21st Century Yukon: Reconciliation and a Modern Economy

The Empire Club Presents

The Honourable Sandy Silver, Premier of Yukon

With:

21st Century Yukon: Reconciliation and a Modern Economy

Welcome Address, by Barbara Jesson, President of Jesson + Company Communications Inc. and President of the Empire Club of Canada

May 30, 2018

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. From the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Toronto, welcome, to the Empire Club of Canada. For those of you just joining us through either our webcast or our podcast, welcome, to the meeting.

Before our distinguished speaker is formally introduced, today, it gives me great pleasure to introduce our Head Table Guests. I would like each Guest to rise for a brief moment and be seated as your name is called. I would ask the audience to refrain from applauding until the Head Table Guests have been introduced.

Head Table

Distinguished Guest Speaker:

The Honourable Sandy Silver, Premier of Yukon

Guests:

Mr. Peter Armstrong, Host of On The Money, CBC News Network

Mr. Ali Badruddin, Managing Director, StrategyCorp Inc.; Director, Empire Club of Canada

Mr. Brent Bergeron, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs and Sustainability, Goldcorp

Ms. Tara Christie, President and Chief Executive Officer, Banyan Gold Corp.

Mr. Tobin Davis, Executive Vice President, Colliers International

Mr. David de Launay, Deputy Minister, Ontario Ministry of Northern Development and Mines

Mr. John McConnell, President, Director and Chief Executive Officer, Victoria Gold Corp.

The Honourable Ranj Pillai, Deputy Premier and Minister of Economic Development, Government of Yukon

My name is Barbara Jesson. I am the President of Jesson + Company Communications and the President of the Empire Club of Canada. Ladies and gentlemen, your Head Table Guests.

Earlier this month, I spent some time in Berchtesgaden in Germany. For those of you who do not know it, the infamous Eagle’s Nest sits just above the village at an elevation of 1834 metres. Of course, it was quite dramatic to be there. Let me share something with you. Several years ago, a good friend and her husband made the drive from Edmonton to Dawson City. They sent me daily photographic updates, and I tell you, truly, moment for moment, there cannot be more jaw-droppingly gorgeous scenic prospects anywhere on the planet. The Yukon has been on my bucket list ever since.

Just to put things in perspective, Mount Logan, the highest peak in the Yukon and the second highest in North America, stands at 5,959 metres. That is roughly 3,000 metres higher than the Eagle’s Nest. There are few places on earth that have not been examined, mapped and recorded in the most detailed minutiae—parts of Africa, perhaps, and until the crash of Malaysia aircraft MH370, the southernmost parts of the Indian Ocean.

I read, recently, that it was not until last year that a BioBlitz in the Yukon turned up dozens of new species of flora and fauna that had never been recorded.

I grew up with my father reciting Robert Service poems with great dramatic flair. I think, like most people living below the 60th parallel, the Yukon remains, for me, a mythic frontier.

For the some 40,000 hardy inhabitants—many of them First Nations—the realities of life, the dreams, the hardships, the challenges, everyday concerns of earning a living and anxieties about climate change, are everyday facts.

Here to help us separate fact from myth and learn more about Canada’s westernmost territory, its harsh realities, the need for industry and investment to sustain its peoples, the hurdles it faces in preserving its pristine splendor and reconciling growth to include its First Nations peoples is the Premier of the Yukon, Sandy Silver.

Sandy Silver moved to Dawson in 1998. The incredible community spirit he found there, which allows anyone who is ready, willing, and able to contribute, made it abundantly clear that Dawson would become his home.

He was first elected to the Yukon Legislative Assembly as the MLA for Klondike in 2011 and re-elected in 2016. In representing his riding, he works closely with the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation, the City of Dawson, the Dawson City Chamber of Commerce, the Klondike Placer Miners’ Association and other non-profit organizations.

Under his leadership, his caucus laid out four key priorities for the Yukon: Balancing economic growth and environmental protection, working in partnership with First Nations governments in the spirit of reconciliation, putting a greater emphasis on the importance of local decision-making by communities and cultivating a government that is open and accountable to the people of the Yukon.

Sandy Silver was sworn in as the Premier on December 3, 2016. He became the first MLA for Klondike to serve as Premier of the Yukon, and he is also the minister responsible for the Executive Council Office, which includes Aboriginal relations and intergovernmental relations, the Minister of Finance, and a member of the Members’ Services Board and Management Board.

Ladies and gentlemen, please, join me in welcoming Premier Silver to the Empire Club podium.

The Honourable Sandy Silver

Hello, everybody. Thank you very much for being here today, and thank you very much for that wonderful introduction. I want to thank, first and foremost, the Empire Club for having me here today, for my opportunity to be able to talk about something so near and dear to my heart, the Yukon, and, of course, the Klondike.

