PAINTING, SPIDER’S MORNING, BY DÄK’ÄLÄMĄ, JOCELYN JOE-STRACK
Reconnection.vision
A PATHWAY FOR CHANGE
FROM THE CHILDREN
OF TOMORROW
Explore our Emblem
Yak’éi haat yigoodée!
Nihdanoojaa
sók neyni’įn
’Ǫdä̀nä̀hiel
Déhtʼā
Dénht’ā
Dänch’ea
Take a moment.
1
In our Yukon First Nations way, the term 'Land' is encompassing of ALL life on Earth (plants, animals, insects, soil, water, rocks, and more…)
2
Please cite as:
Yukon First Nations Climate Action Fellowship (2023). Reconnection Vision. Yukon, Canada.
This work comes from ceremony.
We ask you to slow down. We ask you to connect to the spirit of this work. In writing this, we resist the norm of rigid documents. We can be aware of how the words shared here are digested and felt by our mind, body, heart, and spirit. As you read, you may start to envision a renewed way of living and knowing life. We ask you to honour those aspirations and consider your role and responsibility to the children, Land, and life of tomorrow.
Slow down & Reconnect.
Prayer
from Nika Silverfox-Young
Northern Tutchone
Nehté Utʼotenchʼī, Anay īhsa nay īhzhī sóthän huchʼī ʼdok. Eyunī nátsädok husīdé. Īhdzī zhí sóthän adītthäkdok, uzhí dän gätsī dlī dok, sóthän dän ułī dok, Dunyána tsin yuhusīdok ànú dän kyak adoʼ nītsätdok anay hannīdok. Utʼotenchʼī ītsin níngnìng husīdé gyó yędän łasedoʼ zhū. Acho kī ītsin yuhu nī de netsadok acho kī katsʼidlī dän hu. Utʼotenchʼī anay sóthän īkeningte nīyę sok nīhthän.
Aku tsąʼ. Syōk sin le.
Creator,
Please guide me as I travel through this world to be the best that I can be for you. Guide my voice to be strong to speak the truth. Open my heart with wisdom and love. Strengthen my voice to speak for the Children of Tomorrow. Strengthen my voice to speak for the salmon that swim in our rivers. Strengthen my voice to speak the knowledge and love of Elders. Protect me on my journey.
Thank you.
Hënähshe. Ntr’ëdëtth’ëk.
Ganohkhii. Nikhoodhàdhàach’eii.
Hunji. Yetsʼin dinthí.
Yaa x̱ʼanayla.át. Yee x̱ʼéix̱ tusa.áx̱x̱.
Kwanįjê kʼeʼ. Ghàjenììtthʼą̀ʼ.
Gūdehdéh. Nehdzedétsʼik.
Kūnahde. Denīt̀sʼą̀
Hunahheeyh. Nuhdzįįtth’ek.
You are speaking. We are listening.
In 2020, this is what Yukon First Nations Leadership told us as young people. Reconnection Vision is our response.
We are 13 young people from lands that many people know today as the Yukon and northern British Columbia. We come from all walks of life. We are Wolf moiety, we are Crow moiety; we are Land guardians, hunters, parents, cousins; we are artists, mine workers, youth workers, storytellers, activists, students, beaders, language revitalisers, entrepreneurs, and leaders.
In February 2020, Yukon First Nations signed a Climate Change Emergency Declaration which called for the creation of a Yukon First Nations Climate Vision and Action Plan. Yukon First Nations Leadership declared that this Plan should be Youth-led as,
“it is their future at stake and they will inherit the decisions made now.”
Reconnection Vision is our response to this task. It is an offering to continue the journey of Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow. We are those Children of Tomorrow, working today for a better future for all.
We are the climate.
We are the change.
We are the future.
And the future is today.
“Axh toowú latseeníxhisatee.”
"You are all my courage"
Skaydu Û Jules
YFN Climate Action Fellow
The Philosophy of Reconnection
Reconnection Vision honours our Indigenous cultures and worldviews.
