Yukon UNESCO World Heritage bid shifts focus from Gold Rush to colonialism (CBC News North – May 25, 2021)

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/

Three years after withdrawing a bid to become a UNESCO World Heritage site, a local committee in Dawson City, Yukon, is trying again — this time shifting focus from mining and the Klondike Gold Rush to the experience of colonialism by First Nations.

“Tr’ondëk-Klondike as a site tells an exceptional story that reflects Indigenous peoples’ — Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in peoples’ —experience and adaptation to what we know as the phenomenon of European colonialism,” said Lee Whalen, of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation’s heritage department.

“So under the criteria for World Heritage, we are illustrating a significant stage in human history.”

The project to have the Dawson City area recognized by UNESCO has been talked about for decades. Eventually a local committee was struck to explore the idea and submit a formal bid.

That first bid, submitted a few years ago, focused on the Klondike region’s Indigenous and mining history, including the famous 1890s gold rush as well as present-day mining activity.

For the rest of this article: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/unesco-world-heritage-trondek-hwechin-1.6039995