Whitehorse– Three local non-profit organizations will benefit from the work of six full-time Yukon College students. Students in the one year Multimedia Communication program have developed communications strategies for the Outreach Van, Food Bank and Yukon Gymnastic Association.
Each organization will receive a communications package including a print ad, backgrounder, and fact sheet. Posters, fundraising campaigns, brochures, radio ads, and business cards are among the other promotional materials the students will include to support the strategies. The students have also developed websites that two of the organizations will launch.
Students will be presenting their strategies to their peers on Friday, April 23rd in the Multimedia Communication lab at Yukon College. The non-profit organizations will be presented with their strategies individually.
Whitehorse– Students and staff at YukonCollege will be commemorating Earth Day by holding green activities at the various 12 community campuses across the territory. Activities will take place at the Whitehorse campus and span as far as the remote campus located in Old Crow. The following are some of the activities that will take place on Thursday, April 22:
Ayamdigut Main Campus, Whitehorse:
·Bookstore bans the purchase of bottled water for the day and promotes the sale of water bottles
·A lunch-hour litter pick-up
·The 2007 documentary film, “The 11th Hour” with Leonardo DiCaprio shows in the College Pit at noon
·Cafeteria serves a relatively local-vore and vegetarian lunch special
Tr’Odek Hatr’Unohtan Zho Campus, DawsonCity:
·An environmental movie
·In partnership with the city, a greenhouse workshop, a seed exchange, sun salutations, a commuter challenge, a guided bird hike, and a bicycle maintenance workshop
Alice Frost Campus, Old Crow:
·A community clean up – but the catch is when the snow disappears
The Earth Day activities are a small gesture to recognize the larger efforts and accomplishments that the collective staff and students at the College have made towards sustaining the environment over the past year. Such accomplishments include:
Whitehorse Ayamdigut campus:
oIn partnership with Whitehorse City’s Raven Recycling program, a waste diversion program which diverts the College’s 200 carts of compost and 5120 carts of paper per year from the landfill. Approximately 900 staff and students use the Ayamdigut campus.
oSoil will be turning this spring to start the first College community garden
The Yukon College Northern Research Institute of Excellence (NRI) conducts a School-for-Change-Challenge at Yukon schools via the Climate Change North website. NRI delivers programming in schools and teachers post their students’ work on the “student exchange” portion of the website. http://www.climatechangenorth.ca/O1_Acknowledgements.html
Three prizes will be awarded on April 22, 2010 to teachers who represent some of the 800 elementary students who participated in the program.
The Dawson Climate Change Adaptation Project, Yukon College Northern Climate Exchange initiatives:
Electric Vehicle: Development and construction of the conversion of an old compact pick up truck to electricity. This vehicle is used to collect compost and recyclables in DawsonCity.
Community Greenhouse and Cold Storage project: This aims to increase the amount of locally grown food produced and consumed in DawsonCity.
Sustainable fishing: In partnership with the Yukon River Panel, the project develops a sustainable fishing plan and sustainable fishing practices regulations.
Tr’Odek Hatr’unohtan Zho Campus, DawsonCity:
Organized the first Dawson Christmas Bird Count in 2009 and participate in Plant Watch each year.
Hosted, in partnership with DawsonCity and Conservation Klondike Society, the First Annual Climate and Energy conference.
Assisted scientists in setting up permafrost monitoring stations in and around town.
Will be developing, with a Y2C2 green team, a set of permafrost display panels that will include a real time display of subterranean temperatures.
Practises and educates on recycling and has an active worm bin and composting program.
Yukon College Klondike Institute Of Art & CultureSchool of Visual Arts
Art students scavenged metal objects such as old washing machine parts, hubcaps, bicycle gears, and ironing boards from the Dawson landfill site. An industrial Vibrator Compactor flattened the objects which then became unique printing presses.
Alice Frost Community Campus, Old Crow, without road access, values its minimal resources and practices sustainable measures such as printing on both sides of the paper, practices and educates recycling programs and stores materials until it can be sent out, and uses ceramic cups to reduce the use of paper cups.
