1977
The Whitehorse Star Reports in 1977
| January | |
| January 5, 1977 | The RCMP has a toll-free emergency number in use throughout most of the Yukon. |
| January 7, 1977 | Dawson City sees in 1977 a year-long celebration as the town celebrates its 75th anniversary. Dawson City became officially incorporated in 1902. |
| January 12, 1977 | The Faro Ice Arena officially opens January 8, 1977. |
| January 21, 1977 | Frank Goulter of Carmacks celebrates his 100th birthday. Goulter was a member of the Northwest Mounted Police between 1903 and 1908. |
| January 26, 1977 | Longtime Yukoner Charlie Rivers of Dawson City passes away January 16, 1977 at the age of 83. |
| January 26, 1977 | February 21 is announced to be Heritage Day in the Yukon. |
| January 28, 1977 | Rene and Mary Burian of Mayo are named Mr. And Mrs. Yukon 1977. |
| January 28, 1977 | Flo Whyard, author of "My Ninety Years", a biography of Martha Louise Black, donates the materials she used in writing the book to the Yukon Archives. The collection includes among others a photograph album, letters, Black's diary, many small mementos. Many of these items were collected by Mrs. W.D. MacBride who gave them to her daughter, Mary Botthof. Whyard received the material from Botthof. |
| February | |
| February 25, 1977 | A small scroll-top desk and the old concertina owned by Robert Service are now the possession of the Dawson Museum Society. They were sent by his wife, Germaine Service all the way from Monte Carlo. |
| February 25, 1977 | Father Marcel Bobilier o.m.i. of Dawson is named for the first Dawson City Heritage Award. |
| February 28, 1977 | The Cyprus Anvil Mine in Faro investigates the possibility of bringing CKRW radio of Whitehorse into Faro on a 24-hour basis. |
| March | |
| March 9, 1977 | The former Bank of Montreal building is physically moved four blocks to the corner of Third and Jarvis |
| March 16, 1977 | One of Dawson City's most colourful sourdoughs, Black Mike (also known known as Big Mike and Sawdust Mike), passes away in Whitehorse just one day after celebrating his 107 birthday. He had been Dawson's oldest resident. He was born in Serbia in 1870. He came to Canada in 1882 and to the Yukon in 1900. |
| March 18, 1977 | New amendments to the Liquore Ordinance receive approval in the Yukon Legislation. The bill proposes that communities be given the option to prohibit street drinking within their boundaries. |
| March 25, 1977 | Berent Hougen, founder of Hougen's Ltd. passes away in Surrey, B.C., 1 month before his 94th birthday. He first came to the Yukon in 1906, after sailing around the world twice in Square Rigger sailing ship, |
| April | |
| April 4, 1977 → April 13, 1977 → April 18, 1977 |
The Haines Junction community votes against the teaching of any language other than French and English at Haines Junction. This outcome of the plebiscite would exclude Indian language classes from the school curriculum. As a compromise, Education Minister Dan Lang announces April 13, 1977 that Indian language classes at the Haines Junction school will be taught after regular school hours. However, after Indians boycotted the vote, the legislature calls April 18, 1977, for continuation of the Indian language class at school in Haines Junction. |
| April 22, 1977 | Howard W. Firth Sr., former Mayor of Whitehorse, passes away in Whitehorse at the age of 67. |
| April 29, 1977 | Eunice Parkinson is selected citizen of the year by the Kiwanis Club. |
| May | |
| May 13, 1977 | WHTV acquires permission to receive, on an experimental basis, direct television signals via satellite from WCTG TV in Atlanta, Georgia, an independent television station in the U.S. For this purpose, a satellite signal receiving dish is mounted on the roof of WHTV. |
| May 18, 1977 | Another bit of Yukon history goes up in smoke as three of the log cabins at Forty-Mile Village, four miles downstream from Clinton Creek. |
| May 30, 1977 | Anvil founder Dr. Aaro Aho dies in a farm accident. He was 51. |
| June | |
| June 8, 1977 | Iain MacKay is elected president of the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce, replacing Orvin Chippett. |
| June 13, 1977 | Indian Affairs Minister Warren Allmand announces a 25-year reconstruction program for Dawson City. $20 million are dedicated for developing an 800-square-mile area. |
| June 15, 1977 | City Council decides to open an extension of the Crestview subdivision to mobile homes. |
| July | |
