In the Yukon, 49 percent of First Nations adults have a post-secondary qualification, compared to 71 percent of non-Indigenous people, according to Statistics Canada.
The legacy of colonialism, residential schools, the Sixties Scoop, the millennial scoop, and rampant racism continue to impose significant barriers for Indigenous peoples to access post-secondary education.
It will take fundamental changes to address barriers and bridge the gap, and that’s exactly what EleV (pronounced “ell-a-vee"), a Mastercard Foundation funded program, is doing.
Partnering with Indigenous-led organizations and higher education institutions, the Program aligns education opportunities with the aspirations of Indigenous youth and the priorities of their communities. It supports young people through post-secondary education and on to meaningful livelihoods by working in close partnership with Indigenous youth and communities to fundamentally transform education and employment systems.
Yukon University and the Mastercard Foundation are expanding their existing partnership. A new five-year commitment through the Mastercard Foundation’s EleV Program continues the work of transforming education and supporting Indigenous youth participation and success in the Yukon.
Yukon University, in collaboration with Yukon First Nations partners, including the Assembly of First Nations Yukon Region, the Yukon First Nations Education Directorate, and the Training Policy Committee, will undertake a range of initiatives that will focus on systems change.
In 2022, the Yukon First Nations Education Directorate (YFNED) partnered with Yukon University on an initiative to map the many facets of Yukon First Nation (YFN) education in the territory. Over several months a series of conversations were hosted with the intent of taking a more comprehensive look at the education system in the Yukon, including gaps, areas of overlap, and opportunities for collaboration. As a collective, it was agreed that we should continue the systems approach for collaboratively tackling education issues faced by Indigenous youth in the system.
The creation of an Education Ecosystem Coordinator, housed at YFNED, comes as a direct response to this call for action. The Ecosystem Coordinator will engage with YFNED’s Trades and Post-Secondary Navigators, the YFN Moccasin Trail Blazers youth group, and YFN communities and youth directly, to identify and understand common obstacles faced by Indigenous youth in the system. Then, rather than continuing to use workarounds and band-aid solutions, the coordinator will work with implicated entities within the ecosystem to address and dismantle these obstacles at the source and hold up promising practices in support of Indigenous youths’ educational success.
For more information, contact Mark Smith, Ecosystem Change Coordinator, Yukon First Nations Education Directorate
Through their decades of experience in the administration of the Yukon Indian Peoples Training Trust, the Training Policy Committee (TPC), one of the Boards and Committees of the Umbrella Final Agreement, has identified a gap in training funding available to Yukon First Nation citizens. Using EleV Program funding, the TPC will conduct research, make implementation recommendations and seek funding for the establishment of a training and capacity building fund for Yukon First Nations individuals to address this gap.
For more information, contact the Training Policy Committee
In 2024, YukonU will be finalizing its Reconciliation Framework — a foundational document, which will help guide planning and development at YukonU, including work toward the achievement of commitment #2 in Yukon University’s Strategic Plan - To take our place in advancing reconciliation.
YukonU is working towards nurturing a culture of deep listening, dialogue, and respectful engagement, and is working towards decolonization through meaningfully improving programs, services, research, spaces and approaches to post-secondary education. The Strategy will be informed by Yukon First Nation communities’ desires and needs. It will be based on an authentic foundation of understanding, honoring, and creating space for Yukon First Nations’ cultures, languages, heritages, knowledge systems, and worldviews.
Read the Strategy (coming soon)
For more information, contact Nadia Joe, Associate Vice President Reconciliation, YukonU
YukonU will develop an approach to collaborative program development and review that recognizes and supports meaningful engagement of Yukon First Nations. YukonU will use its current degree development activities as a case study to inform a model for collaborative program development.
By learning from and examining successes, challenges and learning opportunities from these activities through a learning system / action research model, YukonU also anticipates the development of principles that inform future policy development and revisions. Outcomes align with YukonU’s desired approach to Indigenization and are anticipated to inform an institution-wide approach to decolonized policy making.
