Klondike Sun March 11 2011

12- 16 - TV Guide pages deleted17 - Berton House Writers’ Sympo-\ sium in Skagway 18 - Northern Song19 - Focus on CFYT20 - Energy Thoughts21 - Friesen Trio KVA - AGM22 - Cartoons KVA - AGM 23 - Classifieds24 - City Notices

Wednesday, March 9, 2011 VOL. 22 NO. 22 $1.25

IN THIS ISSUE:

The Klondike Sun

Welcome Back M!!We missed you.

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Fun New Stuff Arriving Soon!

1 - S/W & NWTel2 - About Dem Bones3 - French Intensive4 - Uffish Thoughts5 - Letters6 - Kids Helping Kids7 - Wright Report 8 - Bookends9 - Eye on SOVA10 - Legal Matters Movie Nights11 - Voice Mail RSS Hockey Day

NorthwesTel promises improvements in Service to Dawsonby Dan Davidson

NorthwesTel’s Internet customers in Dawson have experienced their share of problems over the last few months, but all that should be over, according to Curtis Shaw, vice-president of Consumer Markets, who appeared at Dawson’s council meeting on Feb 23.

There had been numerous issues with service to Dawson earlier, but things began to come to a head in October, 2010, when two cards failed, one after the other, on a switch in Mayo over Thanksgiving weekend, resulting in several days loss of service to 110 Dawson customers.

For the remainder of the year service remained problematic, with a high number of calls for service and increasing dissatisfaction expressed by the business community as well as the town council.

NWTel placed equipment at the edge of the network to monitor the problems and discovered a number of things.

About 40% of Dawson customers were being affected by an ADSL transmission shelf in the Dawson office that was resetting itself several times daily, the number of resets increasing as time wore on. This resulted in 2-3 minute outages while the system rebooted, but it also tripped mo-dems and wifi routers in many homes and businesses and caused them to have to be reset manually, compounding the problem.

That shelf was replaced in January and all customers known to be af-fected were issued a one-month service credit, which showed up on the bills that arrived at the end of February.

Also in February a management control card was replaced in the Dawson office and the ADSL transmission equipment was fitted with an alarm system which will sound in the Yellowknife Network Opera-tions Center when either a system reset or downtime occurs. Up until now the operations center really hasn’t been aware of a problem until a customer reported it. Since the Internet Help Desk is not open 24 hours daily, that meant a lot of problems went unnoticed until the voice mails were heard the next day.

The help desk is still not a 24/7 operation, being available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. during the week and 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekends and holidays.

Service to Dawson is currently divided into two “pipes”, each having 45 Mbps capacity, broadcast over a microwave digital system delivering the equivalent of 60 T-1 lines. Generally the system runs at between 37% and 44% capacity, though Curtis noted that it ran at 90% on the evening of the Senators Alumni v.s. Dawson Nuggets hockey game in February, which was video streamed live at the time.

Internet usage here is now monitored weekly and monthly, and the equipment produces daily performance reports.

Dawson’s capacity will be increased by 20% during the summer of 2011 with the installation of a broadband aggregation switch here.

Continuing problems with severed lines in Alberta and British Colum-bia have moved the company to embark on a $10 million project to open a bypass route from the Yukon to the Northwest Territories via Fort Liard. That is scheduled to be completed by late spring of this year and should result in minimal disruptions of the type experienced so often in 2010.

Story & Photoby Dan Davidson

The rate that Dawsonites pay for utilities is either rising or falling, depending on how you look at it. For some years now the annual fee for water, sewer and waste management has been pegged at $1700, that being the total if you were not a resident and didn’t pay your bill on time each quarter. The total bill included a $100 waste management fee.

If you paid your bills early or on time, the total amount dropped to $1,125.00, the remaining $575.00 being described as a subsidy. In addition, the bill would drop by another $425.00 if you were a senior.