I would also like to take an opportunity to begin by thanking our sponsor for this event, Goldcorp. Goldcorp has been active in the Yukon since 2016. Brent Bergeron and I were just having a conversation. It is amazing—it has been two years so far. It has just gone by so quickly. They have made their presence felt in the Yukon and the Klondike in so many powerful ways. They are one of those companies that just gets it. They recognize the importance of building a foundation of respect with the local First Nations and with the community as well. To that end, in April, Goldcorp, signed a very important collaborative agreement with the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, which is the First Nations in the Klondike region, which is where a significant part of their work is taking place. This arrangement, this agreement, makes a new and bold way of approaching business in the Yukon, and it shows just how well Goldcorp understands the way to get things done in the Yukon. I want to congratulate Goldcorp, and I want to thank them for sponsoring us here, today.

The Yukon has an absolutely important story to tell. It is a story that Canada needs to hear. Believe it or not, I am not here to talk about the Gold Rush of the 1890s; I am not here to talk about Gold Rush, the TV show, either; although, a lot of the miners that you see on that TV show were once in my classroom in Dawson City, a classroom at Robert Service High School.

I am here today to talk about my government’s relationship with Yukon First Nations governments and the impact that this relationship is having on our economy, the positive impact that this is having on our economy.

In Yukon, we have 14 distinct First Nations groups. Each one has its own governance structure that has been established long before the arrivals of settlers on their lands. We may be a small territory, but we are proof that concrete actions to advance reconciliation with First Nations governments can be a reality, and it can create prosperity, not just for First Nations, but for all citizens.

I would like to begin with some basic facts about myself and also about the Yukon, as this is my first time here speaking at the Empire Club. As I mentioned, I was a teacher by trade. I worked as the high school math teacher in Dawson City at Robert Service School for many years until turning into politics in 2011 and, as mentioned, I was elected as Premier in November of 2016, one day before Donald Trump was elected. I did not hog the newspapers that day.

The Yukon is a very small territory with a population of approximately 38,000 people. To put that into perspective, the University of Toronto is twice that size. Again, our small size is one of the reasons why we are able to be leaders when it comes to relations with First Nations governments.

It is kind of like a sample size of a bigger population. It is a petri dish of amazing opportunities. Approximately 25% of our populations are First Nations people, many of whom live in the smaller communities outside of Whitehorse, like the community of Dawson City, where I live.

Finally, the most relevant of these remarks from me today, is that 11 of Yukon’s 14 First Nations have signed constitutionally protected modern treaties as well as self-governing agreements. To put that into perspective, right across Canada, there are only 26 modern comprehensive treaties. We have roughly half of those treaties in the Yukon alone, in this small sample size.

I am not Indigenous. Therefore, I do not speak on behalf of First Nations governments, but I can speak about my experiences in the classroom, and I can speak to you about my experiences as Premier.

The treaties in the Yukon are young. The first four of those treaties are only just now celebrating their 25th anniversary. I like to call it their silver anniversary. Sorry. I started my teaching career in the Yukon basically when these modern treaties were being signed. I knew very little of self-governing back in that time. To be quite truthful and frank, I knew very little about teaching at that time as well. I was in my first year; I was young; and I was excited to finally have a paying job.

I want to tell you a little story of one of my first relationships that I had with an Indigenous youth in one of my first years teaching. Before I was in Dawson, I taught in Whitehorse for a couple of years. This was in my first year, and I met this student—we will call him Richard, not his real name. The kid was a very bright, First Nations kid from the community, but he was out of his element. Back in Yukon, a lot of the communities are not big enough to support a high school, so you do your high school years in the capital. This is one of these students. Richard was deemed, right off the bat, to be a problem student. He was deemed to be a problem student because he wore his ball cap at school. You have got to imagine coming from the communities, where that is your armour. That is your armour. You are considered a defiant student right off the bat just for something small like that. To the administration, that was a defiant act. I was in charge of the defiant rural kids. It was a job that I absolutely loved, and it was a job that I was good at. We had a lot of these students challenge academic exams back then. We were very successful in challenging those exams and putting them back into academic streams. Richard was a little more of a tough sale.

I was not the slick salesman that you see up here before you today, back then, when I was trying to bestow the virtues of post-secondary education to young Richard. His excellent rebuttal at that time to my amateur pitch has stuck with me my whole life. I said, “Richard, you are First Nations. You’ve got the whole world by your tail. You have post-secondary education paid for. Let us get you an education. Let us get you a post-secondary education and there you go. Off you go.” Richard’s response was basically—I remember this pretty much word for word: “No offense, Mr. Silver, I make enough money in the summertime working for my uncle’s concession in outfitting than you do all year. Comparatively, I do pretty good. If I got a degree, I would have to leave my community. I would have to go somewhere else with that degree. Education is for white folks.” That is what he said. I did not realize then—and I wish I did. I wish I knew more about self-governing at that time, but, 20 years ago, Richard was right. There were not many opportunities for students like Richard in the Yukon, let alone in his community.

The number of Indigenous employees in the territorial government at that time was not motivational. I would say that you could say the same thing right across Canada. Even today, the number of Indigenous people in prisons—those are exceptional numbers. But when you take a look at provincial and territorial governments, those numbers are abysmal comparatively.

Where I saw the world as full of opportunity, it was smaller in scope for Richard. At that time, I did not see the benefits of self-governing, and it was happening right in front of us. It was just starting in the Yukon.

