News

WHITEHORSE, YT—Yukon University Foundation has received $100,000 from the RBC Youth Mental Health Well-being Project to enhance student wellness initiatives.

YukonU will draw upon the newly released National Standard of Canada for Mental Health & Well-being for Post-Secondary Students to provide the framework for an integrated comprehensive Mental Health and Wellness strategy. This month, the university will form a mental health and wellness committee of students, staff, faculty and Elders to guide the design and delivery of new and expanded initiatives.

A vital first step to addressing mental health on campus is creating a climate in which people feel comfortable discussing it. 

Yukon University’s Innovation & Entrepreneurship (I&E) is launching a Yukon business incubator, thanks to a $400K contribution from TD Bank Group. Over the next four years, this early-stage business incubation program, IncubateNorth, will support entrepreneurs throughout the territory to grow their businesses locally, nationally, and internationally. 

Yukon University’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship (I&E) is supporting social enterprise throughout the territory thanks to funding from the Government of Canada’s Sustainable Development Goals Funding program. 
 
I&E will use this funding to raise awareness about the benefits of social enterprise and support Yukon businesses to incorporate sustainable development goals (SDG’s) into their business practices. This support will address the needs of businesses new to sustainability practises, as well as further enhance Yukon businesses that have already adopted one or more sustainable development goals into their social enterprise. 
 

WHITEHORSE, YT: The tourism industry will be the industry hit hardest and longest by the effects of COVID-19. TIA Yukon has created a unique partnership with Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Yukon University, Yukon First Nation Culture and Tourism Association and the Wilderness Tourism Association of the Yukon to bring Yukon’s tourism industry the Yukon Elevate Tourism Program (ELEVATE). The program focuses on developing businesses for re-entry into tourism markets once travel restrictions are lifted, not to be confused with ‘business relief’, which supports tourism operators while current travel restrictions prevent them from generating revenue (and which is addressed by other programs).

Recent media stories of YukonU students, researchers and faculty.

Climate change is causing more rain in the North. That’s bad news for permafrost
The Narwhal (Aug. 20)

Dr. Fabrice Calmels shows a retrogressive permafrost thaw slump on the Alaska Highway
The Weather Network (Sept. 4)

It’s a quiet new world at Yukon University
Whitehorse Star (Sept. 2)

Students begin Fall 2020 classes
CBC News Network (Sept. 6)

Practical Nurse students prepare to enter workforce challenged by COVID-19
CBC Northbeat (Sept. 14)

 A research paper released this month confirmed that significant declines in boreal caribou herds over the past 30 years are due to habitat disturbance. “Boreal Caribou Can Coexist with Natural but Not Industrial Disturbances”, was published in the Journal of Wildlife Management by five co-authors including Yukon University and University of Alberta professor, Dr. Fiona Schmiegelow. The paper concludes that caribou can persist with wildfire but will continue to decline in disturbed areas as a result of cumulative industrial activities if preventative or mitigative actions are not taken.