Those days are coming to an end with the introduction of Bylaw #11-03. It will peg the combined rate for S/W at $1060.00 annually. With the addition of the $100.00 waste management fee, that will make the final bill top off at $1,160.00, just slightly more than the present “subsidized” rate.

The quarterly bills for these ser-vices will total $290.00, in contrast to the current “subsidized” rate of

$281.25. This is not a major change.

The seniors’ discount will re-main as it has been in the past.

Residential properties not owned locally or by the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in will be billed at a higher rate, $1620.00 annually.

In any case, there will not be anything that might be called a subsidy in the new rate schedules

There are a variety of different rates for hotels, lounges, service stations, schools, RV parks, etc., but it has been the discussions around residential rates that have raised the most concern over the last month or so.

It began with an error made by the elected council when revis-ing the draft provisional budget for 2011. Thinking ahead to the changes planned in this new bylaw, the council had deleted the subsidy line in the budget. However, the bylaw revisions could not be made in time to take effect before the first quarterly bills came due, and that left staff in the awkward position of being unable to apply the old subsidy rates to people who came in to pay their bills.

The reason for this is that pro-visional budgets are bridging

documents that approve spending authority between the end of one fiscal year and the final adoption of the new budget. Under the territo-rial Municipal Act the town’s ad-ministration cannot spend money unless there is a line item in the provisional budget authorizing it.

Once the problem was evident, council acted to amend the provi-sional budget, restoring the regular and seniors subsidy lines. This was done before the end of January, but not before a lot of people were upset by what appeared to them to be an arbitrary decision.

The new bylaw received first reading on February 23 and will receive two more readings before it can be proclaimed as law. It is intended that the new rates should come into effect on April 1, 2011, well before the April 30 due date for the next quarterly payments.

There is still some confusion related to the new billing dates, and that same council meeting approved an extension to the end of February for vacationing resi-dents who had written post-dated cheques based on the old due date of February 28.

The bylaw revisions also mark the end of the city bring involved in water delivery services to homes that are not on the sewer/water

Sewer and Water Rates Will Rise and Fall grid. That includes people outside the core area, in the north end of town and in the Dome subdivision. The service has been contracted through the city offices but will be no longer if the bylaw passes.

In early December council de-bated, but did not pass, a resolu-tion to achieve this objective. The town’s contract with the current supplier runs out at the end of March 2011 and, as the water delivery subsidy was due to be phased out this year, it was felt by the town’s administration and Mayor Peter Jenkins, that there was no financial advantage to citi-zens in having the town continue to contract for the service.

Most residents on water delivery have been receiving a subsidy re-

lated to that service, but it has been diminishing steadily over the last number of years, a process initi-ated by previous councils.

Over time, residents on water delivery have seen the cost rise to 50% cost recovery, then 70% and 85%. This year’s plan, previously announced, would have taken the amount to 100%, at which point the city’s contention is that it would most likely be cheaper for the resident to deal directly with the company that actually delivers the water.

Council has received a number of letters from people using this service who disagree with the logic in the argument, so it is likely there will still be some debate about this change before it passes.

THE KLONDIKE SUN Wednesday, March 9, 2011page 2

By Dan Davidson

It wasn’t entirely a surprise when four coffins and skeletal remains were found last Novem-ber in the former Highways Com-pound (and before that, Northwest Mounted Police Compound) just off 5th Avenue.

It had been known that the early edition of the Mounties had carried out executions in that yard and that the bodies had been bur-ied below the gallows on which they were hanged, a practice that was common across the nation. But the exact location of the graves was unknown, and nothing had been encountered during the drilling and geotechnical work that had been done to prepare the compound to be the site of Dawson’s new wastewater treat-ment plant, so when the backhoe exposed two deeply buried cof-fins on November 4, 2010, it was unexpected.

Because it was unexpected, because there were eventually two more coffins, and because the discovery made the national news during the next two weeks, it was no surprise about 40 Daw-sonites turned out at the Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre just over two months later to find out what had been learned about the people who had been buried.

