Keith Byram

    Keith is a huge supporter of many community organizations in Yukon. Keith founded Pelly construction, and has worked with many local businesses and employs many Yukoners. Pelly's success has enabled Keith to donate to several Yukon charities and sports organizations including Mount Sima Ski Hill and the Yukon Hospital Foundation, just to name a few.

    Keith's contributions to Canada and to Yukon include public service, professional and business accomplishments and a strong demonstration of community leadership in support of health care, sports and recreation, education and culture across Yukon communities.

    Keith has demonstrated high achievement and made an outstanding contribution to society in Yukon. From his professional work in industry and the public service to his commitment to the community, he is eminently qualified to receive this honour.

    Through his career as well as his commitment to the community, Keith has demonstrated high achievement and a continuing contribution to Yukon society which exemplify the Order of Yukon.

    Everyone who knows Keith describes him as a gentleman and a leader in our community. He has been a generous contributor to Every Student, Every Day; MacBride Museum and many other local organizations offering time, money, expertise and caring.

Ivan John "Jack" Cable

    Jack Cable has held some of the highest offices in Yukon, but he has always maintained his deep-seated concerns for the people and the land and worked to bring about improvements.

    Jack served his community as a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly and in October 2000, he was appointed as the Commissioner of Yukon until December 2005. He has been involved in many volunteer organizations over the years such as Learning Disabilities Association of Yukon, and the Law Society of the Yukon.

    Jack Cable was nominated for the Order of Yukon to help ensure that he receives full recognition for his many outstanding contributions to the Yukon and its citizens over an extended period. Jack Cable is an exceptional individual who has served the Yukon well both through his career and through his volunteer community service for the past fifty years.

    A friend related a recent experience: "A week ago Sunday, Whitehorse got a big dump of snow, and because I had injured my wrist, I was content to leave it there in my driveway until I was able to shovel. About supper time on the first day of the storm I looked out my window and there was someone shovelling my driveway. It was Jack Cable. A lesson for me in stamina and compassion that I will not soon forget."

    Ivan John (Jack) Cable Q.C. O.Y, was born in Hamilton, Ontario on August 17, 1934. Cable earned a Bachelor's Degree in Chemical Engineering at the University of Toronto, a Master's Degree in Business Administration at McMaster University and after working as a chemical engineer for 9 years, he obtained a Law Degree from the University of Western Ontario and was called to the Ontario bar in 1970.

    He moved to Yukon in 1970, was called to the Yukon bar and joined the law firm of Nielsen, Hudson and Anton. Cable later became a partner with the firm of Lueck, Pitzel and Cable. He was appointed Queen's Counsel by Canada, in recognition of his legal expertise.

    In 1991, he served as president of the Yukon Energy Corporation and the Yukon Development Corporation. He was also a director of the Northern Canada Power Commission. Cable was elected as a Liberal member of the Legislative Assembly in 1992. He retained his seat in the Assembly until 2000. Upon his retirement from politics, he was appointed 34th Commissioner of Yukon, serving until 2005.

    Cable served his community in a variety of capacities. He was president of the Yukon Chamber of Commerce, director of the Yukon Science Institute, and a member of the Advisory Board of the Salvation Army Adult Residential Centre. He also helped found the Recycle Organics Together Society and the Boreal Alternate Energy Centre, a society that helped develop wind-powered electrical generation in Yukon. He belonged to the Learning Disabilities Association of Yukon, the Association of Professional Engineers of the Yukon, and the Law Society of the Yukon. Jack was an active member of the Royal Canadian Legion. He received the Order of Yukon in 2020.

    The Office of the Commissioner of Yukon sends its love and prayers to his wife Faye, his children Susan, Jennifer, Andrew and Daniel, his family and all his friends.

Kèyishí Bessie "Bess" Cooley

    Bess Cooley is called a master of the Tlingit language and the most literate fluent Tlingit speaker that has ever lived. Her contributions to Indigenous knowledge and language revitalization ensure that future generations will have the opportunity to speak their language and know the ways of their ancestors. Her work on the genealogy of the inland Tlingit has been a significant contribution.

    At the beginning of the 1970s, Bess began turning her love of the Tlingit language into a tool for, not only preserving history, but also revitalizing a culture. She began by helping her husband Bonar comprise a genealogy chart for the Inland Tlingit. During the process, Bess became critical in obtaining information from Tlingit elders in communities throughout the southern Yukon. When finished, in 1972, they had developed a chart that was 3 feet tall and 24 feet long. It contains names, family connections, and clan designations that can go back well over 100 years. Whitehorse linguist, John Ritter, has called it "a medieval tapestry in its scope."

