1991
Elijah Smith
It was an historic day for native people in the Yukon. In February, 1973, representatives for the Yukon Native Brotherhood were in Ottawa to present…
1976
The Whitehorse Star Reports in 1976
| January | |
| January 5, 1976 | Teslin admits that it had been using the TV earth receiving station before it got granted a license from the CRTC commission. |
| January 14, 1976 | The Yukon's population in October 1975 is the following. Out of 22,396 Yukoners, 14,606 live in Whitehorse, 1,471 in Faro, 1,073 in Watson Lake, 887 in Dawson City, 800 in Clinton Creek, 683 in Elsa, 470 in Mayo, 330 in Haines Junction, 315 in Teslin, 274 in Carmacks, 237 in Carcross, 196 in Ross River, 170 in Old Crow, 129 in Beaver Creek, 97 in Pelly Crossing, 66 in Destruction Bay, 42 in Burwash Landing and 28 in Keno. |
| January 16, 1976 → April 7, 1976 |
It is announced that Elijah Smith, chairman of the council for the Yukon Indians, is appointed to the Order of Canada for organizing Yukon Indians "who had been divided by the Indian Act". He is admitted to the Order April 7, 1976. |
| January 19, 1976 | Anik 2 is in Orbit. The communication technology satellite houses a radio-television transmitter 10 to 20 times more powerful than the Anik series of commercial satellites. |
| January 26, 1976 | The Yukon government's Executive Committee proposes guaranteed Indian participation in an almost-provincial government as part of a land claims settlement. |
| February | |
| February 11, 1976 | Senator Walter Mondale and 23 other U.S. Senators introduce legislation to authorize construction of a natural gas pipeline from Alaska through Canada to the southern United States. |
| February 13, 1976 | Walter and Leta Israel of Carmacks are named Mr. and Mrs. Yukon 1976. |
| March | |
| March 1, 1976 | Linda Church is Rendezvous Sourdough Queen 1976. |
| March 17, 1976 | Mayo's Silver Inn Hotel, a landmark in the area built as a roadhouse at Field Creek in the 1920's and later moved to Mayo, burns down March 14, 1976. The building had first been constructed by Ed Kimble and Mrs. Kinsey. It was later bought by Bob Palmer who tore it down and moved it in sections to Mayo in 1936, known as Palmer's Hotel. |
| March 19, 1976 | Effective April 1, all Yukon weather information is provided in metric units.Wind speed, atmospheric pressure and distance in weather information is provided in metric units to the news media and general public. Wind speed is given in kilometres per hour, atmospheric pressure in kilopascals and distances in kilometres. This completes the program which began with the switch to Celsius in April 1975 and continued with the designation of snowfall and rainfall amounts in centimetres and millimetres in September 1975. (see also March 31, 1975). |
| March 24, 1976 | A study commissioned by the Yukon government proposes the extension of the railway from Whitehorse to Faro and the Pelly River. |
| April | |
| April 2, 1976 → July 5, 1976 |
Northern Development Minister Judd Buchanan appoints Art Pearson as Yukon Commissioner. Dr. Art Pearson is sworn in as the Yukon's 18th Commissioner on July 1, 1976. |
| April 2, 1976 | Yukon Magistrate Dennis O'Connor announces his resignation for August 1, 1976. |
| April 7, 1976 | Carmacks holds a plebiscite to determine whether or not television is wanted in the community. The main issue is that the community is not sure whether it can afford the $1,750 required to install the receiving station. |
| April 9, 1976 | The Canadian Radio-Television Commission approves a renewal of Northern Television System's broadcast licence, subject to new CRTC regulations. One is that if a private AM radio is carried on one cable channel, the system must also carry CBC radio. Cable TV in Whitehorse therefore starts to carry CBC radio in addition to its current broadcast of CKRW. |
| April 9, 1976 | Erik Nielsen is named caucus committee chairman for the solicitor's general's department by Conservative leader Joe Clark. |
| April 12, 1976 | Skookum Jim Hall Friendship Centre is pleased to announce the hiring of Peter Sidney Sr. as an executive director trainee. |
| May | |
| May 19, 1976 | In Dawson, the log building built in 1898, known variously as the Melbourne Hotel, the Pearl Harbor Hotel and recently, the Bonanza Hotel is completely destroyed by fire. The Bonanza was being restored by the Historic Sites Branch at the time of the fire. Firemen concentrated on saving the Palace Grand Theatre which is adjacent to the hotel. |
