Annual Public Lecture in Yukon, 2026
In Leave It Better: Reconciliation and the Future of the North, Grand Chief Math’ieya Alatini, a Southern Tutchone and Tlingit speaker asks what northern development will leave behind for the land, communities and future generations.
Drawing on the history of the Faro mine and other major projects in the Yukon, she shows how economic benefits have too often been separated from lasting environmental costs and the exclusion of First Nations from decisions. Yukon’s modern treaties and self-government agreements point to another path: one in which First Nations exercise their authority and help decide whether, where and how development takes place.
As Canada turns its attention to critical minerals, infrastructure and Arctic sovereignty, the lecture challenges policymakers to measure progress by more than investment or resources extracted. Will their decisions leave healthy lands, stronger communities, lasting opportunities and greater trust?
Grand Chief Math’ieya Alatini also calls on the audience to confront anti-Indigenous racism and the false narratives that can shape public policy. Her central message is clear: reconciliation is tested in everyday decisions about power, rights and whose voices are at the table. Whatever authority we hold, we should ask whether we have left things better than we found them.
This lecture is part of Action Canada’s annual series on Reconciliation and Public Policy, created in memory of Sarah Robinson, Action Canada Fellow 2014/15, whose mission was to foster dialogue among policymakers on Indigenous histories, reconciliation and action.
Thank you to Grand Chief Alatini and to Yukon University for its partnership and for hosting the lecture on campus. This lecture was presented by Action Canada and the Public Policy Forum, in partnership with Indspire’s Rivers to Success program, Canadian Heritage, and Power Corporation of Canada.
