Whitehorse – The Northern Climate Exchange will now offer support and expertise to Yukon Government decision makers to ensure the inclusion of climate change considerations in projects, planning and decision making processes. In cooperation with the Climate Change Secretariat, and with support from the Yukon Government, the Northern Climate Exchange has hired Lia Johnson in a newly formed position – Information Analyst - to take the first step towards mainstreaming climate change into governments’ and agencies’ decisions.

Johnson received her undergraduate degree in Biomedical Science at the University of Waterloo, where she completed a thesis on the effect of climate change on invertebrates in the lakes of the Old Crow Flats.

Whitehorse – For the third consecutive year, nine students will arrive from an elite Japanese university to learn ESL and outdoor survival skills in Yukon. Waseda University, located in Tokyo, Japan, enrolls over 54,000 students each year.  Each year students are offered the opportunity to travel to the Yukon to take part in a seven day back-country hike. It’s not a program for the faint of heart.

Waseda students nervously sign up for the opportunity to learn leadership, communications and outdoor skills through hiking in the Yukon wilderness. Students enroll expecting a demanding program that will provide them with a deep, personal challenge.

Whitehorse – Registration is underway at Yukon  College for the first ever Yukon First Nations Heritage and Culture Certificate Program. The project is supported through the Northern Strategy Trust and its partners Yukon Government, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, Yukon  College and Yukon First Nations Heritage Group. The shared partnership has worked on developing a culturally relevant and accessible program that focuses on northern heritage and culture issues. The Yukon First Nations Heritage Group is comprised of the 14 Yukon First Nations.

Whitehorse – Yukon College Board has had two new members appointed by the Yukon Department of Education, both effective as of July 1, 2010 until June 30, 2013. Their first board meeting will take place in early September.

Whitehorse – Yukon College Science Quest Summer Camp gets underway for the first time in Pelly Crossing. Until now, Yukon College summer science camps have been running in Whitehorse for children, ages 8-15. The themes of the summer camps in Whitehorse are computers, trades, and science. Communities such as Dawson  City and Haines Junction have had the computer camps run during the summer break.   

The Science Quest camp in Pelly Crossing is a mix of science themes. It is open for ages 8-14. The Eliza Van Bibber School hosts the camp. There are fifteen spots available for campers. The camp also provides an opportunity for recreation.  

Thanks to a University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT) partnership with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) and Yukon College in Whitehorse, Yukon, Katherine Bygarski, a Master of Science student in UOIT’s Applied Bioscience program will spend the months of June and July conducting research in Yukon Territory. She is pursuing studies in the Forensic Bioscience field of the program.

Bygarski will carry out a forensic entomology study in Canada’s north as part of a project being spearheaded by the RCMP’s Sergeant Diane Cockle and Corporal Jim Giczi in conjunction with two leading Canadian forensic entomologists: Dr. Helene LeBlanc, assistant professor, Forensic Science at UOIT and Dr. Gail Anderson, associate professor, School of Criminology, Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, British Columbia.

The Northern Climate ExChange will be celebrating the close of the Dawson Adaptation Project at an open house in Dawson City, YT on June 22, 2010 from 5:00 to 8:00pm (check back on the NCE website for the location of the open house - to be determined soon).

The closure of the Dawson Adaptation Project marks a major milestone for the Community Adaptation Project, as Dawson is the first of three communities to complete the adaptation process.

The Spring 2010 issue of the Northern Review is now available.  In addition to five diverse research articles, the volume includes over 15 book reviews (thanks to sessional instructor Brad Martin, our book reviews editor!).

This issue’s articles:

The True Northwest Passage: Explorers in Anglo-Canadian Nationalist Narratives, Janice Cavell

Prevention of Fetal Alcohol Damage in Northern Native Communities: A Practical School-Based Approach, Steven Jacquier, Judith Kleinfeld & David Gilliam

The Historical Roots of a Frontier Alcohol Culture: Alaska and Northern Canada, Mary Ehrlander

Whitehorse – Yukon College will be hosting a three day public conference, June 14-16, on the governance model of sociocracy, also known as Dynamic Governance. The Conference, “The River Flows Both Ways” is attracting the world’s leading thinkers in sociocracy to assist attendees in developing this innovative governance system in their workplaces. Several employees at Yukon  College have been exploring the use of the sociocracy model in their administrative framework.

In attendance will be Gerard Endenburg, the Dutch founder and lead thinker of Sociocracy, who has successfully implemented Dynamic Governance into his engineering firm. Many European countries support sociocracy in political and business systems. Attendees will also hear from other international and national practitioners who use Dynamic Governance in their workplace as a means to engage employees.