    Bess' love of her Tlingit language and her passion to have others learn is shown in her church through her reading of the Gospel in Tlingit. A friend sends her the Gospel beforehand and she prints it out with the English on the right side of her paper, she then translates it into Tlingit on the left side. But then she does not look at the Tlingit she has written, she looks at the English words and simply translates the words as she reads.

    In Teslin, Christmas carols are often sung in Tlingit, translated by Bessie. Bessie has led the community in readings and prayers in the Tlingit language at church and in other gatherings. She has developed materials such as Tlingit crossword puzzles. She has translated English into Tlingit for elders. Bessie even translated the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights into Tlingit.

    Her kindness and willingness to keep working are absolutely cherished and should be seen and known by all in the Yukon. She is an international treasure, and one of the few people left in the world who can speak and interpret Tlingit at the highest levels.

William "Bill" Klassen

    Alongside Bill Klassen's careers as an RCMP officer in Teslin and on the North Highway, a conservation officer, a wildlife biologist, and deputy minister with the Yukon government, he was actively engaged in the community.

    Bill has been involved with the Riverdale Baptist Church since the early 1970s, the Whitehorse Gun Club, the Yukon Agriculture Association, and the Salvation Army. Bill cares deeply for the environment and people of Yukon. He is said to be an "old-style Yukoner" who believes that we help one another.

    Bill does not exercise leadership in the style of an army general that discharges orders, telling people what to do and how they should do it. Rather, he is a leader who will find common ground that allows us all to move forward together, not by coercion or force, but rather through a belief that we are doing the right thing together for the right reasons at that right time. Consistently, he works to nourish everyone's participation through respect, collaboration, caring, and while recognizing differences, seeking agreement.

    Bill's deep and steadfast commitment to the Yukon, to all Yukoners and to the ecosystems that are the home of Yukoners has made a tremendous positive difference. And it is this contribution and remarkable achievement that is deserving of recognition through awarding him the Order of Yukon.

    Bill has so many attributes which make him extraordinary. He is kind and compassionate. He is steadfast. He is probably the most honest and honourable person I know. He is deeply principled. He is extremely hard-working and a man with multiple interests ranging from the intellectual to the very practical and he is capable of most anything he decides to do. He enjoys a good laugh and has a permanent twinkle in his eye.

Dr. Sally Macdonald

    Sally Sally Macdonald has been a family physician in Whitehorse and several Yukon communities since 1980.

    Sally's ability to treat all her patients with care and compassion while involving them in the process, regardless of the complexity of their needs, is an important part of her medical practice. During her career, Sally has delivered over a thousand Yukon babies. Now she has taken on the role of assisting those at the end of life.

    She was always up to date on the latest medical findings and treatments. We often saw her at territorial medical education seminars. Later in her career, sally became a GP oncologist, and we know that she would be a pillar of support for those in a cancer battle.

    Dr. Sally Macdonald is a wonderful person, wonderful doctor with the best attentive manner when looking after the people in her care. She always gave you her full attention and you never felt like there was somewhere else she had to be. When I had pneumonia, and it hurt too much to move, Dr. Sally made house calls. Practically a thing of the distant past.

    One of her nominators said "On my first visit to Whitehorse, Dr. Macdonald was one of the first physicians I met. It was clear to me that she was a pillar of the medical community. Her gracious and humble nature and deep respect for her colleagues were immediately apparent."

    Another commented "I have witnessed that Dr. Macdonald is an extraordinary physician and someone that has contributed significantly to ensuring the well-being and health of Yukoners. Her passion in medicine and her dedication to her patients have touched countless hearts of fellow Yukoners and have dramatically improved the quality of life and well-being of Yukoners from all walks of life."

Agnes Mills

    Agnes Mills is a Vuntut Gwitchin Elder who has dedicated much of her life to being an advocate for the well-being of Indigenous peoples across Canada.

    Agnes worked nationally to advance the rights of the Aboriginal people as the National Elder of the Thunderbird Partnership Foundation, of which she retired in 2018. Agnes was also the First Nations Elder at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre where she provided encouragement where it was needed.

    Her nomination papers state: "Agnes is known across Yukon, and this country, for the work she has done. It is hard to go anywhere with her without having to stop many, many times for her friends and colleagues to talk with her.

