From the first speeches, the tone was set. The ceremony held on April 1 at the Allain St-Cyr School bistro did not only mark the retirement of Yvonne Careen. It also highlighted the journey of a woman linked to several of the great battles of French-speaking education in the Northwest Territories. Gathered in Yellowknife, a few dozen loved ones, colleagues and community members came to salute a 36-year career.
Recognize a builder
At the opening, the director general of the Commission scolaire francophone des…Territoires du Nord-Ouest (CSFTNO), François Rouleau, highlighted “a professional career marked by commitment, rigor and significant contribution to French-speaking education.” He also announced that a plaque would be given to her to recognize her role as “builder”, the first in a series intended to honor people who have contributed to the development of French education in Yellowknife.
Stand up for fairness
The vice-president of the CSFTNO, Simon Cloutier, recalled that the arrival of Yvonne Careen as general manager, in 2014, took place in a difficult context, when relations with the territorial government were tense and the school board was continuing its efforts to obtain an expansion at the height of its needs.
He said that when considering the plans, Ms. Careen immediately refused a primary-sized gymnasium for a school up to grade 12. She also insisted on getting a toilet in the physical education teacher’s office, in the name of “real equivalence in education.” Simon Cloutier also described a leader ready to take criticism alone when difficult decisions were imposed by the school board or the ministry.
From the first stones to the courts
The former president of the CSFTNO, Jean de Dieu Tuyishime, placed this commitment in a longer perspective. “Imagine that exactly in those years, Ms. Yvonne was already laying the first stones of French-speaking education in the NWT,” he said, taking the room back to 1989. He said she had “literally built this French-speaking school in Yellowknife” and that she had brought the demands “on all platforms and in all courts”.
The director general of the Northwest Territories Economic Development Council (CDÉTNO), François Afane, for his part praised “the tenacity and the ability to anticipate and take risks,” adding that, each time “there was a debate or a battle to be fought for the French-speaking world”, Yvonne Careen arrived “first”.
A trajectory reread with humility
Finally speaking, the former general director chose to reread her career as “a series of events”. Returning to her arrival in Yellowknife in 1989, when she had not yet finished her internship, Ms. Careen recounted the combination of circumstances that led her to the North, then her progressive involvement in teaching, administration, negotiations and community demands. “It’s not one person who leads a battle, it’s a series of people who lead them,” she nevertheless insisted, paying tribute to the parents and colleagues who accompanied her. Before concluding with advice to younger people: “Follow what interests you, follow your passions. HAS”
