The Umbrella Final Agreement

For decades, First Nation leaders from across the Yukon forged a path towards self-governance. Finally, in 1993, the Council of Yukon Indians, the Government of Canada, and the Yukon government signed the Umbrella Final Agreement (UFA). The eleven First Nations that have all gone on to sign Final Agreements made huge concessions, including relinquishing claim to land title across most of their traditional territories. In return, the Crown governments made a series of sweeping changes, including recognizing First Nations’ title to Settlement Lands, and setting up new frameworks to ensure that First Nations played a leading role in stewarding the health of lands, waters and wildlife in the Yukon. One of these new processes was land use planning, established under Chapter 11 of the UFA. Regional land use planning under the UFA determines the future for the Yukon by setting out the rules and parameters for land use for each region. These parameters are decided by following the collaborative process outlined in Chapter 11. In the early 2000s, land use planning began in the Peel Watershed.