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Betty Irwin
Betty Irwin was a classical musician before coming to the Yukon. She played vibraharp, piano, and drums and she and her husband earned a living playing jazz. Betty was familiar with electronics through her experience as a musician and in Whitehorse she and her husband opened their own shop and ran it as a family business.1)
Betty Irwin signed up for an electronic repair course in 1970 and was turned away because she was a woman She eventually became the first woman in Canada to get her license in television and radio repair. She went on to own three repair businesses in Whitehorse and co-founded Yukon Women in Trades and Technology to draw other women into trades. That experience prompted Irwin to run for city council in 2009.Irwin was program co-ordinator for Yukon Women in Trades and Technology until 2008.2)
Betty Irwin was elected as a Whitehorse City councillor in 2009. She took over as manager of the Whitehorse Mae Bachur Animal Shelter in 2014.3)
Betty was chair of the Yukon Advisory Council on Women’s Issues and the co-ordinator of the Trades Exploration Program for Women at Yukon College.4)