    I am in awe of the work that she has done on some of the most impactful, nation-changing events over the last decades. I say decades because the offences against Indigenous people have been over decades and she has both been a witness and subject of a lot of them.

    Agnes is a Yukon Elder who has been a force to be reckoned with in national and Yukon Aboriginal politics for decades. She has also found a way to channel her hurts and pains to help others. It would be hard to find a Yukoner, especially from our communities, who doesn't know her.

    I know the changes Agnes Mills has had on my life, and I know that the influence she has had on others is not less impactful. Winning the Order of Yukon would be an acknowledgment of her life's work in supporting others achieve their goals.

    She is the strongest person I have ever met in the way she can help all that need it."

Gertie Tom

    Gertie has contributed to First Nations language revitalization throughout the Yukon. She used the details of her speech patterns to provide a basis for a practical writing system for the previously unwritten Northern Tutchone language.

    Her nomination papers state: "Ms. Gertie Tom has taught, mentored, and served as a role model for three generations of First Nations language and culture instructors who work in schools and communities to strengthen Yukon's gravely threatened First Nations linguistic heritage.

    "Approaching the age of 94 and still going strong, Ms. Tom can look back on sixty years of devotion to promoting Yukon FN languages and cultures in a variety of creative and innovative ways. Her life of accomplishment has had a huge impact on many Yukoners, especially the three generations of FN language teachers who learned from her while attending the YNLC Certificate and Diploma programs at Yukon College. She is a smiling, modest and confident lady who has always been willing to share her knowledge with others.

    "Ms. Tom's contribution to the documentation and teaching of Native languages in the Yukon cannot be overestimated. Her legacy in documenting her Northern Tutchone language through the publication of How to Tan Hides in the Native Way (1981) and My Country: Big Salmon River (1987) is certainly important, but it should not overshadow her contribution to teaching generations of Yukon First Nation citizens, younger and older. It is with the most heartfelt devotion and respect that I recommend the nomination of Gertie Tom to the Order of the Yukon.

    Gertie Tom, a lifelong resident of the Yukon for more than ninety years, has made an enormous contribution to the Yukon - and to Canada - as an artist, a linguist and a warm and generous person."

Ronald S. "Ron" Veale

    The Honourable Ron Veale has made outstanding contributions to Yukon in the areas of law and politics and is a prominent supporter of the arts.

    Ron was the first judge to have the title of Chief Justice of Yukon. Ron initiated the earliest civil actions about the abuses suffered by Indigenous children in residential schools. He also authored significant decisions about the interpretation of the Yukon's Final and Self-Government Agreements.

    His nomination papers state: "From the first, I was struck by his passion for, and commitment to, the Yukon and its people. He brought that passion and commitment to his support for the arts, his legal career, his time in politics and, finally, to his twenty years as a judge of the Supreme Court of Yukon.

    "The most significant and indelible mark on our legal landscape is in his judgments. His decisions relating to Yukon First Nation treaties have forever changed not just how those treaties are to be interpreted and implemented but clarified the relationship between governments in a way that promotes cooperation and reconciliation.

    "When I moved to the Yukon, I quickly learned that Ron (as he is better known) had already attained a record of achievements worthy of a lifetime. Ron was a senior lawyer in Whitehorse respected by the bench and bar alike, had been elected an MLA, ran for Parliament, and his name was engraved on a plaque at the Yukon Arts Centre acknowledging his work with Arts Canada North in securing funding for its construction."

Francis Woolsey

    Frances Woolseyis a respected Elder from Ta'an Kwäch'än. She is a pioneer in the development of programs to support a safe environment for members of Indigenous Communities, and a leader in promoting Indigenous culture and crafts. Frances embodies a link to the past, to the roots of Yukon, while also being a symbol of progress.

    Her nomination papers state: "Frances is committed to lifelong learning and has shared the benefits of her learning with others.

    "Her enduring commitment to the preservation of history and to the renewal of cultural practice is remarkable. She is a mother, a grandmother, and a great-grandmother. To this day, she continues to be, among so many things, an innovator, an artist, a seamstress, a homemaker, a diplomat, and, above all, a leader.

    I wholeheartedly commend Frances Woolsey for appointment to the Order of Yukon. I know that she would bring honour to the position and this recognition of her would inspire many more people to emulate her dedicated service to our community.

    Frances is extraordinarily generous in sharing her wealth of experience, knowledge and wisdom for the betterment of Yukon society. She has dedicated her time and energy to so many significant initiatives that established much needed services for Yukon people."