Janeane MacGillivray (b. 1951)
Janeane MacGillivray was originally from Nanaimo, British Columbia.1) She moved to the Yukon in 1974 and started working as a labourer at the Whitehorse Copper mine. She applied for a job to work underground for better money in 1975 but was rejected as it was illegal under the Mining Safety Ordinance. With the help of Whitehorse Copper expeditor Trudy Vanderburg, the Yukon Status of Women, and Faro MLA Stu McCall, the Ordinance was ruled unconstitutional in March 1975.2)
Janeane still faced rejection slips as there were no women's facilities or changing rooms underground. She was successful after a year of trying and became a skiptender - because no one else applied. She went on to receive the first blasting permit given to a Yukon woman.3) Janeane worked underground for two years as a skip tender, a rock breaker operator, and as a production driller. She left the mine to work as a carpenter. She said that once she proved she was there to work, the men accepted her and, in the main, supported her.4)
Janeane MacGillivray was Yukon's first woman underground miner.5)