Adeline Webber named new commissioner of the Yukon

Adeline Webber, a member of the Teslin Tlingit Council and longtime advocate for Indigenous rights, has been named the new commissioner of the Yukon.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced the appointment on Wednesday morning, saying in a news release that Webber "has a remarkable understanding of the unique needs of Indigenous Peoples and all Yukoners."

"I am confident that she will continue to serve them well in her new role," Trudeau said. 

Webber will succeed Angélique Bernard, whose five-year term as the territory's commissioner ends Wednesday.

Webber was born and raised in Whitehorse and spent much of her career working for the federal civil service, as the Yukon district director for the Public Service Commission of Canada.

Since 2018 she has been the Yukon administrator, a role that serves as a stand-in for the commissioner when that person is unable to perform their duties.

The Yukon commissioner is appointed by the federal government and serves as the top level of federal representation in the territory. The commissioner is not the head of government in the Yukon. 

The role is largely ceremonial, involving attendance at official functions and events, and handing out honours and awards such as the Order of Yukon. The commissioner is akin to the lieutenant governor of a province.

The commissioner also delivers the Speech from the Throne at the beginning of each legislative session, swears in MLAs, and provides assent to bills passed by the legislature allowing them to become law.

In announcing the appointment, Trudeau cited Webber's lifetime of work advocating for Indigenous people and other Yukoners.

Indigenous women's rights have been a focus of much of Webber's work over the years, through her involvement with organizations such as the Whitehorse Aboriginal Women's Circle.

Last year, Webber was part of the Assembly of First Nations delegation that met Pope Francis in Rome, and heard his apology for the church's role in the residential school system in Canada. 

She is also the chair of the Yukon Residential Schools Missing Children working group, which has been leading efforts in recent years to search for unmarked graves at former residential school sites in Yukon. 

Webber has been appointed to a five-year term as Yukon commissioner.

Bernard reflects on her term

Speaking to CBC News on Wednesday morning before Webber's appointment was announced, Bernard was feeling emotional about the end of her own term as the territory's first francophone commissioner. 

She said one of the things she enjoyed most about the job was meeting so many people.

"I like to say that I'm an introvert at heart, so when I started I thought that was going to be my hardest part. But it's something that I've really grown into, as the more you do it, the more it becomes comfortable," she said.

Bernard is also proud of some of the things she introduced while serving in the role, including the Borealis Prize for literature and the territory's first "story laureate." She also helped convert the upstairs of Taylor House — the commissioner's office in Whitehorse — from an area largely used for storage, to a sort of museum with portraits, artifacts and topical exhibits. 

She also believes she's achieved one of her main goals to help "demystify" the role, and help Yukoners see and understand what the commissioner does. Bernard described a recent encounter while she was out walking her dog in Whitehorse and she heard a young child holler her name from across the street.

"It was like, 'we were at your office yesterday!'" Bernard recalled.

"So I'm like, if a little five-year-old knows my name and knows the commissioner, I've done my job."