Yukon group prepares for Indigenous cultural exchange in New Zealand

A group of Indigenous leaders and youth from the Yukon will be heading to the other side of the world next week for a cultural exchange in New Zealand.

"Our elders, even like way before us, have always interacted with Indigenous elders around the world, and especially when there was huge issues to deal with," said Norma Kassi, a Gwich'in elder who's with the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, and who will be travelling with the group.

"What's really exciting is that the young people, that we are introducing them to this path, that they will learn from other Indigenous peoples."

The trip evolved out of the Yukon First Nations Climate Action Fellowship, which saw a group of young Indigenous Yukoners spend the last few years developing a climate action plan. Last summer, the group launched an interactive website they hope will encourage a radical rethink of the climate crisis and how to tackle it.

"We healed, we grew, celebrated, reconnected with our culture with each other and they developed the reconnection vision," said Jocelyn Joe-Strack, a co-leader of the fellowship.

"The philosophy of the reconnection vision is that we all deserve to live as whole people. And so we're living in this mind- and physical-dominated society that neglects our emotional and spiritual well-being. And this imbalance within ourselves is then reflected in the imbalance of earth."

The development of the reconnection vision prompted the invitation to New Zealand, from a group there called the RIVER [Revitalizing Indigenous Virtues for Earth's Regeneration] collective. About 25 people from Yukon will spend three weeks in Te Urewera, on New Zealand's north island, hosted by RIVER and Ngāi Tūhoe, a Māori iwi, or tribe.

"I'm so excited to spend such devoted time together with the young people, with our team, with RIVER, in such a beautiful place," said Joe-Strack.

"After New Zealand, I really think that, you know, we're going to just be coming back with a really good idea of how to bring this beautiful vision to life for our territory."

Kassi said she hopes the group can share some of the work that's been done in Yukon over the years, to fight for protection of the Porcupine caribou herd and conserved areas.

She also wants to learn about the Maori experience.

"How are they doing with food security, how are they dealing with issues of land and water? So yeah, I'll be looking to learn a lot from them," Kassi said.

The trip will conclude with the Yukon group participating in Waitangi Day celebrations, which commemorate the Feb. 6, 1840, signing of the Treaty of Waitangi, New Zealand's founding document.

Joe-Strack said she hopes the trip will be the seed of what can become a regular exchange.

"There's tons of beautiful possibilities of an Indigenous youth exchange with Aotearoa [New Zealand], but also with other Indigenous nations across the world," she said.