Party has tabled motion calling on territory to create legislation in step with First Nations.
Julien Greene · CBC News · Posted: Jan 30, 2026 3:00 AM PST | Last Updated: January 30
The NDP has tabled a motion asking the Yukon government to create new legislation granting legal personhood to the Yukon River.
Brent McDonald, NDP MLA for the Klondike, who put the proposal forward last month, said the river is the territory’s lifeblood.
“It is not just something to be taken from constantly without actually giving back,” he said.
Personhood is a concept where entities in nature — be it mountains, animals, forests or rivers — are afforded rights akin to human beings.
In the Yukon, legal personhood is gaining traction. The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Government recently wrote and presented a resolution about it to the Council of Yukon First Nations. Nearly one year ago, the majority of member Nations that belong to the political advocacy organization voted in favour of studying the issue.
There’s a straight line between those efforts and the NDP’s motion, which urges the territory to work with First Nations on the legislation. Sometime during the territorial election period last fall, the Tr’ondek Hwech’in Government flagged the issue as one the party should take up, McDonald said.
The party, now the Official Opposition, agreed.
“This is an important topic, and it’s going to be dealt with,” McDonald said. “It’s also something that I personally believe in. So for me, it was very easy to take that on, to champion it as best as I can.”
The earliest the NDP’s motion could be debated is in March during the next sitting of the legislature. But the government controls the agenda and decides which measures will get discussed.
In an email to CBC News, a spokesperson with cabinet said the territory recognizes the importance of the river.
“We believe more research and analysis are needed to determine whether legal personhood is the best way to protect the Yukon River for future generations,” said Tim Kucharuk.
Discussions for 10 years
Yukon First Nations have been talking about personhood for at least a decade.
Since then, the world has seen the Māori successfully lobby the New Zealand Parliament, which in 2017 passed legislation that secured rights for the Whanganui River. The same year, Mexico City changed its constitution to enshrine nature-preserving rights. There’s precedent in Canada, with the Innu of Ekuanitshit and a regional municipality in Quebec granting the Magpie River with the status in 2021, primarily to defend it against hydro development.
Tosh Southwick, a consultant in Yukon who works to advance First Nations self-determination, said to look to those who’ve blazed trail.
“We’ve got lots of trails to follow,” she said.
“I think we’re behind the ball.”
How personhood would be applied to the river has yet to be defined — what protections would look like, who would speak on its behalf if threatened.
As for the NDP’s motion, Southwick said she wants concrete action.
“We’re not talking about something that falls within the boundaries of elected parties or not; we’re talking about something that will outlive all of us, which is the Yukon River,” she said.
‘Assertion of Indigenous laws, self-determination and rights’
At the heart of the matter is bringing Indigenous worldviews and laws on the same plain as ones belonging to settler-colonial society, Southwick continued.
“Personhood is an attempt to do that, an attempt to say both of these things can be right at the same time and that this is how we’re going to approach making these decisions on water,” she said.
Darren Taylor, Hähkè (chief) of Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, said it’s true that negotiations surrounding Yukon River personhood are building speed.
Prime Minister Mark Carney wants to fast-track major development projects across the country. Linked to that is the rush to extract what politicians call critical minerals.
With all that happening, Taylor said it’s time to pull out all the stops and get those negotiations over personhood done.
“If we don’t, then it’s going to be business as usual, and we’re all going to wake up in the morning with a polluted river system,” said Taylor, referring to the threat of contamination from nearby mining operations.
“It’s really our commitment to revitalize our relationship with the river and assertion of Indigenous laws, self-determination and rights.”
Under settler-colonial law, Taylor said rivers are objectified, exploited.
Personhood, on the other hand, provides legal recognition for the natural world according to Indigenous laws, he said.
Taylor said the legal status would help the imperiled chinook salmon, whose numbers remain concerningly low. Then there’s what lives in riparian zones between land and water.
“There are a lot of traditional foods like wild onions and other medicines that are key to these areas,” Taylor said, “and we wanted to make sure that they were maintained.”
Everyone will benefit, Hähkè says
While personhood is an example of the Nation reasserting its sovereignty, everyone — wherever they come from — will benefit, Taylor said.
“I think everybody on this planet can agree that it’s important to maintain healthy waters and river systems that are important to people,” he said. “Because, if not, then obviously communities and individuals are going to suffer in the long run.”
After getting the OK from citizens, Taylor said the Nation plans to declare the river a person. Out of respect for the community, he said he couldn’t provide specifics of the declaration yet.
“In a traditional context, you know, everything that surrounds us, our environment, everything that has sustained us for millennia has a spirit and soul and identity,” Taylor said.
