1989
The Whitehorse Star Reports in 1989
| January | |
| January 3, 1989 | Erik Nielsen and Ellen Harris receive the Commissioner's Award for Public Service. |
| January 6, 1989 | Ottawa backs down on its plan to build a short-range radar station on Herschel Island. |
| January 9, 1989 | The Elsa mine closes, laying off 170 people. |
| January 9, 1989 → January 10, 1989 |
Dave Porter announces his resignation from his job as the Yukon's minister of Tourism and Renewable Resources after being apointed as the new executive director of the Yukon Human Rights Commission (January 9, 1989). Dave Porter is replaced by Art Webster (January 10, 1989). |
| January 12, 1989 | Outstanding RCMP officer James B. Fitzgerald dies. |
| January 16, 1989 | Former mayor Flo Whyard is appointed administrator for the Yukon. She is sworn in on January 24, 1989. |
| January 17, 1989 → June 13, 1989 → June 26, 1989 |
Government leader Tony Penikett announces the government owned sawmill in Watson Lake lost $ 4.5 million from April 1988 to March 1989. In June it is announced that payment cheques of Watson sawmill workers have been delayed for more than 60 days. A few days later the Watson sawmill suffers a second major blaze in 14 months (June 26, 1989). |
| January 17, 1989 → February 21, 1989 |
Government leader Tony Penikett announces government election for February 20, 1989. The NDP wins the government elections and takes 9 seats out of 16. |
| January 17, 1989 → March 16, 1989 → May 29, 1989 |
The Yukon Government officially accepts the Yukon Indian land claim agreement-in-principle (January 17, 1989). The federal government approves the agreement on March 16, 1989 . The Yukon land claims framework agreement is officially signed by Mike Smith, chair of the Council for Yukon Indians, Yukon Government Leader Tony Penikett and federal Indian Affairs Minister Pierre Cadieux on May 29, 1989. |
| January 23, 1989 | Despite strong resident protests, Whitehorse city council announces its plans to go ahead with the upgrading of 12th Avenue in Porter Creek. |
| January 27, 1989 | A board of the Yukon Human Rights Commission rules that Madeline Gould is legally entitled to join the Yukon Order of Pioneers that previously was reserved to men only. |
| January 30, 1989 | Pierre Cadieux is named new minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, succeeding Bill McKnight. |
| January 31, 1989 → April 7, 1989 → April 21, 1989 → July 6, 1989 |
January 31, it is announced that the Ketza Mine is sold for $3 million. April 7, 1989 Belmora Mines Ltd. backs out on buying the Ketza River gold mine - a day before the scheduled closing of the deal. April 21, 1989 Carnamax reaches a deal to become the sole owner of the Ketza River gold mine. The deal is concluded on July 6, 1989. |
| February | |
| February 2, 1989 | George Dawson, hereditary chief of the Ta'an Kwach'an Council, dies February 1, 1989 at the age of 86. |
| February 8, 1989 | Two hostages are taken at the Kopper King Tavern. Nobody is injured. |
| February 15, 1989 | The White Pass and Yukon Corp. announces to build a new $ 2.6. Million dock in Skagway attempting to attract 60,000 to 75,000 additional annual visitors. |
| February 16, 1989 | The City of Whitehorse lays first charges under its 2-year-old woodsmoke bylaw. |
| March | |
| March 10, 1989 | Dr. Joseph Lazarovich and Robin Glass are named honorary citizens of Faro. |
| March 22, 1989 | Yukon chief medical health officer Dr. George Walker dies of cancer at the age of 56. |
| March 24, 1989 | A total of 240,000 barrels of crude oil are dumped in Alaska's Prince William Sound when the tanker Exxon Valdez runs aground. |
| March 30, 1989 → June 8, 1989 |
Mike Smith resigns from his job as the Council for Yukon Indian's top official on March 30, 1989. On June 8, 1989 Judy Gingell is the first woman to be elected as chair of the Council for Yukon Indians. |
| April | |
| April 3, 1989 | Television Northern Canada (TVNC) plans to get a new television channel for aboriginal and northern Canadians to air by November 1991. |
