Pelly Crossing, Yukon
The community of Pelly Crossing is located along the Klondike Highway and on the bank of the Pelly River, 282 kilometres northwest of Whitehorse and 254 km southeast of Dawson City. The community was established as a ferry crossing and a highway construction camp when the Klondike Highway from Whitehorse to Dawson City was built in 1950. With the completion of the Pelly River Bridge and the road to Dawson City, sternwheeler traffic on the Yukon River came to a halt.
Fort Selkirk, the original home of the Selkirk First Nation is an important heritage site and is jointly managed by the Selkirk First Nation and the Yukon Government. When the sternwheeler traffic ceased Fort Selkirk, located near the confluence of Pelly and Yukon Rivers, was virtually abandoned. The Selkirk First Nation moved from Fort Selkirk to Minto Landing before settling at Pelly Crossing. Today, the restored Fort Selkirk is a common stop for Yukon River travelers.
The current population of Pelly Crossing is about 350 and is home to the Selkirk First Nation, a self-governing Yukon First Nation.
Eliza Van Bibber School
The school is focused on the development of the whole student for each of its students. This year they have all geared their academic focus towards non-fiction writing skills. This will include school wide monthly assessments to help direct their teaching and learning. This will also allow the school to bring in more of Northern Tutchone knowledge, teachings, and culture into the classrooms.
EVBS offers a comprehensive K-12 program, along with a Learning Together program for two and a half hours, in the morning for younger children and their parents. There is a staff of 20, including 3 valued staff members employed by Selkirk First Nation, within the school. The enrollment of 2016/17 is 62.
For more information about the school visit evb.yukonschools.ca.
Eliza Van Bibber’s School Food Program
The school operates a breakfast and snack program. The funding that the school receives from Yukon Food for Learning Association is provided by Yukon Health and Social Services and Breakfast Club of Canada.
About 10 students access the breakfast and morning snack program each day and about the same number get afternoon snacks.
In addition to the direct funding that the school receives from YFFLA, the Selkirk First Nation has a community hot lunch program that all the Eliz Van Bibber students can access 4 days a week.
Staff at the school have said “We the staff and the students at Eliza Van Bibber appreciate all the work that goes into having a community hot lunch program. It is so great that our community supports feeding its students and elders for free 4 days a week. We as a staff appreciate that with the Food for Learning funding we receive we are able to serve breakfast at school every day and with the hot lunch program offered through SFN that the students of Eliza Van Bibber are well fed and they come to school happy and ready to learn.
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