Routes - Yukoners in Action

New course created in partnership with Carcross/Tagish First Nation integrates Western and Indigenous perspectives to teach students biology, chemistry, and physics

Dana Tizya-Tramm was elected Chief of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation in 2018, and sworn into office in January 2019. In this conversation, he shares the path that brought him to where he is today and what he sees in the future.

Two students talk about their journeys through distance education

Jeff Stokes has always been interested in how things work.

He joined the Millwright Pre-Apprenticeship Program through Yukon College’s Centre for Northern Innovation in Mining last year, and recently passed his first-year exam.

Studying as a millwright allowed him the opportunity to combine skills in things like mechanics, welding and electrical to get the big picture of what it takes to keep stationary machinery running.

Telling your story can be cathartic and hearing someone else’s story can be transformative.

This is a key idea behind a program run recently at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre (WCC) Campus. The goal was to give inmates the space and the tools to tell their own stories, and to pass positive messages on to youth who may be reading them.

A new certificate program gives education and employment support workers the skills they need to excel

Over the past few months a small house has been taking shape  on the Ayamdigut campus in Whitehorse.

It was built though a program called Building Stability, aimed at giving youth an introduction to basic carpentry and fundamental skills for employment.

The project is a partnership between the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations (CAFN), the Government of Yukon, and Yukon College’s Centre for Northern Innovation in Mining. 

Learning to snowshoe through the trail system at Chadburn Lake on a frigid winter day was one of the toughest things Shane Gordon has done all year.

“We were all tested on that day,” says Shane. “It’s crucial in leadership that you have to take care of others – the instructors took care of us in the cold and pushed us to move out of our comfort zones. 

“It was sure uncomfortable, but we made it through.”