Our cultures are powerful because their values and teachings reflect the values and teachings of the Land. Skills, such as sewing, harvesting, building, and making art allow us to reclaim self-reliance and our sense of self-worth. Stories we hear today offer teachings that we may gain through self-reflection ten years later. Song opens our hearts and connection to creation. Harvesting food and medicines support our health and our return to being part of the Land and Water.
Language creates a whole new understanding of the world. Learning our languages is directly tied to Land stewardship. Language allows us to communicate with the Land, spirit, and each other as a whole person. Our Indigenous languages are sophisticatedly connected to this Land and the history of what this Land has experienced. Our languages are like a Pandora’s box that hold our stories, ceremonies, laws, ways of governance, identity, and so much more that we can’t explain in English. Language roots us to the Land in an intimate and connected way like a centuries-old tree. We need to be able to think, express ourselves, and make decisions in our languages. Too much is lost when we think and express in the English language only.
We begin with a special Long Ago Story, Kusi Kwändür, a Southern Tutchone story about how Spider taught our Ancestors how to make fishnet.
We reflect upon this story throughout the Reconnection Vision. We do this to demonstrate how our cultures and non-human relatives continue to guide us.
"Dunèn äkʼān chʼäw kennindän kʼè, dákeyi sòóthän kʼàakennäwtà."
“If we teach our children now, they will look after our land and make it better.”
Mats'äsäna Mą Primozic
YFN Climate Action Fellow
Kusi Kwändür
Spider Story
As told by Tuduwat / Polly Frazer and translated by Khâsha Reid and Chughāla Allen of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations.
Explore the Painting
From disconnection
to reconnection…
A philosophy comes from a worldview - a set of beliefs we use to navigate the world.
The philosophy we use to understand a problem determines the types of solutions we can imagine to address it.
Climate change is commonly understood to be long-term changes in temperatures, weather patterns, and related degradation of the environment caused by human activity.
In response to this understanding, the current approach to climate action is to treat just the symptoms of climate change (e.g. rising carbon dioxide emissions).
We believe quick fixes that respond to these symptoms that are rooted in consumption, such as electric vehicles and solar panels, don’t go deep enough.
We want to treat the root cause of climate change: DISCONNECTION.
If we continue to focus on climate actions built from the same worldview that created the climate crisis, we cannot expect society to change.
We have normalized living, learning, and working in disconnected relation with all parts of ourselves (spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical), each other (community, colleagues, and partners) and the Land (all life, energy, and spirit).
Disconnection is causing the climate crisis and mental health crisis.
The imbalance of the Land reflects the imbalance within ourselves.
We are making mind dominated decisions and have numbed our heart and spirit.
In turn, we are living and making decisions with only half our true human potential.
Only by addressing the root cause of climate change - our disconnected relationships with ourselves, each other, and the Land - can we change the trajectory for future generations.
Re-thinking "Climate Change"
We are living in an era of Disconnection.
This time is an anomaly in history.
Today, the story we are told about climate change comes from a dominant worldview that narrowly defines the problem as one of increasing carbon dioxide emissions leading to degradation of our environment.
We, the Children of Tomorrow, understand climate change as being about something much deeper: our current state of Disconnection.
—
What do we mean by Disconnection?
We have become disconnected from the Land and knowing our place as part of her;
We have become disconnected from each other and our sense of belonging as part of community;
We have become disconnected from ourselves - from our emotions and spiritual insight.
We must remember that we have not always lived this way. Over the past ~14,000 years, in what is now known as the Yukon, our First Nations Ancestors lived in deep relationship with place and community. We were “Part of the Land, part of the Water.”- Deisleen Kwáan (Teslin Tlingit) Elder Virginia Smarch¹
Laws that governed our people were sourced from the Land, from being in deep relationship with place;
Ceremonies grounded us in our responsibility to those relationships;
Languages reflected our familial relationship with our ancestral Lands, Waters, and Animals;
Time on the Land strengthened skills needed to be in good relationship;
Stories passed on our laws and the importance of these relationships from generation to generation.
