Month: January 2022

“Momentous occasion in history” Yukon First Nation School Board set to come to fruition  The fight to improve education for First Nations students goes back decades. It looks like the Yukon First Nation School Board is becoming reality.   The unofficial results from Elections Yukon - tallied last night - show that seven out of the eight school attendance areas participating in the referendum have voted to join the board. […]

Some Yukoners are hopeful about a possible First Nation School Board “I’m very very excited about it,” says Melanie Bennett. Tomorrow is the last day for voting in the Yukon First Nation School Board referendum.   Eight schools across the territory will decide whether or not they join the board.   A 2019 auditor general of Canada report on education in the Yukon found that the territory’s department of education […]

Yukon schools to get rapid tests Minister of Education Jeanie McLean announced the news this morning. It’s been three weeks since Yukon youngsters returned to the classroom after their winter break – in the midst of what Acting Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Catherine Elliott calls the “biggest wave” of COVID-19 the territory has ever seen.   At a press conference this morning with Dr. Elliott, Minister of Education […]

A death over the weekend in Carcross may be linked to drugs  The fatality is currently under investigation, marking the eighth drug related death in the Yukon this month. Not even one month into the new year the Yukon’s drug death toll continues to rise.   The Yukon’s Chief Coroner Heather Jones is investigating a death, suspected to be from illicit drugs, that occurred in Carcross over the weekend.   […]

"I would like to see more being done," says C/TFN citizen who lost their brother to an overdose The Yukon declared a substance use health emergency yesterday but some say it is not enough. Lyndsay Amato is a Carcross/Tagish First Nation Citizen who lost her brother to an overdose in August of 2017, he had just turned 40.   “Jay was just an incredible personality,” Amato told CHONfm.   She […]

Minister of health and social services declares a substance use health emergency Four Yukoners lost their lives to drugs in the first week of the new year and three other deaths are under investigation. The Yukon’s Minister of Health and Social Services Tracey-Anne McPhee has declared a territory wide substance use health emergency as people continue to lose loved ones to illicit drug use.   “Far too many are dying […]

Old Crow on lock down The number of active COVID-19 cases in the community is not yet known. Old Crow, the Yukon’s only fly in community is on lockdown due to COVID-19. According to a Facebook post by Vuntut Gwitchin Deputy Chief Paul Josie, there are active infections in the community, but there won’t be a good understanding of how many until more tests are done. A rapid testing station […]

Vigils to be held across the Yukon to remember those lost to drugs and demand action Carcross/Tagish First Nation has declared a state of emergency after losing three people earlier this month. People all across the territory are set to light candles and march this weekend in honor of those lost to the ongoing opioid crisis in the Yukon. The commemoration comes after three people died from drugs in Carcross […]

Indigenous women in Whitehorse say they have been coerced for sex in taxis “I don’t think it should be on women to make themselves feel safer," says co-author of newly released report on taxi safety in the Yukon's capital. Indigenous women in Whitehorse are experiencing a higher severity of violence in taxis compared to non-Indigenous women. That’s according to the newly released “Taxi Safety Report” by the Yukon Women’s Coalition. […]