Building consultation from the bottom up: A case study of the North Yukon.

The Canadian north is a land of sparse human population and a wealth of natural resources -- both renewable and non-renewable. Global demands for such resources create a dynamic where exploitation in its many forms brings powerful forces to bear on small northern communities and indigenous governance bodies. Consultation, in a general sense, is the means for bringing divergent interests together to resolve resource management issues and ensure that development is conducted with the community's best interest in mind. In a legal sense, consultation protects First Nations from potential aboriginal or treaty right infringement. Consultation as defined in legislation is too broad to direct a meaningful and adequate process. It is necessary for First Nations to define consultation in their own terms. This thesis outlines and discusses the principles and procedures for guiding consultation in Old Crow, YT. --P. 3.