Today, 25 years later, after historic beginnings of self-governance in the Yukon, there are well-paying jobs, sophisticated industry jobs, and government jobs that Richard could have chosen from—jobs in the community, jobs with the territorial government or, most importantly, with the First Nations government. These are not band halls, folks, these are governments. There are also great jobs with industry as well and opportunities for self-employment. I call this ‘the reverse brain drain’ in the Yukon. In the communities that have self-governing First Nations, these effects are absolutely dramatic.

One of the defining issues of the 21st century in Canada will be if and how the imbalanced relationships between Canada and First Nations evolve into true partnerships. Whenever the topic of discussion in Canada is First Nations, the conversation inevitably turns to reconciliation. Reconciliation is one of those words that means so many different things to so many different people. It is a loaded word, and it is a word that is often used as a catch-all with little thought to what it actually means. What does ‘reconciliation’ actually mean, in practice? Reconciliation is not a First Nations issue. Reconciliation is a Canadian issue. If we are going to achieve real reconciliation, Canadians must appreciate and agree to the importance of reconciling our past.

The Yukon is a case study for what reconciliation in practice actually looks like. We have final agreements that give decision-making authority to Indigenous people. We have First Nations governments that have powerful voices, which create positive changes for their people. We have an economy that has shifted to include First Nations decision makers. This, in turn, has contributed to the economy in a very positive way. We are flourishing right now.

Perhaps the most significant and effective means of advancing reconciliation in Canada is through modern treaties and self-government. As I have already mentioned, Yukon is a leader in the negotiation of modern comprehensive treaties with Indigenous people, not just in Canada, but in the world. Yukon’s agreements set out substantial power and benefit to Yukon First Nations governments, in areas such as financial autonomy, constitutionally protected rights to lands and to resources, and increased capacity and law-making capacity and authority.

This year, we just celebrated the 45th anniversary of a very historic event in Canada—for Yukon and for Canada. In 1973, a delegation of Yukon First Nations chiefs travelled down to Ottawa with a landmark document. It was called “Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow.” It is a statement of grievances, and it is an approach to land claims settlements that was written by First Nations for First Nations people. The importance of this document absolutely cannot be overstated. It has been an instrumental document in shaping how reconciliation in practice has progressed in the Yukon over the past four decades. We can look back now with a clear line of sight and see the path from “Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow” as a document to the modern Yukon Umbrella Final Agreement, the UFA, and the 11 final and self-governing agreements.

The final agreements are modern comprehensive treaties that are protected through Section 35 of the Canadian Constitution, and they address such issues as land, fish and wildlife, the management of natural and heritage resources, and also economic development. These agreements are now the foundation of a more modern and fair governance process in Yukon. They strengthen government-to-government relationships and enhance our ability to both protect the environment and support sustainable economic growth.

Over the past year and a half that I have had the honour of being the Yukon’s Premier, collaboration with First Nations governments has been a major priority in our government. Our government has approached collaboration in numerous ways, all centred around the concept that when we meet together, and we speak face to face, we can move forward in the same direction. We have reestablished the Yukon Forum. The Yukon Forum is a quarterly meeting between my government, the Yukon government, and all of the 14 First Nations leaders. It involves Ministers; the Premier; the Grand Chief of the Yukon, Peter Johnston; the chiefs of all of the First Nations; the councillors; the bureaucrats; the public servants of all governments in a room together. Starting with some easy wins over the year, and now getting into our fifth and our sixth Yukon Forum, the conversations are getting down to some real tough conversations. I welcome those conversations. These Forums give all the parties an opportunity to speak very frankly about shared goals and concerns and opportunities, but also what is ahead of us, what the struggles will be ahead of us, together.

We have also asked the chiefs to meet us in meetings with the federal government as well. We hold triparty meetings in Ottawa when we come down here to meet with the Ministers. We are seeing tangible results, tangible successes from this.

Specifically, we are seeing greater flexibility when it comes to federal funding that allows us to maximize the benefits of these dollars that they bring to the Yukon, to all communities. Another key collaboration has taken place at the annual AMC Roundup Conference. We send a large delegation every year, and, last year, along with Deputy Premier Ranj Pillai; the Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources; and myself hosted a luncheon. This is a luncheon with all of the chiefs and the mining executives as well.

The attendees were available and able for the first time to have frank conversations and discussions about issues, relationships, priorities and goals with all the key actors in the room, together at the same time. All parties were able to speak, again, like at the Yukon Forum, very frankly, about their aspirations and their goals as well as their concerns. It was a fantastic start and the first of its kind—it was the first time we have done that in the Yukon. It is very important to recognize that this kind of deep collaboration between the governments is new, and it is working. We are getting to the point where these conversations are flourishing. It has taken significant time and effort to get there to where we had that respectful, trusting relationship between the government that I lead and the First Nations governments—just like everything else that is worthwhile.

In responding to these collaborative conversations, we have taken many actions. Earlier this month, we signed a new resource royalty sharing agreement with the First Nations. This agreement settles a long-standing dispute about the interpretations of the Umbrella Final Agreement and will give the self-governing First Nations a much larger portion of the shared royalties. This is a tangible example of how our government is working and is willing to work with the First Nations governments to respect the benefits from the resource extraction and how that must be properly shared. That is the thing about modern treaties: The traditional territories are put up for everybody, and all that is asked in return is that vision, together, on our resources, but they are at the table for those resources.

