As things stand today, as of midnight Wednesday, the territory will be without a commissioner.

That’s the hour that Commissioner Angélique Bernard’s term will expire.

Her five-year appointment as the federal government’s official representative in the territory had been scheduled to end March 11.

However, a representative from the federal Privy Council Office phoned Bernard to let her know that her term would end on May 31.

No other extensions are being considered for the Yukon’s 36th commissioner.

“At this time, I have spoken with Administrator Adeline Webber to discuss with her the role of acting commissioner until we hear the decision from Ottawa,” Judy Shannon, the Yukon government’s chief of protocol and private secretary to the commissioner, told the Star last week.

The Yukon government referred inquiries about the situation to the Privy Council Office and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO).

“The appointment of a Yukon commissioner will be announced in due course,” Mohammad Hussain, a press secretary for the PMO, advised the Star late last Thursday afternoon.

Bernard was appointed on March 12, 2018, succeeding Doug Phillips.

Her numerous public activities and community involvement have been credited with helping raise the profile of the office.

A day-long event held last Wednesday for the public to bid farewell to Bernard at her Taylor House offices was very well-attended.

At 51, the former resident of Brossard, on Montreal’s south shore, is the youngest person to serve as commissioner for any of the three territories and the first Franco-Yukonnais to assume the role.

The mother of two arrived in the Yukon in January 1995 for a four-month translation internship with the Bureau of French Language Services.

After graduating from Montreal’s Concordia University with a Bachelor of Arts, specialization in translation, Bernard returned to Whitehorse in the fall of 1995.

She also earned a Certificate in Introduction to Interpreting from Vancouver Community College.

From 1996 to 2001, Bernard worked as a development officer with Les EssentiElles, a non-profit organization that represents the interests of the Yukon’s French-speaking women.

From 2000 to until becoming commissioner, she operated her own translation firm.

Bernard provided translation services to more than 150 businesses, government departments and organizations in the Yukon, Canada, the United States and Australia.

From 2005 to 2012, Bernard was a freelance court recorder. She recorded French, English and bilingual trials in the Yukon and transcribed French trials.

In 2014, the Alliance des femmes de la francophonie canadienne recognized her as one of the top 100 women who have had the biggest impact on Canada’s francophone community over the previous century.

Bernard was also named one of the 10 francophone influential personalities in Canada (outside of Quebec) for 2019.

Commissioners dating back to 1979, in order of their terms, have been Ione Christensen, Doug Bell, Ken McKinnon, Judy Gingell, Jack Cable, Geraldine Van Bibber and Phillips.