The Peel River Watershed is one of Canada’s most wild, rugged and untouched wildernesses, a watershed that encompasses remote mountain ranges and seven whitewater rivers. For thousands of years the Tetlit Gwich’in, Nacho Nyak Dun, Tr’ondek Hwech’in and Vuntut Gwich’in First Nations have hunted, fished and trapped in the Peel Watershed, and these lands remain a cornerstone of the cultures and ways of life of northern Indigenous Peoples. The Peel Watershed is renown for its paddling and hiking, and the Wind, Snake and Bonnet Plume Rivers draw adventurers and outdoorspeople from around the world.

Sadly, the Peel Watershed is threatened by major mining and industrial development. The overwhelming majority of First Nations and Yukoners have stood up in favour of protection of the Peel Watershed, yet the Yukon Government is attempting to the pry the Peel open to mining. Our Government has ignored years worth of public consultations on the future of the Peel, consultations that ended with the Peel Watershed Land Use Commission recommending strong protection of the Peel Watershed.

In just a few weeks a moratorium on the staking of mining claims in the Peel Watershed will expire. The moratorium is all that stands between the Peel and unfettered access by mineral exploration companies. Please show your support for protection of the Peel! Urge Brad Cathers, the Yukon’s Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources to extend the staking ban until the Peel Watershed is finally protected.