Yukon’s francophone newspaper L’Aurore Boréale wins 3 national awards

Gwendoline Le Bomin, Maryne Dumaine and Marie-Claude Nault of Yukon’s L’Aurore Boréale newspaper, holding three awards the paper won at the 2025 Prix d’Excellence de la Presse Francophone. (Hamza Bennani/Réseau.Presse)

By Isabella Calissi, RCI, CBC News

Periodical named ‘Newspaper of the Year’ at 2025 Prix d’excellence de la Presse Francophone

Yukon’s only francophone newspaper, L’Aurore Boréale, has won three awards this year from an organization representing Canadian French-language media outside of Quebec.

The awards were handed out at this year’s Prix d’excellence de la Press Francophone ceremony, which is hosted by Réseau.Presse, or l’Association de la Presse Francophone.

Maryne Dumaine is the director of L’Aurore Boréale, a newspaper that covers events and issues in Yukon’s francophone community. Dumaine says she’s “so proud” of the team behind the paper.

“I feel very proud of L’Aurore Boréale team, but also all the community that evolves around that newspaper, which means dozens of people that are volunteering or helping somehow somewhere in the production contract,” she said.

Dumaine says there are only four people on staff at the paper, with the rest being made up of freelance journalists.

The paper was named “Newspaper of the Year,” which was a first in its 42-year history. The publication also won its third-consecutive award for excellence in “digital presence,” and a “special digital project” award for a booklet it published marking 125 years of francophone history in the Yukon.

Dumaine says the booklet shows “the francophones that were here, the families that were here, since forever.” She also says it shows the evolution of francophone representation in government, and the availability of French-language services over the years.

“It’s nice to see how the French community evolved and then grew, and then slowed down, and then grew again,” Dumaine said.

The paper worked in collaboration with the Société d’histoire francophone du Yukon on the project. There were 10 separate publications, with the content later compiled into an online booklet which is what won the paper its “digital presence” award.

Not only is L’Aurore Boréale the only francophone publication in the territory, it’s also one of the Yukon’s last few printed periodicals. Dumaine says having a print version, which is published bi-monthly, is important to her and the community, and L’Aurore Boréale will continue to publish in print for as long as possible.

“I’m a mother of two kids and I will never tell my kids, ‘take my phone and go read an article on this or that website.’ I would rather have a newspaper flying around on the coffee table or in the bathroom, [or] the outhouse in the Yukon,” she said.

This article is republished from RCI.