Miyagawa begins work as co-ordinator for Yukon Cultures Connect

Whitehorse – Mitch Miyagawa has an unusual job description: for the next year and a half, he’ll be tasked with building awareness about cultural diversity in the Whitehorse community and its institutions.

Miyagawa started work in February as the new co-ordinator of Yukon College’s “Yukon Cultures Connect” project. He’ll be organizing workshops and public events designed to break down barriers between cultural groups, create public dialogue about diversity, and improve how institutions respond to our changing demographics.

Yukon Cultures Connect is funded by a two-year multi-culturalism grant from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, and is driven by a unique and growing team of people from Whitehorse’s “intercultural hubs”: Kwanlin Dun First Nation, l’Association franco-yukonnaise, Canadian Filipino Association of the Yukon, the Yukon African-Caribbean Association, Japanese-Canadian Association of Yukon, Yukon Arts Centre, and the Multicultural Centre of the Yukon.

For Miyagawa, a noted local journalist, author, and filmmaker, the new job brings challenges- but it also draws on a lifetime of experience.

“As a ‘child of multiculturalism’, I’m passionately curious about our unique and weirdly wonderful Canadian experiment in diversity,” he says. “I’ve been exploring it through my work for many years.  I’m excited to be a part of this very innovative project. “

Miyagawa will bring his experience as a project coordinator and community builder in Edmonton and Whitehorse to the task, which will see the creation of several community workshops and other events over the next 18 months.

“Mitch comes to the project with a very strong background in the arts, community development, and teaching,” says Brad Martin, the chair of the School of Community Education and Development.  “His energy and passion for the project is infectious, and I’m thrilled to have him on board.”

Yukon Cultures Connect was conceived as a way to address the fact the Yukon is changing. As Yukon’s population grows increasingly diverse, it is critical to ensure that public institutions, private-sector businesses, and future professionals, have the skills, sensitivity, and interest in working with diverse communities.

While Yukon Cultures Connect has its serious side- with meetings planned with community leaders to encourage diversity policies and practices - Miyagawa’s also committed to keeping it fun, and getting the general public engaged.

He’ll be applying that principle with the first public event associated with the project- a ‘mixer’ at Yukon College on Friday, March 30. The project will transform half of the Kinnikinnick Kaff for this event into a one-of-a-kind “house party”, with a sandwich fusion competition, interactive presentations, a “cultural Q+A”, and a dance.

“It’s a new millennium, and a new generation of Canadians living with the idea of multiculturalism,” he says. “We’ll be asking people to share their lives, their homes, and their cultures with each other- and having fun while they do it.”