[Ian Young, Senior Advisor – Yukon Government, Business & Industry Development branch]: Uh – college – so we’ve got the uhm [flight] simulator – I talked about earlier, then there’s a new project and I just kind of got it in – it’s First Nation...
[Eddie Rideout, Director – Yukon Government, Business & Industry Development branch]: Yeah – it’s like a 'Institute of Self-Determination’?
[Ian Young]: Yeah – 'Self Determination’ [laughs]
[Eddie Rideout]: So we can call it what it is.
I’m just gonna see if we got the thing back from uh... [laughing]
[Ian Young]: They [First Nations] already got – they already have the whole college for Christ’s sake and then - now they need money from us to support that! [laughs]
[Eddie Rideout]: So the background is when our Minister was just a person, he went to Michael Hale who then was running Aboriginal Relations and went to ...
[Erin Deacon, Senior Business Development Advisor – Yukon Government, Business & Industry Development branch]: God!
[Eddie Rideout]: ... Karen Barnes who was President of the college and said 'we should really have an Institute for Self-Governance’ - it’d be really good for – and this when he was Champagne-Aishihik – working for the First Nation. So we should have this Institute for Self- Determination and effectively a research / think-tank related around First Nation Governance and stuff? Now he’s the Minister and he has his colleague who’s the Minister Responsible for the college who’s very into this as well. So he wants it to happen. He talked to Karen Barnes. They just managed to pull the 4 or 5 million [dollars] out of the... the MasterCard Foundation.
[Ian Young]: Four and a half [million dollars], yeah.
[Eddie Rideout]: Uhm those guys are looking to deploy 2 billion [dollars] nationally over the next 15 years - supposedly. The college is the guinea-pig. The college only got involved in the MasterCard program because Patti Balsillie was at a conference – and networking – and said - heard this person talking about it – and said: 'Have you ever thought about Yukon College?’ - and they were like: 'No, we didn’t’ - so they flew up. That’s how it all started. They’ve been since January negotiating on this and got the 4 million bucks. This piece is separate, but it’s Tosh Southwick, it’s Mike Hale, it’s our Minister and it’s Karen Barnes and $50,000 is coming out of SIDF [Strategic Industries Development Fund]! Michael 'CAO’ or whatever his position is at the college – yesterday – in my office, and I’m like: 'You can’t – you can’t line up my Fund and what my responsibility is and this project. Tell me’ – he’s like: 'No ...
[Erin Deacon]: Not my problem.
[Eddie Rideout]: 'One Government, man!’ So – that’s where we are!
[Ian Young]: The other thing is, now, ok, this is an aside I guess. So they get the $4.6 million from the [MasterCard] Foundation for 'assisting First Nations to graduate from college’. Shouldn’t they get them outta high school first?! [laughs]. It’s a 50 per cent grad rate!
[Erin Deacon]: That’s just a minor technicality. Yeah.
[Eddie Rideout]: Yeah, but the markers are: more students coming into the (Yukon) College; more students graduating; students who have been incarcerated, or have issues with crime – coming into the college and graduating; and then after that? Spend the money however you want – we wanna see your outcomes. It’s pretty wide open.
[Erin Deacon]: Why don’t we just mail them their certificate in the mail?
The fact that these senior Yukon Government bureaucrats felt so comfortable in voicing their racist views in a staff meeting speaks to how pervasive ignorance, discrimination and racism is in the Yukon Government.
Immediately after a Government of Yukon Whistleblower blew the whistle in a November 3, 2017 email to Deputy Minister Justin Ferbey (which the Whistleblower cc’d to Minister Ranj Pillai and Public Service Commissioner Thomas Ullyett) on such discrimination – including an October 16, 2017 incident where the Whistleblower was told by Ian Young to: "Take that f*cking French sh*t some place else!” while the Whistleblower was engaged in a telephone conversation with an agent of the Federal Government and speaking French – his mother tongue, the Whistleblower was summarily terminated – the reason given was that the Whistleblower had recorded the discrimination and racist statements – despite the fact that in Canada recording such conversations is perfectly legal under first-party consent.
This clearly demonstrates that ignorance, discrimination, racism and corruption is systemic and goes to the highest level of the Yukon Government, as clearly the Deputy Minister, Minister and Public Service Commissioner would rather 'shoot the messenger’ and 'bury the evidence’ than fix the problem.
Indigenous people and Franco-Yukoners need to understand that when it comes to the Yukon Government, the deck is stacked against them by ignorant and racist bureaucrats who are protected by a corrupt and/or incompetent Deputy Minister, Minister and Public Service Commissioner and further, that anyone who challenges the status quo by blowing the whistle will be wrongfully terminated without cause and contrary to Canadian law.
Government of Yukon - Systemic Corruption, Discrimination & Racism Reviews
@page { margin: 2cm } p { margin-bottom: 0.25cm; line-height: 120% } a:link { so-language: zxx }
Transcript of YG Staff Meeting of September 26, 2017
Click here or cut-and-paste the link below into your browser’s address bar to listen to the digital audio recording of the meeting:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1VO4IQf9MTL6u8k6RCovq_1aqzk-23xDO/view
[Ian Young, Senior Advisor – Yukon Government, Business & Industry Development branch]: Uh – college – so we’ve got the uhm [flight] simulator – I talked about earlier, then there’s a new project and I just kind of got it in – it’s First Nation...
