January 31, 2020
WHITEHORSE, YT — The Yukon College community is saddened by the passing of former chancellor Elder T’aaḵú Tláa Pearl Keenan. We offer our heartfelt condolences to her family and friends and the Teslin Tlingit Council. In observance with Tlingit protocol we will not display images of Pearl until after the headstone potlatch.
Pearl was passionate about education and dedicated to the College and all our students. In the 1960s, she was a fierce advocate for a vocational school to provide training, skills and education to Yukoners. The school opened in 1963 and became Yukon College in 1988.
Pearl then became our longest-serving chancellor, from 1993 to 2000, during a time when the College saw the first graduates of the Bachelor of Education (YNTEP) program, the creation of the Bachelor of Social Work program and establishment of the Northern Research Institute