Indigenous land guardians help guide military training exercises in Carcross, Yukon

For the first time, Carcross/Tagish First Nation elders and land guardians helped plan and execute annual Canadian Armed Forces exercises in the Yukon.

Land guardians ensured activities on the land this month wouldn't affect traplines or spiritual sites, and advised which areas might work best for planned maneuvers. They also passed on some winter survival skills.

"Our land monitors and rangers know this land, our territory, better than anyone else," said Sean McDougall, director of heritage, language and culture with C/TFN. "And our territory, especially in the wintertime, can be quite challenging."

Lieut-Col. Peter Sliwowski, commanding officer of the Arctic Response Company Group, said the guidance military personnel received from guardians was "invaluable." 

"They're absolutely incredible," said Sliwowski. "Their elders, also known as knowledge-keepers, have been passing on knowledge of this land for thousands of years."

Sliwowski also described lectures from an elder about how to live on the land if separated from their rations and gear, and how to build a shelter. 

"We had late-night planning sessions here in these conference rooms [at Haa Shagóon Hídi, the Carcross/Tagish First Nation Cultural Centre] with maps and satellite images, trying to understand where we could go, where we wouldn't want to go." 

Nico Helm, a land guardian and Canadian Ranger, said he helped soldiers ride snow machines and offered guidance around winter camping, how to move on the land and keep it clean. 

"I was really honoured to be a part of it and glad it was in our area," Helm said. "It was a really interesting experience. It meant a lot." 

During a wrap-up ceremony on the weekend, soldiers joked about being "humbled quickly" by the mountainous terrain near Carcross, and said they were deeply impressed by the skill shown by land guardians. 

"We had the whole platoon hung up on a 30-metre hill that, you know, the land guardians are just bombing up and down, wondering why it's such an issue for us," laughed Master Cpl. William Barrett.

"Previously, we didn't have a lot of say about what was happening on our land and why," said McDougall, pointing to the construction of the Alaska Highway. 

The highway was built during the Second World War to connect Canada and the U.S. and service military outposts. Construction profoundly affected Yukon First Nations by interrupting established traplines, trails and animal migration routes, without regard to First Nations' use of the land.  

Increased government presence led to new rules, which limited hunting and increased pressure to send children to residential schools. Soldiers who arrived to build the highway brought diseases like influenza and tuberculosis, which led to widespread illness and death.