'Go back to where it was good'

DAWSON CITY - Chris Clarke is mad. Really mad.

“Basically I’m disgusted,” she told Yukon government officials at this week’s open house on the Peel land use plan.

“I find that what’s happening is despicable.  It’s disrespectful. I’ve never actually been so angry in my life at what’s going on here.”

She said the government’s hijacked the planning process and tossed out promises to work with First Nations.

But she doesn’t think the public is going to let it off the hook this time.

“People are going to fight,” said Clarke.

“That’s unfortunate for the government. I think the message that you’re getting is: ‘Go back to where it was good, where people didn’t hate you because what you’re doing is creating enemies and you’re dividing society and it’s not the right thing to do.’”

Clarke was one of more than a dozen people who unloaded their frustrations after the open house turned into a defacto town hall meeting.

Many others echoed her sentiments.

For Tr’ondek Hwech’in  elder Doris Roberts, it’s the way the government has treated First Nations in this process that really irks her.

“Why do we have to fight, fight, fight?” she asked.

 “You want your oil. You want your gold. But can you eat gold? “

Dawson resident Molly McDonald said the government’s new concepts cannot be pawned off as modifications.

“As far as I can tell, A,B,C,D  plans - those aren’t modifications, those are totally new proposals,” she said.

“They are not changes to the Peel final plan that was put forward and they should be ripped off the wall. They don’t have a place in this stage of the consultation.”

Dawson resident Glenda Bolt said the government should remember that wilderness and cultural tourism are important to the economic health of the Yukon.  

Visitors from around the world ask about the Peel watershed when they stop in at the First Nation’s cultural centre, she said.

 “The eyes and the ears of the world are watching,” she said.

As far as David Curtis is concerned, the government has already been given a balanced plan – the one prepared by the Peel planning commission after seven years of work.

“What this government is doing right now is illegitimate. It’s a sham. It’s a whitewash,” he said.

The government is obviously trying to confuse the public rather than clarify the issues, he said. Nor is there any accountability when it comes to the comments it receives.

Both the online form and the questionnaire can be submitted anonymously. They could be done by anyone from anywhere any number of times.

“Shame on the people at EMR [Energy, Mines and Resources] who put this together,” he said. “Shame on the politicians as well who don’t have the backbone to be here.”

In all more than 90 people attended some portion of the government’s open house.

The next community meetings will be in the New Year. That’s when the government plans to go to Fort McPherson, Aklavik, Inuvik, Tsiigehtchic and Old Crow.