Mathieya Alatini (b. 1972)

Mathieya Alatini is of Southern Tutchone, Tlingit, Russian and Welsh descent.((Mathieya Alatini, LinkedIn 2020 website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathieya-alatini-a4a32094/?originalSubdomain=ca)) Mathieya and her mother, Gùdia Mary Jane Johnson, spent many summers in a tent before there were houses available for young people in Burwash. As Mathieya grew up, she lived with her parents at Cultus Bay on Kluane Lake, Whitehorse, Champagne, and in her great-grandmother’s cabin across Kluane Lake from Burwash.((Mary Jane Johnson, “It Needs to be Done, You Do It.” in //Kluane Lake Country People Speak Strong.// Kluane First Nation, 2023: 255-259.)) \\

Mathieya’s father trapped lynx and coyote while studying to become an architect. The family relocated to Victoria when she was ten. Her mother studied at university. Later they moved to Whitehorse where Mathieya went to Christ the King and then FH Collins. She returned to Victoria to complete a Bachelor of Commerce degree. She spent most summers between 2001 and 2010 in Burwash, and winters in Vancouver. She worked for Aboriginal Tourism British Columbia before moving to the federal government. She spent six years working for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada and managed a $400-million infrastructure program for British Columbia First Nations. She had a seat on Kluane First Nation's investment committee between 2003 and 2010.((John Thompson, "Big ambitions for Little Burwash." //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 27 August 2010.)) \\
	
Mathieya Alatini was the chief of the Kluane First Nation between 2010 and 2016.((Mathieya Alatini, LinkedIn 2020 website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathieya-alatini-a4a32094/?originalSubdomain=ca)) She and her family including her husband, an eight-year old daughter, and a four-year old son,  all moved to Burwash Landing. She won over incumbent Wilfred Sheldon from her then home in North Vancouver. She phoned elders and used her laptop by videorecording speeches and circulating pamphlets. She stirred up discussions about how to fix the problems of high staff turnover, a huge challenge for self-governing first nations.((John Thompson, "Big ambitions for Little Burwash." //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 27 August 2010.)) Alatini became the Director of Strategic Initiatives from 2016 to 2018 and started working as a sessional instructor at Yukon College in 2018 for the Bachelor of Arts in Indigenous Governance Program. In 2020, she was the chief strategist with GSD Strategies Inc. in Whitehorse.((Mathieya Alatini, LinkedIn 2020 website: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathieya-alatini-a4a32094/?originalSubdomain=ca))