Tara Wheeler: Finding opportunity and community in the Yukon

Tara Wheeler didn’t grow up in the Yukon, but after coming to work there for the summer back in 2001, she fell in love with northern life and decided to stay.

Wheeler shared her journey to the Yukon – which includes serving today as a councillor in the Village of Carmacks, and as President of the Association of Yukon Communities (AYC) – with Municipal World CEO Susan Gardner during a conversation at the 2019 Federation of Canadian Municipalities Conference in Quebec City.

Championing Northern Exposure

“A lot of people say they want to make the community a better place. I think our community is a great place. That’s pretty much it; I want people to understand what a great place it is,” Wheeler said. “Even people that live there, I want them to realize what an amazing community we live in. What an amazing territory we live in. And, I want to be a strong voice for issues that come up for the people in the community.”

Wheeler first ran for council in 2009. She recalls how her ex-husband used to be on council, so she would read his minutes. In fairly short order, she became interested in what a municipality does. So, she ran for council, and won. By the end of the first term, she felt like she was just starting to figure things out, so she ran again. And again.

It seems she isn’t alone in her political success. The AYC represents all eight municipalities in the Yukon – Dawson City, Mayo, Carmacks, Faro, Teslin, Watson Lake, Haines Junction, and Whitehorse – which collectively have women making up 52 percent of councils. In addition, six out of the eight municipalities have women CAOs or city managers.

Broadband a Key Issue for the North

The biggest challenge facing her community, as she explains in the video, is one all too familiar to other northern and rural communities across Canada.

Access to reliable broadband is difficult, particularly in the north, but in a community with one internet line, closing the so-called digital divide is essential.

“A lot of the schooling is done with online courses in rural communities, telehealth, doctor’s appointments, sending documents, most of the rural communities the banking – it’s all internet banking and debit cards because banks are only open two days week for a few hours each day in a lot of the communities,” she said. “We don’t have access to cash on a regular basis anymore. The rural communities are becoming almost cashless because it’s hard to get cash. That internet goes down and nothing operates.”  MW

✯ Municipal World Insider and Executive Members: You might also be interested in Roy Brooke’s article: Nature as a key ally in delivering vital community services. Note that you can now access the complete collection of past articles (and more) from your membership dashboard.

Related resource materials: