WHITEHORSE – Bob Watts is a hopeful man. “I have great faith in humankind. I believe that in our core we are noble beings and can act in a noble way.”

Watts is bringing his hopeful message to Whitehorse and Watson Lake next week in a presentation entitled 2013: Time to Right the Relationship – True Reconciliation in Canada.

Engaging Canadians in their history and in the issues that have arisen from it is a major theme of Watts’ life, and his presentation.

“Far too many people in this country have witnessed in silence, and we need people to engage in these issues, of how we treat one another, how we address the legacy of residential schools, and speak out,” said Watts, a graduate of the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University and Fellow at the Harvard Law School.

WHITEHORSE – Natasha Ayoub became the first person awarded a Bachelor of Science in Northern Environmental and Conservation Sciences (ENCS) north of 60 in Canada on Saturday.

The B.Sc. Northern ENCS program is a partnership with University of Alberta. It has been very popular, with over 30 students taking courses over the past three years, many of whom are working full time and using the credits to complete a program or qualify for a Masters program elsewhere.

“This is an excellent program,” said Ayoub. “The small class sizes enable instructors to tailor courses to student interests and needs. The overall focus on northern content, First Nations content and Yukon legislation like the Yukon Environmental and Socioeconomic Assessment Act (YESAA) is vital for professionals working or intending to work in the territory.”

WHITEHORSE - The first four graduates of the First Nations Governance and Public Administration (FNGPA) program were celebrated at a dinner at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre on Saturday. Wesley Barrett, Delilah Pillai, Kathleen Van Bibber and Lily Sembsmoen graduated from the full certificate program at Yukon College.

WHITEHORSE – Yukon College students will have the opportunity to hear from three people whose work has each had a significant impact on the development of Yukon and Canada’s North at their graduation this Saturday.

The keynote address will be given by Thomas Berger, a former justice of the B.C. Supreme Court who acted as counsel for the Manitoba Métis Federation in their successful Supreme Court of Canada case earlier this year. Berger is best known for his work as commissioner of the Mackenzie Valley pipeline inquiry in the 1970s where he recommended delaying the creation of an oil pipeline through the Mackenzie Delta in favour of settling Aboriginal land claims and protecting northern ecosystems.

Whitehorse - Three students from Whitehorse will compete against 500 other young scientists from across Canada in Lethbridge, Alberta next week, while another will head to Phoenix, Arizona, to take part in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair.

The three competing at the 52nd annual Canada-wide Science Fair (CWSF) taking place at the University of Lethbridge were the top three winners at the Yukon/Stikine Regional Science Fair this past December. The regional fair saw competitors from grades four to seven competing. The national fair is for young scientists from grades seven to twelve.

The three Yukon scientists and their projects competing in the Junior Division are:

Fourteen-year-old Myles Rumley-Nukon will join this summer’s 2013 Students on Ice Arctic expedition thanks to a scholarship funded by the Government of Yukon and Yukon College. Rumley-Nukon is a Vuntut Gwitchin student currently in Grade 8 at Porter Creek Secondary School in Whitehorse.

The $10,000 scholarship is provided by the Northern Climate ExChange at Yukon College, the Government of Yukon’s Climate Change Secretariat, Yukon Education and Environment Yukon. Students aged 14-18 were invited to apply earlier this year through their schools.

Myles Rumley-Nukon is a Vuntut Gwitchin student who is interested in helping his community fight to protect the Porcupine caribou herd. References accompanying his scholarship application speak highly of him being "a role model for all young First Nation males."

DAWSON CITY – Percy Henry, a former Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Chief and respected elder, will receive an honorary diploma from Yukon College this evening.

The diploma will be presented at the end of year graduating ceremony for students in the Foundation Year program at the School of Visual Arts (SOVA) in Dawson City.

Eighty-five-year-old Henry is currently a Language Master for the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Heritage Department working to preserve the Hän language and history. While Chief of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in from 1968 to 1974 Henry was instrumental in initiating the land claims process and was one of the Yukon Chiefs who traveled to Ottawa in 1973 to present Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow.

WHITEHORSE – Starting next month, visitors to MacBride Museum will be able to enjoy an enhanced museum experience using mobile tablet computers. Mid Arctic Technology Services has created an interactive museum tour product that will provide new information and new context in up to 48 languages.

This is just one of seven innovative ideas that have received support towards commercialization from the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) and Government of Yukon through Cold Climate and Technology Innovation at the Yukon Research Centre (YRC).

CanNor is providing $165,658 towards the projects. Funding for the projects also comes from Yukon Economic Development. Cold Climate and Technology Innovation support and in-kind contributions from developers bring the development budget to $446,750.

WHITEHORSE – Yukon College, the Justice Institute of British Columbia, and the Presidents of British Columbia Colleges (BC Colleges) representing 11 colleges in BC, announced today the formal creation of a BC Applied Research and Innovation Network (BCARIN).

BCARIN’s mandate is to connect member institutions – their students and faculty – with business and community organizations who seek to solve ‘real world’ problems which demand skill in research and innovation. 

BCARIN has launched a web site and network ‘portal’ at www.bcarin.ca and it has appointed its first executive board, co-chaired by Thor Borgford, Dean of Science & Technology at Douglas College and Margaret Heldman, Dean of Science at Langara. 

WHITEHORSE – Canada is known throughout the world as a leader in collaborative approaches to environmental conservation and wildlife management. The Canadian North, in particular, is recognized as a place where the federal government has worked closely with First Nations in the creation and management of protected areas. However, the story of how this situation developed is not well understood, either here or abroad.

When Brad Martin first learned the story of how a small group of Inuvialuit people with historic claims in the western Arctic wrestled concessions from the Canadian government over the creation of Ivvavik National Park in the northern Yukon, it led him north.

In a new book on the global spread of national park ideals Martin has now argued that this episode transformed how conservation was practiced in Canada.