Highlights of History from The Whitehorse Star

Published by The Whitehorse Star on December 31, 2004.

Dateline: May 19, 2024.

    Choosing the Yukon's top 10 stories of the year is, to a large extent, an arbitrary task. It's a mixture of our judgment, of the stories which have attracted considerable media coverage, or those with the most significant effects on the largest number of Yukoners.

    Here, then, are the Star's top 10 stories of 2004.

1

    Baking in record heat and peaking in late June and early July, one of the worst forest fire seasons in year dominates the news for much of the summer. Much of the territory remains smoky and volatile for days on end, with the Watson Lake and Dawson City districts under the greatest, most persistent threats. At one point, the Alaska Highway is closed and Contact Creek and Iron Creek are evacuated.

    Fires also plague the Klondike gold fields, spurring more evacuations. In Dawson, businesses complain bitterly about misleading media coverage in the south, spurring many people to cancel their Klondike summer holiday plans.

    Yukon Energy worries about the fate of a $37-million power transmission line. A microwave installation essential for north-south communication is also at risk at one point.

    The daily cost of fighting the infernos soars past $500,000, with the total bill more than tripling the $6.5 million originally budgeted. An estimated 1.75 million hectares lie in ruins by the time the fire season calms down.

2

    In March, Premier and Finance Minister Dennis Fentie tables a territorial budget worth an unprecedented $705 million to support a population of 30,400 for a year. Landmark spending boundaries are set at $543 million for operating costs and $162.7 million for capital projects. Part of the higher operating costs are due to 240 federal employees transferring to the Yukon government under the April 2003 devolution agreement.

    "It was a conscious choice to use this budget as a budget where we will make some very serious investments," says the premier, cautioning Yukoners not to expect a reprise of the record-shattering spending spree before the next territorial election.

    By the end of the year, extra money, mostly from federal programs, sees projected spending cresting the $740 million mark.

3

    On the morning of July 14, addressing a packed Yukon Supreme Court room, Justice Peter McIntyre follows the lead of three provincial courts and makes same-sex marriage legal in the Yukon. He changes the common-law definition of marriage - the legal barrier to gay couples - to mean the voluntary union for life of two persons to the exclusion of all others. Previously, the common-law limited marriage to a union between a man and a woman.

    "Well, it means this afternoon we can go pick up our marriage licence, just like any other couple that's getting married would do," says Whitehorse resident Stephen Dunbar, half of the couple who had taken the federal and territorial governments to court over the issue. The next day, Premier Dennis Fentie says his government won't appeal the ruling. Two days later, Dunbar marries partner Rob Edge.

4

    Grappling with a debt of an estimated $4.3 million, Dawson City Mayor Glen Everitt and his entire council are fired by the territorial government in April. In their place, Community Services Minister Glenn Hart appoints Ray Hayes, a veteran territorial manager, as the town's trustee. An audit shows the town is short about $400,000, the minister says.

    NDP Leader Todd Hardy calls the measure "a bloody takeover... a hostile takeover." Says Liberal Leader Pat Duncan: "It's arrogant; disrespectful."

    On Nov. 10, Hart announces a $1.64-million bailout of the beleaguered community, with half of it going to legal bills.

5

    Haakon Amtzen, elected in the 2002 election as the Yukon Party MLA for Coppebelt, is charged April 23 with four counts of indecent assault on a female and one count of assault. The incidents are alleged to have taken place between 1972 and 1980. "This is a very serious matter," says Premier Dennis Fentie.

    On April 28, Artzen's lawyer indicates his client will plead not guilty. That afternoon, Fentie announces Arntzen has resigned from the Yukon Party caucus. He now awaits a May 2005 trial.

6

    In June, capping a case that had sparked widespread outrage in northern B.C. and southern Yukon, the Yukon Court of Appeal's chief justice sends Daniel Morris to jail. The former chief of the Liard First Nation had committed a brutal, two-hour assault on his longtime common-law wife in the summer of 2003.

    The appeals court ruled B.C. had "lost sight" of his job to impose an appropriate sentence on Morris when he had chosen a suspended sentence and two years' probation. The appeals court gave Morris a one-year jail term and a further two years' probation.

7

    Yukon MP Larry Bagnell persuasively cements his hold on the Yukon riding when he's easily re- elected in the June 28 federal election. Bagnell cruises to a crushing 5,721-vote victory over the NDP's Pam Boyd, who racks up 3,215 votes; the Conservatives' James Hartle (2,609); and three fringe candidates.

    "There's no greater honour to me, personally, than to be able to go to Parliament as one of the 308 representatives and represent your peers," the winner says that night.

8

    In early November, the Kwanlin Dun First Nation becomes the 10th Yukon first nation to ratify its land claim and self-government agreements. There were 254 yes votes and 160 no ballots.

    Compensation payments to the first nation will amount to $46.97 million over 15 years, though it must repay, over the same period, the $14.7 million advanced from Ottawa to pegotiate the claim.

    The Kwantin Dun will also receive 1,043 square kilometres of land, including three hectares of waterfront property in Whitehorse. The first nation now contemplates building a high-end hotel on the waterfront.

    In April, the Carcross-Tagish First Nation had rejected its proposed land claim and self-government agreement. Land claim negotiations had begun in 1973.

9

    In two emotional citizens' forums in July and September spearheaded by Whitehorse Centre MLA Todd Hardy, downtown residents tell of their neighbourhood under seige by drug sellers and users. Children can easily identify drug houses, the forums are told. Many people express horror at the number of needles scattered in their yards and on streets and walking trails. "They're doing it right out in the open," says one resident.

    An RCMP spokesman says the police are "on-track" fighting the drug scourge with the resources they have. Suggested community strategies include re-creating a street health clinic, enriching funding to the Outreach van, which helps street people, increasing drug education in schools, installing needle drop-boxes, and peer-mentoring drug addicts. Some residents speak of creating a residents' association to refine the strategies.

10

    An estimated 50 Latin Americans claiming refugee status take buses from Toronto to Whitehorse, where they settle to await their fate in immigration hearings. In late November, five of the families are told they face deportation in two weeks. "It's just not right," says local businessman Rick Karp, who's trying to help the families remain in Canada. His wife, Joy, threatens to stage a hunger strike if the families are removed from the country.

    One expectant mother gives birth in Whitehorse. On Christmas Eve, one of the families receives a letter from immigration officials instructing members to appear at local immigration offices Jan. 5 for a decision on whether they can stay.