Good day Taku River Tlingit community! My name is Shaax’akée, which means “Woman on the mountain watching down”, a Tlingit name gifted to me by my grandmother, the late Evelyn Jack. I grew up around Atlin, back and forth between family homes in both Atlin and Whitehorse, spending time on the lands that sustained our Tlingit way of life and steeped in the teachings of my ancestors as told through the lessons imparted by my elders, grandparents, and other community members throughout my childhood.
I first learned to fear the colonizing impacts on our people and community from stories overheard in a mix of Taku Tlingit and English from around the table tops of my grandparents and aunties as they talked of our culture and lands being taken from us. I grew strong in my opposition to careless mining practices as I stood with my community against the Tulsequah Mine when I was a teenager and young adult. I gulped back fear and anxiety while I stumbled through my mid-twenties and emerged back into Taku business at our Joint Clan Meetings as an adult woman with a
fresh perspective.
I am now comfortably into my mid-thirties and have been working for the TRT nation as the G2G Co-chair for over five years, and as a Negotiator since August 2018. While fear and grief over what the TRT have lost and what we stand to gain still factor into my daily life, being in a position of long-time service to the nation has eased some of the burden of worry. To work at the goals and needs of our nation is a great honor as I learn how much there is still to learn about being a great servant to our people, advance our common interests, negotiate for the future generations, and be humbled always by the lessons of our history as told through the words of our ancestors. Through the wisdom of our grandmothers and the strength of our ancestors, may we walk together in harmony with the lands we steward for time immemorial.
Gunalchéesh
Shaax’akée (Chantelle Schultz)
Taku River Tlingit First Nation
Government to Government (G2G) Co-Chair
Senior Negotiator (Manager) of the Department
of Negotiations, Governance Department
.
