After loss and COVID-19 delays, Gwich'in Tribal Council's annual assembly finally underway

After a year darkened by the death of a Gwich'in leader, and meetings delayed due to COVID-19, the Gwich'in Tribal Council began its annual general assembly Tuesday with a little good news.

Grand Chief Ken Kyikavichik told the delegates gathered at the Midnight Sun Complex in Inuvik, N.W.T., that the federal government will give the council $25.1 million over the next several years for infrastructure, including nearly $4.8 million this fiscal year. 

"We estimate we need at least $100 million to address the infrastructure and housing issues in our communities. The $25 million is a start," said Kyikavichik, to applause from the delegates. 

The Gwich'in Tribal Council was established to protect the rights, interests, culture and language of the Gwich'in, and to oversee the use of lands, waters and resources in the Gwich'in Settlement Region. Its board is headed by the grand chief and includes directors from the N.W.T. communities of Fort McPherson, Aklavik, Tsiigehtchic and Inuvik.

The Gwich'in Tribal Council's 2021 assembly is running over three days this week, after being delayed twice.  

The 2021 meeting was put on hold until February after Deputy Grand Chief Kristine McLeod died in a car accident last August. The assembly was again postponed after the first omicron wave slammed into the North this winter. 

"Kristine was so passionate about the work she was doing and had much to achieve. Her belief in us as Gwich'in was unwavering," said Kyikavichik. 

He also said he was impressed that McLeod's brother Kelly McLeod had stepped up as interim deputy grand chief, "in honour of the memory of his sister, but also for the benefit of our people and organization."

Kelly described his sister as "one of the great ones," and choked up while remembering her.

In his remarks, he also implored Gwich'in to put personal matters aside and work together as a nation.

"We have gotten so caught up in a colonial system designed to break us that some of us think we can only win by forming alliances and strategizing against others and our own people. We are destined to fail if we continue to cut each other down," he said. 

"We must make decisions that benefit all Gwich'in."

'We have always been a collective'

In his opening statement, Kyikavichik said he was pleased that the Nihtat Gwich'in Council, which represents members in Inuvik, rejoined the Gwich'in Tribal Council in self-government negotiations with the federal and territorial governments.

He called the Nihtat Gwich'in Council's move to negotiate its own self-government agreement between 2018 and 2021, "an unfortunate sidestep."

"We have always been a collective as Gwich'in. In fact, that's how we've survived in our lands for thousands of years," he said. 

The Gwich'in Tribal Council has been working toward self-government since shortly after signing a land claim agreement in 1992. Negotiation strategies will be a focus of this week's meetings.

The assembly covered a lot of ground on its first day.

Kyikavichik said the council is a "financially healthy organization" with assets worth more than $165 million. 

He noted that in February, the council hired Roy Erasmus Jr. as CEO of the Gwich'in Development Corporation, which is wholly owned by the Gwich'in Tribal Council. Erasmus Jr. is a member of the Yellowknives Dene First Nation and a former CEO of the Det'on Cho Corporation. 

Delegates also heard updates on previous years' resolutions. Among them was the formation of a Gwich'in regional youth council.

Kyikavichik said the goal is to have an elder and a young person take part in future self-government talks.

Participants raised concerns about caribou hunting on the Dempster highway — a persistent problem since the highway opened in 1979, they said — and differences in enforcement in Yukon and the N.W.T. 

"We feel that information is the key to seeing a better solution," said Kyikavichik.

He said the job of enforcement officers should be to make sure people are hunting safely and in accordance with Gwich'in protocols and territorial legislation, while respecting the Gwich'in people's right to harvest porcupine caribou. 

The Gwich'in Tribal Council's annual general assembly runs through Thursday.