Latest news with #YukonGovernment
CBC
2 days ago
- General
- CBC
Stopping wildfires with trees: How thousands of aspen seedlings could help protect Whitehorse
Crystal To walked through a barren, burnt landscape — over ash, dirt and the soot-black remains of small charred stumps. She slammed a small shovel into the ground, wiggled it back and forth to create a hole, and placed a small aspen seedling into the blackened earth. "It's not easy," she said. "But it's kind of relaxing." To is part of a small crew of tree planters who are slowly filling the Whitehorse South fuel break with aspen. It's her first time doing the job. The goal of the fuel break is to protect the capital city from wildfires by creating a natural barrier, removing all the highly flammable conifers in an 800-hectare area and replacing them with more fire-resistant aspens. The Yukon government began work on the fuel break in 2020, near the Mary Lake subdivision. It's one of the first such projects in Canada, and the goal is to have it finished by 2032. The aspens are being planted by the thousands every summer. This year, 232,000 seedlings will be planted. For tree-planters like To, each seedling that goes into the ground translates into a paycheque. "What's interesting about [tree-planting] is that you get paid by the tree, so if you're faster, you get paid more," she said. The most trees To has planted in an eight-hour shift is 1,620. She says she won't think of herself as a true tree-planter until she tops 2,000 seedlings in one day. Under her current contract, To is making 16 cents per tree. The pay rate can change, however, depending on how well the trees are planted. Planters try to plant as many trees as possible, but they also have to pass a quality check — also known as pay plots. Kate McDonald and Dakota Crawford, fuel management technicians with Yukon Wildland Fire Management, are partly responsible for pay plotting. Wearing high-visibility red vests, they walk through parts of the burnt land that have already been planted. "We're checking that the density is correct and that the trees have been planted well. We give them a score and then these plots determine how much they're paid — so it's a pretty important part of the plant," said McDonald. Plots are measured using two-metre cord to trace a circle in the land. All the trees in that circle are then counted and checked for quality. Crawford threw the plot cord into the air, watching where it landed several metres away from him. "That's how we pick the plot," he said, chuckling. "Sometimes they'll use mapping software, but this is easier because you don't have to find exact co-ordinates." McDonald and Crawford traced the plot and counted 19 trees. "We're aiming for 20 here, they got 19, and 19 to 21 is within the acceptable range. So it looks great," said McDonald. They check each tree individually, to make sure they're not planted too deep, too shallow or on too much of an angle. They also look for any air pockets in the soil around the seedling — without soil contact, the roots won't be able to grow. Another common problem is the "j-root," which happens when the soil plug of a seedling is jammed into the ground and it bends to make the roots look like the letter J. Those seedlings won't survive. Out of the 19 trees in the plot, they found one j-root. McDonald took a photo of it before they moved on to randomly select another plot to check. "That's the first j-root we've found so far. The checks we've done in this block have been really good," McDonald said. She inspected another plot of seedlings — plants that may one day help protect Whitehorse from a major wildfire. "I want them to do well," she said.
CBC
26-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Yukon Nominee Program reopens for applications from pre-approved businesses
The Yukon Nominee Program is now accepting applications from businesses that expressed interest this past spring and have been pre-approved. The government said it received 502 eligible expressions of interest from employers, and 392 of those "aligned" with the government's priorities for this year. Employers were prioritized if their nominee candidates were Yukon University graduates, French-speaking or have lived in the Yukon for a year. Selected businesses will now be invited to apply for the program via email, the government says. Those who were not selected will also be notified. Applicants with a temporary measure letter of support will be prioritized for approval, the government says. The remaining spots will be randomly selected. There are 215 nominee spots allotted to the Yukon for 2025. The Yukon government changed the application system after the program's popularity began surpassing the number of available spots. The nominee program is restricted to the number of nominees allowed by the federal government. This past spring, the Yukon government announced that businesses would be required to express interest and get approved based on a list of pre-set priority areas.
