Former senator and the first woman to be mayor of Whitehorse, Ione Christensen, has died at the age of 91.

Christensen broke multiple glass ceilings in her decades of public service and later gained international attention for protecting a more than century-old sourdough starter carried into the territory by her great-grandfather during the gold rush.

Her death on Monday was confirmed by multiple Yukon officials, including the current mayor of Whitehorse and the premier.

A fourth-generation Yukoner, Christensen was born in Dawson Creek, B.C., and moved to Whitehorse as a teenager.

A statement from Whitehorse Mayor Kirk Cameron says Christensen beat out seven men in the 1975 election and would go on to be appointed the first female commissioner of the Yukon in 1979 and the first female

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