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A Bit About WAWC

Our mission is to provide all Aboriginal women in Whitehorse, regardless of their origin, with access to culturally relevant programs, projects and supports in a safe space that enrich our community through full participation in our cultures, communities, governments and economies.

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Our Logo Story

Wanting an image to represent our organization, we worked with graphic designer Anna Crawford who helped us adopt this beautiful image. Adapted from beadwork by Vashti Etzel, Golden Eye Designs this logo represents the strength and fertility of Aboriginal women as life givers and caretakers of our people.

The nine large circles represent the eight Traditional Language groups in Yukon and English. The fourteen smaller circles represent our fourteen separate and distinct First Nations in Yukon.

Guiding Values

Connection – We believe that the power of connection to family, community, language and culture fosters the wellness of Aboriginal women and strengthens their families and community.


Growth – We encourage the education and advancement of Aboriginal women and girls by providing culturally relevant supports, opportunities for growth, training and positive role modeling.


Diversity – We honour our ancestors by celebrating the diversity and unique contributions of each individual. We respect the rights and freedoms of all Indigenous women to speak their own languages and practice their own traditions and cultures.


Compassion – We practice treating each other with compassion. This includes acting with integrity and respect and showing love, care and empathy to each other.


Equality – We are inclusive and provide equal opportunities and voice to Aboriginal women, and their needs and concerns, in a fair, respectful and judgement-free environment, and equally value the roles and abilities of all genders in our communities.

The WAWC Team

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Natalie Taylor

Executive Director

Coming Soon!

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Susan Power

Admin/Project Coordinator

Susan is a Northern Tutchone member of the Selkirk First Nation of the crow clan.

Her mother is Grace Tyerman (SFN) (Nee: Fairclough) and father is Mike Nikon, grandmother is May Fairclough (SFN) (Nee: Van Bibber) and great grandmother is Eliza Van Bibber (SFN) (Nee: Jackson).


She has been a WAWC staff member since July 2020. Attended Yukon College and took the TIOW class when she returned home to Whitehorse. Lived in Fort McMurray, AB for 18 years working in the oilfield training new hires and also lived in Chapel Arm, NL for 6 years doing home care for seniors. 


Susan is married to Philip Power they have son Adam, daughter in law Kim and granddaughters Mikayla and Kassidy. Family is a huge blessing for us.


Since returning home she has enjoyed learning her culture.  Participating in First Nations cultural craft circles and workshops is very rewarding. 


Our family loves being on the land hunting, fishing, picking berries and enjoying nature.

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Amber Taylor-Fisher

Cultural Support Project Coordinator

Amber Taylor-Fisher is a Mohawk of the Bay of Quinte. She was born in Whitehorse Yukon, and spent her childhood in the communities of Carmacks and Atlin, hunting, fishing, and living on the land. Her best memories are of her summers spent on the Nakina River with her “heart family”, and she continues to spend her summers there today.
Amber’s passion is to help people on their healing journeys, and she has been a helper for people with addictions since starting her own recovery journey in 2018. She is now the Cultural Support Coordinator for the Whitehorse Aboriginal Women’s Circle, helping women find access to their culture and traditional ways of life and healing.

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Emersyne Sias

Cultural Support Youth Apprentice

Emersyne is a Kluane First Nations youth of the crow clan. Her mother is Buffy Labonte-Sias and her father is Jimmy Sias.


She graduated with honors from F.H Collins secondary school in 2023. Emersyne graduated with a French immersion diploma so she is able to speak English and French. She always worked hard on her school work while staying active on the F.H Collins basketball and volleyball team. Emersyne spent one semester at the wood street school in a program called Experiential science 11. In this program is where she found her love for the sciences, specifically biology. 


She has lived in Whitehorse Yukon her whole life with her parents and three siblings. She loves being outside, fishing, camping, going to her family's cabin, hunting and spending time with family and friends. Through this job Emersyne has been able to reconnect with her First Nations culture and has found a love for beading.