Only recently have we come to live within systems rooted in colonization and a Disconnected worldview that understands humans as separate from Nature.
1
Teslin Tlingit (Deisleen Kwáan) Elder Virginia Smarch in McClellan, C. and L. Birckel (1987). Part of the land, part of the water: a history of the Yukon Indians, Vancouver; Toronto: Douglas & McIntyre.
Today’s Disconnected systems enforce values such as individualism, hierarchy and authority, and the prioritization of the wants of some humans over the needs of all other Life. These systems have led us to live, learn, and work in a way that does not prioritize or enable being in good relationship with ourselves, with each other as community, and with the Land.
This Disconnected way of life has led to a state of vulnerability and sickness for us and for the Land. Today, we call this condition ‘climate change’.
The imbalance in our Lands is a reflection of the imbalance within ourselves due to the Disconnected way we live, learn, and work.
Climate action built within a system that sees ourselves as disconnected from each other and the Land is unhealthy and unjust for all humans. We are intrinsically interconnected to everything. Our First Nations and Indigenous cultures understand this and have been able to hold onto this connection, despite generations of colonization. The knowledge and tools of our cultures can help us to reconnect and go forward in good relationship with the places we live and the people we are from.
Reconnection is what is needed
for true climate action.
Now is the time to love Mother Earth more than we’ve every loved her before, because she’s lonely, she’s hurt, she’s broken and she’s sick. And we have to love her and nourish her in every way we can.
- Elder Mary-Jane Jim, Champagne and Aishihik First Nation
Becoming Whole People, Being in Good Relationship
In our way, as Yukon First Nations people, being in good relationship is central to how we have lived, learned, and worked for millennia. Good relationships include respect, equity, reciprocity, listening, honouring, supporting, love, empathy, and patience. We share this relationship-centred way of being with many Indigenous peoples around the globe.
The first step to being in good relationship is to understand what it means to be in good relationship with ourselves, and to be a whole person. To be a whole person, we must honour all parts of our being: our spiritual, emotional, physical, and mental selves. Our First Nations culture provides many teachings to nourish our whole person.
Illustration
Holding Ourselves in Balance as we Walk Towards Wholeness. Adapted from “Peacemaking Circles: From Crime to Community,” book by Barry Drummond Stuart, Kay Pranis and Mark Wedge.
How is becoming a whole person relevant to climate action?
Whole personhood is a central tenet to realizing our Reconnection Vision. For us to reclaim balance with the Land, we must first restore balance within ourselves. We acknowledge that many of us do not understand the hurt of this imbalance in ourselves and our relationships, nor do we understand how connected it is to climate action.
Our systems (including education, health, extraction, energy, and economy) prioritize mind-dominated decisions and approaches. In turn, we are making imbalanced decisions that are reflected in the imbalance of Earth (rising sea levels, increased wildfires and floods, loss of species, etc.).
We believe that when we draw on the knowledge from our whole person - our emotional, spiritual, physical, and mental selves - we will make better decisions for the Land and for future generations.
The work of Reconnection is to bring us back into good relationship with all parts of ourselves, each other and the Land.
Your Ancestors do not wish this pain on you
Pathway for Change
Reconnection is Climate Action
We offer Reconnection is Climate Action as a pathway to transform the ways we live, learn, and work.
Reconnection is the individual, community, societal, and global journey of returning to being in good relationship with ourselves, each other and the Land as a means to becoming whole people.
We share Our Story to demonstrate the power of Reconnection.
We illustrate Reconnection Barriers - the norms of our society and systems that actively drive disconnection and prevent Reconnection.
We are guided by 10 Reconnection Seeds - actions for our society to overcome our Reconnection barriers and shift us from our current path of imbalance towards our Vision of a better tomorrow.
We offer Teachings - the understandings we have gained through our Reconnection journey.
We share our Reconnection Vision as a beacon to guide us so we may live, learn, and work in good relationship with ourselves, each other, and the Land.
Telling our story
The story of the Children of Tomorrow is an active example of the power and transformative potential of Reconnection. It is evidence that we are all capable of change right now.
We cannot prescribe a one-size-fits-all Reconnection pathway. Each individual, community, and organization will have a unique journey.
Instead, we share the experience and teachings of Our Story, our two-year Reconnection journey, as an example of our philosophy in practice. Through our story, we illuminate the systemic structures that represent barriers to Reconnection.
We identify Reconnection Seeds that guided our approach to overcoming these barriers. Rather than a traditional policy plan, we uphold our Indigenous ways by offering Our Story and the teachings of our experience to acknowledge and honour the variety of pathways that represent the individual and collective work of Reconnection that is for each of us to define and be responsible for.
When we walk on the land, we know we are walking in our ancestor’s footsteps
— YFN Elder
These are the
seeds of reconnection.
First, we must Heal Ourselves and become Whole
To Work Together in Relationship
In nurturing, Safe Space to Re-Educate
As we Slow Down and Cycle in Ceremony
So we may Listen to the Land and Water
To Reclaim and Uphold Our Culture
From here we Stop Planning and Start Doing
We Centre our Communities to Lead, Own, Drive
In Trust we Take Risks and Share Power
And Grow as True Leaders from the North
Heal Ourselves
Work Together
Reimagine Education
Slow Down
Listen to the Land
Uphold Culture
Do it
Centre Community
Grow Leaders
This is the vision of the Children of Tomorrow.
Our Reconnection Vision was created with all Yukoners in mind and to uphold the vision set out in Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow². In the Yukon, we are fortunate to remain strong in our culture and worldview. Whether we are self-governing, unceded or non-Indigenous, part of our Yukon way is to work together. This plan is for everyone. We need to learn to move forward together in a good way, where all cultures and worldviews are held with the same integrity, respect, and honour as one another. Our vision sees us united and living in good relationship with ourselves, each other, and the Land.
2
YNB (1973). Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow: A Statement of Grievances and an Approach to Settlement by the Yukon Indian People. Yukon Native Brotherhood. Whitehorse, Yukon: 1-47.
“Dreams can inspire a whole generation. Children must be left to dream. Feed those dreams with love and wonders of a better tomorrow, then sit back and watch as the horizon comes with a light of hope.”
Ryan Kyikavichik
Here, we present our Visions for Tomorrow in the form of poetry to make space for expansive dreaming into the future.
We will understand that wellness is rooted in the quality of our relationships with ourselves, each other, and the Land. We will understand whole person wellness.
We will have great knowledge of the medicines that our Lands provide.
Emotional competency and mental wellness will be understood, nourished, and valued by all people, in all systems.
We will practice health care premised on Reconnection that doesn’t just value drugs developed in a lab but recognizes and values the healing powers of the Land.
Traditional medicine and Land-based healing practices will be integrated and connected to the healthcare system. Spiritual and emotional healthcare will transform this system that currently only knows how to care for our physical bodies.
All our communities will have thriving on the Land healing and treatment centres and integrated health spaces that support the emotional, physical, spiritual and mental needs of our people.
We will have many trauma therapists and care workers who help keep our communities strong and safe with cultural humility.
Screen time will be recognized as detrimental to health and wellbeing.
Our economy will be built around ethics of healing and care. We will deeply value all facets of care work.
We will keep our internal energy in balance so we can be of service.
The idea of “property” will be completely transformed. Our grandchildren and all Yukon children will understand that the Land does not belong to them — they belong to the Land.
Our homes will be built using local materials - materials we love and with whom our people have long been in relationship with.
Many of the Land-harming materials we use today will become illegal.
We will re-purpose, repair and reuse materials that we currently waste.
Our housing will enable us to honour bush life when living in urban environments.
We will revitalise Clan Houses and Potlatch Houses. Powerful communal efforts will flow into the creation of these communal spaces.
We envision language houses for knowledge transfer.
We will create a local lumber and sawmill industry that enables us to harvest wood spared from natural hazard events for use in local housing projects.
