Courts set stage for historic Peel trial

When the curtain rises on the Peel watershed trial in Whitehorse July 7, it’s expected to be so popular two Yukon courtrooms have been set aside to seat up to 200 spectators.

More than 50 First Nation elders from the four Peel region First Nations will line the benches alongside their political leaders and the many others with an interest in this case.

And for the first time in Yukon court history, the first 2 1/2 hours of the trial will be video-taped by the claimants to document this historic occasion.

What began as a dispute over protecting the Yukon portion of the transboundary drainage has mushroomed into a major brawl about the meaning of modern-day treaties.

A drama years in the making, with plenty of public input along the way, it’s easy to see why so many may want to watch the next act unfold in courtroom #1 - live video-streamed to courtroom #3 - during the five-day trial.

Many more months may pass before Yukon Supreme Court Justice Ron Veale renders a decision. Add to that two to four years of appeals, possibly all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, and this saga may not finally conclude until 2019 or 2020.

The lawsuit against the Yukon government was launched in January by the Na-cho Nyak Dun, Tr’ondek Hwech’in, Yukon Conservation Society and CPAWS-Yukon.

The NWT’s Gwich’in Tribal Council joined the case as intervenors on June 20.

GTC acting president Norman Snowshoe said the council decided to add its name to the legal roster, rather than launch its own suit, to make sure its voice was heard.

“We’ve done the analysis as to how to ensure our interests are best met in this process….and we believe that participating with the other First Nations in this case would get us the results that we need and ensure that our rights are protected through the legal system,” said Snowshoe in an interview from the council's Inuvik headquarters.

Snowshoe and his board plan to attend the trial “to show that we are here to protect the rights that the land claim negotiators established when they finalized the land claims agreement [in 1992].”

Former justice and B.C.-based lawyer Thomas Berger, of Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry fame, is leading the legal charge for the First Nations and environmentalists.

They say the Yukon broke the land claim agreements by rejecting the Peel commission’s land use plan at the 11th hour. Both the government and First Nations appointed people to the six-member commission.

The government, on the other hand, denies any wrongdoing. It claims it had the right to replace the commission’s plan – which protected 80 per cent of the watershed – with one that opens most of the region’s public land to industrial development.

While the black-robed lawyers argue the law within the courtroom walls, environmentalists have planned a series of Peel-related events outside and beyond.

To mark the trial’s opening day, a silent vigil will be held on the courthouse steps over the noon hour July 7.

At the nearby Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre, beside the Yukon River, a ceremonial fire will be lit and tended daily to provide a place for Peel supporters to gather. Inside there’ll be an elders’ lounge, with shuttle service to and from the courthouse.

The centre also will host an evening of stories, images and music, dubbed Voices of the Peel, on July 10.

In Dawson a daily noon prayer circle will be held throughout the week. Edmonton motorcyclist Don Curry begins a ride from there to Inuvik July 7 – standing up on his bike the whole way to encourage people to stand up for the Peel.