Our goal, as a government—for First Nations governments, municipal governments, territorial governments—is the same. We just want better for our people. We want positive improvements to the wellbeing of our citizens. Reconciliation, again, that loaded word—to us reconciliation is about coming together and uniting around common goals. It is a powerful thing to have all First Nations governments and the Yukon government advocating for Yukon issues with a single voice.

I would like to move to you about some specific areas in the economic arena. We will call it ‘economic reconciliation’, if you will. First, a few quick facts about the economy in the Yukon right now, which can be summed up with one statement. It is booming, and it is booming thanks to a lot of people in this room. At just 2.3% in April of 2018, our unemployment is the lowest in Canada, and it has been that way for over a year now. In 2018, the real GDP is expected to grow by 4.4%; and, in 2018, it is expected to grow a further 7.4%. Much of this expected growth is tied to an upswing in the resource sector where increased metal prices have led to an increase in exploration dollars, and there are several projects and mines that are on the queue to be open in the next few years.

It is important to note that it was not so long ago the rest of Canada was reaping the benefits of a positive GDP growth while the Yukon was in a recession. There was no quartz mining happening. The territorial government was fighting First Nations governments over federally legislated rights to lands and to resources. Now, according to the most recent Conference Board of Canada economic forecast, the Yukon was the only territory to see an increase in mining exploration for 2017. All the indications are that that swing is going to continue this year.

We can attribute the success to a few different things, absolutely. But one very important element is that our government has changed the tone of our relationship with the First Nations from adversarial to collaborative.

The proposition that I am making here, today, is that through setting a new, respectful tone at the political level between the Yukon government and the First Nations governments, we are witnessing a ripple effect that has created positive movement in our economy. Several companies, either working in the Yukon or considering working in the Yukon, are here listening to my remarks, today. This, in itself, shows that the industry recognizes the importance of this issue that I am speaking of, and I am so thankful for your support and also your leadership on this topic.

The Yukon government is taking a role as facilitator for those conversations between industry and First Nations governments. It is about capacity building. We want to support the businesses who show amazing leadership and understanding, like Goldcorp and others, that know and that just get it.

Where previously the government chose a more adversarial approach, our MO is to work towards agreements instead of letting the courts decide our future. We want to bring industry and First Nations to the same table and work together on the same issues. This is how we are shifting the approach to the relationship between the First Nations governments and industry by bringing everybody to the table and by creating an honest, safe place where respectful relationships can be built upon trust and can be developed.

I would like to take a few moments to thank and to speak to a few amazing examples that we are witnessing as showing tangible shifts and as showing how industry is taking the project development and exploration in the Yukon seriously when it comes to First Nations relations. These examples demonstrate how those Yukon businesses are building the economy that creates real opportunity for self-governing First Nations, but also how it is creating opportunities for all Yukoners.

This past January, for example, an exploration agreement was signed between the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations and Strategic Metals Ltd., which is a local exploration company, and this was an agreement related to any exploration happening in that First Nations traditional territory.

This particular agreement is notable because it guarantees consultation between the two parties will begin at the earliest phase of exploration and will continue throughout the whole process of the project. Legally, in the Yukon, that is not necessarily necessary. Consultation generally takes part in some of the later stages of the department, depending upon the size and the location. Strategic Metals President and CEO, Doug Eaton, whom a lot of people in this room know for his legacy of working with First Nations, understands the value of working with the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations.

If you want to develop projects in the Yukon, you need to foster positive relationships with the First Nations from the get-go. You need to work with them to create opportunities for their citizens and, in turn, opportunities and benefits for Yukon citizens.

Another great example of how industry is working with First Nations in new and innovative ways is BMC Minerals’ Kudz Ze Kayah Project. It is located in the southeast region of Yukon. Their relationship with the Kaska First Nation has created significant employment and educational opportunities for the local First Nation. It has given many youth and entrepreneurs the experience that they need to be successful in work, in life and beyond the project.

Since acquiring the project in 2015, BMC has granted 70% of major site contracts—70% valued at over $7 million to Kaska-owned companies. They have also placed a priority on mentoring Kaska businesses to make sure that these businesses meet standard contracting procedures and prerequisites and to enable them to prepare bids for the next contract season and the next contract season. Their work with Kaska community looks to the future as well. They have supported and created a number of scholarships and educational programs to help the youth gain professional education qualifications as well.

When I talk about some of these initiatives, I cannot help but think back to Richard, my student, back so many years ago, and how important these programs would have been to a student like that back then. These are only just two cases of how industry is taking steps towards creating trusting bilateral relationships between themselves and Yukon First Nations, and they are only two. We have so many incredible examples—“Every Student. Every Day” with Victoria Gold and Goldcorp’s apprenticeship programs. There are so many. I know there are so many companies here that have so many things that they want to share as far as what they are doing to work with those First Nations. I could spend my whole speech talking about these programs.