We will have trades training in all communities that will lead to a thriving First Nations housing economy, retrofitting and developing housing on and off settlement Land.
New policies and incentives will eliminate lawns and in turn, will promote stewardship of natural ecosystems, local food production and medicine cultivation.
Healthy home legislation will exist with regular inspections and accountability measures.
An ethical contracting industry will make us more accountable to our global neighbours.
There will be more Whitehorse-based off-settlement housing for First Nations people who move to Whitehorse for education opportunities and to connect with a larger community.
Gadzoosdaa residence will become a beautiful space, and our students from communities will feel at home and loved when they move into Whitehorse for schooling.
Our food systems will nurture deep relationships with all the beings, places and people who feed us. We will eat beautifully where ceremony will be present in all our food practices.
Cultivating food will be part of everyone’s life. We will all learn to grow, harvest, preserve, prepare and eat together. Producing food locally and lovingly and in sync with the seasons will guide our understanding of the economy.
Food will no longer be commodified. Community and backyard greenhouses and gardens will flourish and be the norm.
We will harness technology and storage solutions to support local food availability in the winter season and we will build sophisticated compost systems. Free-range farms will be pillars of our communities and food will bring communities together.
We will still support the global food economy, but we won’t be dependent on it. We will ensure imported food is ethically sourced and produced.
We will support Land Guardians and others to revitalise YFN’s Land-care practices.
Community hunts and harvesting will be an important part of our lifestyle. We will preserve foods like our Grandmas and Grandpas did.
Our food systems will have no waste, everything will be used - just as we were taught to use all parts of the animal’s body when hunting.
Knowledge about subsistence hunting and fishing practices will flourish, it will be understood that bigger is not better. We must protect herd leaders and breeders for future generations. Trophy hunting will end on our Lands. Catch and release fishing will end in our Waters.
Harvests will be balanced, informed by Doòli. We will allow the Land to rest through cyclical voluntary closures of areas. Our food will once again be our medicine. No need for vitamin supplements.
Our understanding of our energy systems will be guided by our relationship with the spiritual energy that flows through all the elements.
These relationships will determine how we build our electricity and energy systems of the future.
We will understand that to heal things, Water’s energy needs to be healthy.
We will show our respect for Water by using it in a good way.
We will understand how to harness energy as our Ancestors did in a manner that enhances and nourishes life, rather than disrupting it.
We will revitalize our deep reverence for Water, Land, Air, and Fire in our education systems.
We will be mindful of how we speak to Water, how much we consume, and what we are using Her for.
We will understand that our vibrational energy - through our thoughts, ideas, words, and music - affects the molecular structure of the energy around us.
Our use of energy will be guided by the the needs of the community.
We will build true community energy infrastructures.
Our grandchildren will have a relationship with everything they need, and our current models of extraction will be transformed.
People will be deeply connected with local ingredients and materials and we will make much more of what we need right here in the Yukon.
Our systems of extraction will be built on ethics of reciprocity.
Ceremony will be incorporated into all extraction activities. We may not call it ‘extraction’ anymore.
Systems of extraction built on principles of wealth accumulation and perpetual growth will become outdated.
Mining policies will be reformed to support the local economy and reflect reciprocity.
We will be responsible for dealing with our mining and other waste locally. We will not ship our waste metals and materials abroad.
We will ban cheap, non-humane, and single-use products and materials in the Yukon. We will heal our Land from former damaging extractive practices through natural means.
We will be globally accountable to our brothers, sisters and beyond-human kin in faraway Lands where many of our materials are sourced from.
Return on our investments will be transformed to prioritize the health and well-being of the communities that are part of these networks.
We envision an economy that holds care for our community at its centre. This economy will be guided by our virtues as Yukon First Nations people and will based on the principles of share, care and respect - it will prioritise love, purpose, and belonging.
Our grandchildren will protect themselves from the harms of technology and social media. They will understand technology devices are tools to be handled with responsibility and respect. This will result in less need for the devices that disconnect us from being present in our communities, resulting in less time indoors overusing and wasting energy.
