Yukon who is who

Wade Istchenko

Wade Istchenko was born in Whitehorse and raised in Haines Junction. His grandmother, Hilda Watson, was an MLA for the electoral district of Kluane and the first woman to lead a political party in Canada. Istchenko joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1984 where he completed training in Canada and served with NATO forces in Germany for three years. Istchenko was elected to the Yukon Legislative Assembly in 2011 and was sworn into the Yukon Party Cabinet in November. He founded Kluane Ridin’ Adventure Tours around 2006. He has been president and vice-president of the St. Elias Lions Club, president of the St. Elias Chamber of Commerce, and chair of the Alsek Renewable Resource Council. He was also appointed to the Kluane Park Management Board and was instrumental in the development of the Alsek-Tatshenshini National Park. Istchenko is a Canadian Ranger Sergeant and runs the Junior Canadian Ranger youth program in Haines Junction. He coached minor hockey for five years and was the founder and first president of the Haines Junction Snowmobile Club. He and his wife Donna have two sons, Joshua and Travis.¹⁾

In May 2021, Yukon Party leader Currie Dixon removed MLAs Stacey Hassard (Pelly Nisutlin) and Wade Istchenko (Kluane) from standing committees and critic roles in the Yukon’s shadow cabinet after they posted inappropriate and misogynistic texts about all the party leaders.²⁾ The offensive social media texts were accidently sent to the Premier Silver who shared them with the media. Both Hassard and Istchenko issued apologies for their immature actions and committed to learning from their mistakes.³⁾ Yukon First Nations, the Council of Yukon First Nations, and the Assembly of First Nations Yukon Region called for stricter measured against the men. They wanted to see Hassard and Istchenko suspended for some or all of Session 35 of the Legislative Assembly and have their pay given to Yukon organizations that work to combat systematic oppression. They also wanted to see all members of the Yukon Party take anti-bullying training and have Dixon uphold the standard of acceptable behaviour as outlined in the Respectful Workplace Policy.⁴⁾