United States Ambassador visits Yukon University campus to speak to students

On September 19, 2024, United States Ambassador David L. Cohen engaged with Yukon University Business and Leadership and Indigenous Governance students about the importance of country-to-country relations. The roundtable was moderated by YukonU political science instructor Kirk Cameron.

This was the Ambassador’s fourth visit to northern Canada since his appointment in 2021. He said he has made it a priority to spend time with students. Fresh off a visit to University of Alaska’s Arctic Domain Center of Excellence, he said he sees opportunity to strengthen partnerships in education between Alaska and Yukon.

“The future of this friendship is squarely in your hands,” he said. “And a major goal of mine is to make sure both countries are always communicating.”

The Ambassador views his role as being responsible for smooth collaboration between the two countries to jointly tackle challenges surrounding security, the climate crisis, infrastructure, and sustainable development. He highlighted the trade relationship between the U.S. and Canada, worth some $3.4 billion daily, as an area of importance. Asked about friction points, he explained that while points of contention between the countries occur in areas such as dairy, softwood lumber and the digital service tax, he believes in and values the democratic and international rules-based approaches to resolving issues.

“The beauty is that we identify these issues early on and establish treaties like the Canada and USA trade agreement and try to adjudicate those disputes in a civilized manner,” he said. "We still produce 3.4 billion dollars a day in trade.”

While trade is a predominate aspect of Canada-US relations, Cohen emphasized the importance of diversity, equity and inclusion (EDI) as a core value of his post. He said he is working to improve EDI withing the 1,400 embassy and consular employees in Canada and that he seeks leadership from Indigenous and First Nations communities on every visit.

“We work very hard to understand the histories and stories that they bring to the table,” he said, adding that he wants to “broaden my perspectives and learn what Indigenous people want to achieve in this modern world.”

On speaking about these relationships and the Ambassador’s stated commitment to infrastructure, an Indigenous Governance Degree student brought up the remote Canol Road that was built during World War II and connected NWT to the Yukon. He felt the road was an important part of First Nations history and that the infrastructure would need updating and maintenance. Ambassador Cohen admitted that he wasn’t familiar with the specific road but discussed the importance of such roads as examples of serving vital objectives in linking communities together. The spillover effects of good infrastructural development create lasting partnerships and strengthen people-to-people relationships.

Cohen also spoke to the importance of working together to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and finding ways to transition from current energy sources to clean energy technologies. One student asked for his insight on the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge concerning the possibility of extracting natural resources and disrupting the ecosystem. Cohen mentioned the current administration's strength is to find balance between the climate and economic growth while maintaining the overall values of each country including a low-carbon future. He could not speak to the priorities of any future U.S. government administration.

For his departing words, Ambassador Cohen had this to say:

“You’ve lived up to my hopes, expectation and optimism. I have a high level of confidence that you will lead with higher successions than our current leadership.”