Dawson Broaches

DAWSON CITY BROACHES - PHASE 2

April 5, 2000

I have roughed out all of the broaches, some a little more than others.

The First Nations Broach will feature a running wolf and flying raven, indicating the hectic pace of life for most FN's today. With pressing land claim and self government issues, I may make the background of this broach into a book, indicating the paper nature of much of contemporary FN life.

The carving is basic relief work, with 1/8" bits and smaller. The ivory is a wonderful medium, since it is consistent throughout and allows for high relief and wonderful detail.

We are currently in the midst of an election in the Yukon. We are electing a new Territorial Government. The carving has been going a little slower lately since I decided to get involved in the electoral process.

It has certainly been interesting discussing Yukon politics with a wide variety of Yukoners. There seems to be a fair bit of polarization between the mining types and the conservation types. At issue is the development of a system of protected areas in each of the Yukon's eco-regions. Neither of the two groups seem to be happy with the results to date. Both sides agree that the issue needs to be resolved, and the parks created, but neither seems to be prepared to make necessary compromises.

To the government's credit, they have pushed ahead and created two wonderful new parks, one of which is the Tombstone Park, represented on one of the broaches. Unfortunately, just before the park boundaries were announced and protected, a miner with inside knowledge of the process went into the centre of the proposed park and staked mineral claims. Legally, he is in the right since the protection was not yet in place. But morally he is most certainly in the wrong. The matter has caused enormous controversy and may have set the Protected Area Strategy back months.

The Chamber of Mines backs his claims as legitimate and is demanding he be allowed to mine, should the claims prove mineral potential. The Conservation Society is calling for the government to buy the claims out and preserve the Park. In reality, there is no likelihood the claims will ever be mined, and if they are bought out - what is to stop others from doing the same next time?

Speaking above of the First Nation Land Claims, the Tombstone Park has been created as part of the Dawson City FN Land Claim - which makes the whole matter so much the graver. Recently, the FN was very forthcoming in the media about the nusance nature of the mineral claims, stating that the man who staked the claims had abused a position of trust. He had been given complete access to the proposed park boundary maps at the FN office, as part of the consultation process.

Back to the Phase Two comments on the broaches ... the broaches were very difficult to photograph with my digital camera. Please excuse the slight blurriness, since the focal length on the camera was not quite short enough for the purpose. I also tried inverting the broaches to heighten the shadows, but that created a bizarre image when the pics were turned right-side up. It gave the illusion that each carving was reversed - the highest points of relief appeared to be the lowest and vice-versa. I rephotographed everything right-side-up and the results are below.

Till next time,

Shane

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