The Gwich'in of Alaska and Canada

The indigenous people of Rossport are not the only threatened by oil and gas exploration.
In March 2006, the US Senate passed a measure in the budget bill that opened the Artic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling - as the region suffers from some of the worst oil spills in its history from the pipelines to the existing Prudhoe Bay facilities. http://www.freepress.org/departments/display/3/2006/1868
One of the Indian peoples threatened by this invasive development are the Gwich'in, whose Alaskan settlements are over 20,000 years old and whose lives are centred around the now-threatened Porcupine Caribou.

The Gwich’in are the most northerly of all Indian nations. They inhabit about fifteen villages and small towns across Alaska and Northwestern Canada. Their population consists of approximately 7,000 people. http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/ANWR/anwrgwichin.html

For over 20,000 years the Gwich’in have occupied the southern slopes of the Brooks Range in Alaska. (P.42-3. The Corporation, Joel Bakan. Constable, London. 2004. ISBN: 1-84529-079-8.). http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/ANWR/anwrgwichin.html

The climate of this subarctic environment is characterized by long, cold winters and short, warm summers. Apart from the periodically flooded islands and lowlands of the Yukon River Flats, the land is covered by boreal forest. The terrain varies from the harsh, rugged Brooks range in the USA to the broad lowland river valleys of the middle Yukon and Mackenzie in
Canada. http://www.gwichinsteeringcommittee.org/gwichinnation.html Before European colonization, the Gwich’in formed nine or ten regional bands, each associated with the drainage area of a major river.

Gwich’in means “people of the Caribou.” http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/ANWR/anwrgwichin.html
The caribou forms a major part of their subsistence economy: although this also includes smaller mammals, birds, and fish, the caribou have always been the predominant feature of their diet and way of life, and forms the backbone of the Gwich’in economy and culture.
This cultural affinity is at the core of their spiritual existence. Their legends describe how these northern peoples lived in “peaceful intimacy’ with all animals. When they became differentiated into distinct cultural groups, it was agreed that the Gwich’in would hunt the caribou. One modern saying of the Gwich’in encapulsates this spiritual belief: “every caribou has a bit of the human heart in him; and every human being has a bit of caribou heart.” So, humans will always have partial knowledge of the thoughts and feelings of the caribou; equally, the caribou has a similar? knowledge of humans. Therefore, sometimes hunting the caribou is very easy, at others, it is extremely difficult. While hunting, all animals are respected. However, with the exception of the bear, no animal is more revered than the caribou. http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/ANWR/anwrgwichin.html

Gwich’in villagers most closely associated with the Porcupine caribou herd live in Arctic Village, Venetie, Fort Yukon and Chalkyitsik in Alaska; and in Old Crow, Fort McPherson, Inuvik and Aklavik in northwest Canada. The two villages of Arctic Village and Old Crow are most centrally located to the herd. These villages therefore carry the greatest responsibility for sharing and trading the caribou with the other villagers.

This traditional caribou management belief system has continued into the modern era by the active legislation of modern game management practices among the Gwich’in and through the establishment of the International Porcupine Caribou Commission [IPCC]. The members of the Commission represent the villages of Arctic Village, Venetie, Fort Yukon and [Inupiat] Kaktovik in Alaska; and Old Crow in the Yukon Territory. http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/ANWR/anwrgwichin.html

The resolution in establishing the Commission outlines the important nutritional, cultural and spiritual needs of the Gwich’in who reside beside the Porcupine Caribou Herd, and cites article 1 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, http://www1.umn.edu/humanrts/instree/b3ccpr.htm and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/a_cescr.htm which states outright: “In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.” The charge of the commission was “to take immediate and continued action for the long-term conservation of the Porcupine and their habitat.” The first step was the establishment of an international treaty and an implementing authority.

In March, 1984, the Canadian domestic agreement on the management of the Porcupine Caribou Herd and its habitat was signed between the federal government, the Yukon territory, the Northwest Territories, and three affected native groups – COPE [Inuvialuit, i.e., the western Canadian Inuit]; the Council of Yukon Indians [CYI]; and the Dene-Metis. Therefore the Canadian Government recognized in domestic law the international agreement on the vital importance of the Porcupine Caribou as central to their survival to the Gwich’in. When this Canadian agreement was signed, Canada publicly called on the U.S. for a bilateral agreement to protect the Porcupine Caribou Herd. http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/ANWR/anwrgwichin.html

On the U.S. side, any international caribou negotiations were strongly affected by the politics of proposed oil and gas development in the Caribou calving grounds. Nevertheless, in 1985-86, the US and Canada renewed discussions that led to the present international agreement. This establishes an eight member International Porcupine Caribou Board, four members appointed by each nation, to “make recommendations and provide advice.” These are understood not to be binding on the parties, but managers must explain in writing if they decide not to implement a recommendation.

The Gwich’in involvement with the U.S.–Canada Porcupine Caribou Agreement has actively sought to encourage greater communication and cooperation between the two sides in the protection of the caribou herd. In the promotion of the cooperative agreement, they have urged that a new model of conservation be adopted – that of a “bio-cultural reserve” or “caribou commons.” http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/ANWR/anwrgwichin.html

This protected area would include the entire range of the Porcupine Caribou Herd in Canada and Alaska, with firm protection for the calving and post-calving rounds, and associated critical wildlife habitats. This area would also be dedicated to meeting the continued subsistence and economic needs of the indigenous Gwich’in and Inupiat Eskimo cultures by means of a World Heritage listing or a Biosphere Reserve. The long term prospects for such a venture remains uncertain, especially in the light of BP’s proposed advance into one of the last uncontaminated regions of the Arctic, an area unique in terms of its cultural and environmental importance. (P.43, Bakan, ibid.). What is certain is that the largely unheralded conservation efforts of the Gwich’in have firmly established them as active participants in the political landscape of the North American Arctic. http://arcticcircle.uconn.edu/ANWR/anwrgwichin.html , efforts that could be a model for the active protection of indigenous food resources elsewhere in the world.
http://www.moles.org/ProjectUnderground/drillbits/5_18/....html

http://www.wilderness.org/OurIssues/Arctic/gwichin.cfm?...ichin