Yukon who is who

Carl Sidney, Khixhi ka Yelth

Carl Sidney was born and raised in Teslin, Yukon. He is a member of the Kukkhittan (Raven Child) Clan, one of the five Clans of the Teslin Tlingit First Nation. He had a traditional upbringing with his grandmother, Yes-ketch (Olive Sidney). He was educated in Teslin and Whitehorse.¹⁾

At age nineteen, Carl joined the Canadian Armed Forces, serving with the Canadian Engineers Battalion in Chilliwack, B.C for six years. Carl then entered the Vancouver Vocational Institute to study diesel engineering. After graduation he enrolled on a three-year apprenticeship program with the Yukon Department of Highways. He moved into the booming hard rock mining sector and when that slowed, he moved to diamond drilling. Carl returned to Teslin in the early 1990s when Teslin Tlingit Council’s (TTC) negotiations towards self-governance were in an advanced stage. A brief trip home turned into a permanent stay. He represented his clan during and after the negotiations.²⁾

Carl Sidney sat as Kukkhittan Executive Councillor in the newly established TTC Government. He served ten years on the Executive Council and seven as TTC’s Deputy-Chief. He has served on several environmentally focused regional boards in the Yukon including the Yukon Intertribal Watershed Council, the Yukon Environmental Socio-Assessment Board (YESAB), the Yukon Salmon Sub-Committee, and Yukon Heritage and Resources Board. In 2012, he was appointed chief of the Teslin Tlingit Council for the 2012-2016 term.³⁾