5.2.2 Community Culture
Contemporary Dawson City is a community of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people, government workers, miners, fishers, tourism workers, artists, and writers. It is a community that has integrated non-Indigenous, or newcomer, ideas and Indigenous values into its daily operations.
Photo: Government of Yukon / J Kennedy
Community Culture as a value refers to the contemporary collective culture of all people in the Region. It is made up of all the cultures present in the Region, the number of which is increasing as newcomers continue to arrive from different parts of the world. Community Culture also comes from how those cultures relate, and the shared history of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and newcomers, who began arriving in the Region in the 1850s. While this history is shared, different groups had widely different experiences of events.
The Plan speaks independently to Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Culture, Heritage, and Hän Language (Section 5.2.3), but THFA is an important part of the whole community’s contemporary culture. The THFA is for everyone with a relationship to the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Traditional Territory. The THFA and the many associated boards, committees, processes, and programs guide or influence much that happens in the Region. THFA-related processes and programs include this Plan, YESAB, co-governance of education, and many programs available to all residents. The THFA and the ongoing relationships it represents are central to the community’s evolving collective culture.
Many Klondike Gold Rush-era newcomers brought with them European cultures, languages, and traditions. They also brought values: self-reliance, hard work, and supporting neighbours through hard times were important then and remain so today.
Over the years, an increasing diversity of people have moved to the Region. It isn’t uncommon to hear languages other than English, and there are often restaurants featuring cuisines from other countries and a wide array of imported specialty foods at the grocery stores. Community events are frequent, inclusive, and a way different groups can share and celebrate their culture.
Part of today’s collective culture is telling stories from multiple perspectives: people celebrate some aspects of the gold rush, and also celebrate Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in’s culture and history, which includes the truth of colonialism and its impacts. People value the land for different reasons, including as a relation, a place of beauty, a source of food or income, or all of the above.
Despite the wide range of perspectives, and land-based activities people engage in, community members generally look out for each other, value hard work, and are able to work together. The history of the Region’s salmon fishery provides an example of this attitude. Non-Indigenous people learned skills and stewardship practices from the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and, in working together, they challenged racial divides long present in the community (3). Now, with the fishery closed, salmon conservation and restoration bring together people from all backgrounds who share the vision of plentiful salmon again in the future.
The history of the Klondike Gold Rush and the arrival of newcomers exists throughout the Region, not only at the Klondike National Historic Sites (to which the Plan doesn’t apply). Many sites related to this shared history are known and interpreted, but others are not documented, and stories are still unfolding. The gold rush changed the landscape and influences how people interact with it today.
Storytelling around the gold rush animates Dawson City in the summer with tour guides in period costume leading groups along the boardwalks and Diamond Tooth Gertie’s dancehall filling nightly for shows. The large tourism draw contributes economically and also creates an opportunity to share other stories and elements of the Region with visitors.
The 2023 listing of the Tr’ondëk-Klondike UNESCO World Heritage Site formally recognized eight locations in the Region as showing “dramatic modifications of land use, settlement patterns, and economy caused by the rapid and large scale of the colonising incursion of newcomers into the ancestral land of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in in search of gold and precious minerals. It also testifies to the intense upheaval that impacted the Indigenous people between 1874 and 1908, their dispossession from, and marginalisation in, their ancestral land, as well as their response and adaptation to the progressive colonial affirmation of the newly established Dominion of Canada (75)”.
The Parties (and the federal government, where applicable) protect and regulate historic resources (sites and objects) primarily through the Government of Yukon’s Historic Resources Act (RSY 2002, c.109), the THFA, and Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in’s Heritage Act (76). The Plan makes best efforts to recognize and uphold both Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and Government of Yukon definitions, perspectives, and laws related to historic resources, while honouring Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in’s right to self-define their own heritage (Section 5.2.3). This aligns with the Yukon First Nations Heritage Framework (77) and the multiple ways people can express the Plan principle of Stewardship (Section 2.2.2).
Key Planning Issues
- The diversity of the Region’s community means there are a wide variety of perspectives on best use of land.
- The major worldviews represented by the Parties, and in the Region, have fundamentally different understandings of how people should relate to land.
- There is a collective culture alongside the individual cultures in the Region.
- Historic sites and resources relating to events since the arrival of newcomers can have very different meanings to different people.
Goals
- People of different cultures within the Region respect each other and work together towards common aims.
- Historic sites and artifacts are respected and interpreted from a variety of perspectives.
- There is broad and common understanding of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Final Agreement and its relevance to all people, among all parts of the Region’s community.
Stewardship Directions
- Make best efforts to learn about the other worldviews present within the Region’s community, including their perspectives on heritage and historic resources, and be considerate of them when out on the land, and in designing land-based projects. One way to do this is to attend or volunteer at cultural events such as Moosehide Gathering.
- Share stories about the community’s history, present, and possible futures from many perspectives, with each other and with newcomers.
- During project proposals and assessments, ensure adequate mitigations are provided to protect known historic and resources, including the use of timing windows.
- Follow best practices as well as legislated requirements (Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Heritage Act (76) and Government of Yukon Historic Resources Act [RSY 2002, c.109]) when heritage and historic resources are discovered during land-based activities, with a goal of avoiding negative impacts.
- Become familiar with the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Final Agreement and learn about how it applies to you and the activities you engage in.
- Become familiar with the Official Community Plan for Dawson City.
Implementation Actions
- Ensure resources on the Region’s history and present-day community – including Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in history and contemporary culture, the Klondike Gold Rush from multiple perspectives, and modern co-governance – are available and promoted to current residents, newcomers, and visitors.
- Ensure resources on the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Final Agreement and associated bodies, programs and processes are available and promoted to all people working on the land.
- Create, or support the creation of, “welcome” materials for the Region, Dawson City, and/ or the Klondike Valley that include modern governance and multiple worldviews.