CBC
15-05-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Land for housing, more First Nation involvement among Yukoners' priorities for new Public Lands Act
The Yukon government heard a few priorities during public consultations over the territory's new Public Lands Act: Developing more land for housing; supporting more First Nations involvement; and defending the public's access to public lands. The Public Lands Act is still being developed to replace the territory's outdated rules for land management and recreation. Those rules were last reviewed in the 1980s and precede the final agreements signed by many Yukon First Nations. The government spent three months collecting public feedback last summer. It met with 50 organizations, including Yukon First Nations and transboundary First Nations, and received 105 written submissions from the public. It published a report on May 12. "I was very encouraged by the depth of the feedback and the nuanced approach that people took," said David Swinson, senior negotiator with the department of energy, mines and resources. Next, a steering committee will take the feedback and begin drawing up a legislative framework. The committee is composed of the territorial government and First Nations. Swinson says it will likely take more than two years to draft the new act. "It's gonna take us a significant amount of time to do it, and do it well," Swinson said. Land use planning central to discussion with First Nations All parties agreed that increasing First Nations involvement is a priority for the new act, according to the report. Collaborating with Yukon First Nations on new public land legislation was part of the devolution agreement with Ottawa in 2003. During consultation about the new act, almost all First Nations participants said that completing regional land use plans, and baking those into the new legislation, was a top priority. Those land use plans would identify areas for development and conservation, with enforcement under the Public Lands Act. Swinson said this has been a focus during steering committee discussions. A few ideas have been raised, like establishing a reserve system to link protected areas in both the land use plans and Public Lands Act. Land guardians could be hired to enforce the new law. A collaborative decision-making process could also be established. "We've been looking at a number of different ways," Swinson said. New legislation could clear way for housing development The report says that almost everyone surveyed agreed that more public land should be tenured for private ownership, or housing. "Many frustrations were expressed regarding the current lack of land availability and government's disposition process," the report said, "which was seen as inadequate, unfair, expensive and cumbersome." The report said new lots should come available more quickly and they should be priced affordably. Respondents also said there should be more commercial lots, as well. Matt Ball, director of the land management branch, said the Public Lands Act might create a path for public land to move into private developers' hands. "That opportunity for how [land] is accessed – and who develops it – is something we're going to talk more about as we get back to the table with First Nations," Ball said.
CBC
28-03-2025
- Politics
- CBC
Yukon gov't promises new strategy this fall to measure student outcomes
The Yukon's education department says it's going to roll out a student outcome strategy in September, six years after the auditor general of Canada told the territory it needed one. The strategy will include "clearly defined outcomes" for students, the department says. Those outcomes will include traditional benchmarks, like test scores and graduation rates, but it will also assess whether students have the skills and confidence to achieve their career and life goals, and whether they understand Yukon First Nations history and worldviews, according to Ash Kayseas, assistant deputy minister with the territory's education department. "The strategy is really taking a more holistic approach," Kayseas said. The student outcome strategy has been created in response to a review of Yukon's Department of Education by Canada's auditor general in 2019. That review found that Yukon schools were failing to meet the needs of First Nations and rural students as well as those with special needs. In the report that followed that review, the auditor general made seven recommendations to the Yukon Government on how to address those gaps. The education department published a progress report this week on implementing those recommendations, for the standing committee on public accounts. The first recommendation from the auditor general in 2019 was that the Yukon Government develop a student outcomes strategy. The auditor general's report said the strategy should analyze the root causes of poor student outcomes; define performance targets; and strategize to meet the targets and analyze their effectiveness. Kayseas calls the territory's new strategy "integral" to addressing the auditor general's concerns. The department is entering consultation with the Yukon Association of Education Professionals before it comes into effect next school year, he said. Ted Hupé, president of the Yukon Association of Education Professionals, said he has reviewed the strategy, which includes 14 outcomes for student success. He said it's too early to be overly critical, but from the outset, the outcomes seem difficult for educators to measure. "We always want 'SMART' goals — goals that are specific, measurable. And if we don't have that, sometimes you can get lost in the weeds," Hupé said. Recommendations all being acted on, government says All seven of the auditor general's 2019 recommendations are being acted on, the government says. Kayseas says the department is making progress, though it's received criticism in recent years for moving too slowly on the project. "I think the challenge – in terms of the pace – is really related to this being a systemic issue, and there's some deep-seated systemic challenges within the field of education that really are complex in nature," Kayseas said. The first recommendation, to address long-standing gaps in student performance, will be addressed by the student outcome strategy, the department says. The second recommendation pointed to a lack of oversight from the education department. It challenged the government to build mechanisms for reporting to the minister and evaluating teachers. It hasn't been completed yet. The department is finalizing a "school growth plan handbook," which will include these mechanisms, the progress report says. The third recommendation asked for a full review of inclusive education. The progress report points to an independent review which was completed in 2021, and details ongoing system changes to inclusive education. The remaining four recommendations were related to incorporating Yukon First Nations culture and languages in the school system. In the past year, the department launched an accreditation policy for First Nations to deliver credit programs for high school students, the progress report says. It also cites "many initiatives" providing cultural teacher training and lauds the success of the First Nation School Board, which launched three years ago. Kayseas, who joined the education department from the Public Service Commission in 2024, says he's heartened by the department's progress. "I'm actually very happy with what we've achieved," Kayseas said. "Granted, we still have a long way to go … but I'm actually very confident that we're moving in the right direction." Hupé: Progress report shows little progress Hupé is not as enthusiastic about what's been done so far. He says the progress report contains more plans for the future than actual evidence of movement on the recommendations from 2019. "It's a document filled with department hopes, but not necessarily tangible things that have been completed," Hupé said. Hupé also noted that several of the initiatives celebrated in the progress report are multiple years old.
