Getting to know each unique territory in the North

The North is a mysterious place to many Canadians. We once described the Yukon to visitors as a place of magic and mystery. I am honoured as the Yukon Senator to attempt to dispel some of the mystery and to articulate the modern context. Geographically, “The North” is that part of Canada north of the 60th parallel with three territories in the federation. Beyond this simple reference to “The North,” if you consider Atlantic Canada or the West, the Yukon is as different from Nunavut as British Columbia is from Saskatchewan, or Newfoundland and Labrador from Prince Edward Island. Each territory is unique in its population, geography, resources, and political and historical development. Arctic security in the Canadian North is most often considered in the context of the Northwest Passage, the North Warning System, and the Canadian Rangers. The Yukon has a small portion of the Arctic coast with two North Warning System sites at Komakuk Beach and Shingle Point that are not staffed. Comparatively, Northwest Territories is home to the National Defence Joint Task Force North Headquarters and North Warning System sites are contracted to be maintained and operated by Raytheon Canada Limited and Nasittuq, a Nunavut-based corporation. These sites are scattered throughout the Northwest Territories and Nunavut. Yukon, like the other territories, has a vibrant Ranger community, more than 200 strong, throughout the territory. Whitehorse houses a scant Department of National Defence office and a cadet-training facility. Arctic security in the Yukon is an American historical story and a vital supply chain today. Pat Duncan was first appointed as a non-affiliated Senator by Justin Trudeau in 2018, and has been a member of the Independent Senators Group since February 2019. Photograph courtesy of Sen. Pat Duncan The Alaska Highway linking the “lower 48” and Canada to Alaska and the North was the most expensive Second World War project undertaken by the American government with an investment of US$147.8-million. Canada’s contribution to this war effort was the “right of way,” or access, for the more than 2,000-kilometre highway from Dawson Creek, B.C., through the Yukon, to Alaska. The highway, without a consultation process, pushed through a wilderness teeming with wildlife and pristine rivers, the home of First Nations, and some non-First Nations residents like prospectors, the RCMP, and family-owned businesses left over from the Klondike gold rush of 1898. The influx of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, with approximately 10,000 soldiers and 250,000 tons of material, came to build the highway that changed the Yukon forever. The first inhabitants of the Yukon were not part of Canada’s reserve system or treaty negotiations, but rather there were lands set aside for Yukon Indigenous Peoples. Almost 50 years ago, in February 1973, then-prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau accepted on the steps of Centre Block a document from Elijah Smith and Yukon First Nations. Entitled Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow, the document formed the basis for the Umbrella Final Agreement reached by the Council of Yukon First Nations, the Yukon Government, and the Government of Canada in 1993. Eleven of the 14 Yukon First Nations have reached land claim agreements that establish a foundation for government-to-government-to-government relationships. Appreciation of these relationships and the modern context of the Yukon can, in part, be recognized with beginning to understand the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation. Old Crow, the home of the Vuntut Gwitchin, a self-governing First Nation, is the only community in the Yukon that is not accessible by all-weather road. Private Elbert Pieper of the U.S. Army stands sentry duty beside a trapper’s cabin containing construction supplies for the Alaska Highway in 1942. Photograph courtesy of Library and Archives Canada The Development Corporation of the Vuntut Gwitchin are 49 per cent owners of Air North. The airline competes with others to provide twice-daily 737 jet service to Vancouver, and flies three times a week or more to Edmonton and Calgary. Air North also continues has daily air service to Old Crow, Dawson City, and Inuvik, N.W.T. At one time, Air North also flew the fuel into Old Crow to power the diesel generators that supplied electricity to the community. At the forefront of change with their investment in the airline and on the frontlines of climate change in the north, the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation was among the first to install a solar farm to power the community. The story was eloquently and visually told this past summer on CBC’s The National, and there is so much more to share. I began this discourse sharing an understanding that the three territories are not just “the North.” Each territory being unique, I outlined the differences with Arctic security. Any treatise on Arctic security in the Yukon must begin with the Americans. The development of the Alaska Highway and the changes it brought to the Yukon leads to an explanation of the modern context of Indigenous relations and development in the Yukon in one aspect of climate change. There is considerably more to write about the Yukon, the Northwest Territories, and Nunavut on these and many other northern and Canadian issues and interests. I invite you, after this brief sample, to continue the dialogue and get to know each territory independently from the region, just as you do for each province. Pat Duncan is a Canadian politician from Yukon. She was first appointed as a non-affiliated Senator by Justin Trudeau in 2018, and has been a member of the Independent Senators Group since February 2019. Between 1996 and 2006, Duncan served as a member of the Yukon Legislative Assembly in various positions, including as the first female premier of the territory between 2000 and 2002. The Hill Times