Maria Rose Sikyea is a Dené artisan from Northwest Territories who facilitates traditional skills workshops, sells caribou hair bundles, works towards cultural revitalization and creates jewelry alive with the gifts of Mother Earth.
When caribou graze among saxifrages – a vibrant high arctic flower found on the tundra – their muzzles become naturally coloured with a reddish hue. This natural occurrence is what inspired Maria to name her new innovation, Saxi Yukon.
Fashion designer Natasha Peter sews stunning clothing and jewelry to share with her community and on the world stage. Descended from a long line of Kaska sewers, her grandparents passed along their skills to her at a young age. She took hold of these skills in her mid-twenties when she was facing a dark point in her life, and found healing by connecting with her traditions. Her early designs led to custom orders from across Canada, gaining organic traction and acclaim.
To celebrate Tourism Week Canada 2024, we were thrilled to sit down to chat withKalin Pallett, owner of Eddyline -the first tourismbusiness to participate in YukonU I&E’s IncubateNorth program.
Fran Morberg-Green, also known as N’tso Ga / Elädzing, is merging her love for graphic design and herbal medicine to carve out her own path as an entrepreneur. Some years back, she grappled with intense physical pain, prompting her to delve into diverse healing practices. After finding relief, Fran resolved to deepen her passions and later to seek flexible self-employment avenues. Her goal? To share her creative skills and knowledge with her First Nation, her community and other Yukon communities.
Neha Devi and Ammanda Partridge are passionate about providing excellence in esthetics care in the Yukon. Since meeting at YukonU I&E while Neha participated in Summer Biz School, these women have teamed up to support each other’s goals.
Esther Winter is coordinating Mayo’s after school MAKE IT Club for the second year in a row. Grades 6 and 7 students meet twice a month to make crafts and prepare them for markets—learning entrepreneurial mindset along the way. A Junior MAKE IT Club with grades 4 and 5 aged students also meets once a month. These youth try out real-life business projects, which make educational subjects such as teamwork, persuasive writing, budgeting and pricing meaningful and fun.
“We need to constantly ask ourselves how this work advances true reconciliation,” the Honourable Jody Wilson-Raybould stated at the Arctic Indigenous Investment Conference in spring 2023.
Leading up to National Day for Truth and Reconciliation, our team is holding space for grief, while reflecting on the unstoppable momentum of Yukon First Nations who are activating economic reconciliation.
"Northern food security is in an exciting place," shared Tarek Bos-Jabbar, CEO of ColdAcre Food Systems and IncubateNorth participant. "It's making some great strides forward. A lot of smart people have been solving individual solutions, and then we're just trying to put them all together in one cohesive thought right now. That's the big picture of where we also want to be: selling a full food system that fits the community."
Sonny Gray and the team at North Star Agriculture provide innovative food sovereignty solutions to communities of all sizes, and have been growing their company while participating in IncubateNorth. North Star has supported comprehensive projects, such as Na-cho Nyak Dun First Nation Farm, and is working with Carcross/Tagish FN on Porcupine Creek Farm.