For more information, contact the Provost’s Office, YukonU
YukonU will coordinate and develop local Indigenous youths’ capacity to deliver STEAM (Science Technology Arts Engineering and Math) and Trades programming in Yukon communities. This project will build skills and confidence of young adults in STEAM and leadership and grow capacity within communities to deliver youth programming and increase community control over youth programming. Additionally, it aims to inspire younger kids to, one day, become future STEAM and trades leaders in their communities and to create meaningful youth employment opportunities.
Project Leads:
Dan Hoefele, Youth STEAM Programs Coordinator (Southern Campuses), Yukon University
Liz Vickers-Drennan, Youth STEM Programs Coordinator (Northern Campuses), Yukon University
For more information about YukonU’s STEAM and Trades programming visit: https://www.yukonu.ca/programs/continuing-education/kids-programs
The Junior Researchers Program aims to engage older youth in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, the Arts, and Math) and build interest in careers as researchers/scientists and post-secondary education, as well as to inspire youth to solve Northern challenges with STEAM.
This project will pilot a mentorship model for developing youth leaders by pairing university students and faculty with high school students and recent high school graduates. By pairing youth with researchers at YukonU’s Research Centre, participating youth will develop research skills and knowledge through mentorship and meaningful, local, paid employment opportunities in their communities.
For more information please email: camps@yukonu.ca
Reconnection and Whole Person Programming aims to build off the momentum and teachings from the Yukon First Nation (YFN) Climate Action Fellowship. The Fellowship was a 2-year leadership, policy development, and cultural Reconnection program delivered in partnership with the Assembly of Yukon First Nations - Yukon Region (AFN-Y) and CYFNs. Fellows were charged by YFN leadership to develop the YFN approach to Climate Action.
To support the 13 Fellows, who were 23-30 years old and from all walks of YFNs experience, we developed a whole-person educational approach, where we created a cultural-based curriculum that developed their spirituality, emotional competency, along with their intellect. Upon completion of the program, Fellows say, “I have the confidence to make life changing decisions for myself and so I can lead others”. The Fellows are now engaging on their philosophy of “Reconnection is Climate Action”, where Climate Change is a symptom of our disconnect from spirit, self, each other and Earth. Their approach is to normalize cultural education to seed Reconnection and in turn nurture whole-person confident approaches in how we live, learn and work. Their Reconnection Vision and Action Plan was endorsed by YFN Leadership in March 2023.
To see a copy of the Reconnection Vision Plan visit: https://reconnection.vision
This project will develop, in partnership with the Institute of Indigenous Self Determination, a new educational model based on the YFN Climate Action Fellowship pilot that can inform a new Reconnection Program and assist in Indigenizing other YukonU programs.
Yukon University has delivered many successful programs over the years. Several variables can influence program success (e.g., instructor and curriculum quality, delivery format, time of year, available funding, student supports, student readiness and interest), yet we often make assumptions about why a given program was successful, or not.
For Yukon University to offer programming in which Yukon First Nation students are consistently thriving it must first understand how Yukon First Nations define success. This understanding will form the foundation of a comprehensive review across multiple YukonU programs, focused on First Nation student success, to identify factors that led to that success. The findings and subsequent recommendations will help inform the design and delivery of future YukonU programming.
For more information contact Nadia Joe, Associate Vice President Reconciliation, YukonU
Provinces and Territories, and many institutions across Canada are embracing micro-credentials to bridge skills gaps and create accessible pathways to post-secondary education. YukonU values micro-credentials as an opportunity for non-traditional learners to complete education in a way that supports upskilling or reskilling in more meaningful and flexible ways that are directly related to skills gaps in the labor market. With the support of EleV funding, YukonU will develop a framework for micro-credential at YukonU.
For more information, contact Patrick Rouble, Department Head for Continuing Education, YukonU
In response to a resolution made at the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) Yukon Chiefs’ Summit to “establish a formal celebration and acknowledgement for post-secondary students, focused on Youth and Emerging Leaders”, the Assembly of First Nations – Yukon Region, under direction from a YFN Advisory Committee, will plan, coordinate and host an Indigenous post-secondary graduate celebration in the Yukon in Spring 2025.
