Minister of Tourism and Culture Ranj Pillai joined federal, provincial and territorial Canadian culture and heritage Ministers for their annual meeting held this year in St. John’s, Newfoundland.
Ministers responsible for culture and heritage across Canada gathered July 11 to 13 for discussions on three strategic priorities: strengthening the creative economy, strengthening the resources of the culture and heritage sectors and strengthening engagement and promotion in the culture and heritage sectors.
The meeting included a roundtable on the impacts of the pandemic on the culture and heritage sectors, during which Minister Pillai shared Phase 1 of Creative Potential: Advancing the Yukon’s Creative and Cultural Industries as part of the Government of Yukon’s strategy for recovery from those impacts. The strategy includes several flexible, accessible funding programs which respond directly to input from the creative and cultural sectors. The strategy’s guiding principles also incorporate some core topics of discussion at the Ministers’ meetings, such as inclusion and diversity.
After the recent discovery of Nun cho ga, the baby mammoth recovered in the Klondike gold fields, the Yukon also took a central role in conversations around collaborative approaches to the preservation of heritage. The recovery and cooperative decision-making between the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and the Yukon government around Nun cho ga is already being looked to for the exciting opportunities in successful collaboration and partnership on matters of science and cultural heritage.
