News

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has granted the Yukon Research Centre (YRC) its third award in the last two years. Over the next two years, YRC will use this $200,000 grant to focus on building capacity for mine closure and site remediation in the Yukon through the College and Community Innovation Program of NSERC. This program aims to build collaboration between community colleges, researchers and the private sector, while benefiting Canadians.

“Yukon College is expanding northern innovation and research opportunities through collaboration, and our continued success with NSERC funding is a testament to how strong the Yukon Research Centre has become”, said Chris Hawkins, vice-president research, Yukon College.

WHITEHORSE – Demonstrating a culture of excellence, expanding research capacity, creating multiple pathways into programs and credentials, continued collaboration with Yukon First Nations and communities, and creating a comprehensive land use plan, are just some of the goals set for Yukon College by their Board of Governors in a new strategic plan released today.

Dr. Karen Barnes, Yukon College president, will unveil the 2013-16 Strategic Plan at a Yukon Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Old Fire Hall in Whitehorse today.

WHITEHORSE – “Partnering with the Yukon Research Centre opens doors,” says Yukon-based software programmer Peter Coates.

Coates created Race Tracker with the support of a $20,000 grant from Technology Innovation at the Yukon Research Centre (YRC). Race Tracker is custom-built software that tracks race competitors and streamlines much of the organizational activity around race events,

“The financial support is certainly helpful, but more importantly the Research Centre connected me to the Yukon River Quest last year which enabled me to test and refine the software,” said Coates.

More refinements have followed, including an app for mobile devices which transmits a racers location as frequently as every thirty seconds, making the software more attractive to shorter races where lack of cell-phone coverage is not an issue. Coates has plans to launch the software commercially, once again with the support and advice of the YRC.

WHITEHORSE - 2013 marks 10 years since Yukon’s constitution, the Yukon Act, came into force. This landmark Act gave the Government of Yukon direct control over a greater variety of provincial-type programs, responsibilities and powers, including public lands and resource management over water, forestry and mineral resources.

WHITEHORSE - Debbie Janzen, Collyn Lovelace and Lindsay Roberts, final year students in the Bachelor of Social Work program at Yukon College, have each been recognized for their school work.

Janzen won a $5,000 Northern Residence Award from the Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies for her research project, Exploring and Assessing Social Isolation among Yukon Seniors.

Lovelace won the $500 top prize in the Progressive Economics Forum’s annual essay contest in the undergraduate category. Her essay Obstacle to a Safe Exit: Domestic Violence & the Whitehorse Housing Crisis explores how the lack of rental options in Whitehorse impacts women fleeing domestic violence.

WHITEHORSE – If you want to secure your seat at Yukon College this fall, be prepared to line up when registration opens on Monday.

The doors of the admissions office will open at 9:00 a.m. and admissions staff said applications are up 18% over this time last year.

“We usually experience a rush for high demand programs when we begin registration,” said Jennifer Moorlag, Yukon College Registrar. “Students coming on Monday should definitely expect a line up.”

Moorlag said the eight programs with the highest demand are Renewable Resource Management, Practical Nursing, Office Administration, Home Care Assistant, Carpentry, Electrical, Pre-Employment Welding, and Culinary Arts. These programs currently have more qualified applicants than seats available.

WHITEHORSE – Bob Watts is a hopeful man. “I have great faith in humankind. I believe that in our core we are noble beings and can act in a noble way.”

Watts is bringing his hopeful message to Whitehorse and Watson Lake next week in a presentation entitled 2013: Time to Right the Relationship – True Reconciliation in Canada.

Engaging Canadians in their history and in the issues that have arisen from it is a major theme of Watts’ life, and his presentation.

“Far too many people in this country have witnessed in silence, and we need people to engage in these issues, of how we treat one another, how we address the legacy of residential schools, and speak out,” said Watts, a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Fellow at the Harvard Law School.

WHITEHORSE – Natasha Ayoub became the first person awarded a Bachelor of Science in Northern Environmental and Conservation Sciences (ENCS) north of 60 in Canada on Saturday.

The B.Sc. Northern ENCS program is a partnership with University of Alberta. It has been very popular, with over 30 students taking courses over the past three years, many of whom are working full time and using the credits to complete a program or qualify for a Masters program elsewhere.

“This is an excellent program,” said Ayoub. “The small class sizes enable instructors to tailor courses to student interests and needs. The overall focus on northern content, First Nations content and Yukon legislation like the Yukon Environmental and Socioeconomic Assessment Act (YESAA) is vital for professionals working or intending to work in the territory.”

WHITEHORSE - The first four graduates of the First Nations Governance and Public Administration (FNGPA) program were celebrated at a dinner at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre on Saturday. Wesley Barrett, Delilah Pillai, Kathleen Van Bibber and Lily Sembsmoen graduated from the full certificate program at Yukon College.

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.

Whitehorse - Three students from Whitehorse will compete against 500 other young scientists from across Canada in Lethbridge, Alberta next week, while another will head to Phoenix, Arizona, to take part in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

The three competing at the 52nd annual Canada-wide Science Fair (CWSF) taking place at the University of Lethbridge were the top three winners at the Yukon/Stikine Regional Science Fair this past December. The regional fair saw competitors from grades four to seven competing. The national fair is for young scientists from grades seven to twelve.

The three Yukon scientists and their projects competing in the Junior Division are:

Fourteen-year-old Myles Rumley-Nukon will join this summer’s 2013 Students on Ice Arctic expedition thanks to a scholarship funded by the Government of Yukon and Yukon College. Rumley-Nukon is a Vuntut Gwitchin student currently in Grade 8 at Porter Creek Secondary School in Whitehorse.

The $10,000 scholarship is provided by the Northern Climate ExChange at Yukon College, the Government of Yukon’s Climate Change Secretariat, Yukon Education and Environment Yukon. Students aged 14-18 were invited to apply earlier this year through their schools.

Myles Rumley-Nukon is a Vuntut Gwitchin student who is interested in helping his community fight to protect the Porcupine caribou herd. References accompanying his scholarship application speak highly of him being "a role model for all young First Nation males."