| May 26, 1976 | About 1,000 people turn out for the official opening of the new $10.7 million territorial administration building on May 25, 1976. |
| May 26, 1976 | Governor-General Jules Leger and his wife visit the Yukon on a 10 day tour. |
| June | |
| June 7, 1976 | Yukon Magistrate Dennis O'Connor is honoured June 5, 1976 by being introduced into the Beaver Clan. Johnnie Johns bestows O'Connor with the name Old Crow. |
| June 11, 1976 | Commissioner James Smith officially opens the new Watson Lake Cottage Hospital on June 10, 1976. |
| June 16, 1976 | Ron Sumanik, Grade 11 student at F.H. Collins and one of the country's top cross-country skiers, is chosen as the Yukon representative for the Olympic flame carrying ceremony in Ottawa on July 15, 1976. |
| June 21, 1976 | The Kluane Museum of Natural History in Burwash is opened by Commissioner James Smith. |
| June 25, 1976 | Commissioner James Smith is named to the Order of Canada as an officer. |
| June 30, 1976 | Haines Junction's new territorial administration building is opened June 28, 1976 and named in honour of retiring Commissioner James Smith. |
| July | |
| July 5, 1976 | Alan Innes-Taylor is named to the Order of Canada. |
| July 26, 1976 | The Yukon's population in June 1976 is 23,335. 15,305 live in Whitehorse. Figure for the other communities are: Beaver Creek, 116; Burwash Landing, 43; Carcross, 243; Carmacks, 270; Clinton Creek, 729; Dawson City, 958; Destruction Bay, 57; Elsa, 745; Faro, 1549; Haines Junction, 353; Keno, 29; Mayo, 502; Old Crow; 169; Pelly Crossing, 88; Ross River, 209; Teslin, 320; Watson Lake, 1,167. |
| July 30, 1976 | Yukon council decides the paving of 5th Avenue. |
| August | |
| August 18, 1976 | Lawrence Edward Seely, son of pioneers Alex and Mabel Seely, passes away on July 23 at the age of 62. |
| August 23, 1976 | Edith Mary Henderson passes away August 18, 1976 at the age of 90. Henderson is the closest surviving link to the Indian family that discovered gold in the Klondike in 1896. Her husband, Patsy Henderson, was a nephew of Skookum Jim and of Kate Carmack. |
| August 25, 1976 | It is announced that the new French language centre at F.H. Collins secondary school will be available as of fall 1976 for French learning courses for the general public. |
| September | |
| September 8, 1976 | As a result of the territorial government's television receiving program 8 more Yukon communities will have television service. Earth receivers will be installed in Beaver Creek, Haines Junction, Pelly Crossing and Carmacks. Stewart Crossing, Destruction Bay, Burwash Landing and Carcross get television service through repeated stations which pick up and amplify the signal of a nearby earth receiver station. |
| September 17, 1976 | Tagish Anne Graham passes away September 16, 1976 at the age of 61. Graham had been operating a small café on Tagish Lake known as "Tagish Anne's Coffee Bar". |
| September 20, 1976 | In recognition of the proposed major Historic Site development plans for the Dawson City Area, Parks Canada announces the appointment of a Yukon Historic Sites Project Manager. Randy Mitchell is responsible for the Dawson City and Goldfiels Historic Sites. |
| October | |
| October 15, 1976 | Yukon Senator Paul Lucier tells the Senate in his first speech to the Parliament on October 13, 1976 that lack of a permanent population makes him unprepared to endorse provincial status for the territory. "It is possible that Yukoners would be electing members of a legislature with only 75 votes. [..] This would mean that any influential pressure group such as the mining industry, labour or conservationist could with a minimum of effort control the province." |
| October 20, 1976 | James Smith and Alan Innes-Taylor receive the Order of Canada. |
| November | |
| November 19, 1976 | Longtime Yukon resident Charlie Fox passes away at the age of 76. |
| December | |
| December 6, 1976 | A White Pass bridge near Skagway is set on fire. |
| December 10, 1976 | A Yukon Museums and Historical Association is being formed to unite and co-ordinate all individuals and groups interested in preserving and furthering Yukon history and culture. |
| December 12, 1976 | The Old Crow community votes to have TV brought in under the territorial government's rural program. Only one TV will be allowed in town, the 200-person village decided and it will be located in the community hall. |