The point is the tide is turning. This new approach is one that I hope to continue to see in the Yukon and across the country. I believe that we will. It is the governments that are maturing to some of these companies and their ways of working with First Nations as well. I really, truly appreciate the leadership that we are seeing from the junior mining companies and how that now is being fostered by the senior mining companies.

Some of you may be thinking it might be a little bit rich for me to argue that a shift in political attitude has anything to do with creating prosperity when largely mining is boom and bust. It is true that general success in the resource industry is largely dependent on metal prices, absolutely. However, I would argue that because of the Yukon’s new approach to First Nations relationships where we are no longer seeing each other at court cases but are actually seeing each other at the table together, we are very confident about our priorities, and we are very confident about promoting the productive relationships between industry and First Nations. All of this we believe, honestly, is creating a significantly stronger and more stable investment climate. We have created security for investors because we have created security in our relationships.

This new investment climate, combined with an upswing in the boom and bust mining cycle, means that this is a great time to be a Yukoner, and it is an absolute great time to be investing in the Yukon.

I would like to take a moment to look forward to an institution that promotes reconciliation in practice, through education. You have all seen on your tables the brochures. Next year, Yukon College will open the first university north of 60, fantastic. This is currently Yukon College, and it will become Yukon University. For the past decade, an Indigenous lens has been extremely vital in the development of programming at the college as we plan towards the university.

We are starting with a Bachelor of Indigenous Governance, BIG. I like to call it the ‘notorious BIG’ because it is the first north of the 60. This is going to be offered in the fall, and it is developed hand in hand with those 14 different First Nations. They have been involved in curriculum development. They have been involved in content—everything, the pedagogy, you name it. We are very, very proud of this course. This commitment to Indigenization has earned Yukon College national recognition. In 2015, the Yukon College was the inaugural recipient of the Colleges and Institutions Canada Gold Medal for Indigenous Education Excellence. In 2017, the MasterCard Foundation and the Rideau Hall Foundation sought out Yukon College because of its reputation of building strong relationships with its territory and with its territorial Indigenous communities. Yukon College was awarded $4.6 million to deliver innovative educational initiatives designed with First Nations and intending to help Yukon First Nations succeed in education. And, that progress, I am so proud to announce, is starting this past year into this course.

Yukon College is a leader in Canada for Indigenous education. The Yukon aims to be there as well when it comes to, as I talked to you about before, reconciliation in practice. These are fantastic examples.

Through the Government of Yukon’s approach to shifting the tone in the relationships between government and industry, we are witnessing a positive effect in the economy. This demonstrates the true power and potential of economic reconciliation. When First Nations governments make decisions to support projects—this is very important—they are considering not just the short term, but the long term, both the positive and the negative. Here is the point. Yukon First Nations governments can do something that our governments have a hard time to do, whether it is a federal government or a territorial government or a provincial government. They can get the social license needed for a project. This is really important. This is a major part of reconciliation in the context of the economy, and it is an answer to the question “Can you have the economy and the environment as well?” Yes, you can, by partnerships.

In conclusion, my government recognizes the importance that reconciliation plays in the future of Canada. We believe that an essential part of reconciliation is recognizing the value of having First Nations at the table when decisions about our shared resources are being made. We strive to build true, collaborative relationships between industry and First Nations governments, and we are doing this for a number of reasons: Because it is right; because it works; it is what is needed to see a successful future for projects in our territory. The Yukon is a stable, progressive investment location in a time of economic uncertainty in North America and the world. I hope my remarks today have helped you to recognize the true potential that exists in this most remarkable community that we are so privileged to call home, the Yukon. Thank you very much, everyone.

Questions & Answers

Q: Thank you, Premier. I really enjoyed your remarks. My name is Sherry Campbell. I am with the Gordon Foundation. I am interested in hearing about all the opportunities for the mining sector, but I am interested in other businesses, other opportunities for small and medium enterprises in your province.

SS: Great question. We came into power, and there is always discrepancy over the books and where your financial situation is, so, as opposed to bickering and arguing, from a political lens, concerning what the financial situation was, we started what is called the Yukon Financial Advisory Panel, which was a third-party organization that came in, that was made up of individuals from Yukon and also from the nation, to show us where we are and what we should do to make sure that the Yukon is on a sustainable path.

One of the main considerations from that was that the Yukon Territorial Government needs to get out of the business of doing business. When you are a territorial government, and you get devolved all the responsibilities that Ottawa used to have in the territories, you take on all that responsibility. Years later, you ask Why are we still doing these things that we are doing? whether it is about land development or whether it is initiatives in the tourism industry. There are so many opportunities for us to grow our economy in a capitalistic model.

What we are trying to do—and Ranj Pillai is not only the Deputy Premier, but also the Minister of Economic Development and the minister responsible for Yukon Development Corporation—is work with our partners to see where these opportunities lie for us to get out of the business of doing business. It is working. We are seeing a lot of progression in that field.

Minister Jeanie Dendy, who is a Tahltan First Nation citizen is the Head of Tourism and Culture. She is working on a tourism strategy across Yukon. That is the main question. We want to be more the cultural side of Culture and Tourism, and we want the tourism sector to flourish and be a private sector consideration.