[Eddie Rideout, Director – Yukon Government, Business & Industry Development branch]: Yeah – it’s like a 'Institute of Self-Determination’?
[Ian Young]: Yeah – 'Self Determination’ [laughs]
[Eddie Rideout]: So we can call it what it is.
I’m just gonna see if we got the thing back from uh... [laughing]
[Ian Young]: It’s bullshit! [laughs] Self-Determination?!
[Eddie Rideout]: I’m just waiting to see if...
[Ian Young]: They [First Nations] already got – they already have the whole college for Christ’s sake and then - now they need money from us to support that! [laughs]
[Eddie Rideout]: So the background is when our Minister was just a person, he went to Michael Hale who then was running Aboriginal Relations and went to ...
[Erin Deacon, Senior Business Development Advisor – Yukon Government, Business & Industry Development branch]: God!
[Eddie Rideout]: ... Karen Barnes who was President of the college and said 'we should really have an Institute for Self-Governance’ - it’d be really good for – and this when he was Champagne-Aishihik – working for the First Nation. So we should have this Institute for Self- Determination and effectively a research / think-tank related around First Nation Governance and stuff? Now he’s the Minister and he has his colleague who’s the Minister Responsible for the college who’s very into this as well. So he wants it to happen. He talked to Karen Barnes. They just managed to pull the 4 or 5 million [dollars] out of the... the MasterCard Foundation.
[Ian Young]: Four and a half [million dollars], yeah.
[Eddie Rideout]: Uhm those guys are looking to deploy 2 billion [dollars] nationally over the next 15 years - supposedly. The college is the guinea-pig. The college only got involved in the MasterCard program because Patti Balsillie was at a conference – and networking – and said - heard this person talking about it – and said: 'Have you ever thought about Yukon College?’ - and they were like: 'No, we didn’t’ - so they flew up. That’s how it all started. They’ve been since January negotiating on this and got the 4 million bucks. This piece is separate, but it’s Tosh Southwick, it’s Mike Hale, it’s our Minister and it’s Karen Barnes and $50,000 is coming out of SIDF [Strategic Industries Development Fund]! Michael 'CAO’ or whatever his position is at the college – yesterday – in my office, and I’m like: 'You can’t – you can’t line up my Fund and what my responsibility is and this project. Tell me’ – he’s like: 'No ...
[Erin Deacon]: Not my problem.
[Eddie Rideout]: 'One Government, man!’ So – that’s where we are!
[Ian Young]: The other thing is, now, ok, this is an aside I guess. So they get the $4.6 million from the [MasterCard] Foundation for 'assisting First Nations to graduate from college’. Shouldn’t they get them outta high school first?! [laughs]. It’s a 50 per cent grad rate!
[Erin Deacon]: That’s just a minor technicality. Yeah.
[Eddie Rideout]: Yeah, but the markers are: more students coming into the (Yukon) College; more students graduating; students who have been incarcerated, or have issues with crime – coming into the college and graduating; and then after that? Spend the money however you want – we wanna see your outcomes. It’s pretty wide open.
[Erin Deacon]: Why don’t we just mail them their certificate in the mail?
[Eddie Rideout]: I don’t know. Anyway.
[Erin Deacon]: That’d be way cheaper!
[Eddie Rideout]: So’s their story.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The fact that these senior Yukon Government bureaucrats felt so comfortable in voicing their racist views in a staff meeting speaks to how pervasive ignorance, discrimination and racism is in the Yukon Government.
Immediately after a Government of Yukon Whistleblower blew the whistle in a November 3, 2017 email to Deputy Minister Justin Ferbey (which the Whistleblower cc’d to Minister Ranj Pillai and Public Service Commissioner Thomas Ullyett) on such discrimination – including an October 16, 2017 incident where the Whistleblower was told by Ian Young to: "Take that f*cking French sh*t some place else!” while the Whistleblower was engaged in a telephone conversation with an agent of the Federal Government and speaking French – his mother tongue, the Whistleblower was summarily terminated – the reason given was that the Whistleblower had recorded the discrimination and racist statements – despite the fact that in Canada recording such conversations is perfectly legal under first-party consent.
This clearly demonstrates that ignorance, discrimination, racism and corruption is systemic and goes to the highest level of the Yukon Government, as clearly the Deputy Minister, Minister and Public Service Commissioner would rather 'shoot the messenger’ and 'bury the evidence’ than fix the problem.
Indigenous people and Franco-Yukoners need to understand that when it comes to the Yukon Government, the deck is stacked against them by ignorant and racist bureaucrats who are protected by a corrupt and/or incompetent Deputy Minister, Minister and Public Service Commissioner and further, that anyone who challenges the status quo by blowing the whistle will be wrongfully terminated without cause and contrary to Canadian law.