After 17 years as the Yukon's Public Service Commissioner, Patricia Daws is stepping down and retiring from three decades of government service in the territory.

"Things came together for me,” Daws said today of the new collective agreement with Public Service Alliance of Canada employees, the binding arbitration that will produce a new contract for members of the Yukon Teachers' Association and the recent transfer of Watson Lake's cottage hospital to the Yukon Hospital Corp.

"Those came to a positive end so it just felt like the right time ... it was important to leave on a positive note,” Daws added.

She began her career with the Yukon government in 1981 after taking a job with the Public Service Commission and moved up the ranks, becoming president of the Workers' Compensation Health and Safety Board nine years later.

In 1993, Daws returned to the Public Service Commission as its boss after winning a competition process and being appointed by then-Yukon Party government leader John Ostashek.

Daws called her time as Public Service Commissioner a challenge, balancing employees' needs and the desire to have satisfied workers with presenting the government's side during contract negotiations, and the inevitable salary and contract demands that employees' unions make.

During her tenure as Public Service Commissioner, Daws presided over landmark equal pay for equal work provisions in the territory's 2002 Employment Standards Act, making the Yukon Canada's first jurisdiction to entrench such regulations.

Daws called the move "trendsetting across Canada.”

The outgoing commissioner is also proud to have worked in the office when, in the late 1980s, the Yukon government was one of the first jurisdictions in the country to extend employees' benefits to same-sex couples.

And until Daws officially leaves her job July 21, she will continue to prepare the Public Service Commission and her successor for what lay in store.

"Over the last several years, we recognized there is a changing demographic in government. The population is aging, and there will be a shortage of labour, so we've really taken notice of that,” said Daws. "And with the support of government ... we're really looking at succession planning and we want to make sure the public service is in good shape for that happening.”

Daws, who plans to enjoy her retirement in the Yukon and is looking forward to the annual hiking trip she takes with like-minded friends, thanked colleagues and the media for making her time with the commission an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

"I actually feel really privileged to have had this job and work with all the people I have,” she said. "I'm really grateful for time I've had.”