Yukon Soaps Company opens new workshop, affordable housing building in Mayo

A soap shop in rural Yukon is celebrating 10 years in business by moving into a new building — one the owner hopes will not only help her keep up with growing demand, but benefit her community as well. 

Joella Hogan has owned the Yukon Soaps Company, which specializes in hand-crafted soap bars featuring ingredients collected in the territory, for a decade now.

While she's largely operated it out of her home in Mayo — a community of around 460 people roughly 400 km north of Whitehorse — Hogan, a citizen of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun, will soon be moving production to a newly built space on Second Avenue. 

Called Raven's Landing, a nod to Hogan's clan, the two-storey, dark-aqua building contains not only a 2,000-square-foot workshop for soap-making, but two one-bedroom affordable housing units, one of which is wheelchair-accessible, and a third apartment for short-term rentals for visitors. 

Hogan told the CBC that housing is a "critical" issue in Mayo, with the community struggling to both house residents and attract qualified people for key jobs — something that was on her mind as she thought about building a dedicated location for Yukon Soaps. 

"I thought, 'I have an opportunity here to contribute more to the community and not just my business,' and so it just really made sense to add housing to this building," she said. 

Dozens of people attended the grand opening for Raven's Landing on April 8, where they had the chance to tour the still-empty workspace and apartments.

Among the attendees was Ranj Pillai, the minister responsible for the Yukon Housing Corporation. The corporation gave the Yukon Soaps Company $160,000 from its housing initiatives fund for the construction of the affordable units. 

"I think that for all of us, we can say, after what we just went through for the last two years and what's going on in the world, we need more good things happening and we need more Joellas in the world making good things happen," he told attendees during the opening ceremony.

Simon Mervyn Sr., the chief of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun, was also at the opening.

"We're very proud of [Hogan]," he said, adding it is good to see more infrastructure in Mayo and citizens creating more economic opportunities for themselves and other community members.

"Moving forward with the dreams and aspirations of young folks like Joella is commendable." 

Hogan is the third owner of the Yukon Soaps Company, purchasing the business in 2012 and building a local customer base in the territory and beyond.

Besides soap bars, the company also sells other products including essential oils, bath salts and scrubs containing Yukon-harvested plants and flowers like fireweed, wild roses and juniper berries, with product names and packaging featuring the Northern Tutchone language and the work of local Indigenous artists.