Here are a couple of different examples. We are always looking to make more partnerships. We are in a unique opportunity right now with federal dollars, whether it is gateway funds, which is about $.5 billion in money from Ottawa for mining roads or community investment fund or wastewater, well water fund—there are so many 25-cent dollars coming from Ottawa. We pay 25¢; they pay 75¢. We cannot do all this alone. We need to have a productive private sector. Without a productive private sector, and without these partnerships, we are going to leave money on the table. We are working with the First Nations governments. These conversations come up at the Yukon Forum all the time, and it is these partnerships in the communities—we have one small community in the Yukon called Teslin that has a great arrangement, a ten-year plan between its municipality and its First Nation. It is a moving, growing plan, and it is a great model for the other communities, so we are going around to all of the different communities in the Yukon, and we are finding best-case practices, and we are trying to implement those as skeletons—not necessarily models, but skeletons—for other communities to implement. We, again, are fostering those conversations.

Q: Good afternoon. Canada is a resource-based economy. Our economy, of course, and our standard of living depend on developing those resources and delivering those resources. For that, we need access to capital, to pools of risk capital for which there is worldwide competition. One of the advantages we have is that we are considered as a politically risk-free environment with a system of laws. As you know, that is a very valuable tool in getting that risk capital. What will the impact be of the recent decision of the federal government to nationalize a pipeline project rather than follow the laws? I know the impact it will have on the taxpayers, but you clearly recognize how important it is to have stable government in laws. What is your opinion on the impact of that? Thank you..

SS: I do not have a briefing note on that. Here is an interesting anecdote for our position in the north when it comes to the resource industry and the federal government. The gateway money that I spoke about was kind of a hangover. It was a hangover from the Harper government. Two different territories got their money. The deal was not struck in the Yukon. It was kind of a Rubik’s Cube of a deal where if you were a First Nation in the northernmost community, you had to say yes to the agreements on the bottommost community. It was very convoluted. The Minister and I spent a lot of time with Sohi. We finally got the deal done. We got the First Nations to sign in concept on this deal. We could not believe we got it done, but we did. It was so important that Trudeau came up to make the announcement. We told him, at that time that we really believe there is a divide in Canada. We are in Toronto right now. I think that for a lot of the youth in the big cities—there is a divide between what goes on in the rural communities and how important the resource industry is to our economy. We get it in the Yukon. We are convincing the federal government how important it is. If you can strike these deals with First Nations communities in the north and promote the development of our resources in a sustainable manner that considers not just this generation, but seven generations of Canadians, you are going to connect the divide. We all have our devices. I got here on an airplane. We all use the minerals. Would it not be better to have these minerals being developed in Canada, in a developed, progressive nation than in other jurisdictions around the world? I am not saying other jurisdictions are necessarily bad, but we have an opportunity, here, to lead Canada. We have an opportunity to lead the international community, and we need a federal government that supports initiatives like resource development, especially, in the north.

Q: Christiane Bergevin—I am with Hydro One, and I also chair the Canadian Chamber of Commerce. We did visit Yukon last year, and you spoke to us. Several people here are members, including Brent Bergeron, who is on our board. I would like to congratulate you on what you have done for First Nations. That is amazing. It creates leaderships. One observation and one question. I was telling my colleagues at Hydro One how amazing our visit last summer was in terms of tourism—the old train; the river; the potential to take the highway to Alaska; an incredible airline, Air North, that is owned by First Nations, which is the best airline I have ever used in Canada. None of us knows much about it, so I am wondering, because you mentioned tourism, what are the initiatives to make this greater awareness?

Second thing, on the power side, as you developthe mining potential, you have a very substantial hydro-electric potential, which does require collaboration with First Nations. Some studies were made in fact even to export to Alaska, so can you comment on what you envisaged in terms of potential developments in that sector or partnerships with First Nations? Thank you.

SS: Sure. First, speaking about Air North, which is Yukon’s airline, I can speak all day about that partnership—majority shared is the Vuntut Gwich’in First Nation. When I first got to the Yukon back in 1996, I did so with a one-way plane ticket from Vancouver to Whitehorse with Canadian Airline—$800. Because we have this airline that is locally owned and cares about the people and cares about the economy, you can get back and forth—I mean the amazing deal, on average, is $240 for a return sometimes. You get these passes; you get these opportunities to be in the shares, to be a shareholder of the company. It is just a fantastic airline—best cookies you will ever eat. You see so many tourists come, and they ask, “They are feeding us for free? What is going on here? This is amazing.” It is just an amazing airline. It wins international awards all the time because of how amazing it is and how progressive it is, because it was one of the first companies.

We have other companies like Northern Vision Development as well who has major shareholders, which have First Nations equity in those companies. And Minister Pillai can speak about this ad nauseum, and does, as he is very passionate about this because he came from that private sector that worked with those First Nations, and the hotels—they have a controlling majority on the hotels in the Yukon now. There have been initiatives with the private sector. Now, you are seeing a territorial government that is catching up with these partnerships. I think that is the most important piece.

