HOLDING ON WHILE LETTING GO: EDUCATION, POLITICS, AND YUKON PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 1960–2003 by RYAN TIMOTHY SIKKES B.Ed., University of Victoria, 2002 M.A., University of Victoria, 2006 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF EDUCATION in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE AND POSTDOCTORAL STUDIES (Educational Leadership and Policy) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) April 2019 © Ryan Timothy Sikkes, 2019 The following individuals certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies for acceptance, the dissertation entitled: HOLDING ON WHILE LETTING GO: EDUCATION, POLITICS, AND YUKON PUBLIC SCHOOLS, 1960-2003 submitted by Ryan Sikkes in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Policy Examining Committee: Jason Ellis, Educational Studies Supervisor Alison Taylor, Educational Studies Supervisory Committee Member Simon Blakesley, Ph.D., Director, Student Information & Assessment, Yukon Education Supervisory Committee Member Wendy Poole, Educational Studies University Examiner Geertje Boschma, Faculty of Nursing University Examiner Helen Raptis, Curriculum and Instruction, Faculty of Education, University of Victoria External Examiner ii Abstract This dissertation presents a history of Yukon’s public school system between 1960 and 2003 – a history that is inseparable from Yukon’s colonial history as a territory of Canada. This period witnessed a devolution of power from the federal government to the Yukon government that resulted in a shift of the day-to-day political tensions and disputes in Yukon moving from a federal-territorial orientation to a territorial-local one. Two key themes are consistently present in Yukon’s political and educational history. The first is the tension between centralization and devolution of power between levels of government. The second is the confidence required by each level of government to devolve or accept power. Key developments of Yukon’s linked constitutional and educational development serve to periodize the history. The creation of the Advisory Committee on Finance in 1960, the appointment of elected Yukon Council members to the territorial Executive Committee in 1970, the arrival of responsible and representative government to Yukon in 1979 via the Epp Letter, the passage of the Education Act in 1990, and the final devolution of programs and services from the federal government (along with an updated Yukon Act) in 2003 all serve as events that show significant shifts in (or the potential to shift) the transfer of power from the federal, through the territorial, to the local level. Textual documentary sources including federal and territorial government documents and reports, correspondence, newspaper articles, and legislative documents were the primary source materials used to write this dissertation. iii Lay Summary This dissertation presents a history of Yukon’s public school system between 1960 and 2003 – a history that is inseparable from Yukon’s colonial history as a territory of Canada. This period witnessed a devolution of power from the federal government to the Yukon government that resulted in a shift of the day-to-day political tensions and disputes in Yukon moving from a federal-territorial orientation to a territorial-local one. Two key themes are consistently present in Yukon’s political and educational history. The first is the tension between centralization and devolution of power between levels of government. The second is the confidence required by each level of government to devolve or accept power. iv Preface This dissertation is an original, unpublished, independent work by the author, Ryan Sikkes. v Table of Contents Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... iii Lay Summary ............................................................................................................................ iv Preface ........................................................................................................................................ v Table of Contents ....................................................................................................................... vi List of Tables ........................................................................................................................... viii List of Figures ............................................................................................................................ ix List of Abbreviations .................................................................................................................. x Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................... xi Dedication ................................................................................................................................ xiv Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 1 Structure of the Dissertation .............................................................................................................. 13 Chapter 1 – A Brief History of Yukon (and Its Schools) until 1960 ........................................ 21 Pre-history to the Gold Rush .............................................................................................................. 22 Klondike Gold Rush and Establishment of Yukon Territory ............................................................ 24 World War II and the Alaska Highway ............................................................................................. 28 Colonial Governance Continues Unabated Postwar .......................................................................... 30 School Governance and Parent-Teacher Associations ....................................................................... 33 Education of Indigenous Children in the 1950s ................................................................................. 36 Dismissal of a Superintendent of Schools .......................................................................................... 40 Growth of Roman Catholic Separate Schools and Sectarian Divisions ............................................. 44 Desire for Provincehood and Autonomy ........................................................................................... 51 Chapter 2 – 1960–1970 Advisory Committee on Finance to the First Elected Yukon Council Member Responsible for Education ......................................................................................... 55 Ottawa Consults Yukoners: Advisory Committee on Finance and the 1960 Committee on Education ............................................................................................................................................................ 56 Revisions to the School Ordinance, 1962 .......................................................................................... 66 Integration of Indigenous Students into Public Schools Exposes Inequities ..................................... 72 Separate Schools and Religious Education ........................................................................................ 85 Beginnings of French/Francophone Education .................................................................................. 93 Increased Local Control over Programs and Services ....................................................................... 97 “Independence of Action”: The Devolution of Authority over Selected Programs ........................ 104 Chapter 3 – 1970–1979 Elected Executive Control through to the Loss of the Commissioner’s Executive Authority ................................................................................................................ 107 Executive Authority for Education Is Delegated to a Locally Elected Politician ............................ 108 Commencement of Indigenous Land Claims ................................................................................... 114 Committee on Education for the Yukon Territory 1972 .................................................................. 121 Revised School Ordinance of 1974 ................................................................................................. 130 Public Involvement in Education – The Education Council and School Committees ..................... 136 Competing Interests Clash: Indigenous Education .......................................................................... 143 vi The Haines Junction Language Debate ............................................................................................ 146 The Diminished Commissioner: Responsible Government Arrives in Yukon ................................ 150 Chapter 4 – 1979–1990 – Responsible Government until the Education Act of 1990. .......... 155 Yukon Achieves Responsible Government ..................................................................................... 157 Shifting Ground: Canada’s Constitution and Land Claims ............................................................. 164 Indigenous Education Remains Firmly in the Department of Education ........................................ 170 Little Change Leads to a Lot of Dissatisfaction and a Territorial Task Force ................................