| April 6, 1989 | The City of Whitehorse approves the development for a new subdivision across the Alaska Highway from the Wolf Creek subdivision. |
| April 14, 1989 | The Whitehorse board of variance overturns the city planning board's decision to approve the location of a polyureithane block factory along Second Avenue. |
| April 14, 1989 | The Yukon government declares April 28 as an official Day of Mourning for workers killed or injured on the job. |
| April 20, 1989 | The City of Whitehorse announces to spend $100,000 to extend Ray Street, adding another connection between Fourth and Second Avenue. |
| April 21, 1989 | Roy Minter, Father Veyrat and the Klondike Visitors Association are the recipients of the 1988 heritage awards from the Yukon Historical and Museums Association. |
| May | |
| May 15, 1989 | NorthwesTel pleads guilty to one charge of illegally shipping PCB-laden radio-equipment from a Distant Early Warning Line site near the Yukon border. |
| May 16, 1989 | Yukon artist Ted Harrison takes New York by storm with his first American show. |
| May 24, 1989 → December 4, 1989 |
Audrey McLaughlin announces to run for NDP leadership. On December 4, 1989 she becomes the first woman in Canadian history to lead a federal political party with her victory at the New Democratic Party leadership convention in Winnipeg. |
| May 24, 1989 → July 10, 1989 |
MV Anna Maria is put into water for the first time. The vessel reaches Dawson City on July 8, 1989 - a year later than planned. |
| June | |
| June 1, 1989 | Federal Northern Development Minister Pierre Cadieux announces to offer new exploration rights in the Beaufort Sea for the first time in 20 years. |
| June 5, 1989 | A Ford pickup truck collides with the SS Klondike. |
| June 6, 1989 | Former Yukon Tourism minister Dave Porter wins the Tourism Award. |
| June 9, 1989 | Mayor Don Branigan is found not guilty of 61 fraud related charges by the territorial courts. |
| June 15, 1989 | The "Klondike Sun" goes on sale on May 25, 1989 replacing the 35-year old "Klondike Korner". |
| June 19, 1989 | Respected elder and storyteller Kitty Smith dies. She is believed to be well over 100. |
| June 21, 1989 | The Nakai play "Daydream" represents the Yukon at the Canadian Theatre Festival in Victoria. |
| June 22, 1989 → June 23, 1989 → September 20, 1989 |
A new Whitehorse waterfront plan, supported by the Yukon government, the City of Whitehorse , and the White Pass and Yukon Corp., prompts objections from the public (June 22 and 23, 1989). Public submissions to Whitehorse city council almost unanimously condemn waterfront development plans to move the White Pass depot from its present Main Street location (September 20, 1989). |
| June 28, 1989 | The territory's first Mitzvah is celebrated on July 1, 1989. |
| June 30, 1989 → October 19, 1989 |
Whitehorse teacher Sandra Henderson is appointed as a member of the Order of Canada (June 30, 1989). She, as well as former Supreme Court of Canada justice Jean Beetz and Dene Tha' Indian band chief Harry Chonkolay receive the Award on October 18, 1989. |
| July | |
| July 10, 1989 | The Carmacks Indian Bank enters its first business venture by taking over the local general store. |
| July 13, 1989 | The White River band becomes the 14th First Nation, receiving official recognition by the Council for Yukon Indians (CYI). |
| July 17, 1989 → August 28, 1989 |
Record-breaking temperatures cause record fires requiring help from outside the territory. |
| July 20, 1989 | Dawson City's sternwheeler S.S. Keno is closed to vistors due to the deterioration of the 67-year-old vessel. |
| July 31, 1989 → August 30, 1989 |
WHTV announces to offer three different cable packages in September. |
| August | |
| August 3, 1989 | Yukon artist Lilia Ar de Soif Farley dies at the age of 82. |
| August 8, 1989 | 57-year-old vessel Dorothy is relaunched into the waters of Marsh Lake after a major refit. |
| August 9, 1989 | The Dempster Highway turns 10. |
| August 22, 1989 | Erik Nielsen publishes his autobiography "The House is not a Home". Filled with political and private revelations it turns into a bestseller immediatly. |