We had a great meeting last night with some people from the investment community. I said it is not like we are inventing something. What we are doing is we are taking the chapters of the Umbrella Final Agreement, and we are implementing them. We did not invent them; we just believe in them. That is the most important piece. There are particular chapters for economic development. We are following it by the letter. There are deals to roads accesses. We are following that to the letter. There is land use planning that we are following to the letter as well, and it is working.

It is pretty interesting watching the territorial government and the departments slowly go, “Well, can we do this?” And they put their foot into that pathway. It is like, “Yes, of course, you can do that.” That is exactly what our mandate is. It was great to see that. Moving that on to the business sector, to the tourism sector, again, all the First Nations governments have folks that are working on tourism in their individual communities. Minister Dendy has just got back from Teslin, on a community tour where Teslin wants to be more of a gateway. There is this community right beside Teslin called Carcross. They nail it. If you ever go to Yukon, you have to go to Carcross. It has got this beautiful tourism area, and it is at the top of the whole Chilkoot Trail and the Lake Bennett System. It is just the history that is there and to have that history being presented with a First Nations lens goes so far beyond an amazing story anyway.

The Gold Rush is such an amazing story. It really is, but then to have that story told from the lens of the First Nations perspective, that is the model. And, honestly, that First Nations perspective affected my community of Dawson City so long ago, and then I myself came up as a Cheechako back in 1996, and saw this community that gets along—the placer miners are getting along with the First Nations and actually they are the same people. That is the model. I am not reinventing something. I am taking this concept that these communities emulate, and we are putting it for the first time on a political level as a government. It is working. What we are doing is facilitating pathways of conversations, whether it be tourism, whether it be hospitality, and we are seeing palpable examples of how this is a success story.

Q: Hi, my name is Jennifer Corriero with TakingITGlobal and the Connected North Program. I am so glad to ask you a question after you mentioned Carcross because I have been working closely with Carcross/Tagis First Nation and Ghùch Tlâ Community School for the past few years. My question to you, as part of the Connected North Program, is related to the gap.

As you know, high school students go to Whitehorse. We think about K–12 education and pathways to post-secondary because we also partner with Yukon College, and we work with schools in northern communities throughout Nunavut and Northwest Territories—I just came back last week. My question to you builds off the vision of Chief Peter Johnston and also Chief Kluane Adamek, whom we supported in her role as founder of Our Voices and gatherings to support youth, and it is how do we support education pathways and leveraging the power of technology? I am just curious about your vision in the Yukon, in particular.

SS: Oh, my god, do not get me started. In my classroom, I was one of the first classrooms to have Promethean boards in my classroom for technology. I tell you, it really helps in those high schools. Dawson City is a small community. The populations of high schools are based upon a formula. If your town is shrinking, you get to a point where all of a sudden, you cannot afford to actually present a high school and keep all the teachers that you need for high school. We had to become very creative. In one classroom, I was teaching grades 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12 for both academic and non-academic courses— trades, math—all at the same time. I tell you, that would be something where in other areas they would be saying, “Talk to my union; we cannot do that.”

As a community—Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, the First Nation in that community. They are doing so many important things as they draw down on the specific chapter of their self-governing agreements, so Chapter 17-7 when it comes to education. They are a leader in Canada, just like the Mi’kmaq in Nova Scotia. To have them empowering us through their CELC workers and having a community aspect to how we teach—we decided to just break the barriers and just do these things. Through all those adverse situations comes amazing innovation. What we noticed, at that time, was the whole teacher standing at the front of the classroom was gone. You cannot do that anymore. You need technology. You need that innovation to make sure that everybody can learn at their own pace. When you have some people that come from not necessarily the best communities or, sorry, the best families, you might miss a couple of days; you might miss a month. To be able to come back and actually start exactly where you left off—I tell you, it was the most amazing experience for me to watch that, and then to know that this is a safe place, and you are not going to get penalized for being a day behind. Technology helps with that. I could not do that without technology. It is so very important to what I stand for and the reason why I got involved in politics to begin with. In Carcross, as well, there are lots of issues. We do have a divide. The graduation rates for First Nations are not where they are supposed to be yet.

There is a secondary stream in a lot of high schools right across Canada that I do not want to talk about right now because I will get pretty emotional about it, and we are doing our best to make sure that does not happen. It takes leadership. When you are just pushing kids along, you do not know that; parents do not know that sometimes until grade 12. The problems start in grade 8. We are making sure that does not happen. We are trying our best to make sure the kids are showing up ready—willing and able to work—and that education is something that they are empowered with.

There is this concept of educating as for and during education. You start out with this concept of What mark you want? What do you need to do? Where are you going in life? What do you want to accomplish? You start with that goal, and you say, “Okay, as of today, you are going to accomplish that goal.” It blows people away. All of a sudden, it is every day we are going to make sure you maintain. That brings self-worth to individual students. That is something that I am very proud to work on.