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Brianna Capot-Blanc

Cultural Support Youth Apprentice

Coming Soon!

Board Members

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Kirsten Maides

President

Kirsten Maides, of the Métis Nation, has always been involved in her community. Whether it be in Faro where she grew up, or her current home of Whitehorse, Kirsten prides herself in being both a leader and a helper. Kirsten has a long resume of work experiences, which are mostly related to the Social Services. Kirsten is also a proud community ambassador for the #moosehidecampaign.

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Michele Taylor

Vice-President

Coming Soon!

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Michelle Parsons

Secretary/Treasurer

Coming Soon!

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Myra Iles

Executive Elder

Myra is an example of an Indigenous woman that has long been supporting causes that affect her families and her communities. Myra is often found engaging to raise public awareness of Truth and Reconciliation, Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls. She is keen to understand and advocate for equity in health, education and justice. She cares deeply about our environment. Myra is always delving deeper into her Indigenous identity- she was raised with her two siblings in Carmacks,Yukon by their mother Annie of Pagan Cree Nation and their father Alfred Tricker of the Little Prairie Metis Nation. Her grandmother called the family “road allowance people" a term referring to people you lost status because of taking scrip. The Tricker family was fully embraced by Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation. Myra grew up amongst the activities of Grandma Mary Luke and Grandma May Roberts fish camps and the harvesting wild foods and medicinal plants from the land. She has a renewed appreciation of these teachings. She has enduring memories of these connections. Her Northern Tutchone name Dan Ts’in Nanji means People’s helper was given to her by Grandma Susie Skookum when she learned of Myra’s desire to be a nurse and realized she did not do very well at cutting fish. Myra has 35 years of nursing career, she now uses aspects of her education to rekindle the understanding of harvesting and foraging of medicinal plants and country foods. Myra is consistently willing to teach and inspire those in the North who want to learn and discover a way to live and learn of their ancestral lifestyle! Namwayut - A Cree word meaning “we are one”.

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Felicia Bailey-Cashin

Executive Youth

Coming Soon!

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Janine Peters

Director

Janine Peters is a Kwakwaka'wakw F.N. woman whose family is from Wuikinuxv Nation in Rivers Inlet, on the central coast of British Columbia. 


She is now a Yukoner of 25 years, who grew up primarily in the Greater Vancouver area until 1995 when she moved to Whitehorse.

She's a semi-retired softball player, and curler, sometimes golfer who has been involved as a sports volunteer/coach with Special Olympics Yukon for close to 20 years.  She was on the board with Special Olympics Yukon, then hired on as Program Director for 2 years.

She now has a very rewarding job as a support worker at Teegatha' Oh Zheh.

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Wanda Bailey

Director

Coming Soon!

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Georgianna Low

Director

Coming Soon!

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Colleen Craft

Director

Coming Soon!

Community Partners

As a community based organization, our work is completed in partnership with other non-profit organizations, First Nations Governments, the municipal and territorial governments, and national organizations.

Liard Aboriginal Women's Society (LAWS)

Phone: (867) 536-2097

Fax: (867) 536-2810

Box 3

Watson Lake, YT Y0A 1C0

Yukon Aboriginal Women's Council (YAWC)

Phone: (867) 667-6162

Toll Free: 1-866-667-6162

407 Black Street

Whitehorse, YT Y1A 2N2

Skookum Jim Friendship Centre

Phone: (867) 633-7680

Fax: (867) 668-4460

3159-3rd Ave

Whitehorse, YT Y1A 1G1

Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Society Yukon (FASSY)

Phone: (867) 393-4948


205 Black Street #120, Whitehorse, YT

Yukon Women's Transition Home Society

Phone: (867) 633-7720 

Fax: (867) 668-2374

PO Box 31392

Whitehorse, YT Y1A 6K8

Yukon First Nation Culture & Tourism Association

Phone: (867) 667-7698

1 - 1109 Front Street, Whitehorse, YT Y1A 5G4

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