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Beaver workshop helps trappers bear the bad times Aworkshoponpreparingpelts held in Fort Smith last week aimed to arm trappers with traditional knowledge to help survive hard economic times. See page 7. MacPherson making mark at Mount Royal Fort Smiths Shaun MacPher- son was one of seven players recruited to the Mount Royal Huskiesthisseason.Hisspeed and mobility are already help- ing the teams blueline. See page 20. LIGHTS AND SIRENS Fort Smith reghters collected food and toys again Dec. 12. See page 13. Forget the Scorch Trials heres the Arctic Winter Games Athletes in sports from snow- shoe biathlon to futsel tried out for Team NWT in AWG trials in Hay River Yellow- knife and Fort Smith. See page 19. Before climate change was cool Dr. Ian Stirling was examin- ing the effects of the loss of sea ice on polar bears before climate change was even a term. Last week he was rec- ognized for it. See page 18. V IS IT W W W .N O R J.C A A national award winning independent newspaper serving northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories since 1977 1.00 December 16 2015 Vol. 39 No. 33 BY DALI CARMICHAEL There are many ways to handle losing an election but hopping aboard a plane to attend a large international forum on climate change is probably one of the less likely coping mechanisms. This was Herbert Nakimayaks plan. If he had not been elected as the new MLA of Nunakput his con- solation prize would have been a trip to Paris to watch the ongoing discussions at the COP21 forum. As the vice-president and head of International Affairs for the Cana- dian chapter of the Inuit Circumpo- lar Council Nakimayak felt it was important to have northern Indig- enous folks attending the talks. After all climate change already appears to have had an impact in the far north the Paulatuk resi- dents backyard. All the North all the whole cir- cumpolar village has been a ther- mostat for whats happening in this world Nakimayak said. Were no- ticing the rising temperatures and the unpredictable weather condi- tions with all the slumping and the shoreline erosion and the perma- frost degradation theres a lot going on and were starting to see it at an accelerated pace here. With the Paris Accord interna- tional climate change treaty now signed off by 195 countries the persistence of indigenous peoples Northerners join Paris invasion at COP21 to have their rights recognized in the new international document appears to have paid off - for now. Article 2.2 of the accord ad- dresses human rights and speci- cally indigenous rights as they re- lated to the climate change agree- ment though it was annexed and bracketed during the draft process nearly cut in other words for a time due to pushback from mostly Eu- ropean countries. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his Minister of Environment and Climate Change Catherine McKenna pushed for the inclu- sion of this statement as did in- digenous peoples and their allies as they rallied and protested on the streets of Paris. The nal agreement must rec- ognize adequately the importance of respecting human rights and the rights of indigenous peoples McKenna told a plenary session on Dec. 10 adding she was deeply concerned that the reference to human rights and rights of indig- enouspeopleswasbeingchallenged. Should human rights for Indig- enous Peoples be struck from the nal agreement negotiators will have destroyed any pretense of their intention to mitigate climate change Victoria Tauli-Corpuz the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples said in a statement. Failure to protect Indigenous Peoples rights in a nal agreement will fuel destruction of the forests and other ecosystems managed since time immemorial by indigenous peoples. ErielDerangerarepresentativeof the Athabasca Chipewyan First Na- tionattheParistalksprovidedalmost daily updates from the talks online. Whydoweneedtohavetheinclu- sion of the rights of indigenous peo- plesinthisdocumentWellitspretty simple she said. Its absolutely im- perativethatweengageandfullyinte- gratetherightsofindigenouspeoples because many of these people have knowledge systems that are going to be critical for the development of ad- aptationandmitigationthatsgoingto betrulyeffectiveinachievingrealcli- matejusticeforeveryone.Itsnocoin- cidencethat80percentoftheworlds biodiversityisoccupiedbyindigenous people their knowledge systems are going to be critical - our knowledge systems are going to be critical - to actually getting to safe climate levels and the protection and preservation of Mother Earth. Ultimately the brackets were re- moved and the article was included in the nal agreement. OtherelementsoftheParisaccord that Canada has agreed to include A commitment to keeping the rise in global temperatures below two degrees with a 1.5-degree rise set as a goal. Beyond that scien- tists believe there could be serious consequences A pledge to cut emissions by 30 per cent from 2005 goals by 2030 Reportingandmonitoringofemis- sionswithmeetingseveryveyears to review progress Spending at least 100-billion a year along with other developed countriesbetween2020and2025 tohelpgrowingeconomiesoffsetthe effects of climate change. Develop a new Canadian climate strategybetweenthefederalgovern- ment and the provinces while also movingonaNorthAmericanplan. Its no coincidence that 80 per cent of the worlds biodiversity is occupied by indigenous people. Eriel Deranger ACFN Daniel Tseleie of Fort Providence at right his arms wide was one of several people from the Northwest Territories who attended the climate change talks in Paris last week. He took part in a rally outside the ofces of Paris oil giant Total on Dec. 8. PhotocourtesyofAllanLisner