I want to touch back in on the question, as well, from the folks in the back on power. There are lots of concepts going on right now. In terms of the Canadian Investment Bank, if we were going to be considered for that particular fund of money, we would be considering connecting to a national grid. And that is a big question and something that my Minister is working very hard on with his department to see if this is something that Canada and British Columbia wants to do. In that conversation, we have an untested, independent power production policy. We have all these First Nations that are working, whether it is on wind, solar, or hydro that can feed into a bigger system. When you have all of these people working together in synergy, and you are putting all of those conversations on the table—in the past, it might have been more guarded conversations. Everybody had their own particular projects. There are no secrets. We are putting everything on the table. People know what we are considering. When they know that the Minister is pushing forward for connecting to the grid, that changes people’s perspective, and it makes them understand what our intentions are, not just on a budgetary consideration for one year, but on a longer-term basis.

We have done that in energy. We are doing that with our budget cycle as well. We have, now, a five-year budget plan where we show our capital investments of our five-year project. Again, all of this is to make sure that we facilitate partnerships in our investment to our infrastructure, but it also is there to make sure that everybody knows what we are doing. We can work together with the municipalities. We can work together. The municipality is doing a new building. That building, alone, is going to take a lot of our construction people. We want to make sure that we are planning around that. The more that we show, the more that we have the ability to work together when we partner on these infrastructure initiatives. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. Thanks, everybody.

Note of Appreciation, by Brent Bergeron, Executive Vice President, Corporate Affairs & Sustainability, Goldcorp

Thank you very much, Barbara. Thank you, everyone, for being here, today. It is a pleasure for me to be up here to speak about the Yukon.

My role at Goldcorp is actually to be in charge of corporate affairs and sustainability across all of our operations. Because I deal a lot with other countries, too, the normal tradition is that I would just acknowledge everyone in the room that is extremely important and all of our guests, but I will bypass that today because I only have five minutes. That is all they gave me to speak.

I will start off by just mentioning that Goldcorp actually purchased the Kaminak Coffee Gold Project back in May of 2016. It has already been two years since we have done that. Just to update everybody very quickly, the current status of the project is that we are currently in the permitting phase. We are going through the optimization of it, also, which includes a lot of technical engineering, which is an important aspect that also falls into the consultative part of what we do, which is extremely important when we look at the importance of working with government, with First Nations, also, to make sure that as you are advancing your project, you are doing it in a way that is open, transparent and very collaborative to make sure that there are no surprises. The reason why I am bringing this up is that it is important that you have a very strong partnership with government, and, in this case, Premier Sandy Silver and his team, because it is important for them to act as a facilitator for us with the different community groups to make sure that the project is being developed in terms of all the questions and concerns that are being brought along the way, ensuring that the regulatory process is also moving forward. And we have seen in the last months here in Canada that that can sometimes be a problem that can lead to what some people consider to be even bigger problems in the future. I will hold my opinion on that one.

Also, and I think the Premier made a very important point, that those two first points are actually very clear in terms of how processes are moving along, how collaboration is put in place, how consultation is put in place to lead to more investment in your territory and to lead to more investment in your jurisdiction. It is important that the rules are set in a way that reflects that you want investment, that you want development to be happening, but also that you want it to be happening in a very responsible manner. I think that is something that we have seen from the Government of the Yukon, which has really attracted us in terms of even pushing harder and trying to move it faster, but that is not always the case with different projects. It is important that you do have the support of your partners to be able to do this.

Since being elected, we have been very pleased with the entire team that has been put in place. I will just mention this, which I think is extremely important, if there are other members of government from maybe Ontario or some of the other provinces: The Yukon has this very special one-stop shop, as the Premier mentioned, where the Deputy Premier is also the minister of different portfolios, which has been extremely valuable for us in terms of being able to move processes along. Sometimes we do not need to go to different departments; you only need to wait for Ranj to actually change his hat, and actually ask a question to the next minister. The process has been very good in terms of being able to actually get things done. We still have a few more hurdles to go in terms of our own project. We are very pleased in terms of how we have moved it forward up to now. We have just signed our collaboration agreement with the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation, which is an important milestone for us. We see that as a catalyst in terms of creating that long-lasting partnership and moving it even further with the Government of the Yukon. Premier Silver, thank you very much for all your support and everything that you have done to date. We look forward to continue working with you and your team by moving this project forward, but also to looking at other investments in the Yukon in order for us to continue attracting investment to the region, which we think has a lot of potential, and being able to continue the development of the extractive sector and other businesses also in the Yukon. Thank you very much for this. Thank you.

Concluding Remarks, by Barbara Jesson

I was telling Peter Armstrong during the lunch today that, at the Empire Club, we believe that it continues to be very important to hold forums like this where people can have these exchanges in person despite the ubiquity of information that is available to use now on the Internet.

We could not hold events like this without the generous support of our sponsors. I really want to express a very sincere thank you to Goldcorp for making this event possible. Without you, we just could not do it.

We would also like to thank mediaevents.ca, Canada’s online event space for webcasting today’s event for thousands of viewers around the world.

Although our club has been around since 1903, we have moved into the 21st century and are active on social media. Please, follow us on Twitter at @Empire_Club and visit us online at www.empireclub.org. You can also follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn and Instagram.

Finally, please, join us again at our next event, which is scheduled for June 12th, featuring the Cannabis Panel, taking place at One King West here, in Toronto. Thank you so much for your attendance, today.

This meeting is now adjourned.