Uh Ling, the Dancing Northern Lights, is an all-women drum group in Mayo. The group was formed to promote togetherness and to preserve the Northern Tutchone language and culture.

Deanna Peter-Profeit, a member of R'uh Mae Uh Ling, says she believes the group upholds the values promoted in Together Today for our Children Together. 

"This drum group holds a lot of culture, a lot of spiritual healing, " Peter-Profeit said in a recent interview. 

"I feel like our language is slowly disappearing. And [when] people get more involved, the drum group or in different teachings, then it might be revived."

The future 

All who spoke to CBC News in Mayo described hopes and dreams for the future, and a desire to sustain the legacy of Together Today for our Children Tomorrow.

Hogan carries that wish close to her heart. She has become well-known across the territory for her business, the Yukon Soaps Company. She runs her business out of Mayo, where she employs many citizens. 

"When I think about Together Today for our Children Tomorrow, I really see my business as implementing their vision," she said.

"When you read the document, you really see it's about creating a better path for future generations about the economy, working for more people, about being connected to the land, and creating jobs aligned with our values and culture."