Highlights of History from The Whitehorse Star
Published by The Whitehorse Star on December 23, 2022.
Dateline: May 12, 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 2022.
1
A mummified baby woolly mammoth, described as one of the world's best-quality specimans of its kind, is discovered June 21 on Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation territory in the Dawson City-area gold fields.
Miners for the Treadstone Mining Co., working on Eureka Creek, make the find while excavating through permafrost. Geologists from the Yukon Geological Survey and the University of Calgary who recovered the mammoth suggest it was frozen in permafrost during the ice age, more than 30,000 years ago.
The discovery marks the first near-complete and best-preserved mummified woolly mammoth found in North America. "As an ice age paleontologist, it has been one my life-long dreams to come face-to-face with a real woolly mammoth," says Whitehorse-based Dr. Grant Zazula. "That dream has come true today. The past couple of days have been the most incredible days of my life."
"It"s a very profound experience," adds Debbie Nagano of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in.
2
Citing a need for "fresh energy and bold ideas," Premier Sandy Silver announces Sept. 9 he will leave that position as soon as the Liberal party chooses a new leader. The 52-year-old native of Nova Scotia vows to continue to represent the Klondike riding until the next election. "I am so proud of my team because we have always put the interests of Yukoners first, and we have moved the territory forward," Silver tells a hastily-called news conference.
Once a lone Liberal MLA in the legislature, Silver led his party to the first of his two governments in 2016. The party was reduced to a minority government in the spring 2021 election, but signed an agreement with the New Democrats to support it on key votes in the legislature.
Economic Development Minister Ranj Pillai announces his campaign to succeed Silver on Nov. 25, and remains the only candidate for the Jan. 28 leadership vote.
The Yukon Party notes that as far back as May 11, it had publicly suggested the premier was planning to announce his retirement plans later in the year.
3
A perfect storm of wildfires, related widespread smoke, flooding and key highway washouts create a challenging time for summer-fall highway and river travellers. The numerous problems prompt the Yukon government on July 8 to urge members of the public to reconsider their travel plans.
Twenty new fires had been reported in the previous 24 hours, bringing the burning total to 144, and almost 22,000 lightning strikes over the past 10 days.
The Robert Campbell and North Klondike highways remain closed, the latter due to a raging fire at Crystal Creek, and another at Upper Willow Creek. Evacuation alerts are issued for the Stewart Crossing-Silver Trail region.
A week earlier, a major washout had struck the Alaska Highway about 60 kilometres south of Watson Lake, closing the vital link and stranding traffic through the Canada Day long weekend. That prompted shortages of perishable foods in some Whitehorse supermarkets.
The havoc continues into late September, when mudslides over the North Klondike Highway sever access into Dawson City. Some travellers have to be whisked over the obstructions by helicopter.
4
The territory begins a gradual, mass reversal of numerous laws and regulations brought in to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic, which has claimed the lives of 32 Yukoners since December 2020. Silver announces March 2 that mandatory masking and COVID-19 vaccine certificates will be dropped on March 18, followed on April 4 by the vaccine mandate for public servants. The suspensions of limits on gatherings and on capacity limitations on bars and restaurants had been announced on Feb. 24.
The moves comes as Dr. Catherine Elliott, the chief medical officer of health, says the territory has passed the crest of the Omicron wave with only moderate numbers of COVID cases being reported.
"We're trending in the right direction," Silver says. In mid-January, COVID cases had exploded, with 471 active cases, and Elliott warning that "many" Yukoners would get the virus. Simultaneously, the government had announced that it would no longer notify parents about virus exposures in the schools.
On July 14, Tracy-Anne McPhee, the minister of Health and Social Services, announces that the government will lift the last remaining vaccine mandates - those applying to staff of such high-risk settings as hospitals, long-term care homes, shelters and group homes.
5
Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn announces Nov. 14 that the bid by the government and City of Whitehorse to host the 2027 Canada Winter Games "cannot proceed." The minister says the federal government would only commit $16.75 million to the event, including just $3 million in capital funding. Capital costs would have exceeded $185 million, he says, compared to contributions from partners totalling $15 million. "It is simply not feasible for the Government of Yukon to proceed with the bid at a cost of $160 million," Mostyn says.
Talks ensue with the City of Whitehorse about options for scaling down the capital works components of the bid. However, Mayor Laura Cabott reveals that on Dec. 5, the Canada Games Council had formally notified her it no longer considered the city as a potential site for the event.
