Top Lawyer to speak, Yukon pioneers to receive recognition at Yukon College graduation ceremony

WHITEHORSE – Yukon College students will have the opportunity to hear from three people whose work has each had a significant impact on the development of Yukon and Canada’s North at their graduation this Saturday.

The keynote address will be given by Thomas Berger, a former justice of the B.C. Supreme Court who acted as counsel for the Manitoba Métis Federation in their successful Supreme Court of Canada case earlier this year. Berger is best known for his work as commissioner of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline inquiry in the 1970s where he recommended delaying the creation of an oil pipeline through the Mackenzie Delta in favour of settling Aboriginal land claims and protecting northern ecosystems.

Former Yukon Commissioner James (Jim) Smith will receive an Honorary Diploma in Northern Studies from the College. 93-year-old Smith was Commissioner from 1966-76 and in 1973 led the charge to change the Territory’s relationship with Ottawa. His vision and work has led to greater control by Yukoners over Yukon resources and government – from devolving power to the legislature in 1979, the Umbrella Final Agreement and first four signed land claims in 1993, to devolution in 2003.

Anthropologist Dr. Julie Cruikshank will also receive an Honorary Diploma in Northern Studies from the College. Cruikshank is Professor Emerita in the Department of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. For more than a decade, she lived in the Yukon Territory where she worked with the Yukon Native Language Centre recording oral traditions and life stories with Athapaskan and Tlingit elders. Cruikshank’s work has brought fresh attention to traditional knowledge and oral history held by First Nations elders in their stories and traditions.

Senator Dan Lang, Premier Darrell Pasloski, College Chancellor Geraldine Van Bibber and College President Dr. Karen Barnes will also be speaking at the convocation.

Students from over 40 certificate, diploma and degree programs will cross the stage Saturday May 11. These include the very first graduates from the Bachelor of Science in Northern Environmental and Conservation Sciences degree program and the First Nations Governance and Public Administration certificate program. 48 students will be graduating with honours.

Following last years’ sold out ceremony, the College has split the day into two events. Students in Applied Arts programs will receive their credential at the 11:00 a.m. ceremony. Students in Applied Science and Management and Academic and Skill Development programs will receive their credential at the 2:00 p.m. ceremony.

For more information about this years’ graduation ceremonies, including how to get tickets, go to www.yukoncollege.yk.ca/grad/

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For more information, contact:

Michael Vernon
Communications Coordinator
College Relations
Yukon College
867.668.8786
867.332.4722
mvernon@yukoncollege.yk.ca

Jacqueline Bedard
Director
College Relations
Yukon College
867.456.8619
jbedard@yukoncollege.yk.ca