Latest news with #YukonChamber
CBC
13-06-2025
- Business
- CBC
Yukon Chamber of Commerce closing shop, calling it a 'refresh'
The Yukon Chamber of Commerce is going out of business. Members of the advocacy group unanimously voted at its annual general meeting on Wednesday to dissolve the 40-year-old organization. However, the chamber's executive director Patti Balsillie characterizes it as a "refresh," suggesting that a new organization could be formed to take its place as the voice of Yukon's business community. "Maybe this is the phoenix coming out of the ashes. But we needed to create a crisis perhaps, to instigate what could be a better formula," Balsillie said. "The motion was, 'yes, let's dissolve,' and the ancillary was, 'and let's get back to the original intent.'" Balsillie says the chamber as it is right now is "no longer financially sustainable," with less revenue coming in. She said the COVID-19 pandemic changed how many businesses spend their money, and the chamber suffered as a result. A significant portion of the chamber's money comes from its members. She also described a changing landscape for non-profit business advocacy groups in the Yukon, with more and more of them doing similar work. "The lane is very congested," Balsillie said. "[The chamber's] relevancy was eroded by apathy, by people thinking somebody else will do the work, there are other volunteers that have my back — but no, you have to show up." She said the organization will remain open at least through the summer, to sell assets, pay bills, and plan its formal dissolution. Still, she described the end of the chamber as akin to a "pause," before something else forms to take its place. She believes there's still a role for an organization that represents businesses across the territory. "To be a part of a conversation about the end of an era sucks," she said. "More than ever, a voice for business in Yukon really needs to be represented. And the structure that we were doing it under is wasn't sustainable. So this is an opportunity to do a refresh." Community chambers 'exploring collaboration' In a news release on Thursday, three of the organization's members — the Whitehorse, Dawson City, and St. Elias (Haines Junction) chambers of commerce — say they are "saddened" by the Yukon chamber's dissolution, saying it "leaves a significant gap in territorial representation for Yukon's community Chambers and for businesses operating in Yukon communities." The three community organizations also say they are "exploring collaboration across the territory," and will "provide updates as these discussions evolve." Justine Hobbs, interim executive director of the Dawson chamber, said on Thursday that she believes there's now momentum "towards something new and exciting." "So it's sort of a mixed feeling, you know, saddened, but also excited," she said. "We're really interested in building like, a new model that focuses on Yukon-wide advocacy, policy development and just effective communication." Hobbs said there is a need for a group that represents businesses beyond their local communities. For example, she says, a Whitehorse-based business might operate in other communities and be affected by regulations or policies in those places. "I think there's a bit of a worry from business members that if they link up with a community chamber, that they won't actually be represented in the right way," Hobbs said.
CBC
31-05-2025
- Business
- CBC
Q+A: Why the Yukon Chamber of Commerce could go out of business
Chambers of commerce aren't exempt from the same economic laws as their members —if expenses are higher than revenue, your days are numbered. That's the situation the Yukon Chamber of Commerce now finds itself in. Members will vote next month on whether to wind down the organization, or try to keep going with a new board. Managing director Patti Balsillie spokes to Yukon Morning host Elyn Jones about the situation. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. So we laid out some of the reasons that the chamber is is considering shutting down. Tell us more about the Yukon Chamber and how you got to this place. There's loosely 17 to 20 trade-related non-profit organizations designed for advocacy that are all trying to vie for additional member benefits and services and programs to attract revenue. This is not a situation that happened in three months. Since COVID, I think business communities have had to decide how and where to spend their money and they're looking for strong value and non-redundancy. So I think the state of today is an operational model that didn't respond to those changes. Where does the chamber's funding come from? Twenty per cent of revenue or less is member revenue. So if you imagine any NGO office having at least one staff person, that's $100,000 in wages and rent etc. So when you have more members, you need to diversify revenue streams from event sponsorship, delivery of services, anything that might have a fee for service and of course Yukon government funding. Over time, I think the momentum behind the role of the Yukon chamber has been distracted with fundraising and finding its relevancy. Forty years ago there was not the plethora of NGOs and today we're in a very noisy space. I, as a small business person, have five industry memberships right now either for professional development or networking or advocacy, and it's not sustainable. Would it make more sense in your mind to have one umbrella organization that would advocate for all those groups? Is that what you're proposing? I'm not proposing anything. I'm getting out of the way to let the membership decide. The owners of the organization are those who vote and pay membership. And so the members meeting is June 11th. It's their call on how they want to proceed. We have a motion to dissolve. Should they not support that motion, there needs to be an 'OK, then what?' And it needs to have a volunteer tsunami behind it. The current organization, the current board on their behalf, they are extremely disappointed to have to arrive at this place. It's been really tough and they've rolled up their sleeves to say, 'What do we do? If not this, then what? How do we not take responsibility?' We also have businesses to run and families to look after. How much of an issue has has member turnover been? I'm gonna say it's been a 50 per cent or greater turnover with resignations by board members for all kinds of reasons including business is busy and they have to pick their time. Volunteer hours are at a premium right now. Why is having a Yukon Chamber of Commerce important? We have over 10,000 people living or more living outside of the City of Whitehorse who are also running businesses and facing challenges with roads or waste or taxes or labour and they need an advocacy voice. And the Yukon chamber came into play in 1985 because of that. Today those businesses remain, their challenges are different yet similar and they need a leadership voice.
