Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, everyone. Thank you very much for the invitation to speak with you today. I congratulate the committee for seeking out northern voices in your deliberations for the Arctic foreign policy study.
First, I will give you a little background. I'm the president of Yukon College, which is located in Whitehorse but serves all of Yukon through its 11 rural campuses. In addition to the robust research centre, which you have just heard about from Stephen Mooney, we deliver 40-plus career programs in skilled trades, technology, heath, education, social services, business, tourism, hospitality, and other areas. We also deliver three baccalaureate degrees and three master's degrees through partnerships with Canadian and Alaskan universities. We serve about 1,200 learners in full-time programs and about 6,800 registrants in workplace-related training and continuing education. We also house the Centre for Northern Innovation in Mining and the Northern Institute of Social Justice, and we are building a northern first nations governance institute, which I'll speak about in a few minutes.
I came to Yukon from Alberta in 2008, and I want to emphasize that despite growing up in the so-called northern city of Edmonton, I had no real understanding of the north until I came to live here. Notwithstanding my short time here, I have become fiercely protective of the place and the people that are Canada's north, and I believe that institutions such as Yukon College play a critical role in ensuring that perspective is heard.
Minister Aglukkaq says she wants the Canadian chair of the Arctic Council to be about northern development occurring through the development of northern people. That is what I want to speak about today: how we build capacity for that to occur. I want to talk about four areas northerners can actively engage in within the circumpolar call to discussion: education and training, labour mobility, governance, and research.
First is education and training, because for me everything starts and ends with education. At Yukon College our slogan is “start here. go anywhere.” This is built on the belief that if you provide people with a sound educational foundation, they will go on to become engaged contributing citizens.
For many northerners it is imperative that we provide that education where they live. We have many examples of individuals who have come to the college to begin a degree and have gone on to universities in the south. Many of those don't return, and the north loses the benefit of their education. But when we are able to deliver the full degree in the north, it is a different story.
This year we'll be graduating our first learners from our Bachelor of Science degree with the University of Alberta. These individuals have already found work in the north and will stay to become researchers or practising scientists, helping to investigate and solve multiple problems and concerns of the north. All three territorial colleges have been graduating nurses, teachers, and social workers for many years. Again, those graduates stay and contribute to the development of the north.
You just heard about the activity at the Yukon Research Centre. Because we are in our infancy, most of the graduate students and researchers involved there grew up and were trained in the south. However, with the Bachelor of Science and other degrees being delivered in Yukon, we'll soon have northern youths from northern communities conducting research and finding answers for the north in the north. In every other northern country in the world, young people have that opportunity. We need it to happen in Canada.
One other example is our new mineral resource technology programs. Thanks to CanNor, which funded the development and the pilot, this new, very rigorous program will produce geological technologists for the mining as well as oil and gas sectors. Already the Geological Survey of Canada is interested in these graduates, as are all of the exploration companies currently working in Yukon, because the graduates are northerners trained in the north.
Yukon College was a founding member of the University of the Arctic and continues to provide instruction in the Bachelor of Circumpolar Studies. Since 2004 we have had 290 students at Yukon College participate in these online courses, part of the group of 566 students who have participated from all over the circumpolar world. As 97% of Yukon is connected to high-speed Internet, access to these courses exists for all Yukoners. The recently terminated north2north program was another opportunity that allowed Canadian northern students to experience and study in another northern country. Yukon College has nine outgoing students from that program who travel to Finland, Sweden, and Russia to study. One of those, a born and bred Yukoner, went on to complete her master's in public administration from the University of Alaska at Yukon College and is now a senior policy analyst in the Yukon government's economic development department.
These are examples of how we can grow the knowledge sector in the north to produce the highly qualified people who are so desperately needed to inform discussion.
Access to high-quality higher learning in the north by northerners is a circumpolar issue.
Labour mobility and workforce development are very real concerns for all northerners. As resource development continues, attracting and retaining the highly qualified people required to conduct exploration geoscience, environmental monitoring and remediation, and mine site development become increasingly challenging. Working together across the circumpolar north to share the expertise and curriculum will produce a considerable advantage and cost savings.
Yukon College's Centre for Northern Innovation in Mining recently signed an agreement with the University of Alaska that will see us immediately exchanging faculty, curriculum, and students, and, hopefully, eventually enabling labour movement from the University of Alaska Southeast to support the mining sector. Our mineral resource technologist program should soon be ready to articulate directly into the mine engineering program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. This will create a new workforce of experts who are ready, willing, and able to work within the challenging and unique environment north of 60. We are also working closely together with the University of Alaska Fairbanks to develop training for justice and corrections workers in rural or remote communities through our Northern Institute of Social Justice. Yukon College has been involved with the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region discussions for the past year as well. In this way we are exploring other possible partnerships with our American counterparts in Alaska.
The movement of skilled labour and highly qualified people across the global north is a circumpolar issue.
Governance is another area that is critical across the global north. Yukon, with 11 settled land claims, is a leader in the negotiation and implementation of modern treaties. At Yukon College we are working hard to capture the knowledge and expertise among the first nations and government negotiators and turn it into training. With our partners at the University of Saskatchewan, we are developing a degree in first nations governance, and we have already delivered the first year to two cohorts of students, all individuals currently working within their own first nations governments. The knowledge these learners can share with other indigenous groups across the global north is valuable and timely as they grapple with issues such as environmental protection, resource development, food security, and, most importantly, how to build a satisfying and fruitful relationship with other governments locally, nationally, and internationally to meet development goals. We are currently in the beginning stages of building the infrastructure to house this expertise in a northern first nations governance institute.
The implementation of land treaties is a circumpolar issue.
My fourth item is research, which you have already heard about from Stephen Mooney. I will not add anything more, other than to say that I hope his presentation has convinced you that Canada's north is ready to join the rest of the circumpolar world in groundbreaking research to find solutions to the unique challenges of the north. We have a lot to offer, and the three northern colleges are the places to build that expertise.
Canada can also look to other countries to find examples of how northern communities have created sustainable businesses and enterprise opportunities to keep northerners in their communities while maintaining healthy lifestyles and contributing to meaningful employment. Very often these communities draw support for these activities from local colleges and universities, which can train locals in addition to bringing in outside experts who have fresh ideas and innovations. Through our extensive networks with other post-secondary institutions across the global north, Yukon College can help find this expertise and share it in the north.
Access to high-quality higher learning and the movement of skilled labour and highly qualified people, the implementation of land treaties, and the sustainability of northern communities are circumpolar issues that should be of interest to the Arctic Council.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will stop now, and I look forward to hearing your questions and comments.
