Sourdon’t

I was going to try to explain the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous controversy that was all over northern social media this week, but Lori Fox does it better than I ever could. Still, here's a quick recap: Organizers said they were dropping the “Sourdough” (a colloquial term for those who came north during the Klondike Gold Rush) from their winter carnival’s name, calling it a problematic throwback to a colonial era.

People who get mad about that sort of thing, unsurprisingly, then got mad about that thing. There was a firestorm of Facebook comments complaining that southerners were coming up and erasing northern culture. The irony seemed to be lost on most of them. “It’s our tradition, our heritage,” some guy told the Whitehorse Star. “Why change it? It’s been there forever.” (Narrator voice: It’s was actually only 57 years.)

Fox defended the Rendezvous' decision in an opinion piece for CBC:

“Our colonial past is not something to be proud of; we stole the land, knowledge and resources of First Nations in the name of colonial capitalist expansion. That's the foundation of settler culture in the Yukon, and we continue, bafflingly, to glorify it.”

Eventually, the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Society had to issue another statement imploring Yukoners to cease the “hate, bigotry, threats of vandalism and bullying.” It’s now promising to conduct a survey after this year’s festival to gauge public response.

The Yukon Rendezvous kicks off next weekend. (Various)

Related: “Curing the ‘colonial hangover’: How Yukon First Nations became trailblazers of Indigenous Governance.” (The Narwhal)

Microsoft has added Inuktitut to its Microsoft Translator app and Bing search engine. The Government of Nunavut worked with Microsoft to set up the translation model, and Inuktitut speakers volunteered their time to validate and test the translations. (Newswire)

Have you seen these 30,000 chinook salmon missing from the Yukon River? (CBC)

Over 200 Arctic researchers sent a letter to the US National Science Foundation calling for equitable inclusion of Indigenous peoples in Arctic science: “As Arctic researchers, we enjoy the privilege of working on important, challenging, and stimulating projects in a part of the world we hold dear. Arctic Indigenous Peoples and their governments and organizations deserve to have full access to these same benefits, to be able to actively engage in using the tools of science to answer their own questions.” (Cana Uluak Itchuaqiyaq)

Northern News Service may be no more. Cabin Radio reports Black Press Media is in final negotiations to purchase the North’s largest print newspaper company. Black Press already owns and operates Yukon News, along with dozens of other papers throughout western Canada and the United States. Northern News has been an independent publisher of newspapers across the North for almost 50 years. Meanwhile, NNSL’s websites went offline earlier this week due to “significant technical difficulties.” Unclear if the two news items are related. (Cabin Radio)

The Yukon needs to protect its wetlands from mining. The territory currently has no protection policy for the sensitive ecological areas. Instead, most of the rules relate to reclamation. But an ounce of prevention, and all that. (The Narwhal)

How a stolen shovel led to a shaman’s curse. (Nunatsiaq)

For Slate, Eva Holland talks to Jackie Hong and Haley Ritchie about breaking the story of the Yukon vaccine thieves. I'm a sucker for these sort of behind-the-scenes stories and it was incredible to read about how early Hong was onto this scandal, which is now an international news item. Also, amazing diligence from both reporters to triple-confirm all the details before publishing. (Slate)

Air Nunavut is challenging a $2,500 fine from the Canada Border Services Agency after an unscheduled bathroom break in Clyde River. The pilot of a King Air aircraft, which doesn’t have a bathroom, which was travelling from Greenland to Iqaluit, let his nine passengers use the facilities while refuelling in Clyde River. The airline says there was no one else inside the building and the passengers were escorted to and from by the pilot. Not doing so would have meant soiling the interior of the plane, or the runway. “This result would have endangered the safety and security of the passengers and the aircraft to say nothing of their human dignity.” (CBC)

Several hunters have set up a blockade of Baffinland’s Mary River iron mine, saying the concerns of Inuit are not being heard. Baffinland’s proposal to expand the mine by building a new railroad and port will double production but ship its iron ore through a habitat of the world’s largest narwhal population. A representative of the hunters tells CBC they're concerned the expansion will impact wildlife and the ability of Inuit to feed themselves. The expansion plans are currently facing an environmental hearing by the Nunavut Impact Review Board. (Nunatsiaq)

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