Whitehorse– YukonCollege, working with the Government of Yukon, Department of Justice, has developed an FASD and Justice Training Program for the Northern Institute of Social Justice, located at YukonCollege. The training is being piloted with a group of frontline workers drawn from justice, education, and health and social service departments in the Yukon government and some First Nation governments, The pilot focuses on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders (FASDs) in youth and adults. Working together through a series of modules, participants have an opportunity to increase knowledge, and develop new perspectives and practical skills.
Program participants learn about interacting effectively with clients. Topics covered include: how to communicate effectively; developing an empathetic understanding of life with FASDs; understanding the neurological components of FASDs so that workers can change their response accordingly; and applying practical knowledge in FASDs contextual situations. The pilot consists of ten 3-hour modules. The completion of the pilot program is acknowledged with a certificate.
“Our strategic goal is to work with our community to develop and improve programs,” says Pat Cassidy, Dean of Applied Arts at YukonCollege. “Associate programming increases our capacity to work with our partners”.
"The department of Justice is pleased to work with the College and the Northern Institute of Social Justice, to pilot a training program for frontline workers whose clients may include youth or adults with FASD," says Minister of Justice Marian C. Horne. "The need for such training was raised during the Access to Justice Conference held in Whitehorse."
The training modules are being offered throughout spring 2010, following which the pilot will be reviewed to determine next steps for future delivery.
Please join us for the Whitehorse Premiere of the new Yukon short film “LITTLE JOHN COUNTRY”
Wednesday April 21, 2010
12:15 -12:45pm
The Pit at Yukon College
Discovery of ancient human artifacts, among the oldest in Canada, links aboriginal past and present at the “Little John” site near Beaver Creek, Yukon. Featuring the Athapaskan Dineh of the White River First Nation, Chief David Johnny, his son Eldred, and Yukon College Anthropologist Norman Alexander Easton. This 11-minute documentary short is a new release by Max Fraser of Whitehorse. The film recently had its World Premiere at the Dawson City International Short Film Festival. Event hosted by Norm Easton and Max Fraser Chief David Johnny will be in attendance Question and answer session to follow
Today YC announces that Dr. Chris Hawkins has accepted the position of Vice President Research at YukonCollege. He will begin officially in June. Hawkins comes to YC from the University of Northern BC, where he fulfilled responsibilities in Forest Renewal BC - Slocan Chair of Mixedwood Ecology and Management. Two decades in forest research, instruction, continuing education and administration have developed in Hawkins a strong track record of scholarship, with over 100 publications to his name, presentations delivered across Canada and throughout the world, and an impressive list of committee participation and offices held. He has been employed by UBC, SFU, MacMillan Bloedel and the BC Forest Service as both a scientist and a professor.
“Attracting this level of research professional”, says Terry Weninger, Yukon College President, “allows us to build a comprehensive research agenda for the Yukon Research Centre of Excellence and become a more comprehensive post secondary institution.”
Hawkins brings the professional credibility required to attract further research funds to the Yukon Cold Climate Innovation Centre, under the Yukon Research Centre of Excellence umbrella. Hawkins points out that “Some good progress has been made through the YCCIC , the NRI and the NCE, and there appears to be a great deal of potential to move that agenda forward with the interests of business, First Nations, partner universities and Yukon Government behind this research initiative.” He goes on to state that “Finding solutions to problems resulting from climate change presents a great challenge and a great potential for commercial opportunities.”
The Yukon Research Centre of Excellence initiative is in partnership with the Yukon Government and is a reflection of the Yukon government’s commitment to northern research.Approximately $1.7 million will be invested by YG into the development of the YRCE in 2010/2011 with additional funding committed over the following two fiscal years. “Investing in this initiative was an easy decision,” says Minister of Education Patrick Rouble. “The caliber of researchers and staff we are starting to attract to the Yukon Research Centre of Excellence is putting us well on our way to the forefront of northern research and innovation, not only in Canada but also the rest of the world.”
Hawkins is looking forward to life in the Yukon for reasons beyond the professional. In 2005 he was the Chief of Competition for the National Cross Country Skiing Championship held in Prince George. He’s eagerly anticipating exploring skiing throughout the Yukon. He also is the dog handler for a kennel of 13 Siberian huskies raced by his partner Cindy.
