Thanks for the opportunity to speak with you today. I acknowledge that we meet on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe people.
My name is Harlan Schilling. I am also the CEO for the First Nations Centre of Excellence for Economic Development and was recently elected chief of Liard First Nation, one of the five Kaska first nations in Canada. Our territory spans northern British Columbia, the Yukon and the Northwest Territories. I was previously deputy chief of Daylu Dena Council for nine years, so I have led on both sides of the B.C. and Yukon border.
I am here because of the north. Much of what Canada now wants to build, from critical minerals to roads and power, lies in the north, yet the north is barely visible in Bill C-39.
Our communities are small and remote, and our field seasons are short. Our lands are among the last large intact landscapes on earth, and they are warming faster than almost anywhere else. The Kaska have no treaty, so protections written for northern treaty regimes do not reach us. A law that is to shape the north should be built with the north.
The Kaska are here to be partners in building Canada. I speak for both the health of our lands and my nation's economic future. For the Kaska, one cannot thrive without the other. We want the northern jobs and careers at home for our young people. In Lower Post, we showed that development and land protection can be balanced.
The Kaska and British Columbia have built a land use plan for our territory. At its heart is Dene K’éh Kusān, meaning “always will be there”. It's a proposed conservation area of about 3.1 million hectares co-managed by the Kaska with the Province of British Columbia and possibly the neighbouring first nations. The plan also identifies where reasonable development may be considered.
Canada and B.C. committed to the northwest critical conservation corridor together with the protected areas of our Tahltan and Taku River Tlingit brothers and sisters. The DKK is the conservation heart, what the Prime Minister called an area the size of Greece and the premier called equal to 12,000 Stanley Parks. The DKK is a large part of what makes those comparisons possible. Both governments are also funding mineral and infrastructure projects within the region. In our territory, conservation and development must happen together. That is the heart of our message.
For the Kaska, conservation is the foundation for any approval of critical minerals and related development in our territory. That is not negotiable. It begins at the planning table, not after permits are signed, with the Kaska as partners from the first conversation. Companies must first avoid and minimize harm. Where damage remains, they must contribute meaningfully to conservation, restoration and long-term stewardship at a scale that reflects our land use plan. Canada should set a clear framework so development is nature-positive, and the exact model we will work out together.
Healthy lands are good business. They make communities and companies resilient against drought, floods and damaged infrastructure. Our elders say healthy lands make healthy people, and I would add healthy economies.
Certainty comes from agreements, not speed. A project forced through over our nation's objections is headed to court, and that would be the slowest path of all.
I ask three things.
First, support and respect the land use plans and conservation agreements that we are working together on in good faith with British Columbia and the Yukon.
Second, make decisions with indigenous nations as true partners, consistent with our rights and the UN declaration, with the time and resources to take part.
Last, make conservation and restoration, especially indigenous-led conservation, part of nation building from the very start so that it delivers a net gain for nature and, at the very least, no net loss.
Picture what is possible. First, a vast boreal landscape permanently protected, where caribou move freely, grizzly bears and stone sheep roam, millions of migratory birds return each spring and the Kaska guardians on the land and young people with good careers in the industry live at home rather than in distant camps. That is nation building, and we hope you will take this path with us.
With that being said and now being in the Yukon, understand that the Kaska have three large mining sites within our territory that need an abundance of work. We have Faro, which is one of the world's largest known man-made mining disasters. That is federally held by the federal government, and two are held by the Yukon.
Again, with the Kaska being leaders in conservation, I think it's only fair to be a part of the laws that are made within our territory. For years we have worked on this conservation project. Again, it's not if; it's when. We are the corridor of the north, and projects will be coming to my territory. Again, it is laws like this that will have a dramatic effect on the next seven generations, so I ask the committee to make those considerations and keep the DKK in your thoughts when you're making your decisions.
Thank you.
