DAWSON CITY – The soil has been turned and seeds planted for the first growing season at the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in (TH) Teaching and Working Farm.

Five TH citizens have been hired as farmhands. Nancy-Jane Taylor, Jen Titus, Joshua Moses, Nick Rear, and Adam Farr are working with Dexter MacRae, TH Human Resources, Education and Training Director, in cleaning the site and preparing an initial 150-by-75-foot plot. Beginning this week, the team will plant the initial crop of potatoes, carrots, beets, onions, lettuce and edible flowers.

“Being able to plant in our first year, and distribute food to the community in a few months, puts us well ahead of where we expected to be,” said MacRae.
MacRae credits the “phenomenal support” the farm project has received from TH citizens and the Dawson City community, as well as the Yukon Agriculture Branch, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, and Yukon College, in helping the project quickly reach this milestone.

The Yukon Research Centre has received funding from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) to do northern restoration research with Kaminak Gold Corporation.

The $25,000 will be used to determine how native plant species and techniques can be used to restore mine impacted sites. Not only will this research help Kaminak develop restoration protocols and capacity for the Coffee Gold site, it is also a component of the Northern Terrestrial Restoration course offered to Tr’ondek Hwech’in (TH) citizens through Yukon College’s Centre for Northern Innovation in Mining.

WINNIPEG - Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) presented Yukon College with the first Indigenous Education Excellence Gold Award at a ceremony in Winnipeg last night.

The award criterion looks at institutional commitment, respect of intellectual and cultural traditions, increased understanding and reciprocity among indigenous and non-indigenous peoples, learning environments, and relationship building. It is one of eight awards of excellence presented during the annual CICan conference.

“At Yukon College the importance placed on First Nations Initiatives comes right from the Board of Governors and goes right through the entire College. This has allowed us to make effective, real partnerships and relationships with our community and First Nation partners,” said Tosh Southwick, Director of First Nations Initiatives and Academic and Skill Development.

Technology Innovation (TI) is kicking off the mountain biking season with the release of the Montana Mountain Biking App for the Carcross area. This application is unique to all other North American trail apps and its innovative technology will revolutionize destination marketing for the tourism industry in Yukon and around the globe.

The Montana Mountain Biking App was created by Carcross Tagish First Nation (CTFN) and Yukon software developer, Stephan Bardubitzki. They have designed innovative software that has taken tourism destination marketing to a new level. Their innovative data compression technology allows the user to access high resolution maps within the app itself, offline, avoiding real-time exorbitant data roaming charges.

WHITEHORSE – Sci-Tech Girl is a new event being launched at Yukon College to encourage young women to seek out careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Young women in grades 10, 11, 12 and first year post-secondary are invited to meet and learn from the experience of women who are leaders in their fields. Valuable networking that will support young girls in exploring options in the sciences, according to 17-year-old Saba Javed.

“At elementary school a lot more girls were into these subjects, but I’ve seen that once you reach high school it becomes that math, science, trades, are considered more of a guy thing,” said the grade 11 F.H. Collins student. “In subjects like math and computers the guy versus girl ratio is so big, that it puts many girls off persevering and building on their earlier experience.”

WHITEHORSE – 234 students from over 50 degree, diploma, and certificate programs will gather with their families and Yukon College faculty and staff for the 2015 Convocation on Friday May 15 at the Yukon Arts Centre.

41 students will be graduating with honours. Early Childhood Development diploma graduate Angela Canil will be presented with the Collegiate Governor General’s Academic Award by Commissioner Doug Phillips for achieving the highest grade point average of 3.98 in the 2013-14 academic year.

Dr. Roger Epp, Deputy Provost (Academic) of the University of Alberta, will be the keynote speaker. 

WHITEHORSE-Three Grade 9 students from Vanier Catholic Secondary school will join 500 other young scientists from across Canada to showcase their scientific knowledge at the annual Canada-Wide Science Fair in Fredericton, New Brunswick, May 10-16, 2015.

Representing Yukon with their original research projects are, Kaleb Pritchett with “What Cleaner Works Best for Removing Oil From Feathers”, Aiden Stoker, presenting “How Many Sugars are in Your Smoothie”, and Derek Hennings with the “Strength of Common Construction Softwoods”. 

These students were winners at the Yukon/Stikine Regional Science Fair held at Yukon College last December and have been working hard on their projects and displays. They will be competing in the Intermediate Division nationally.

The students are accompanied by two teacher delegates: Jenna Frerot (Aurora Virtual School) and Mitch Bruce (Tantalus School, Carmacks).

ROSS RIVER- It was standing room only at the Ross River arena last Friday lunchtime as the community gathered to celebrate seven students graduating the Heavy Equipment Technician pre-apprentice, Skills for Employment, and dual credit training programs.

Nicole Etzel, Matthew Hersom-Petersen, Dylan Loblaw, and Keifer Sterriah graduated from the Pre-Apprenticeship Program. Robby Dick and Bradley Sather graduated from the Skills program. 16-year-old Crandall Hebb graduated from the dual credit program.

The students are now preparing to challenge the Heavy Equipment Technician Apprenticeship Level I (first year) exam in the next two weeks. The three streams were taught alongside each other in the Mobile Trades Training Trailer which has been located beside the Ross River arena since January.

The Yukon Research Centre (YRC) has partnered with the Liard First Nation (LFN) to examine the drinking water quality in LFN traditional territory. Results will be used to support water management in 2/2.5 Mile, Upper Liard, Windid Lake, and Albert Creek.

LFN has directed YRC to establish base-line data on drinking water quality, access, and safety. Researchers have completed well water testing and ground and surface water mapping, and will survey community members about values, concerns, and practices related to drinking water from Monday, April 20th until Sunday,  April 26th.

Whitehorse – Four Yukon innovators have been short-listed for the 2015 Yukon Innovation Prize. These finalists will each receive $10,000 to further develop their idea and compete for the grand prize of $60,000.

Cold Climate Innovation at the Yukon Research Centre (YRC) and Government of Yukon’s Economic Development created this prize to support Yukon innovators whose ideas have an environmental or economic benefit to the Yukon.

The selection committee reviewed 27 proposals and chose four finalists whose ideas have high market and commercialization potential in the building technology, construction, and manufacturing industries.