The event database is a tool to document and share significant cultural and environmental events within Tahltan Territory, an area over 90 thousand square km, an area larger than Hungary. As a dynamic place with many unique land and water features, including more than 2,500 glaciers and 120 volcanoes, this database is a much-anticipated source of knowledge on issues from the Stikine River basin and the all the surrounding headwaters.
Tahltan researchers from Tu’dese’cho Wholistic Indigenous Leadership Development (TWILD) and Snowchange Cooperative worked for over three years to collect observations of climate, ecological and cultural change in the Canadian sub-Arctic. The traditional knowledge documentation and community-led monitoring are part of TWILD’s programming, to prepare future generations of Tahltans to thrive through a distinctive braiding of Indigenous and Western knowledge.
Drawing on oral histories from Tahltan elders, as well as Tahltan science, self-documented videos and photos, the database is a vital effort to centre on the land, lived experiences of climatic change in efforts to tackle climate change in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. The Database has sections on Indigenous histories and colonial damages, observations of change, oral histories and videos and sections on revitalization of knowledge and training of younger generations to Tahltan culture and lands.
“Tahltan Voiceability... involves receiving the teachings of our Ancestors and Elders, learning and knowing these teachings, and the sharing of these teachings with our people. By giving voice to our Ancestors and Elders, as well as to all our people, it sets the stage for research that is useful, relational, and transformative.” - Judith Thompson Edōsdi.
Arctic PASSION invites researchers, educators, decision-makers and members of the public to explore and make use of the database and engage with the stories that shape the Arctic. The database is hosted by the Arctic Seas portal, Snowchange’s portal for information about Indigenous Communities and Ecology of Northern Waters.
For more information or to request an interview, please contact:
Curtis Rattray, Co-founder, Tū’desē’cho Wholistic Indigenous Leadership Development
rattray.curtis@gmail.com
Tero Mustonen, Director, Snowchange Cooperative
Arctic PASSION is a project funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program to co-create a coherent, integrated Pan-Arctic Observing System of systems through community-based monitoring and inclusion of Indigenous and Local knowledge, streamlining access and interoperability of Arctic data, and ensuring the economic viability and sustainability of such an observing system for years to come.
The Tahltan Climate Events Database is part of a larger portal, arcticseas.org, created by Snowchange Cooperative to fill key data gaps through co-creation of consented knowledge on environmental change in 7 regions: Alaska, BC/Yukon, Western Greenland, Northern Finland/Norway, Murmansk, Khanty-Mansia and Sakha-Yakutia.
The Tàłtàn Nation is represented by the Tahltan Central Government, an organisation representing all persons of Tahltan ancestry in the Stikine Country of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. Tu’dese’cho Wholistic Indigenous Leadership Development (TWILD) is the first Tahltan non-government organization and it was created to provide Tahltan people with increased well-being of individuals and communities through leadership development, generational mentorship, land-based education and cultural teachings.
A video about TWILD's Tene Mehodihi youth land-based education program. Please also view the full library of Tahltan Nation films produced for the Tahltan Climate Events Database.