ABSTRACT
Conversations with coastal Tlingit and inland Tlingit/Tagish Elders and intellectuals illuminate a clear and resilient perception of water as a relative, facilitator, connector, educator, healer and transformer. Water provides a living normative framework for the circulation of virtues, in particular, respect that establishes a mode of morality for the continuation of human existence. In Tlingit, respect is yáa át wooné and is considered one of the most powerful words in the Tlingit language. This chapter reflects both coastal and inland Tlingit practices and philosophies, tightly woven with the Athabaskan linguistic group, the Tagish peoples, with whom the coastal Tlingit inter-married some 500 years ago. Carcross/Tagish First Nation (CTFN) citizens are of Tagish and coastal/inland Tlingit ancestry. In October 2005 the CTFN government signed the final agreement with both the Yukon and Canadian governments to become one of 11 self-governing First Nations in the Yukon Territory.
