Whitehorse – More than 30 Yukon College students will take to the stage at the Yukon Arts Centre in Whitehorse Tuesday night to receive financial- and moral- support to finish their studies.

The second annual Yukon College Student Awards ceremony recognizes academic excellence and the need for financial support for College students. It also provides an opportunity for the donor and student recipient to meet: donors like to see their donations benefiting students and students appreciate the opportunity to say ‘thank you’ in person.

“I take my studies very seriously and I like to dedicate a lot of time to them,” says Jesse Vigliotti, a second-year student in the Northern Environmental Studies Diploma program at Yukon College.

Plastic recyclables may become a new source of oil for the Yukon. Cold Climate Innovation (CCI), at the Yukon Research Centre, is financing a local innovator to investigate the territory’s capacity to convert local low grade plastic to fuel.

Yukon researcher and innovator, Andy Lera, approached CCI with a proposal that may solve two local problems: the net financial loss of shipping plastic recyclables south and the costly shipment of oil to the north. “The Yukon has a large supply of low grade plastics that could be turned into oil and this could benefit the territory ecologically and possibly economically”, said Andy Lera. Converting plastic to oil would reduce the Yukon’s carbon footprint and may save the government and recycling depots money while producing oil that is ecologically friendly.

Whitehorse – Two papers detailing what we know of the lives of the first Canadians are being included in a new textbook on the archaeology of Beringia.

The papers, written by Yukon College anthropology instructor Norm Easton and his co-researchers, are published in “From the Yenisei to the Yukon: Interpreting Lithic Assemblage Variability in Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene Beringia”, from the Texas A&M University Press.

Researchers from the United States and Russia also contributed chapters to the book.

“It really shows that Yukon research is recognized as meeting scholarly standards and is internationally important,” says Easton. “This recognition is very gratifying.”

The book is a compendium of knowledge about the pre-historic people, cultures, economy and technology of the Beringia area. It reflects the state of knowledge up to 2009, when a conference on the subject was held in Vancouver.

Plastic recyclables may become a new source of oil for the Yukon. Cold Climate Innovation (CCI), at the Yukon Research Centre, is financing a local innovator to investigate the territory’s capacity to convert local low grade plastic to fuel.

Yukon researcher and innovator, Andy Lera, approached CCI with a proposal that may solve two local problems: the net financial loss of shipping plastic recyclables south and the costly shipment of oil to the north. “The Yukon has a large supply of low grade plastics that could be turned into oil and this could benefit the territory ecologically and possibly economically”, said Andy Lera. Converting plastic to oil would reduce the Yukon’s carbon footprint and may save the government and recycling depots money while producing oil that is ecologically friendly.

Whitehorse –When a crew of riggers from Yukon College’s trades program hoists a huge canoe into place in the college cafeteria, its creator will be a satisfied man.

“I was looking for a good home for this canoe,” says Dawson City artist Halin de Repentigny. “I am happy it is going to be safe here at the college.”

The 28-foot birch-bark canoe will placed into position on Nov. 16, hanging in the stairwell of the college’s cafeteria. There, the artisanship will be on display for years to come.

 Whitehorse – People interested in climate change and climate science in Yukon can now find the last eight years of research on the subject in one easy-to-access document.

The Northern Climate ExChange (NCE) released the “Compendium of Yukon Climate Change Science” this week. It can be found at http://www.taiga.net/nce/mainstreaming/index.html.

The report, produced as part of the Northern Climate ExChange’s mainstreaming program, includes over 175 studies divided into ten general themes. There are studies on everything from fish to forestry, from pollution to the breeding cycles of red squirrels at Kluane Lake. (they’re giving birth an average of 18 days earlier, largely as a result of climate change in the area). (see backgrounder, below)

Whitehorse –Yukoners will have a chance to meet and hear national and local leaders speak on social justice challenges and change at the Northern Institute of Social Justice’s Inaugural Speaking Event on November 14.

The Hon. Lloyd Axworthy, former Assembly of First Nations Grand Chief Phil Fontaine, and Teslin Tlingit Council Chief Peter Johnston will be speaking at the event, to be held at the Yukon Arts Centre, at 7:00 pm.

The theme of the evening is “Making Change- Global, National and Local Pathways to Social Justice”.

“If you are interested in social justice issues, this is an opportunity to hear from others who are also imagining, leading and supporting change in different ways and areas”, said Joanne Lewis, Executive Director of the Northern Institute of Social Justice.

On behalf of the Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor) and Minister of Health, Ryan Leef Member of Parliament for Yukon and Shelagh Rowles, Acting Vice-President of Education and Training at Yukon College today announced that resource development and exploration companies in Yukon will soon have more skilled local workers to choose from, thanks to two new mining technology programs at Yukon College.

“The Government of Canada recognizes that the mining and mineral exploration sectors are backbone employers and key contributors to economic development in the Territories,” said Mr. Leef. “This capacity building initiative will ensure Northerners have better access to quality jobs and will help industry to meet the increasing demand for skilled workers.”

Yukon College instructor releases first book of poetry

Whitehorse –

Enjoying the moment of liftoff
As when the airplane of the soul leaves
The tarmac of the body.
—- Sleeper, Jamella Hagen

For Yukon College instructor Jamella Hagen, the whole experience of releasing her first book of poetry has been a little surreal.

"It’s a new thing for me, putting a book out," she says. "Up to now I’ve been writing quietly, on the side. It’s exciting to have the opportunity to share that work with readers."
Hagen’s book, Kerosene, is the end product of five years’ work, and a life spent travelling and working abroad.

"The book begins in Northern BC, where I grew up," she says. "It takes a journey to Vancouver, then overseas, then returns to the north- to the Yukon- in the end.

Whitehorse – The opening of the new Yukon Research Centre (YRC)  Laboratory at Yukon College will usher in a new era for research in the territory, says the YRC’s director, Clint Sawicki.

“We’ve built a facility that Yukon scientists, and visiting researchers, have needed for many years,” says Sawicki. “We know the basics of what folks want, and we think we have a good start.”

Officials will cut the ribbon opening the $2.7 million facility on Thursday, October 27 at 3:30 p.m..

The gleaming, two-story building on the Yukon College campus has a Class 2 Biohazard lab facility, space for receiving and securing samples, office space for visiting researchers, and a collections room that Sawicki says may one day be a real treasure for Yukoners as the beginnings of a natural history museum.

The building was developed as a multipurpose lab, flexible enough for researchers doing anything from work on permafrost to wildlife to northern health issues.