Highlights of History from The Whitehorse Star
Published by The Whitehorse Star on December 31, 2010.
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 2010.
1
The Yukon's RCMP are accused of racism and willful neglect following a coroner's inquest into the death of Raymond Silverfox, a 56-year-old Carmacks man who died in police custody on Dec. 2, 2008. An inquest held earlier this year reveals that instead of giving Silverfox, a First Nations man, the care and attention he was due under the RCMP's own rule book, the guards and officers working in the cell block that day at best ignored and at worst abused their ward.
For 13 hours, Silverfox lay on the concrete floor of his bare cell, covered in his own vomit, throwing up almost constantly.He ultimately died of acute pneumonia and blood poisoning, a condition likely caused by inhaling the filth that surrounded him, according to pathologist Dr. Charles Lee.
Silverfox's daughter, Deanna Lee Charlie, files numerous court actions against the RCMP and those people responsible for her father's care, as well as an application for a judicial review of the inquest, which she says was not properly conducted.
The inquest's revelations also prompt a review of policing in the territory, which is scheduled to be completed today.
The RCMP say all the officers involved will be subjected to a disciplinary review, an open process much like a trial, but nothing has been scheduled.
2
Via a series of late Friday afternoon news releases, the Yukon government announces Dec. 17 it has rejected the Peel Watershed Planning Commission's report. The document had recommended that the vast majority of the watershed be protected from development.
The government and four affected First Nations had been scheduled to respond to the report in mid-December. The parties agree to meet in the New Year to try to resolve their differences and reach a consensus by the end of February 2011.
The government says it wants a more balanced approach to what activities should be permitted in the 68,042 square kilometres at issue. It wins the endorsement of the Yukon Chamber of Mines, but heavy criticism from conservation groups and the opposition parties.
3
Chief Eddie Skookum of the Little Salmon-Carmacks First Nation comes under fire in July 4 when his 21-year-old girlfriend, a member of the Champagne-Aishihik First Nation, is found beaten and bloody in the parking lot of a Haines, Alaska motel.
Skookum is charged with felony assault and impaired driving (he was allegedly found passed out in his truck in a nearby parking lot), but the woman refuses to return to the U.S. to testify.
Skookum pleads guilty to a lesser charge of reckless endangerment. He is ordered to take alcohol treatment and domestic violence counselling. Although the issue is settled in court, it remains very much alive within the First Nation. Skookum's leadership is upheld at an emergency assembly, where the elders present vote 14 to nine to keep him on as chief. Following the vote, councillor Joseph O'Brien resigns in protest. Since that day, he and his wife, Lorraine, have been leading the movement to have Skookum deposed, appealing the process which led to the elders' vote and calling for amendments to the First Nation's constitution which would prevent someone with Skookum's record from holding office.
4
In a landmark ruling that was watched nationally, the Supreme Court of Canada releases a decision Nov. 19 that reinforces provincial and territorial governments' obligations to consult First Nations when their actions affect aboriginal land rights.
The court upholds the findings of the Yukon Court of Appeal, which had rendered a split decision in 2008 over the government's approval of an agricultural lease over the objections of the Little Salmon-Carmacks First Nation.
The government had argued that since there was nothing in the First Nation's final land claim agreement that specified the need to consult about applications for agricultural properties, there was no obligation to do so.
5
Todd Hardy, the NDP MLA for Whitehorse Centre, loses a long battle with leukemia on July 28. During an emotional tribute to Cancer Awareness Month in the legislature on April 1, Hardy said he had withdrawn from conventional treatment for his illness. Tears flow and laughter erupts as several hundred people crowd the Mt. McIntyre Recreation Centre on Aug. 1 for a public memorial. Liz Hanson, Hardy's successor as the leader of the Yukon NDP, easily wins the Dec. 13 byelection in Whitehorse Centre.
6
Two Watson Lake RCMP officers accused of sexually assaulting a nurse after a night of partying are found to have displayed bad judgment, but are not criminals.
That is the final decision of Yukon Supreme Court Justice Leigh Gower.
A five-day trial reveals the most intimate details of a drunken threesome between Graham Belak, Shawn McLaughlin and their accuser, whose identity is protected by a publication ban. The woman claims she was drugged and raped after a night of heavy drinking. The officers, who were off-duty at the time of the alleged attack, say the woman initiated the tryst and never said she wanted it to stop. Ultimately, the judge acquits the officers, calling the woman's testimony "inconsistent, illogical and unreliable."
7
The Yukon Environmental Socio-economic Assessment Board slams the door shut on Canadian United Minerals' controversial application for a five-year permit to continue advanced mineral exploration in Tombstone Territorial Park. The board's designated Dawson office had received 500 comments on the application on-line over a 24-hour period in July. It proves the largest file ever handled by a Yukon regulatory board. Most respondents say they oppose exploration.
8
The scarcity and cost of residential lots and escalating housing prices in Whitehorse snare the headlines several times throughout 2010. In March, the city announces a lot for a single-detached property in Takhini North will sell for up to $110,250 in a lottery, with duplex property lots' top price being $178,185.
In August, 158 residents seek seven new lots on Grove Street selling for up to $130,200 apiece.
Late that month, city council debates ways to restore sanity to the pricing structure, including using market value to sell residential lots.
By late in the year, the Yukon government's statistics for the third quarter reveal the price of an average house in the capital has reached almost $380,000.
9
In mid-July, divers from Prince George, B.C. travel to Mayo to help RCMP divers search for Mayo-based Const. Michael Potvin, 26. He was swept away after a police boat he was sharing with a corporal capsized on the Stewart River near the village. Potvin's body is eventually discovered downriver, making him a rare Yukon police officer to lose his or her life while in uniform.
10
The lengthy trials and tribulations of Trevor the dog finally leave the courtroom. That development comes much to the relief of city bean counters, who have funnelled more than $45,000 in legal and staff fees toward the case of the troubled canine since the summer of 2009. After indicating that he too is tired of expending resources on the territory's most famous dog, Yukon Supreme Court Justice Ron Veale makes an order releasing the animal into the permanent care of the Humane Society Yukon, thereby releasing the city (and its tax base) from further legal wranglings.
By becoming the dog's owner and foster caregiver, staff and volunteers at the society's Mae Bachur Animal Shelter are now responsible for administering the dog's detailed training plan and reporting to the animal behaviouralist enlisted to monitor his progress.
Though he may one day be permanently adopted out, there is a chance Trevor will spend the rest of his life at the shelter, the society's pro bono lawyer, Carrie Burbidge, tells the court during the final hearing.
