News

The Future Routes Festival is excited to unveil a jam-packed line-up of local and national artists the weekend of September 6th and 7th.  The Festival, held in honor of the 15th anniversary of BYTE and the 50th anniversary of the Yukon College, will be taking place as part of orientation week at the college and will feature two nights of live musical performances.

Friday night’s headliner, Cadence Weapon, returns to Yukon again following packed shows at the Dawson City Music Festival. The Canadian rapper continues to firmly establish his legacy as a sonic pioneer while constantly pushing the rap and electronic music envelope.

WHITEHORSE – Students heading to Yukon College’s Ayamdigut campus this September will find a much more active extra-curricular life waiting for them.

“There will be so much for students to do, and more of a community feeling to being a student at Yukon College,” said Josh Regnier, Student Engagement Coordinator. “We’ll be taking advantage of the extended bus service to offer evening activities and events and we’re hiring a student as a part-time Recreation Coordinator to help with that. The Student Union will be ramping up their activities, beginning with the two-day Future Routes Festival next month, as well as funding student-organized clubs throughout the year.”

Floor hockey, tai chi, yoga, and self-defense at lunchtime, impromptu chess games, more social events and public speakers throughout the year - all of this has Monique Benoit, a 29-year-old Liberal Arts Student, looking forward to returning to class.

The Honourable Leona Aglukkaq, Minister of Environment, Minister of the Canadian Northern Economic Development Agency (CanNor), and Minister for the Arctic Council, today announced an investment that will  contribute to innovative research techniques and processes to increase gold recoveries in placer mining.

“The Government of Canada recognizes the tremendous opportunities in the North’s resource sector, and supports responsible development that benefits Northerners,” said Minister Aglukkaq. “Small-scale mining operations, including placer mines, are important contributors to the Yukon economy and this innovative research has the potential to create more jobs and economic opportunities in the mining sector.”

WHITEHORSE – Full-time credit students at Yukon College will have a compelling reason to ride the bus when school starts in September. A pilot initiative where students can use their full-time student ID card as a bus pass was announced today by Yukon Education Minister Scott Kent, Whitehorse Mayor Dan Curtis, College President Dr. Karen Barnes, and Yukon College Student Union President Daniel Ashley.

The transit initiative is backed up by an extension of city bus service into the evening Monday through Friday. This will accommodate students who have evening classes or who study at the College throughout the evening hours, College staff, and retail or service workers with evening shifts. The last bus will depart from the College at 10:00 p.m., with the last buses departing from downtown at 10:20 p.m.

WHITEHORSE – Four Yukon College students will receive a total of $2500 in financial awards this week as they prepare to enter their second year of studies.

Calvin Pembleton will receive $750 from the Rendezvous Rotary Club scholarship.  Georgette Aisaican will receive $500 from Sysco Edmonton scholarship. Chad Bustin will receive $1000 from the Prospectors and Developers Association Canada (PDAC) bursary. SuSu Zhang will receive $250 from the Rendezvous Rotary Club scholarship.

“I am thrilled. This is a validation of all the hard work I put in last year,” said Pembleton, a graduate of the Culinary Arts certificate program who is planning to continue towards the new Restaurant Operations diploma beginning in September.

The Rendezvous Rotary Club and Sysco Edmonton scholarships are awarded each year to students who display quality, leadership and vision in food service, specifically in the area of food safety.

WHITEHORSE – In a joint study examining the operational feasibility of solar-diesel hybrid stations in remote areas, researchers determined that the use of solar photovoltaic (PV) cells could reduce Northwestel’s base energy costs in some locations by more than 80 percent.

“We’re very pleased with the results of the study and our partnership with other organizations here in the North,” said Northwestel CIO and Vice President of Information Technology Don Pumphrey. “Northwestel has been actively working to reduce the costs of operating microwave stations at remote sites across northern Canada. This study makes great strides in that direction and helps promote greener operations at the same time.”

For immediate release   |  Thursday, July 4, 2013

WHITEHORSE – The Yukon Research Centre (YRC) is leading the Yukon in climate change hazards planning. Three more Yukon communities have partnered with the YRC to study the effects of climate change on their future planning and development.

The Ross River Dena Council, the Town of Faro, the City of Dawson and Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in are partnering with the Northern Climate ExChange at the Yukon Research Centre, the Yukon Geological Survey and the universities of Ottawa and Montreal, to undertake a two-year landscape hazards mapping project in their communities.

“Climate change has the potential to impact our infrastructure and our economy and with limited information on landscape hazards, we are very keen to work with the YRC and create a tool for future planning,” said the Honourable Heather Campbell, Mayor, Town of Faro.

WHITEHORSE – Yukon College and Air North, Yukon’s airline, have teamed up to talk about a shared interest in education and employment opportunities for Yukoners.

In celebration of Yukon College’s 50th anniversary year, the College has named Air North as its preferred carrier. In turn, Air North carried Yukon College Report to the Community on all of its flights in the month of June. Together, Air North and Yukon College are demonstrating a commitment to the North, its people, its institutions, and its potential.

Yukon College president, Karen Barnes, stated that, “Air North is an outstanding Yukon company whose commitment to providing Yukoners with travel, employment and business opportunities is second-to-none.”

The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) has granted the Yukon Research Centre (YRC) its third award in the last two years. Over the next two years, YRC will use this $200,000 grant to focus on building capacity for mine closure and site remediation in the Yukon through the College and Community Innovation Program of NSERC. This program aims to build collaboration between community colleges, researchers and the private sector, while benefiting Canadians.

“Yukon College is expanding northern innovation and research opportunities through collaboration, and our continued success with NSERC funding is a testament to how strong the Yukon Research Centre has become”, said Chris Hawkins, vice-president research, Yukon College.

WHITEHORSE – Demonstrating a culture of excellence, expanding research capacity, creating multiple pathways into programs and credentials, continued collaboration with Yukon First Nations and communities, and creating a comprehensive land use plan, are just some of the goals set for Yukon College by their Board of Governors in a new strategic plan released today.

Dr. Karen Barnes, Yukon College president, will unveil the 2013-16 Strategic Plan at a Yukon Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Old Fire Hall in Whitehorse today.

WHITEHORSE – “Partnering with the Yukon Research Centre opens doors,” says Yukon-based software programmer Peter Coates.

Coates created Race Tracker with the support of a $20,000 grant from Technology Innovation at the Yukon Research Centre (YRC). Race Tracker is custom-built software that tracks race competitors and streamlines much of the organizational activity around race events,

“The financial support is certainly helpful, but more importantly the Research Centre connected me to the Yukon River Quest last year which enabled me to test and refine the software,” said Coates.

More refinements have followed, including an app for mobile devices which transmits a racers location as frequently as every thirty seconds, making the software more attractive to shorter races where lack of cell-phone coverage is not an issue. Coates has plans to launch the software commercially, once again with the support and advice of the YRC.

WHITEHORSE - 2013 marks 10 years since Yukon’s constitution, the Yukon Act, came into force. This landmark Act gave the Government of Yukon direct control over a greater variety of provincial-type programs, responsibilities and powers, including public lands and resource management over water, forestry and mineral resources.