The federal government is spending $14.3 million to support over two dozen Yukon organizations and First Nations governments with arts, culture and language programming. 

For some recipients, it’s old news — but still worth celebrating. Most of the funding for the 2025-2026 fiscal year has already started flowing in. 

Minister of Canadian Identity and Culture Marc Miller called the funding “more than just money.”

“It’s about empowering voices in the way they choose to empower themselves,” he told a news conference Friday at the Yukon Arts Centre in Whitehorse.

Language programs received the majority of the federal investment — just under $12 million. Of that, over $9 million went to Indigenous language revitalization, and just under $3 million to French language programming. 

The Council of Yukon First Nations, which got about $2.1 million over four years, said the money is for its Youth Today, Language Leaders Tomorrow program. 

The two-year immersive program pays Indigenous youth to learn their language and carry those skills to the communities. It’s run by the Yukon Native Language Centre, and has been in operation since 2021.  

“The program in itself is incredible,” said council Grand Chief Math’ieya Alatini. “It is transformational for our communities.”

In her speech Friday, Alatini youth are focused on preserving the knowledge Elders hold. 

“It’s not just about language preservation,” she said. “It is about preserving culture and heritage.” 

Nathan Easterson-Moore, who completed the program in 2023, spends hours recording and transcribing conversations with elders in his community. He’s a Kluane First Nation citizen from Burwash Landing, and has made teaching and protecting Southern Tutchone his life’s work. 

There’s an urgency to this task, he said. For a while he was working with his two grandmothers, both 98 years old, who he said were the last two fluent speakers in Burwash Landing. 

“Once those people pass on — that’s not going to come back.” 

‘Lucky up here’ 

Whitehorse’s Pivot Theatre, which was among the arts organizations included in Friday’s announcement, got $27,000 over two years through the Canada Arts Presentation Fund. 

“It’s not new money,” said Jacob Zimmer, Pivot’s artistic director.  

It’s funding Zimmer said they apply for and receive “pretty much every year,” and they knew weeks ago that they’d received it again. 

The money works out to $13,500 per year for the theatre company, and is expected to go toward Pivot’s annual January festival, and a few other things. 

While the money “is not that much,” Zimmer said it helps keep the theatre’s “body and soul together.” 

Zimmer is from Nova Scotia, where the provincial government recently cut $14.3 million worth of grants for arts and culture – the exact amount of federal funding announced on Friday for the Yukon. 

“We’re lucky up here to have the amount of funding we have,” he said. 

Still, Zimmer says Pivot will be watching the territorial budget, coming March 19, as another piece of their funding structure. Premier Currie Dixon has signaled that cuts could come.

“We are not expecting the same kind of budget that Nova Scotia has,” Zimmer said. “We hope that expectation is accurate.”