ABSTRACT
If this history is to make theoretical and practical sense to the reader who, following traditional definitions of higher or postsecondary education, expects a discussion of university education or who, based on experience outside the region, expects dollars spent or students served to cross certain thresholds of significance, some qualifications are necessary. First, the Yukon-which is geographically much larger than Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia together-is demographically a very small community. In 1941, just 4,914 people lived in the territory (Yukon Census Figures, 1941). In 1992, just 31,000 people lived here; of these, 22,000 lived in a single community-Whitehorse (Yukon Statistical Review, Second Quarter, 1992).2 To put this in perspective, the entire population of the territory is smaller than the enrollment of some of Canada's universities.