The event will celebrate all post-secondary Indigenous graduates in the Yukon (from YukonU and those attending post-secondary outside the Yukon). The intention of the pilot year is to provide a model for hosting a post-secondary graduate celebrations each year in partnership with AFN-Y, YukonU, and other interested partners and stakeholders.
Project Lead: Jennifer Matchett, Director, Environment & Climate Change, A/Chief of Staff, Assembly of First Nations - Yukon Regions
This project will pilot an Indigenous student mentorship program to nourish the learning spirit. Cultural programming will be intentionally designed to nurture the hearts, minds and spirits of Indigenous learners at YukonU. Teachings will align with Indigenous pedagogical practices to encourage cultural safety and growth, attend to the lessons from the seasonal rounds, and enable reciprocal learning among all participants (mentors/learners).
The pilot will be offered in partnership with the Elders on Campus Program, initially at the Ayamdigut campus with the potential for community campus trial(s). This project is also testing an approach that does not require participants apply/register, which can be a barrier for supporting Indigenous learners more broadly. The Program will be designed to support participants in learning appropriate cultural protocols for engaging in relational work.
For more information, contact Lindsay Moore, Director of First Nations Initiatives, YukonU
A one-year pilot for an Educational Pathways Connector position at YukonU to identify and address barriers for Indigenous students in post-secondary, foster greater connections between YukonU and Yukon First Nations learners, and grow the Yukon First Nations student enrollment.
For more information, please contact Haley Mitander, Education Pathways Connector, YukonU
Illuminating Worldviews is a co-learning journey intended to raise awareness and understanding of the often invisible philosophies and systems that we live within. Through a carefully guided exploration of philosophies and systems that are often considered "normal" or "objective", members of YukonU’s senior leadership will participate in a co-learning journey aimed at creating conditions for all worldviews, philosophies, and systems of governance to be effectively shared and respected.
For more information, please contact Jodi Gustafson, Program Director, Illuminating Worldviews
To Swim and Speak with Salmon is a new, Indigenous-led program that engages Indigenous and non-Indigenous youth in paid training through place-based programming and engaging with experts and policymakers, while traveling through the salmon's range.
This project is supporting the development of a conservation advocacy program that is suited to the Yukon and done in a very relational and Indigenous process way. This place-based, whole-person education program emphasizes the spiritual, mental, physical, and emotional education of participants.
The project will capture the learnings that youth achieve and will explore how to replicate them in other regions or with another cohort. Information that may help guide how Indigenous Knowledge may be recognized, learnt, and credentialled.
For more information contact Jared Gonet, Senior Instructor, YukonU
Learners at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre (WCC) are disproportionately of Indigenous ancestry. This project will explore piloting initiatives to identify and remove systemic barriers for learners at WCC and create long-term supports for future programming.
Specifically, this project will look at ways to foster increased collaborations across YukonU to coordinate learning opportunities for WCC learners (e.g., student-led practicums or work integrated learning opportunities). It will also explore opportunities for hosting a mobile trades program and supporting WCC learners in their transitions to study at other YukonU campuses (e.g., developing relationships between WCC learners and Indigenous Student Navigators, Elders on Campus, and/or a renewed Aunties/Uncles program).
Project Lead: Kevin Kennedy, Instructor/Coordinator Whitehorse Correctional Centre, YukonU
This project is offering Indigenous applicants needing to complete some pre-requisites for entrance into degree programs offered at YukonU a bridging opportunity that includes strategic advising, connection to tutoring services as required, support navigating the technology in online courses (as required), and team-building activities, ultimately supporting more Indigenous youth to enter into degree programs and ultimate careers in fields such as teaching and social work.
Insights gathered through this pilot may help inform how bridging pathways may be formalized at YukonU.
For more information, contact Andrew Richardson, Dean, Applied Arts, YukonU
A collaboration between Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in Government and YukonU’s Dawson City campus, this project will develop and pilot a bridging program which will address gaps and barriers to Indigenous youth accessing and succeeding in post-secondary and beyond. It will have the added benefit of growing the student body, and in turn foster a sense of community, at the Dawson Regional Campus (Hub).
For more information, contact Ashley Doiron, Manager, Programs and Courses, Dawson City Campus, YukonU