Abstract

Tū Łídlīni (Ross River) is a Kaska Dena village nestled at the confluence of the Ross and Pelly Rivers, in so-called Yukon, Canada. 70 km north of Tū Łídlīni, the lead-zinc Faro Mine was developed illegally on unceded Kaska traditional territory in 1969, in the region known as Tsē Zūl. Over the following three decades, Kaska peoples' objections to mining and their claims to land rights were ignored by several different mine owners and kuskāni (settler) governments. Despite this, Tū Łídlīni Kaska resisted the dispossession of their territory, questioned the contamination of their lands, fought for economic opportunities, and continued to steward the Tsē Zūl region. This collaboratively written article, based on a community research report, is rooted in Tū Łídlīni Dena Elders' stories of the injustices and resistance associated with the Faro Mine. These stories form a roadmap for a reclamation project that could and should include actions grounded in compensation, rematriation, and healing – a reclamation that moves beyond colonial, Western-science based solutions towards Kaska Dena visions for the future of Tsē Zūl.

Keywords: Mine reclamation, remediation, mining history, Faro Mine, Indigenous rights, Kaska Dena

How to Cite:

Elders, T., Tuffs, B. & Beckett, C., (2025) “The reclamation and rematriation of Tsē Zūl: The Tū Łídlīni Dena's story of the Faro Mine”, Journal of Political Ecology 32(1): 8094. doi: https://doi.org/10.2458/jpe.8094