Latest news with #TakuRiverTlingit
CBC
20-07-2025
- Business
- CBC
This Tlingit artist has taught 2,000 people to make bentwood boxes. She plans to keep going
Joanne Williams estimates she's taught 2,000 people how to make bentwood boxes. "I actually feel pretty complete, but I'm still going ahead to teach more," said Williams, a Tlingit artist, elder and bentwood knowledge-holder from Atlin, B.C. Bentwood boxes are watertight containers invented by coastal First Nations people. They're made by steaming a plank of wood, bending it into a square and fitting it with a lid and base. Williams was taught to make bentwood boxes as a child by her grandmother, elder Elizabeth Nyman, and has now taught bentwood box-making herself all over the west coast, including Haida Gwaii and Mount Currie. She also hosts weekly culture craft nights for Atlinites with the Taku River Tlingit First Nation. Williams says she's inspired to keep teaching by her grandmother, who asked her to pass the knowledge on to other people. "You're actually not supposed to hold secrets back when you're 60 years old, you're supposed to give everything away," Williams said. Bentwood boxes were traditionally used for all purposes, from carrying household items to storing important regalia. "It would have kept all their food and regalia dry," explained Maurice Ouimette, Williams' husband and business partner. "They're the only peoples in the world that developed this technology." The duo is now planning to launch a new home-based business this fall, selling bentwood box-making kits. They're going to mill the wood themselves to make the kits. They'll also sell supplies for beading, sewing and medicine bags. The duo says this business is not a money-making venture. Most of the profits will be donated. "We're trying to reach as many people in the world as possible," Ouimette said. Williams hopes teachers will use the kits to share with young people – but she says anyone can buy them and become teachers themselves.
CBC
14-06-2025
- Entertainment
- CBC
Yukon First Nations graduation turns 50
Social Sharing The parking lot of the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre in Whitehorse was full on Friday, and the building surrounded by well-dressed young people and their proud families. Despite the smoky conditions in the city, there was much to celebrate. Over 120 Yukon First Nations students celebrated their high school graduation this week, and participated in the 50th First Nations graduation ceremony on Friday. The graduates were from communities all across the territory, including the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, Liard First Nation, Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation, Carcross/Tagish First Nation, Taku River Tlingit First Nation, and others. Graduates at the annual ceremony wear traditional regalia, unique to them and representative of their journeys. Family members often help make the regalia. Graduate Marielle Wenzell is Taku River Tlingit and credits her mother for her outfit as well as the special touch a cedar graduation cap by Michelle Williams brings. She felt proud ahead of the ceremony. Tyler Goodwin-Hall, from Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation, worked on his jacket with his Nona. It was a technical challenge, he said. Elisha Dulac from the Kluane First Nation, whose traditional name is Kama Dzea, wore regalia decorated with weasels and bison, animals she's harvested since childhood. Both her mother and grandmother helped design her regalia. She said on Friday that she was grateful for the small community she's from, and all the support which led her to graduation day. Speaking to CBC News at the ceremony, Council of Yukon First Nations Grand Chief Peter Johnston offered some advice to the graduates. He said showing up is key, as well doing your best, having clear intentions, and not being too hard on yourself.
CBC
10-06-2025
- General
- CBC
As caribou populations recover in Yukon's Southern Lakes region, communities look to reconnect with the herds
An ambitious new plan aims to redefine the relationship between caribou and people in Yukon's Southern Lakes region, including by allowing Indigenous youth an opportunity to hunt the animals for the first time in decades. Nine government leaders signed the Southern Lakes Caribou Relationship Plan at a gathering in Carcross last week. It's a culmination of 32 years of recovery efforts that helped the herds' bounce back from roughly 1,000 individuals in 1993, to nearly 5,000 as of 2019. Southern Lakes caribou include four herds — Carcross, Ibex, Laberge and Atlin — of Northern Mountain caribou in the Yukon and northern B.C. "As a kid growing up, I used to watch a mountainside and it seemed like the whole mountain moved when there were so many caribou and I never thought we'd have to protect them," said Taku River Tlingit elder James Williams. The new relationship plan outlines how six First Nations, with the Yukon, B.C., and federal governments, will continue to build the relationship between people and caribou in the region. The plan is shaped by both traditional knowledge and Western science. "The First Nations are behind the relationship plan," said Carcross/Tagish First Nation elder Charlie James. "It still took many years for us to get to where we are today. And it's all about caribou, and it's all about the relationship that we have with caribou and the land." One of the plan's commitments is for First Nations to hold cultural caribou hunts, where elders and hunters teach youth how to hunt a caribou. Kwanlin Dün First Nation is hoping to hold a caribou hunt as part of its youth culture camp this fall, said Lars Jessup, project manager for the Southern Lakes caribou steering committee. In 1993, when the initial caribou recovery plan was drafted, First Nations in the Southern Lakes region endorsed a voluntary ban on caribou subsistence hunting. The subsistence hunting ban remains in place under the new plan, but cultural hunts will be an opportunity for the Nations to educate their youth. "Not to go shoot caribou for the sake of shooting caribou, but to teach our young people how our ancestors used to take care of caribou," James said. Increasing threats to caribou The plan also includes recommendations for how to manage threats to caribou, which have become more significant with the region's growing human population. "We want to make sure that we don't lose what we've gained in those 30 years and … there continues to be a real risk to these caribou," Jessup said. "They live right around the largest population centre in the Yukon and that population centre has grown substantially in the last 15 years." Threats to Southern Lakes caribou include human development, outdoor recreation, increased predation from wolves and bears, and vehicle collisions. "Vehicle collisions continue to take a real toll, particularly for the Carcross and Laberge herds," Jessup said. "We lose an average of seven caribou a year on highways … we're losing, in some cases, what the government of Yukon and the government of B.C. might consider a sustainable harvest rate, which would be in the realm of two to four per cent." Those attending the gathering last week discussed various ways to mitigate vehicle collisions, from increased highway signage, reduced speed limits, and the possibility of asking RCMP for help with enforcement. A key piece of the recovery program that will continue under the new plan is the ongoing monitoring of the herds, led by both biologists and First Nations game guardians and land monitors. Land monitors and game guardians conduct ground-based monitoring and the Yukon and B.C. governments use GPS collars to track caribou in the herds. During the fall, when the herds congregate, teams also conduct aerial surveys. Luke Wesley, a Taku River Tlingit First Nation land guardian, has been collecting data on the Atlin herd for the last two years. Wesley has participated in on-the-ground monitoring in the winter, using a snowmobile to observe caribou behaviour. He has also conducted different types of aerial surveys. "We dive into the ratios between males, females and calves, to get a better understanding of what the population is like and how it's growing," Wesley said. "And we also do aerial [recreation] surveys to see what's going on in migration routes and to see if there is any human activity affecting these migration routes." This work means a lot to Wesley. "All my uncles and the elders in my community would talk about how they would be able to live off these caribou … and growing up as a kid I wouldn't see very much caribou, never hunted caribou." Wesley said. "And now that they're coming back … it's very special to me." Reason to celebrate after years of sacrifice The Southern Lakes steering committee plans to hold an annual caribou gathering, like the one in Carcross last week, each spring. It will bring Southern Lakes communities together to continue to protect caribou and celebrate what's been accomplished so far. "Really one of the greatest success stories of the Southern Lakes is the fact that … we had nine government leaders up on the stage here at the annual gathering, showing their support for the caribou recovery program generally, and the Caribou Relationship Plan specifically," Jessup said.