| August 22, 1989 | NorthwesTel announces to provide phone service for the Marsh Lake-Judas Creek by december. |
| August 24, 1989 | Mayor Don Branigan presents the Whitehorse Heritage Award to the organizers of the storytelling festival. |
| August 28, 1989 | Sean Sheardown's silver medal in cycling is the Yukon's first medal at Canada Summer Games. |
| August 30, 1989 | Respected Burwash elder Joe Jacquot dies at the age of 62. |
| September | |
| September 7, 1989 | The Gwich'in nation sues the U.S. Secretary of the Interior over his decision to open the ANWR for oil development. |
| September 9, 1989 | The Yukon government and the Nacho Nyak Dun Band form the first renewable resources council. |
| September 14, 1989 | The Yukon Arts Council announces that Pierre Berton's $55,000 donation to the Council will be used to buy Berton's childhood house in Dawson and to turn it into a home for writers. |
| September 18, 1989 | Because of a Yukon whooping cough epidemic, children aged seven and under are barred from schools and daycares if they are not fully immunized. Not immunized kids can return to school October 6, 1989. |
| September 20, 1989 | As part of a new agreement with Skukum Gold Inc., Placer Dome Inc. pumps $ 12 million into Skukum Gold Inc.'s claims in the Wheaton River Valley. |
| September 21, 1989 | Yukon College president Lynn Ogden resigns from his job less than a year after his controversial appointment by a three-member committee led by Premier Tony Penikett. |
| October | |
| October 4, 1989 | The Guild Society, the Nakai Players and Separate Reality theatre groups announce the possibility of a merger. |
| October 11, 1989 | Tony Penikett changes his title of "government leader" into "premier". |
| October 27, 1989 | The Kwanlin Dun Indian Band is the last of the 13 Yukon First Nations to receive interim protection for its land selections. |
| October 31, 1989 | Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd. Applies to build a $4.4 billion MacKenzie Valley pipeline. |
| November | |
| November 2, 1989 | A government-Inuvialuit committee approves oil-drilling in the Beaufort sea. |
| November 3, 1989 | The Yukon government creates two new advisary bodies: the Waste Management Advisory Committee and the Yukon Council on the Economy and the Environment. |
| November 7, 1989 | One of the largest mining companies in Canada, Cominco, buys a 17-per cent share of the Windy Craggy project. |
| November 8, 1989 | Three Yukon Indian bands - the bands of Teslin, Champagne-Aishihik and Old Crow - sign an agreement to develop a tribal justice system. |
| November 17, 1989 | Dave Porter announces his resignation from his job as executive director of the Yukon Human Rights Commission for a job with the government of the Northwest Territories. |
| November 24, 1989 | The Yukon government opposes any oil tanker traffic in the Beaufort Sea. |
| November 28, 1989 | Statistics show that placer mining in 1989 had its best season since 1917. |
| November 28, 1989 | The Kluane Tribal Council elder Sam Johnson Sr. dies at the age of 80. |
| November 29, 1989 → December 7, 1989 |
One of the year's loudest public uproars begins with the government's announcement it will change the licence plate design and remove the gold panner from it. |
| December | |
| December 1, 1989 | Rolf Hougen returns from Moscow, where he and some 200 other Canadian entrepreneurs joined Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in a business development exchange. |
| December 1, 1989 | The Yukon government announces its Yukon Development Corp. has lost $8 million in the last two years. |
| December 13, 1989 | Community Services Minister Maurice Byblow rejects Conservative Opposition demands for a Yukon 911 emergency telephone system. |
| December 14, 1989 | The Yukon government announces to introduce mandatory seatbelt use in 1990. |
| December 27, 1989 | Yukon elder Annie Ned of Whitehorse is awarded the Order of Canada. |
| December 28, 1989 | Former Yukon commissioner Doug Bell is awarded the Order of Canada. |
