ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the recent emergence of Yukon teacher education within the backdrop of public education and its larger historical roots—public education for the purpose of colonization and assimilation. It presents three similar perspectives on the significance of education to Indigenous people: Eber Hampton's statement on education as vital to cultural integrity; Indian Control of Indian Education, NIB's response to the White Paper of 1969 and the position of Yukon First Nations on education in Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow. The chapter details how colonization and assimilation through public education has played out in the Yukon. It outlines three programs that created positions for Yukon First Nations as paraprofessionals: Cross-Cultural Coordinators, Remedial Tutors, and Native Language Teachers. The chapter also provides an overview of teacher education in the Yukon beginning with two programs offered on a one-time-only basis to long-standing residents of the Yukoners, to the creation of the Yukon Native Teacher Education (YNTEP) in 1989.