| July 4, 1977 | The National Energy Board says that any northern pipeline in Canada must run near Dawson City, down the Klondike Highway to Whitehorse, then along the Alaska Highway to B.C. and Alberta.The Dempster pipeline is wanted to connect Mackenzie Delta reserves to southern Canada. The Board rejects the Arctic Gas plans for a northern Yukon/Mackenzie Valley route and the Foothills proposal for the Alaska Highway. |
| July 18, 1977 | Doug Bell is sworn in as the new deputy commissioner to fill the vacancy left with the resignation of Peter Gillespie. |
| August | |
| August 1, 1977 | Since opening it's Little Chief underground mine in Dec 1972, Whitehorse copper shipped it's 100,000,000th pound of copper south via truck to Whitehorse then via White Pass train to Skagway, by ship to Vancouver and rail to Flin Flon, Manitoba. In addition to copper , the mine has produced 81,000 ounces of gold, and one million ounces of silver. |
| August 5, 1977 | Prime Minister Trudeau announces in a CBC radio interview that the Yukon and Northwest Territories "may not see provincial status within our lifetime". Trudeau says the Yukon and NWT couldn't handle provincial status from a financial stand point. |
| August 8, 1977 | Prime Minister Trudeau announces that Ottawa backs proposals for natural gas pipeline through the southern Yukon to carry Alaska gas to the southern 48 states. |
| August 17, 1977 | Prime Minister Trudeau visits the Yukon and is greeted by Commissioner Art Pearson and Senator Paul Lucier. |
| August 24, 1977 | Martha and David Taylor celebrate their 60th wedding anniversary. |
| August 29, 1977 | Ron Rivett, House speaker of the Yukon territorial council from 1970 to 1974, passes away August 7, 1977 at the age of 58. |
| September | |
| September 7, 1977 | The Yukon Hotel in Dawson, one of the historic structures in the gold-rush city dating back to the Klondike stampede of 1898, is officially turned over to Heritage Canada September 5, 1977. |
| October | |
| October 5, 1977 → December 19, 1977 |
With the signing of a document on September 28, 1977, transmitters will be installed in Atlin to bring CBC TV programming signals from Whitehorse to Atlin. Atlin turns the TVs on on December 17, 1977. |
| October 14, 1977 | Yukon children receive an invitation to dine with Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip in Ottawa. |
| October 14, 1977 | Mayo becomes the first Yukon community to form an Indian Community Council. |
| October 17, 1977 | The Yukon Native Brotherhood gives green light for the territorial government's takeover of federal health services in the Yukon. The YNB wanted a guarantee that Indian people would receive the same special basis of health care they enjoyed under Health and Welfare Canada. |
| October 21, 1977 | For the first time in the history of Old Crow, CBC TV signals beam via the Anik satellite into three TV sets in town. |
| October 26, 1977 | Father Jean Marie Mouchet is among the 12 Canadians selected as the first recipients of a newly created Lifestyle Award for outstanding contributions to the promotion of positive health lifestyles in their community. |
| November | |
| November 15, 1977 | The Whitehorse Star changes from a thrice weekly to a daily. |
| November 16, 1977 | Bill Reid, president of the Yukon-Alaska Holding Ltd., announces that the construction of a six-story hotel on Second avenue as part of the Travelodge Expansion/renovation. |
| November 22, 1977 | Longtime Yukoner H.E. "Bert" Boyd passes away at the age of 75. |
| November 22, 1977 | Whitehorse City Council has a final meeting to discuss the official proclamation of Australia's Echuca as Whitehorse's sister city. |
| November 23, 1977 | The Atlin Historical Society receives a Communication Award to Heritage Canada. |
| November 29, 1977 | Cross-country skier Monique Waterreus, 16, is chosen for then Canadian junior team. |
| December | |
| December 1, 1977 | The federal government approves an agreement with Foothills Pipe Line Co. that includes a provision for no Dempster Highway/Klondike Highway pipeline to connect with an Alaska Highway natural gas pipeline. |
| December 19, 1977 | A mountain in the Tay River region near Faro is named after the late Alan Kulan of Ross River, who was a prominent Yukon miner before he was fatally shot in fall 1977. Kulan became a millionaire by discovering the Anvil orebody. Kulan was shot by a man in a Ross River bar. John Rolls Sr. is charged with murder. |
| December 29, 1977 | The city of Whitehorse agrees to co-host with the Yukon Territorial Government the 1980 Arctic Winter Games. |