Everyone will have a role to play in helping our communities flourish, and we will uplift people for their strengths, honouring their role, honouring diversity. Instead of feeling separate, individualised and lacking, we will feel a sense of belonging, validation, and responsibility to our role as part of a whole. We will know our co-workers as community members, not simply as job titles, void of the emotional and spiritual connection that colonisation has normalised for us.
What we get from other Lands will come to us via Indigenous trade networks, similar to how Grease Trails inspired local trade with our ancestors’ neighbours.
Our economic system will value time spent on the Land, for all of us.
Our economy will nurture and build our life and Land skills - the skills we need to take care of ourselves. In this economy, our hands will spend as much time in soil, on saws, and in berries and moose guts as they do on keyboards.
We will value caring for our Elders and community members. We will incentivise rest and connection.
We will recognise the importance of and value what it takes to raise children well - the economy will support parents playing a significant role in the education of children.
Work will sync with the seasons and the phases of the moon and the 9-5 standardised way of working will no longer exist - in this way we will honour our role as part of nature.
Our development companies will have options to generate value that do not depend on practices that harm the Land.
We will honour our Indigenous Laws. Indigenous Law and leadership will transform Crown government systems we currently work within. Indigenous Law revitalisation will be well resourced and supported to enable joint legislation that honours the spirit of true co-governance, co-design and co-management.
We will deeply understand what a worldview is and how it impacts governance. Governance systems will reflect both Indigenous worldviews and Western worldviews. Efforts to evolve governance will be inclusive and collaborative.
Governance will honour Matrilineal structures.
Our governance models will respect the Land. Decisions for the Land will be made on the Land.
Governance models will be built on natural Law, that respects the seasons and natural climate cycles.
Governance will not be hierarchical or patriarchal. We will build a different model. All community members will have a role in governance. Siloed governing will sunset.
Ceremony will exist at all levels of government.
Those with no human voice (Land, Waters, Animals, Ancestors and Future Generations) will have a seat at the table to be respected and supported to thrive. Humans will be responsible for stewarding the Land.
‘Indigenous Leadership’ will be defined differently than Leadership today. Our Leaders will be supported by the community and will make decisions from a place of whole-personhood.
Personal accountability and responsibility will thrive.
First Nations knowledge and storytelling will be valued and normalized.
We will honour a balance of both the traditional knowledge and Western based education systems and in doing so, will provide our Youth more opportunity to flourish within the school system.
Our current education models will be dismantled and our education systems will be Indigenized.
Everyone will be a teacher and a learner. Yukon First Nation education systems will be inclusive of all Yukoners.
Students will be happy, healthy, and productive through their learning years.
Youth will graduate with the values of our cultures and the skills to thrive in the modern world.
We will be able to access and reconnect with our cultures at any age.
We will have a Yukon First Nation Education Act.
We will speak our languages. We will relearn ceremony and reclaim our power.
Students will graduate with the skills to choose whichever path they want.
What can I do?
Reconnection Vision is a societal shift guide, a toolkit and a story that comes from our truths and lived experiences.
The worldview of Reconnection Vision illuminates that the norms we are accustomed to were not designed for Reconnection. There is work to be done, and we are asking you to embark on this journey with us that at times will be uncomfortable as we begin to experiment and cultivate space for Reconnection.
Reconnection Vision invites us to:
Consider our positions and responsibilities in community and society.
Commit dedicated time for ourselves and within our organizations to read, sit with and reflect upon the philosophy of Reconnection, the Reconnection Seeds and the Visions for Tomorrow.
Question and confront the norms of disconnection within our society, especially as they become more apparent and recognisable.
Persevere through uncertainty and embrace the discomfort and teachings of transformation.
As a guide and toolkit, Reconnection Vision supports us to think about our connection in the web we’ve created, and gives us tools for breaking down today’s barriers to Reconnection so we can walk towards our Vision for the future. Fundamentally, it is a re-education and decolonisation guide that can be applied anywhere.
