M-KMA Workshops

Retaining the Wilderness Workshop

The workshops, planned by the M-KAB Outreach Committee, are designed to improve relationships and communications between M-KMA interests, identify new strategies and concepts to help meet the M-KMA mandate and vision, and review M-KMA successes, identifying areas where improvement is needed.
 

Workshop Series
The workshop series, with an overarching theme of "Conserving and Managing Northern Wilderness Values" includes four sub-themes:

• Retaining the Wilderness Experience (2002)
• Integrating Sustainable Industrial Activities
• Incorporating First Nations Values (2003)
• Conserving Wildlife and its Habitat

"Incorporating First Nations Values" Workshop (October 17th-19th, 2003) The workshop hosted by the Fort Nelson First Nation at Chalo School in Fort Nelson, British Columbia, brought people of different perspectives together in an environment of information-sharing, learning and understanding. This important two-day forum was well attended by Treaty 8 and Kaska Dena First Nations representatives, Advisory Board members, government, industry, and the public.

Various speakers delivered key addresses, ranging from the importance of government recognition of First Nations Treaty rights, to issues of First Nations TEK in processes of land use, resource planning and management. Workshop participants met in a series of breakout discussions concerning incorporating First Nations values into planning processes, issues of information copyright and how and in what ways the information was to be used.

A Workshop Summary Report and Video featuring highlights of the workshop were provided to participants. Information deriving from the Workshop, including next steps recommendations, will be made available to parties having planning and management interests in the M-KMA.
 

2002 "Retaining the Wilderness Experience"
An outcome of this workshop was the recognition that a definition would need to be drafted for "Wilderness". The Board and the delegates agreed that there were many definitions and viewpoints about what wilderness meant to different people, and that more than one definition could apply to the M-KMA. Subsequently the Board developed a Wilderness Definition through an extensive process of consultation and revision.