The Yukon Youth Panel on Climate Change (YPCC) was formed in response to the Government of Yukon’s (YG) 2020 climate action plan, Our Clean Future: a Yukon Strategy for Climate Change, Energy and a Green Economy, in order to advise YG’s climate action initiatives from a Yukon youth perspective. YG partnered with BYTE – Empowering Youth to form a panel of youth from across the Yukon to focus on furthering climate action in the territory. The Youth Panel upheld reconnection and sustainable relationships with the land and people to ensure that social and economic systems are based on reciprocity and supported by ecological integrity.
In 2021, YPCC’s first cohort of 12 youth delivered a set of recommendations, Our Reccomendations, Our Future: 27 Programs and Policies to Embolden the Yukon’s Climate Action, to YG with the goal of emboldening YG’s climate action plan. These recommendations are the result of months of engagement with other youth across the territory, as well as conversations with Elders, experts, and other community members. Our Recommendations, Our Future is a living document — these recommendations are not intended to be static, but rather to be the beginning of more meaningful conversations, relationship-building, and a greater voice for youth around climate action in the Yukon.
In response to the recommendations, YPCC received a letter from YG on March 8, 2022.
In 2022, YPCC’s second cohort built on on the first cohort’s ambitions through capacity-building and engaging 10 more Yukon youth panellists. In collaboration with some of the first cohort members, the second cohort created the following video that explores a vision of the Yukon’s cleaner future from a youth perspective.
YPCC Zine
In addition to the above short film, YPCC’s second cohort also created a virtual zine, Climate Explorations.
The zine includes profiles of each of the cohort members as well as works of art, poems, and videos that they created near the end of the panel’s journey together.
Their contributions to the zine reflect their experiences on the panel and their hopes for continuing the work towards sustainability, justice, and resilient futures for our communities.
Click on the zine cover to left to access the full zine PDF.
Other Youth Climate Resources
Youth Climate Lab Toolbox
“The Youth Climate Lab (YCL) Toolbox is an open access digital library of interactive resources to help you(th) leverage their lived experiences as expertise and take action on key climate issues. These tools and activities were created to demystify climate policy processes, increase knowledge of the intersections of climate justice, and build skills such as critical thinking, design, advocacy, and effective communication.”
Draft Summary for Engagement: The Yukon First Nations Reconnection Vision + Action Plan (RVAP)
The Yukon First Nations Climate Action Fellowship released the Draft Summary for Engagement: The Yukon First Nations Reconnection Vision and Action Plan (RVAP) in August 2022. The Fellowship is made up of 13 Yukon First Nations youth from across the territory.
They also released a short film about the plan, Reconnection is Climate Action, as well as a portal to share your stories and vision for action.
BYTE’s Green Resilience Project Community Summary Report
The Green Resilience Project is a Canada-wide series of conversations exploring and documenting the links between community resilience, income security, and the shift to a low-carbon economy. BYTE was a designated partner organization of the project for the Yukon and held a Green Resilience Project conversation with youth in the Yukon on January 25th, 2022.
You can also read the final Green Resilience Report here.