Ronald J. “Jack” Hulland*
Jack Hulland moved from Alberta in 1930 to teach school in Whitehorse. In 1934, he allowed about six First Nation children to attend the public school. The local Anglican mission school had ceased to operate and the Carcross residential school had no more room. Some Whitehorse families feared that this was a precedent that threatened the health of their children and requested that Hulland discontinue the practice. The petition was supported by a statement from the Medical Health Officer and Mr. Jeckell gave strict orders that all Yukon schools refuse to accept First Nation children. Indian Affairs lacked the funds to reopen the church school, and offered the territory a grant of $20 per year for the six students if the public school would accept them, but Jeckell did not encourage integration.1)
Hulland was granted a leave of absence in 1936 to complete his BA degree. After Dawson parents voiced their concern over student dropouts in the senior grades, he was transferred to Dawson in 1938 to become the principal of the Dawson Public School and Yukon Superintendent of Schools.2)
In 1946, when the Alaska Highway maintenance camp was moved from Brooks Brook to Teslin, there were not enough non-Indigenous children to have a public school. Superintendent Hulland and newly appointed Indian Agent Jack Meek proposed that Teslin combine the Indigenous and non-Indigenous children in a jointly operated school. The federal government was beginning to advocate for combining the students, so the local federal employees hesitantly agreed, and the school was jointly funded by Indian Affairs and Mines and Resources. The Teslin Lake Joint School was opened in September 1948.3) This was Yukon’s first integrated school.
Hulland was the sole high school teacher in Dawson until 1949 when an additional teacher was hired.4) By 1952, it was almost impossible for one man with limited available funds to supervise the growing number of schools in the southern Yukon. Commissioner Fraser attributed the many deficiencies he saw to a weakness in Hulland as an administrator. He relieved Hulland of all teaching duties and transferred him to Whitehorse, on a trial basis, as full-time Superintendent of Schools. Two years later, Commissioner Brown abruptly dismissed Hulland as superintendent. Parents, teachers, and members of the Council considered this another example of the dictatorial nature of Ottawa. In response, federal authorities invited Hulland to Ottawa to meet with Jean Lesage, the Minister of Northern Affairs. Hullland was reinstated as superintendent for the ensuing school year and authorities agreed to hire an assistant supervisor as an understudy for the position. Hulland retired in June 1955.5)
Jack Hulland was elected in 1955 to serve a three-year term as a territorial councillor representing Whitehorse West. In 1958, he returned to teaching at Whitehorse High School (F.H. Collins Secondary School) and retired in 1965. A new school in Porter Creek was named for him in recognition of his dedication and positive influence on Yukon’s education system. His residence in Whitehorse, Hulland House, is a municipally designated historic site.6)