Indigenous land guardians help guide military training exercises in Carcross, Yukon

For the first time, Carcross/Tagish First Nation elders and land guardians helped plan and execute annual Canadian Armed Forces exercises in the Yukon.

Land guardians ensured activities on the land this month wouldn't affect traplines or spiritual sites, and advised which areas might work best for planned maneuvers. They also passed on some winter survival skills.

"Our land monitors and rangers know this land, our territory, better than anyone else," said Sean McDougall, director of heritage, language and culture with C/TFN. "And our territory, especially in the wintertime, can be quite challenging."

Lieut-Col. Peter Sliwowski, commanding officer of the Arctic Response Company Group, said the guidance military personnel received from guardians was "invaluable." 

"They're absolutely incredible," said Sliwowski. "Their elders, also known as knowledge-keepers, have been passing on knowledge of this land for thousands of years."

Sliwowski also described lectures from an elder about how to live on the land if separated from their rations and gear, and how to build a shelter. 

"We had late-night planning sessions here in these conference rooms [at Haa Shagóon Hídi, the Carcross/Tagish First Nation Cultural Centre] with maps and satellite images, trying to understand where we could go, where we wouldn't want to go." 

Nico Helm, a land guardian and Canadian Ranger, said he helped soldiers ride snow machines and offered guidance around winter camping, how to move on the land and keep it clean. 

"I was really honoured to be a part of it and glad it was in our area," Helm said. "It was a really interesting experience. It meant a lot." 

During a wrap-up ceremony on the weekend, soldiers joked about being "humbled quickly" by the mountainous terrain near Carcross, and said they were deeply impressed by the skill shown by land guardians. 

"We had the whole platoon hung up on a 30-metre hill that, you know, the land guardians are just bombing up and down, wondering why it's such an issue for us," laughed Master Cpl. William Barrett.

'We've definitely come a long way'

"Previously, we didn't have a lot of say about what was happening on our land and why," said McDougall, pointing to the construction of the Alaska Highway. 

The highway was built during the Second World War to connect Canada and the U.S. and service military outposts. Construction profoundly affected Yukon First Nations by interrupting established traplines, trails and animal migration routes, without regard to First Nations' use of the land.  

Increased government presence led to new rules, which limited hunting and increased pressure to send children to residential schools. Soldiers who arrived to build the highway brought diseases like influenza and tuberculosis, which led to widespread illness and death.  

In 2005, the Carcross/Tagish First Nation Final Agreement established that advance notice and consent would be required before the First Nation's territory would be used for military maneuvers. 

Sliwowski said for several years now, in addition to formal land use agreements, a ceremony has been held with community members. He said the ceremony was a way of asking permission to use C/TFN lands.

"We recognize we are guests on this land," said Miguel Moldez, public affairs officer for the 38 Canadian Brigade Group. "It was really important to get that blessing from the community and we're grateful for their assistance throughout the exercise. They've guided us the whole way through." 

Indigenous guides helped route the Alaska Highway and have served in the Canadian military but McDougall says those contributions, especially from within the military, weren't always recognized with the respect they deserved. 

"To hear the stories of the challenges our veterans have gone through, compared to today, with the communication, the open respect…We've definitely come a long way from what it used to be," McDougall said. 

'This is a moment in time that can't be lost'

At the weekend ceremony in Carcross, Yukon Premier Ranj Pillai thanked the Canadian Armed Forces for their professionalism as well as C/TFN for its "critical role providing guidance out on the land." 

Pillai was fresh from a trip to Washington, where he attended meetings, alongside the premiers of N.W.T. and Nunavut, with members of the U.S. Congress and Senate, as well as officials from Denmark and Greenland, about Arctic security issues. 

"At this moment in time, it's more important than ever for our country and the Canadian Armed Forces to show resolve when it comes to the North," Pillai said. "I think it's going to be incredibly important for the Canadian Armed Forces to have more of a training presence and to understand the terrain and the reality of the North."

More frequent and challenging northern military training was one of a number of measures proposed by the Yukon Arctic Security Advisory Council last year.  

But Pillai, along with members of that council, is also determined to see a more significant and permanent military presence in the territory. 

In December, he and federal Defence Minister Bill Blair signed a "letter of intent" in Ottawa to establish a naval reserve unit in the Yukon. Pillai said he was expecting feasibility studies to begin in April to identify what infrastructure may be required.

"Now, a lot of Yukoners wondered why [the navy]," said Pillai. "It was because that particular area of the Canadian Armed Forces was the most agile to come up and set up a presence."

He pointed to naval reserve units set up in other locations with limited sea access. 

"They're set up in Edmonton, they're set up in Winnipeg, Hamilton — so you don't need to be on the ocean. It's also about small craft, flood response, there's a number of things they specialize in."

Pillai said he has also been in talks this week with Joint Task Force North about additional potential reserve units. 

"This is a moment in time that can't be lost," he said. "We've seen this sort of ebb and flow over decades, of Canada coming to the table saying we need to invest, and then the moment passes us by.

"Now is the time to do it. We're going to need Canada to take out a real commitment to the hard infrastructure that's required to defend the North."