Yukon Chronology 1897-1999

THE YUKON'S CONSTITUTIONAL FOUNDATIONS VOLUME 1 THE YUKON CHRONOLOGY (1897 - 1999) The Yukon Chronology (Second Edition) Copyright ©Steven Smyth, 1991, 1999 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ISBN 0-9698723-1-3 Printed in Canada Published by Clairedge Press Whitehorse, Yukon 1999 © ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Cover design and artwork Douglas Bell and Mary Prudden DEDICATION To my parents, Ronald and Evelyn Smyth, without whom this book would not be possible. Steven Smytll Contents Forward Patrick L. Michael, Clerk of the Yukon v. Legislative Assembly Preface vi. Introd uction Steven Smyth 1. Code 3. Prelude 4. Chronology 5. Selected Bibliography 278. The Author: Biographical Note 281. v FORWARD It was my privilege, in 1991, to pen the foreword to the two-volume set of the Tile Yukon's Constih,tional Foundations. I said of the set "There is little doubt that it will stand as an essential reference source for anyone with an interest in the Yukon's constitution al past, present, or future." And it has. A wide variety of people from both inside and outside the Yukon, including scholars, politicians, students, history buffs and reporters, have sought and found the information they were looking for in this work. Steven Smyth has now done us the additional service of updating and revising his Yukon CllronologJJ which was first published as Volume 1 of TlIJ! Yukon's Constitutional Foundations. The corrections and additions to the original chronology are, of course, encouraged and appreciated. The greatest commendation, however, is reserved for the effort to extend its coverage from December of 1990 to June of 1999. There is a plodding and mind-numbing quality to such work; decisions are constantly being demanded on which events should be included and, then, one must find a way to capture and convey the essential flavour of those events in concise, accurate and easy-to-read language. The results of Mr. Smyth subjecting himseU to this ordeal are here for all to see. This work is, without doubt, a benefit to all Yukoners - it assists us in becoming familiar with where we have been, gaining a fuller understanding of where we are today and being better informed about where we may be going in the future. Steven Smyth deserves our praise and gratitude for his commitment to continuing what is, obviously, always going to be a work in progress. I look forward to writing the fore word to the next update of TlIJ! Yukon OlronologJJ in 2008. Patrick L. Michael Clerk of the Yukon Legislative Assembly June 17, 1999 vi PREFACE In the years following the publication of the first two volumes of Tile Yukon's Constitutional Foundations, I was pleased to receive a number of inquiries about an updated edition of TIre Yukon OlronologtJ. I was gratified when I received a sympathet ic reception from Dave Robertson about the possibility of publishing a second edition of this work. Mr. Robertson generously supported this idea and, consequently, this sec ond edition would not have been possible without his support. In addition to updating the chronology with events since 1990, I have also taken the opportunity to correct errors I discovered following the original publication and to fill in some gaps in the record. I have also expanded the Bibliography with new publica tions that have been written since 1990. I hope these additions will prove useful to stu dents of the Yukon's political and constitutional history. I would like to take this opportunity to thank, once again, those who have made this book possible: Dave Robertson for coordinating and supporting the republication effort, and Mary Fitton for interpreting my handwritten notes and typesetting the final text. I Sincerely hope that readers will find this second edition an interesting and useful ref erence, and that it will assist us all in better understanding the Yukon's history, evolu tion and destiny. Steven Smyth June, 1999 1 INTRODUCTION A chronology is like a set of tracks. Hunters, trappers and biologists study tracks for a vari ety of purposes: the trapper looks for the best location to set his traps; the hunter tries to determine the best way to intercept or overtake his quarry; while the biologist may retrace the tracks to their place of origin in order to study the young in their den. The tracks can reveal much information about their maker: the size and weight of the animal; whether it is healthy or injured.; its feeding and resting habits; and its past activities and general direction of travel. Chronologies provide us with similar types of information about ourselves and our soci ety. We can use them to better understand our origins, our political and economic habits, and the general direction in which our society is heading. The level of detail to include in a chronology is partly an arbitrary decision, and partly dependent on the age and availability of accurate source materials; as with a set of tracks, the older they are, the less precise they are, and sometimes whole sections of the