The nomination package has been prepared under the watchful eye of a local advisory committee, including representation from Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, the City of Dawson, the Yukon Government, the Klondike Placer Miners Association and citizen reps from both Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and the Dawson community.
There is also a project management team, and much of the actual work has been sub-contracted to a number of agencies and organizations. The team is in regular communication with Parks Canada representatives in Ottawa, who have vetted the package at each step of the way.
This project has been a subject of speculation since the 1970s, and became a public objective at the urging of the late Pierre Berton in 1997. By 2004, it had been placed on Canada’s tentative short list, and several versions of a proposal were worked up prior to 2010, when the present project began to take shape under the leadership of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, who had identified it as being important to their regional economic development objectives.
The present advisory committee was convened in 2013 and work began towards developing the first draft of a Statement of Universal Values and identifying places that illustrate these values.
After the submission of the package in February, the region can look forward to a summertime visit by representatives of International Council on Monuments and Sites to make an onsite inspection.
If all goes well, the committee expects to receive World Heritage designation in July 2018.