As a story, Reconnection Vision is a gift that leads by example to help guide us forward, together, in a good way. It is an act of reciprocity to future generations and an invitation, to you, to join our journey.
We invite you to become part of our pathway for change.
Gratitude
A warm Gunalchéesh, Shä̀w níthän, Mahsi Cho, Sógá sénlá to all the guides we have had throughout this journey: the places, people, and unseen forces who have given direction and helped bring this Reconnection Vision into being.
We are here with strength, determination and love, because of our Ancestors who have stewarded these Lands and Waters, and nourished our communities in a good way since time immemorial. We give great thanks to our Yukon First Nations leaders who fought and continue to tirelessly assert their self-determination, both within the Together Today process and outside of it. We do this work for you and for our children, grandchildren, and all the generations to come. You were with us and empowered us throughout this journey, bringing us songs, dreams, language, and powerful visions for tomorrow.
We lift our hands up to Yukon First Nations Chiefs for signing a climate emergency declaration, for passing the Resolution to endorse the Reconnection Vision, and entrusting us as young people to develop the Yukon First Nations approach to climate action.
We offer our gratitude to the organisations who brought this Fellowship into being: Regional Chief Kluane Adamek and the Assembly of First Nations Yukon Region and Grand Chief Peter Johnston and the Council of Yukon First Nations. These regional organisations worked tirelessly to coordinate Yukon First Nations Leadership and to administer this project. Without them, this project never would have happened. We also thank Yukon University, RIVER and Youth Climate Lab, who provided support in multifaceted ways throughout this project with resources, networks, and thought leadership. We are grateful to Yukon Government’s Office of the Science Advisor and the Two-eyed Seeing program for their support through YukonU. We also acknowledge Pinna Sustainability for providing us with support in engagement.
We thank our Core Steering Committee who supported us every step of the way:
Steering Committee
Jocelyn Joe-Strack
Jodi Gustafson
Jenni Matchett
Merran Smith
Emily McDougall
We thank those Steering Committee members who supported us for parts of the journey: Neil Hawkes, Steve Roddick, Nikki Robitaille-Funk, Ed Schultz, Felicia Gordon, Jesse Hudson, Katelyne Wolftail-Magun, and Nelly Bouevitch.
We pay tribute to our Guiding Elders for this project: Mark Wedge, Norma Kassi, Joe Copper Jack and Shirley Adamson, whose vision and transmission of our Ancestors’ teachings has given us strength and confidence to move forward with Reconnection in a good way.
Shirley Adamson continues to guide us from the Spirit world. We will share your story and pass your teachings into the future.
Resolution
On March 17 2023, the Reconnection Vision was recognized and endorsed by Chief Roberta Joseph of the AFN Yukon.
Planting seeds
POEM BY JENNIFER MIERAU
We are the seeds, that grow roots and turn into trees,
through all the seasons cycles, we continue to breathe.
Where did we come from? Where do we go?
This is something we must all know?
When we grow big, we can plant seeds for our own saplings to grow.
We consider the land and the impacts we see,
We listen to those around us, to seek out all the benefits.
To give back and receive, till we are strong enough to lead.
Our Mother provides us with all her loving gifts,
And Father sky showers us with his water and light.
Earth is our family,
which we’ve always known to survive.
Each tree has different needs, some have leaves, Some have needles, some are small and some are tall. Some are Poplar and some are Spruce, some grow slow and others grow fast,
In the soil we are nurtured in, we grow big and vast.
There are willows that grow near the rivers,
And spruce trees that thrive together.
Each tree can be used as a tool,
It can heat your home, and provide you shelter.
Trees are Sacred, Trees are Valuable.
Trees are our medicine.
Remember where you plant your roots,
We are all interconnected in some way.
Everything we need is right here within arms reach,
thankful for each day.
Healthy soiL
healthy roots
healthy tree
healthy seeds
Yak’éi haat yigoodée!
Nihdanoojaa
sók neyni’įn
’Ǫ dä̀nä̀hjel
Déhtʼā
do'eent'aa?
Dénht’ā
Dänch’ea