trail are missing. Consequently, the earlier years of this chronology contain much less detail than the more recent ones. Some readers may be puzzled by the inclusion of many of the details found in this chronology, and how they relate to the Yukon's constitutional development. It will thus be useful to provide a brief explanation of the Yukon's constitution and the factors which impact on its development. The Yukon's constitution, like most others, consists of a variety of legal documents: the Constitution Act of Canada, the Yukon Act, and various other pieces of federal legislation that relate to the administration of government and resources in the territory. Other con stitutional documents would include ministerial directives from the Minister of Indian and Northern Affairs to the Yukon's Commissioner, made pursuant to section 4 of the Yukon Act, federal-territorial agreements, and court decisions respecting the legislation and agreements noted above. Many of these documents are provided in Volume Two of this project. There is also an unwritten part to our constitution, which include the traditions and prac tices of our governing bodies. They are more difficult to list and define, and they are sometimes forgotten by writers. One simple example of a tradition would be the practice of commencing each day's sitting of the Yukon Legislative Assembly with a prayer. These traditions are important in the Yukon, which has had a fully elected legislature since 1909. Demands by Yukon's councillors in the 1950's and 60's for constitutional change, respon sible government, and provincial status resulted in the federal government gradually devolving responsibilities from federal officials to elected representatives in the Yukon. Some of these powers were devolved through amendments to federal legislation, while others were granted through federal-territorial agreements, Ministerial directives to Commissioners, and changes to federal policies. This "devolution" is a continuing process. The Yukon's constitutional development is constrained by two factors: federal policies relating to Yukon's constitutional development and the Constitution Ad of Canada. 2 The former set of constraints have become somewhat more onerous since the develop ment of the "autonomy movement" in the Yukon Council in the mid-sixties. Federal Ministers of Indian and Northern Affairs have, on various occasions, stated that future amendments to the Yukon Act were dependent upon the settlement of Yukon Indian land claims. Ministers and other authorities have also noted that the Yukon's economy is underdeveloped, and locally generated revenues would not be sufficient to sustain gov ernment programs and services under the provincial model. Consequently, they argue that the Yukon Government should not be granted full authority to manage its own affairs and resources until such time as it can demonstrate that it can "pay its own way" in Canada. Another constraint, most often referred to by southern authors, is that the Yukon's popu lation is small and to entrust it with the management of "national" resources would be folly. Finally, some writers have noted that the federal government has special interests in the North relating to defense, sovereignty, resources, and aboriginal people which preclude granting territorial governments full authority over matters which have traditionally been granted to provincial governments. The issue of resource ownership is particularly inter esting, as some Canadians believe that the North's resources should continue to be owned and managed by the federal government for the benefit of all Canadians, rather than be devolved to northern governments. The second set of constraints relating to the Yukon's constitutional development revolve around Canada's Constitution Act. The Constitution Act, 1867 to 1982, specifies that new provinces can only be created with the consent of the federaL government and two-thirds of the provinces possessing at least fifty percent of Canada's population. This is a new condition which none of the existing provinces had to meet in order to enter Confederation, and northern leaders opposed its inclusion in the Constitution. The Meech Lake Accord threatened to change the constitution to require the unanimous consent of the provinces, which many believed would have effectively prevented the Yukon from ever becoming a province. This chronology attempts to record the victories and the setbacks in the Yukon's struggle for full acceptance within the Canadian family of provinces. It addresses the political and legal constraints noted above by referencing events affecting the Yukon's economic devel opment (fiscal viability), such as the building of the Alaska Highway, the Alaska Highway natural gas pipeline proposal, and the opening and closing of the mines at Faro ana Eisa. It also attempts to track the major events surrounding the Yukon Indian land claim negotiations, and the other northern land claims which have affected the Yukon.

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