6
The RCMP report that illicit drugs, most provided by five organized crime networks, are estimated to have cost the Yukon $113 million in 2021. That figure could total $127 million by the end of 2023. As well, illicit drug overdose-related deaths in the territory have occurred at a pace of 48.4 per 100,000 people - the highest rate in Canada.
The report, entitled Organized Crime in Yukon: An Examination of Criminal Networks and Associated Impacts, says effects of illicit drugs include drug overdose-related deaths, organized crime, whose members supply and operate most of the illicit drug activity, and rising costs to the community from illicit drugs.
"There are at least five organized crime networks operating in Yukon, consisting of more than 250 individuals located in and outside the territory," it says. "In 2021, it is estimated that organized crime generated $12.5 million from trafficking crack cocaine, powder cocaine and opioids. An estimated $1.5 million of that profit was used for other criminal activity, such as violence, weapons trafficking, money laundering and human trafficking."
Chief coroner Heather Jones says Aug. 5 that toxic illicit drugs have claimed the lives of 17 Yukoners since Jan. 1. On Dec. 15, she updates that toll to 25.
7
A proposed class action lawsuit concerning alleged practices at Jack Hulland Elementary School is filed against the Yukon government and the school's council on Oct. 31.
It alleges that students were forcibly isolated in small holding cells for hours, sometimes repeatedly, over a 20-year period beginning in 2002.
Neither the school council nor the Departent of Education responds to media inquiries about the suit and historic practices at the Porter Creek school.
The proposed suit charges that students were physically removed from classrooms and isolated in locked rooms under camera surveillance; were dragged down hallways; and were restrained by school staff members restraining them physically by sitting on their torsos or applying pressure to their joints, arms or shoulders.
The RCMP continue to investigate the allegations.
On Dec. 8, NDP Leader Kate White and NDP MP Peter Julian hold a joint news conference demanding that Parliament pass a bill outlawing the physical punishment of children.
8
A damning report released by the office of Annette King, the territory's Child and Youth Advocate, is highly critical about how the Yukon government has handled a sexual abuse scandal at Hidden Valley Elementary School. "Children have not been prioritized, and their rights have been violated, before, during and after an educational assistant was charged in 2019 with sexual interference and sexual assault of a student in his care," says the report, tabled in the legislature on Oct. 12.
In 2020, former EA William Auclair-Bellemare, 35, had pleaded guilty to sexual interference involving a child at the school and had later served a jail sentence. The Education department chose not to inform school community parents about the events. Auclair-Bellemare currently faces more charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
"The harm was compounded by inadequate Yukon Government response following the incident," King's report concludes. "Investigations, communications and support to families and the public were poorly managed and highly inadequate, and ultimately impacted access to therapeutic supports for students and their families."
Opposition Leader Currie Dixon calls the report "scathing and devastating." Education Minister Jeanie McLean - who assumed the portfolio in the spring of 2021 - says, "I've been very committed to responding to what has happened here and ensuring that our students and staff in our schools are supported." A report written by Vancouver lawyer Amanda Rogers, released Jan. 31, had called the government's response to the scandal "inadequate."
9
In what is called "a historic milestone", seven of eight Yukon school districts vote Jan. 27 to create a new First Nations School Board. The process for creating it is outlined in the Education Act. The new board will emphasize culturally-based programming, including on-the-land sessions. The wisdom of elders will be liberally drawn upon.
"Last night marked a historic moment in the Yukon," McLean says Jan. 28. "This is a major step in the right direction as we move forward in advancing the path to reconciliation. We should be proud of the milestone we have achieved today."
An election of trustees is held in November, and on Dec. 1, McLean announces a second refendum period in February 2023 for schools considering joining the new board.
10
The City of Whitehorse is on the hook for hundreds of thousands of dollars in cleanup and mitigation costs after a massive mudslide cascades over Robert Service Way on Apr. 30. The sudden torrent of mud and debris also buries the Millennium trail before spewing out over the Yukon River ice. A heavy snowpack and saturated soil are cited as the chief contributing causes of the devastation.
The artery remains closed for six weeks, prompting significant morning and afternoon commuter traffic congestion on Two Mile Hill. The city builds a wall - requiring specialized equipment brought in from Alberta - along the slide area. Problems from the escarpment's instability continue into May, with smaller slides affecting Jeckell Street, Sixth Avenue and several other downtown sidestreets.
