Highlights of History from The Whitehorse Star
Published by The Whitehorse Star on December 31, 2008.
Dateline: May 16, 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 2008.
1
A massive heart attack fells Erik Nielsen, the legendary giant of Yukon politics, at the age of 84. He dies on Sept. 4, 24 years to the day after winning the final election he contested with Brian Mulroney's Progressive Conservatives.
The former wartime pilot, who held the Yukon seat from 1957 to 1987, leaves his mark on many aspects of Yukon society. Early in his career, he suggested that the Yukon and Northwest Territories each have a Senate seat. He was also instrumental in winning aboriginal Yukoners the right to vote without having to surrender their status.
Nielsen played an important role in the Yukon being granted many powers of responsible government in 1979. He was also a catalyst for the territory's signing of a 1985 agreement with the federal government that opened the door to today's lucrative annual fiscal transfers from Ottawa. "Much of what we see here today, in the territory, was because of his hard work in Ottawa for the citizens of the Yukon," territorial cabinet minister Archie Lang said the day after Nielsen's passing in Kelowna, B.C. "A lot of the infrastructure we see here today - the Dempster Highway, the airport in Whitehorse - all of this was orchestrated by Mr. Nielsen."
A month after his death, more than 200 family members, friends and admirers attend a public memorial service for Nielsen. On Dec. 15, Premier Dennis Fentie announces the Whitehorse International Airport will be renamed after the late MP.
2
On what is called a historic "day for the ages," Yukoners of first nations descent gather June 11 to hear Prime Minister Stephen Harper offer the federal government's formal apology for the abuses suffered under the residential school system. Some bow their heads and close their eyes; others hold family members and friends.
"Today, we recognize this policy of assimilation was wrong, has caused great harm, and has no place in our country," the prime minister says. "The Government of Canada sincerely apoligizes and asks for forgiveness of the aboriginal people of this country for failing them so profoundly."
"I'm hoping it's going to help some of the people who suffered those atrocities at mission schools," says Andy Carvill, grand chief of the Council of Yukon First Nations, who is re-elected to a second term 13 days later. "And I'm hoping we can put some of those dark years behind us; that we can move forward."
An estimated 160,000 aboriginal children were forcibly removed from their homes and ordered into the schools, in which the worst of the abuses continued into the 1970s.
3
On what Mayor Bev Buckway calls "a very historic, day," Ramesh Ferris begins his improbable 7,110-kilometre hand cycling trip from Victoria to Cape Spear, Newfoundland and Labrador, on April 10 in Whitehorse. Hundreds of school children, political figures and members of the general public line Lewes Boulevard for the ceremonial start. The actual journey begins several days later in Victoria.
Backed by a large contingent of volunteers, Ferris raises almost $300,000 for the fight against polio, an affliction he has. "Polio is back on the map," Ferris declares after the Cycle to Walk trip ends Oct. 1.
4
In an amazing tale of survival, long-time Yukoner Dave Layzell is found 21 days after his truck became stuck in mud on a wilderness mining road between Mayo and Dawson City on Aug. 9. With his wife, Jude, out of the territory for most of August, no one knew he was missing.
With his 14-year-old dog as his only companion, Layzell subsists on a sandwich, two cups of coffee and a can of stew for the first eight days. He is finally found by a helicopter pilot and his colleague after they see the glint of his truck in the sun.
5
The territory adopts a sweeping public smoking ban after the Smoke Free Places Act receives assent in the legislature on April 22. The act bans smoking in all public places and in vehicles carrying people under the age of 18. Based on a bill originally introduced by the New Democrats, the act also prohibits smoking in vehicles used for employment purposes when there are two or more people in it.
Retailers will be required to move cigarettes from the display wall behind the cash register to beeath the counter by the spring of 2009. By the end of the year, both Shoppers Drug Mart stores in Whitehorse announce they will no longer sell cigarettes.
6
Auditor-General Sheila Fraser says Feb. 7 the Yukon government violated the Financial Administration Act by investing $36.5 million in asset-backed commercial paper trusts, set up by non-banks in the summer of 2007. The investment is frozen in the face of the deterioriating global economy. "This is certainly a damning report," says Opposition Leader Arthur Mitchell. Through 2008, he asks Premier Dennis Fentie dozens of questions about the investment and how much taxpayers may ultimately lose in the agreement to thaw the billions of dollars in investments. "The Finance minister was asleep at the switch," Mitchell charges. Mitchell and Liberal MLA Don Inverarity later quit the legislature's public accounts committee after it rejects holding a public inquiry into the investment.
NDP Leader Todd Hardy calls the government "terribly incompetent." Fentie downplays the opposition's concerns, but later announces the government will make no similar investments.
7
An 11-kilogram rock crashes through the ceiling of Russ and Candace Carpenter's Lobird Park mobile home the evening of May 6. Rock and debris blasted from the nearby $15-million extension of Hamilton Boulevard damages several other homes. Miraculously, no one is injured. "We were watching Hell's Kitchen, then, off a sudden, it was hell's living room," Russ Carpenter says. "I can't begin to comprehend," says Susie Anne Bartsch, whose home was also damaged.
At a May 15 public meeting, residents complain they are getting few answers about the timeliness of repairs from the insurers of the blaster, Sidhu Trucking Ltd.
A lengthy investigation shuts down the project, ultimately delaying its completion to 2009. Residents are eventually promised more notice of blasting activity.
8
The Star reveals July 25 that the Tweedsmuir Glacier in southwest Yukon is surging, threatening to block off the Alsek River just above the famous Turnback Canyon and creating a new lake. Veteran helicopter pilot Doug Makkonen estimates the glacier, boosting a 100-metre face, has migrated three kilometres in the previous year. "I can't believe nobody is looking at this thing," he says. "It's incredible." "That looks pretty awesome," says Chris Larsen, a scientist at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.
9
NDP MLA John Edzerza declares there is "systematic prejudice" within the RCMP after a Carmacks man dies in police custody Dec. 2 in Whitehorse. Raymond Silverfox, 43, had been picked up at the Salvation Army shelter and taken to the detachment. After he was found unresponsive, he was taken to Whitehorse General Hospital, but it was too late. Premier Dennis Fentie dismisses Edzerza's comments as "an outrage."
A coroner's investigation will be held into Silverfox's death, and the RCMP Public Complaints Commission promises to monitor the police review of the in-custody death.
10
Prime Minister Stephen Harper names Dan Lang, a former territorial cabinet minister, to the Senate on Dec. 22. The Yukon seat has been vacant since Liberal Ione Christensen's resignation two years earlier. "It's quite an honour," says the 60-year-old Lang, who has worked as a Whitehorse relator since leaving politics in the early 1990s.
He plans to serve eight years as a representative of the Conservatives in the Red Chamber. Senators earn $134,400 annually, supplemented by a host of benefits.
