1979
The Epp Letter
The long and winding road toward greater political control for elected politicians in the Yukon was often battered by storm clouds. Since the first wholly…
1981
The Whitehorse Star Reports in 1981
| January | |
| January 6, 1981 | A meteor shower seen in the Yukon in the beginning of the new year turns out to be a falling Russian rocket |
| January 6, 1981 | Jack and Wilma Brewster of Haines Junction are named Mr. and Mrs. Yukon for 1981. |
| January 12, 1981 | A group of Whitehorse residents plan to apply for a licence to operate a stereo-FM radio station. |
| January 13, 1981 | An interim CTV service is announced to become available for communities that do not have CTV. Full range service is announced for later that year. One contender is Orbitel Communications in which Rolf Hougen is involved. |
| January 15, 1981 | The Mayo Indian Band opens their own school. Although the school follows the B.C. curriculum, children are also taught extras such as how to make and use snowshoes, set traps and survive in the bush. |
| February | |
| February 2, 1981 | Justice Minister Doug Graham resignes from his job after discovering he is under investigation by the RCMP in connection with the Barry Bellchambers land fraud case. Graham is the fourth minister to resign since the Conservatives took office in November 1978. |
| February 2, 1981 | The governments of the Yukon and the NWT will have working seats at future first ministers' conferences on the Canadian Constitution following passage of an amendment to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau's package by former northern affairs minister Jake Epp. |
| February 16, 1981 | The Northern Affairs Minister visits Whitehorse to announce among others a $5 million capital loan to White Pass |
| February 18, 1981 | 76-year-old Fred Caley of Dawson City is the 4th person to be given the Dawson Museum and Historical Society's Yukon Heritage Award for his significant contribution to preserve Yukon history and culture. |
| February 23, 1981 | The Whitehorse Indian Band votes 96 per cent in favor of moving their village to a site on the east side of the Yukon River. |
| February 23, 1981 | Vic and Katie Johnson receive the Commissioner's Award for their 27 years of caring for more than 200 foster children |
| March | |
| March 6, 1981 | The new Reagan administration cuts back the (financial) support for the Alaska Highway natural gas pipeline. The target date for the start-up is now been delayed for another year from 1985 to 1986. |
| March 10, 1981 | A site in Takhini is chosen as the preferred location for the Yukon College. |
| March 18, 1981 | The North American cross country ski championships open in Whitehorse |
| March 25, 1981 | Conservative MLA Jack Hibberd resigns from his job as renewable resource minister |
| March 26, 1981 | Francis Joseph Henning, the 1st Atlin-born boy, dies at the age of 81. |
| March 30, 1981 | The world's largest weathervane is raised in front of Whitehorse airport. |
| April | |
| April 2, 1981 | The Farrago - the music festival in Faro - is cancelled due to Cyprus Anvil's tight budget. |
| April 3, 1981 | Long-time Yukon miner Pete Brady dies at the age of 91. |
| April 3, 1981 | A "Yukon embassy" is established in Ottawa. |
| April 6, 1981 | Jean Munro, minister of Indian Affairs and Norther Development, opens regional offices in Whitehorse and Yellowknife. |
| April 7, 1981 | Don Sumanik, the key figure in bringing the World Cup ski races to Whitehorse, is named Kiwanis citizen of the year. |
| April 10, 1981 | A Dawson placer company commissions the world's biggest sluice box, which moves 1,000 cubic metres of gravel at a time. |
| April 13, 1981 → July 6, 1981 |
MLA Tony Penikett is appointed the leader of the Yukon New Democratic Party by acclamation (April 13, 1981). Later in the year he is elected national party president (July 6, 1981). |
| April 14, 1981 | CanCom is given permission to put four southern television stations on satellite for northern and remote communities. |
| May | |
| May 8, 1981 | Frederick Regional Boss, the last hereditary chief of the Lake Laberge Indian band, dies at the age of 81. |
| May 15, 1981 | The six-month strike at the Canada Tungsten Mine at Tungsten, NWT, is over. |
| May 27, 1981 → July 28, 1981 |
63 per cent of the shares of Cyprus Anvil Mining Corp are bought by Hudons's Bay Oil and Has Company Ltd (May 27, 1981). The sale means Dome Petroleum will indirectly control Anvil since it owns 53 per cent of Hudbay. The sale was made necessary when Anvil's U.S. parent could not get approval from the Canadian government to own the mine. |
| May 28, 1981 | Frank Coulter, the Yukon's oldest man, passes away at the age of 104. |
| May 29, 1981 | CKRW announces to apply for satellite licence to be available across Canada. |
| June | |
| June 6, 1981 | Roland ("Jack") Hulland, for whom the Porter Creek school is named, dies at the age of 85. Hulland came to Whitehorse in 1930 to be the principal of the town's only public school. Later, Hulland had become YTG superintendent of education. |
| June 15, 1981 | After 7 years of restauration, the SS Klondike is officially re-opened on Canada Day as a national historic site. |
| July | |
| July 14, 1981 | A FM radio demonstration station (which will later be CHON-FM) is set up by the Yukon Indian Centre. |
| July 15, 1981 | Two new channels begin after WHTV got Ottawa's permission to broadcast the new Cancom service on a test basis. |
| August | |
| August 20, 1981 | Marsh Lake residents battle flooding and the highest water levels in 10 years. |
| August 26, 1981 | Victoria Faulkner dies at the age of 84. |
| September | |
| September 9, 1981 | The YTG says it will keep the North Canol Road open for the winter and charge mining companies which will use it. |
| September 10, 1981 | Yukon MP Erik Nielsen is named house leader for the Federal Conservative caucus. |
| September 11, 1981 | Hollywood Star Dan Aykroyd visits Whitehorse for a week, looking for ideas for a new movie. |
| October | |
| October 29, 1981 | United Keno Hill Mines Ltd. announces that the troubled Venus gold-silver mine project, 16km south of Carcross, has been cancelled due to low market prices and increased operating costs. |
| November | |
| November 4, 1981 | Yukon MP Erik Nielsen is made an honorary member of the House of Commons protective services. |
| November 6, 1981 | Prime Minister Trudeau and nine provinces agree on a constitution deleting the clause guaranteeing aboriginal rights. |
| November 25, 1981 | A $170,000 plan is signed by YTG and the city for the beautification of Main Street |
| November 27, 1981 | Yukon MP Erik Nielsen tries to introduce an amendment that would allow the territories to evolve into provinces, without consent of other provinces. Nielsen's amendment is supported by the Conservative and the NDP, but the Liberals defeat it in the final vote. |
| December | |
| December 11, 1981 | Yukon Indians will have a perpetual right to run traplines and to catch fish for food. That is the main point of land-claim agreements-in-principle on fishing and trapping. |
| December 17, 1981 | Yukon commissioner Doug Bell cut the ribbon to celebrate the opening of the Guild Hall. |
| December 18, 1981 | Flo Whyard won the mayor's seat in the new city council. |
| January 15, 1982 | Mining production, the key element in the Yukon economy, was down 37% in '81. |
