DAWSON CITY – Susan Lancaster, the director of Dawson’s Little Blue Early Learning and Childcare Centre, has received one of the 69 awards given by the Prime Minister’s Office to Canada’s top educators each year.

It’s officially called the Excellence In Early Childhood Education Regional Certificate Of Achievement.

A press release issued June 14 describes the award and Lancaster in these terms: “Day in and day out, Canadian teachers empower young people to shape our future. Susan Lancaster is one such teacher.

“Susan Lancaster relentlessly tracks down grants, partnerships, and professional development opportunities for her staff so that all the children at Little Blue Learning Centre can benefit from the best resources. For example, she invites professional development experts to Dawson City (from Whitehorse) so learning opportunities are more accessible for staff. Her grant work supports families, helping ensure children are nourished and ready to learn.”

The announcement was made by Francois-Philippe Champagne, the federal minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, and the Honourable Jenna Sudds, Minister of Families, Children, and Social Development, on behalf of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

Lancaster said her board of directors sent in the nomination.

“And I got picked. It’s pretty exciting to be picked as one of the few people who get those awards every year,” she said.

Lancaster does staff hiring, training and mentorship and spends quite a bit of time on the floor or in the yard with the children. And then there are tons and tons of grant writing.

She points to the greenhouse, the flowerbeds, the new sandbox and various pieces of equipment funded by Lotteries Yukon and other sources.

Her biggest project during the last three years has been the feasibility study and planning for Big Blue, which is intended to replace the aging and problematic building that has housed the daycare for decades.

The daycare is negotiating with the Yukon government for the transfer of the lots which were the former site of the McDonald’s Lodge seniors’ residence before it was transferred and rebuilt next to the Dawson Community Hospital on Church Street, a couple of blocks east.

With a waiting list of 42 families, Dawson’s oldest daycare has been in need of expansion for a long time. The building was home to the Snider family when the Rev. Ken Snider was the priest at St. Paul’s Anglican Church, just down the street to the west, at the corner of Church and Front Streets.