1980
The Whitehorse Star Reports in 1980
| January | |
| January 4, 1980 → January 14, 1980 → January 16, 1980 |
1980 saw two Mr. and Mrs. Yukon couples. Jack and Mary Nichols were originally selected as Mr. and Mrs Yukon (January 4, 1980). After Jack Nichols died at the age of 78, less than a month later (January 14, 1980), Jack and Mary McDiarmid of Mayo were selected as the new Mr. and Mrs. Yukon. Mary Nichols had declined to keep the title after her husband's death. |
| January 15, 1980 | The City Council unveils plans for a new access road to the Porter Creek subdivision to be completed within 2 years |
| January 21, 1980 | Liberal leader Pierre Trudeau visits Whitehorse in support of Yukon candidate Ione Christensen. |
| January 23, 1980 | The price of gold reaches an all-time high of $850(US) resulting in a minor staking rush in the Klondike region. |
| January 28, 1980 | The Whitehorse Credit Union Ltd. closes its doors after 22 years in business. Increasing difficulties in meeting its operating costs are behind the closure. |
| January 29, 1980 | 3 new classifications are suggested by the territorial government as one way of avoiding political problems in Yukon communities. The paper suggests Yukon communities be divided into cities, towns and villages with an additional classification of hamlet for communities not capable of assuming village status. |
| January 31, 1980 | Old Crow elder Joe Netro - receiver of the Centennial Award - dies at the age of 86. |
| January 31, 1980 | Studies show Whitehorse remains the most expensive place to live in Canada. |
| February | |
| February 4, 1980 | The fourth generator to the Whitehorse hydro-electric dam has been approved. |
| February 4, 1980 | Public Works Minister Erik Nielsen announces a norther research centre. |
| February 15, 1980 → February 29, 1980 → August 11, 1980 → November 27, 1980 |
The Alaskan natural gas pipeline is in the news throughout the year. Foothill Pipe Line starts its largest soil test drill programm in August (August 11, 1980). Financial support, environmental reasons and effects on the job market are debated by the U.S. administration, the Yukon government and the B.C. government. |
| February 19, 1980 | Erik Nielsen is elected the Yukon MP for the 11th time straight, beating Liberal Ione Christensen. First results have Nielsen barely winning by 61 votes. The final count reveals a margin of 101 votes. |
| February 25, 1980 | Roxanne Nielsen - Erik Nielsen's daughter - becomes the first Yukon female to graduate from the RCMP Academy in Regina. |
| February 25, 1980 | The Downtown Hotel in Dawson City burns down. |
| February 27, 1980 | A $12 million hotel complex and convention centre project at Second and Wood Street, proposed by Rolf Hougen, has been dropped because of high costs and a poor economy. |
| March | |
| March 3, 1980 | Rolf Hougen unveils his plans for a northern TV satellite system. His proposal is to rent a transponder on the ANIK A3 satellite and beam a mixed program from four TV stations to all of Canada, but particularly aimed at northern service. |
| March 3, 1980 → March 25, 1980 |
John Munro is named the federal minister for Indian affairs and nothern development in the new Trudeau cabinet. He visits the territory for the first time March 28, 1980. |
| March 4, 1980 | High silver prices help Keno to open new property in the Elsa area. |
| March 4, 1980 | Rural mail delivery in Whitehorse begins for the first time. |
| March 6, 1980 | An area 30 miles north of Old Crow may join the list of cultural historical sites of the UNESCO World Heritage List. |
| March 14, 1980 | The hotel complex and convention centre project has been revived by Rolf Hougen. |
| March 17, 1980 | Opening of the Artic Winter Games in Whitehorse: the Games see two world records in Arctic Sports and a food poisoning incident that sends 40 people to hospital. |
| March 17, 1980 | Northward Airlines went bankrupt. |
| March 26, 1980 | The Western National Party plans a referendum on the Yukon's indepence for late summer. |
| April | |
| April 1, 1980 | Rolf Hougen is elected as one of the 2 directors of Finning Tractor & Equipment Co. Ltd. Vancouver |
| April 2, 1980 | Art Fry of Dawson City receives the Lifestyle Award for his work with the Yukon Boxing Association and promoting fitness among amateur athletes in the territory. |
| April 2, 1980 | The Captain Martin house - Whitehorse's oldest frame building - is offered to the city for $1 for restoration as a historic site. |
| April 7, 1980 | Peter Jenkinsis is elected mayor of Dawson City. |
| April 7, 1980 | An earthquake, registering 5.2 on the Richter scale, shakes the city of Anchorage. |
| April 8, 1980 | United Keno Hill approves the re-opening of the Venus gold-silver mine near Carcross. |
| April 9, 1980 | Yukon MP Erik Nielsen is appointed deputy opposition house leader and chairman of the question period committee for the federal Conservative caucus. |
| April 9, 1980 | Hudson Bay opens at Fourth and Ogilvie. |
| April 10, 1980 | It is revealed that the RCMP intercepted in 1979 a telephone call between a Justice Minister Doug Graham and Whitehorse Businessman Barry Bellchamber who is later fined $50,000 and sentenced to 1 day in jail for defrauding the Yukon government and members of the public. |
| April 24, 1980 | A plan for a pedestrian mall on Main Street was voted down by the Downtown Businessmen's Association. |
| April 25, 1980 | As of 2 a.m. April 27, 1980 Yukon is the last province/territory in Canada to join daylight saving time. |
| April 30, 1980 | American ambassador to Canada, Ken Curtis, visits the territories. |
| May | |
| May 8, 1980 | The Aksala sternwheeler at Paddlewheel Village on the Alaska Highway is pulled down as the rickety structure was too dangerous to be left standing. |
| May 9, 1980 | Rolf Hougen is appointed as one of the directors of NorthwesTel. |
