Kenny Kane (1944 – 2007)
	
Kenny Kane was born in the Champagne area and was a member of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations. He attended the Whitehorse Baptist Mission School and then attended the University of Alaska at Fairbanks. He played hockey while he was finishing his studies in the early 1960s. He was on the Yukon team that attended the 1967 Canada Winter Games in Quebec City. After university Kane travelled around Canada and the United States and was in San Francisco when the American Indian Movement occupied Alcatraz Island to protest for aboriginal rights. Kane was a pioneer in Yukon First Nation rights and helped to pave the way for the self-government agreements. He was with Elijah Smith’s team when they travelled to Ottawa to make the case for indigenous rights, and he focussed on communication strategies for the meetings the group attended. He worked effectively behind the scenes. He did communications work for the Council for Yukon Indians in the 1970s and travelled the Yukon spreading information about self-government issues in First Nation communities. He saw a need for a First Nations communication network and helped found the Northern Native Broadcasting Yukon and CHON-FM. His vision was the spark that led to the national Aboriginal Peoples Television Network. Kane worked on content and programming but also worked on early technical aspects. In 2006, Kane became the communications officer for Champagne and Aishihik First Nations.((“First Nation pioneer dies.” //Yukon News,// (Whitehorse), 22 December 2007.)) 

In 2006, Kenny Kane received the Commissioner’s Public Service Award. When he died in 2007, Champagne and Aishihik First Nations chief Diane Strand remembered him as an excellent communicator, a champion for Yukon First Nations, and an amazing individual.((“Aboriginal role model Ken Kane mourned as champion for Yukon.” //Whitehorse Daily Star// (Whitehorse), 17 December 2007.))