Fort Selkirk Historic site
The historic site of Huchá Hudän/Fort Selkirk lies within the Traditional Territory of the Selkirk First Nation. It is located near the confluence of the Pelly and Yukon rivers.
Huchá Hudän/Fort Selkirk has long been a place of trade for both First Nation and settler people. The site was a traditional fishing, trading camp, and meeting place for generations of First Nations people. It also is the location of a former Hudson's Bay Company fur-trading post.
Huchá Hudän/Fort Selkirk Historic Site is co-owned and co-managed by the Selkirk First Nation (SFN) and Government of Yukon. This provision was laid out in the First Nation's Final Agreement in Chapter 13.
For the past 40 years, the First Nation and Yukon Government have worked together to research, preserve, restore and interpret the historic townsite.
Selkirk First Nation’s Final Agreement sets out the co-management of the site, and acknowledges the important role that the First Nation has in protecting the area.
As part of the Agreement, management plans are co-developed by a steering committee with members from both the First Nation and Yukon Government. Community engagement is an essential element of Chapter 13 of SFN's Final Agreement and guides the process of management plans for this site.
Chapter 13 of the Final Agreements for many of the First Nations includes the designation of historic sites. The sites are locations that – for those First Nations – have shaped their way of life. They may be connected with remarkable people or with key events in our history, or they may have another type of cultural significance.
A Historic Site Designation protects and commemorates the value of the site. For those designated in the Final Agreements, there is often a connected Management Plan, which guides and directs the preservation and protection of the site with natural factors such as time and changing uses of the site by people and businesses.