| May 13, 1980 | Swede Hanson, minister for renewable resources, tourism and economic development, resignes from the Yukon cabinet after controversy over hunting by Indian people in Kluane. Hanson is replaced by Dan Lang. |
| May 15, 1980 | ATCO Ltd. offers to buy out the U.S. portion of Yukon Electrical ownership. |
| May 15, 1980 | The election of officials for the new Council for Yukon Indians, an umbrella group, is held with Dave Porter, Joe Jack, Elijah Smith and Judy Gingell elected. |
| May 29, 1980 | The Yukon and NWT send out an request to prime minister Pierre Trudeau to include the two territories in the upcoming talks on the Canadian constitution. |
| June | |
| June 2, 1980 | Indian Affairs Minister John Munro announces that native Indians will have self-government within 2 years. |
| June 3, 1980 | Cyprus Anvil announces a $240 million expansion. Such expansion could add 8 years to the life of the Faro operation. |
| June 10, 1980 | It is revealed that there will be no elected northern representative at future talks on Canada's constitution. |
| June 16, 1980 | Giovanni Castellarin is the first person to be awarded the Commissioner's Award for outstanding community work. |
| June 16, 1980 | The first talks over Yukon native land claims under the new federal government start in Vancouver. |
| June 18, 1980 | It is announced that the first World Cup Final for Cross-Country Ski Races ever held in Canada will be hosted in Whitehorse. |
| July | |
| July 3, 1980 → July 17, 1980 |
A small earthquake, measuring 4.3 on Richter Scale, shakes the southern Yukon area. Another tremor, measuring 4.5 on the Richter Scale, shakes Whitehorse July 16, 1987. No injuries or damages were reported. |
| July 11, 1980 | Sandy and Mary Taylor of Beaver Creek are honored with first-level commissioner's awards for outstanding community achievement. |
| July 14, 1980 | Governor-General Ed Schreyer visits Whitehorse which includes a visit of the MacBride Museum. |
| July 24, 1980 | A report by the Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications Commission recommends improvements in northern and remote television service. |
| August | |
| August 4, 1980 | Canada and the United States jointly accept the UNESCO World Heritage plaque at Kluane National Park. The Kluane-Wrangell-St.Ellias wilderness is the first joint international World Heritage Site. The Kluane Park limited access plan is approved at the same time. |
| August 7, 1980 | The Columbia Gas System Inc. find in southeast Yukon a gas field that yields a daily flow of 50 to 70 million cubic feet of gas daily. |
| August 11, 1980 | Anvil begins in Faro a $240 million conversion of the mill and expansion of the town to handle new ore deposit. |
| August 15, 1980 | Dr. Hilda Hellaby is honored by the Kiwanis Club with the citizen of the year award. |
| August 19, 1980 | Jim Murdoch, Whitehorse humorist, writer, entertainer and founder of the Frantic Follies, drowns on Atlin lake. |
| September | |
| September 11, 1980 | Workers at the United Keno Hill lead-silver mine in Elsa go on strike. |
| September 11, 1980 | Tintina Mines Ltd. outlines the biggest molybdenum deposit in North America 80km from Whitehorse. |
| September 12, 1980 | The Yukon and the Northwest Territories are excluded from constitutional talks at the first ministers' conference. The exclusion prompts protest from Yukon government leader Chris Pearson. The next day Pearson is invited to attend the conference as an observer but refuses. |
| October | |
| October 8, 1980 | United Keno Hill Mines Ltd. starts works on the mill for the Venus mine south of Carcross. |
| October 9, 1980 | Mayo becomes fourth Yukon community to ban public drinking. Others are Whitehorse, Dawson City and Teslin. |
| October 16, 1980 | The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunication Commission (CRTC) issues a call for proposals to extend service to remote and under-served areas. |
| October 17, 1980 | It is announced that Ol' 73, the last of the White Pass steam engines and a possible major tourist attraction, will not run in the near future due to a lack of money for complete restauration and operating costs. |
| October 18, 1980 | John Livesey of Beaver Creek and Brynmor Mills of Elsa are recipients of the Commissioner's Award for their individual effort, contributions and participation in their communities. |
| October 21, 1980 | Finning Tractor announces a $1 million expansion of its facilities in Whitehorse. |
| October 27, 1980 | The first of WHTV's public access television programming premiered. |
| November | |
| November 6, 1980 | Yukon Liberal Senator Paul Lucier is appointed to sit on the Parliamentary committee set up to study the proposed new Canadian constitution. |
| December | |
| December 3, 1980 | A joint application for licences to establish a northern broadcasting network has been filed with the CRTC by two groups representing Yukon and NWT native Indians. |
| December 5, 1980 | A joint government-industry task force is being created to plan and co-ordinate mining development in the Macmillan-Howard's Pass area on the Yukon-NWT border. |
| December 16, 1980 | The Captain Martin house is moved from Wood Street to the city works compound until it can settle on the riverbank as part of a planned future heritage village. |
| December 19, 1980 | Gordon Cameron has been appointed a member of the Order in Canada. |
| December 23, 1980 → August 13, 1980 |
Doug Bell is named the new Commissioner of the Yukon Territory, succeeding Ione Christensen, who resigned from this position in October 1979. In August, Terry Weninger had refused the job of the Yukon commissioner. |
| December 31, 1980 | Orbitel Communications Co. formally applied for a licence to supply television service by remote and underserved areas of Canada. |
