Ruben Green

Back in 1999, I got on the Tuktut Nogait Management Board after my late brother Nelson Green, who was on the original Board , passed on. I was lucky to be able to sit down as a Board Member as the very first Vice-Chair of Tuktut Nogait Management Board.

Back then, we had gone down to the Haida Gwaii and Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, and they presented me with a plaque for being a board member from 1999-2002.

Tuktut Nogait is really, really special. Number one: it’s co-managed. Te Park itself has a structural aspect of col- laborative management (co-management) that initially started from the Gwaii Haanas. You have six organizations to the park: Paulatuuq Community Corporation, Paulatuuq Hunters and Trappers Association, the Inuvialuit Game Council, the Inuvialuit Regional Corporation

(IRC), GNWT, and also Canada. Tis collaborative management is essential to have within the park because the park itself is on Inuvialuit lands. It’s essential that people get to know about Tuktut Nogait National Park.

Te Park itself is vast. Te terrain, the rolling hills, the creeks, the lakes… You have One Island, Siulik Lake, Fish Lake, Long Lake, Uyarsivik Lake. One of my fondest things is to be able to say: “Oh, here’s ELM Hill, here’s Peregrine Hill, here’s Long Lake.” You don’t get much tourists in because it’s way out of the way. And that’s fine with me! I have many favourite locations in the park! We hunted in Siulik Lake and One Island, Fish Lake, Seven Island, Brock River, Hornaday River… there’s so many places that I have known within the park. As an Inuvialuk hunter, you know, you don’t only go one place, you go many places, ah?

Probably also Ugly Creek, Brock River canyons, the plateau of Brock River. I like the ruggedness, the “cowboy” scenery of it. When I sit with the park and the Brock River, I can be mesmerized sitting in one place for a whole hour and watching the sun go by on the side of the canyons and then as the sun moves, diferent shadows form. It just really captivates you and you won’t say a word for one solid hour. You drink your tea, cofee, have your lunch, and you’ll be sitting right there, catching all the scenery; the peregrine falcons that come by and you hear them screaming. Tere’s so much. You can hear the Brock River slowly flowing. It just really mesmerizes you. La Roncière Falls—it’s about 70 feet high. It’s noisy. It has rock plateaus where you can land with a chopper, just the smoothest table. It also has a big flat rock, hard shelf rock, of to the southern side where it comes down. Tere’s even tracks embedded on the rocks, ah? Don’t ask me how old they are! It’s just one of those places that mesmerizes you.

Fondest Memories

Noel Green, Tony Green, Nelson Green, my dad, and I hunted in the park before it was a Park up in One Island, Seven Island Lake… so we kinda knew what we were dealing with on the land. So much things within the park, we knew before it was a Park because we hunted within there. Tese are keepers: being able to hunt before with your dad and your brothers, and then it becomes a national park! I just had my dad and brothers there, and you learn a lot of things coming from a family like mine.

Te first Culture Camp within the park was also one of the highlights, being able to hunt and cook in the park. Going out with Jonah and Mufa Kudlak as Cultural Hosts, being able to expand on what Parks Canada already knows. We pick up little things on the land. When you’re good at things, you get into the zone and pick things up. To be able to see what’s up there—not too many people will see the things that I’ve seen. I’ve always said that I’m one of the luckier persons to have been able to hunt in the park before it was a Park and to know these types of terrains and creeks.

The Tuktut Nogait Agreement

Tuktut Nogait means everything to Inuvialuit. To me as an Inuvialuk, the park means that we’ll have caribou that’s being protected within the park. Te Park means a lot personally. Tinking of fond memories before and after the park, I was so lucky to be able to have brothers, family, and friends, who negotiated the Tuktut Nogait Agreement (TNA) and also brothers who negotiated the IFA. It means a whole lot to me to be able to get the firsthand aspects of it and that’s special. It’s just one of those things that hits you when you start to think about it. Tey negotiated the park while I was implementing what they negotiated and that’s two diferent levels of how you look at the TNA.

It’s good that the Tuktut Nogait Agreement (TNA) entails following up on the Inuvialuit Final Agreement. Te IFA was the mainstay of the TNA, so it didn’t take away any of our rights to be able to travel and hunt within the park. Tat’s paramount to be able to do things like pass on Traditional Knowledge. Not only that—we also help along with the parks staf that go up there. We give them orientations. When we hike, I’ve got two sections: one that’s the scenic route and one that’s the all-business route!

It’s essential that people get to know the IFA, which played a major role in terms of what the TNA achieved. Under the IFA, it entails that we as Inuvialuit upkeep our hunting traditions within the National Park. It’s just one of those things that was well-thought-out. Te negotiators themselves had better leeway as to how to go about negotiating the park. Since they negotiated the IFA, it’s just one of the things that made it much easier, ah?

Looking Forward

I can foresee the ongoing cultural camps, the ongoing sessions collaborations with Parks Canada and Inuvialuit. Te essential aspects of our culture just keep on going. To be able to harvest the caribou, the Arctic char, landlock char, and lake trout… underneath the TNA and the IFA entails that we don’t lose that aspect of traditional hunting within the park. It’s essential that we keep that going, especially with our kids and grandkids. You know, I have 11, 12 grandchildren… so it’s essential that they all know what TNNP is all about! Tey have to know the history of it, how these negotiators came by. You had people that were knowledgeable about what section of the lands needed to be within the proposed national park at the time. Tey knew exactly what the heck they were talking about! Exactly knew where caribou went to calve. Exactly knew the seasons or when to be able to go char fishing. Tey were able to go with the seasons; they knew when to harvest, whether it was the iqalukpik or the tuktu. I’ve always stated: they don’t make people like that anymore. You know what I’m saying? Tey don’t make people that have ‘special knowledges’. I don’t even come close to my dad and my dad’s parents, and many other Elders. My grandmother (my dad’s mom) was born in 1875! She passed on in 1975, so you know when they talk about Canada being 150 years old? Well, just from my grandmother, my dad, to me…we’re spanning almost 150 years! So, we come close to Canada, just from my grandma to me. My dad’s dad was even older!

Tey don’t make that kinda people anymore—the ones that lived of the land, had 15-17 kids, and grew them up. In our family, we had 16. My parents never knew how to write, but they grew us up. You can’t take away what they knew and how they grew up 16 of us. Tat in itself… they don’t make people like that anymore—special people. Never gave up, never complained.

With the ongoing co-management with the parks personnel and the Inuvialuit, we want them to keep on working together and that’s essential. I mean, whether you have the scientific aspect of it up there or the Traditional Knowledge aspect of it, you need to be able to work together. As one of the negotiators had said: “Remember, you need these two to get together. To collaborate together. To laugh together!” And people forget that, to be able to laugh and talk together. So, as the park keeps on going, we need to upkeep what we started—what they started. Work as one. Work as a team. Don’t be bossy.