Our land is our life: learning from Chinook “King” Salmon

• Main Author: Mason, Sarah
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: Laurentian University of Sudbury 2023
• Subjects: Indigenous food sovereignty; Chinook salmon; Dawson City; Restoration; Placer mining; Reciprocity; Conservation hatchery; Dawson; Yukon river; Yukon
• Online Access: https://zone.biblio.laurentian.ca/handle/10219/4048

Yukon River Chinook salmon make the longest salmon migration in the world - 3200km - to reach their spawning grounds, however in the past few decades the population has decreased exponentially. As an indicator species, the endangered salmon population has had a critical impact on the river and ocean ecosystems in the Yukon region. Furthermore, salmon have played an important role in providing nutritional sustenance and developing cultural traditions for Indigenous communities throughout the Yukon River watershed who have been harvesting salmon at fish camps since time immemorial. The declining salmon numbers not only contributes to food insecurity felt by many of these communities but to cultural insecurity as well. This thesis uses Indigenous Food Sovereignty Theory as a theoretical framework for an architectural proposal that explores how Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Western Science can be used to increase salmon stock in the Klondike River – a tributary of the Yukon River – through restoration, conservation hatchery, and ceremony. Master of Architecture (M.Arch)