Securing more than $2.5 million in Yukon government funding over the next five years means the Northern Institute of Social Justice can continue its work bringing training to front line workers not only in the Yukon, but across the North.

Education Minister Elaine Taylor made the funding announcement last Wednesday morning at Yukon College. The money will take the institute to March 31, 2019.

"This long-term funding in support of the (institute) is an investment in the people of Yukon, particularly the front line workers who provide these important services,” she said.

The institute began as a partnership between the government, the college and Yukon First Nations in 2010. Since then, it has delivered workshops and training sessions on topics including trauma, Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder, dealing with threats and aggression, loss, grief and healing in the workplace, arbitration and legislation, Yukon First Nations histories and cultures as well as residential school awareness.

Last year, for example, a half-day session focused on the history of residential schools allowed nearly 600 teachers and principals from across the territory to hear first-hand accounts from survivors about their experience and their journeys to healing.

The event offered through the institute came from a collaboration involving resolution health support workers from the Council of Yukon First Nations, Liard First Nation and members of the Committee on Abuse in Residential Schools.

It is a prime example of the types of partnerships formed to offer the very specific programming the institute does.

As Taylor recalled during her speech at the college, the institute's overarching goal when it started was to build the Yukon's workforce by targeting front line workers involved in social justice in the territory.

As college president Karen Barnes described it, "NISJ is a very special project at the college.

"NISJ programs are positively impacting the way front line justice, police education, social service and health professionals are interacting with their clients and with each other.

"I am tremendously proud of the work we have achieved so far. It is a testament to the faith, commitment and hard work of our partners across federal, Yukon and First Nations government departments – and that of our NISJ staff – that we have achieved so much in just three years.”

More than 2,500 Yukoners have taken part in the 124 workshop sessions offered through the institute since 2010.

It only makes sense, Taylor later told reporters, that the Yukon shares many of the same issues faced in other northern regions.

The institute has and is working with the Northwest Territories and Nunavut on a pan-northern project funded by Justice Canada. It also partners with the University of Alaska in Fairbanks on other initiatives, Joanne Lewis, the institute's executive director, told reporters.

The institute has already delivered FASD workshops in the other territories and the Justice Canada funding is going toward a pan-northern program to train victim services workers.

"It's very much a collaborative approach,” she said.

Meanwhile, in Fairbanks, the university's department focused on justice has also been working with the institute on training development.

Following Taylor's announcement, Lewis publicly thanked the government and a number of individuals and a variety of organizations that have worked with the institute over the three years such as the Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Society Yukon, Hospice Yukon, the RCMP and others.

Lewis said she is looking forward to seeing what possibilities the next five years will bring for the institute.