Government archeologist Greg Hare and Susan Mooney, an osteologist who works for the Carcross-Tagish First Na-tion, were on hand to present the details of the excavation and the conclusions that had been reached during the study of the skeletons since that time.

Hare explained that coffins filled with skeletal human re-mains, clothing fragments and lime were found 2.7 metres below the surface of the excavation. Due to backfill and compression over time, the coffins had been squashed (from about 20 inches to 6 or 8 inches) and had ruptured

when the backhoe hit them. The response by Corix, the

contractor on the job, was exactly correct. Stephen Johnson con-tacted the company, the RCMP and local coroner), the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and Hare’s office. The discovery was carefully excavat-ed from the partially frozen earth and a cadre of volunteers from the city and the first nation, without

whom this operation would not have run so smoothly, set to work screening the earth to make sure nothing had been missed.

“It was remarkable,” said Hare, “Within a few hours we had ten or 12 people who had volunteered to assist in the ex-cavation.”

Some earth had already been trucked to a dumpsite, and that was also recovered and screened.

While the first few days weren’t so bad, it became bit-terly cold, and a tent was erected on site with gas heaters inside to

make it bearable.In researching this site Hare

found that the executions done on this town were the first execu-tions to take place in Canada in 1899 under Canadian law after the nation took charge of its own system.

‘They made national press,”

said Hare, “ but they were also well covered in the Dawson papers.”

In the case of the November discoveries, the same thing was true, especially after it came to be assumed that at least two of

Letting the Bones Tell the Storythe coffins belonged to two of the four Nantuck brothers, who were executed in 1899 for the murder of a prospector named William Meehan. Speculation about this outran the actual confirmation of the identities of the four men.

That’s where Susan Mooney took up the story.

Sounding a bit like Temper-ance Brennan from the TV show, “Bones”, she explained that “an osteologist’s job is to let the bones tell the story.”

They had a bit more than bones to go on. The bodies had hoods on them, which confirmed the execution by hanging hypoth-esis, and the remains of clothing, which gave some confidence in the dates. Beyond that, it was the bones that told the story, or most of it.

Identified for purposes of study as Burials A, B, C and D, each skeleton revealed clues which, when compared against the records of the men who were known to be executed in the time period, gave Mooney a sense of confidence in drawing certain conclusions.

Using such evidence as jaw and tooth formation she was able to determine the height of three of the individuals and the probable ancestry of a different set of three. Two of them were First Nations men between the ages of 17 to early 20s. They were the Nan-tucks, Dawson and Jim. Burial A was probably Edward Henderson. Burial D was an older man, prob-ably in his 50s and in poor health. There are two possibilities in the records: Alexander King and Ned Elfors.

There were thirteen execu-tions in the Yukon between 1899 and 1932. All but two of them took place in Dawson, which was then the territorial capital. That means there are a few graves still to be found. Hare thinks some may lie along the line follow-ing the slough that used to run through Fort Herchmer as far as St. Paul’s Anglican Church. Walker Graham, a nurse who has been doing research for a paper on this subject, thinks some other graves will be located nearer to the NWMP barracks, in behind the Commissioner’s Residence.

Jackie Olson, director of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in’s Heritage Dept. says she has been in com-munication with the Carcross-Tagish and Kwanlin Dun First Nations regarding the remains of the Nantuck brothers. The bodies are currently in storage somewhere in Dawson, but the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in would like to see them back in the ground somewhere before summer.

This group photo shows most of the people who worked on the burial site excavation in November 2010. Photo by Jim Regimbal.

Yukon government archeologist Greg Hare and Carcross-Tagish osteolo-gist Susan Mooney presented their findings in Dawson on February 8.

Photo by Dan Davidson.

THE KLONDIKE SUNWednesday, March 9, 2011 page 3

➻ Public Volunteer Service➻ Bravery➻ Youth Recognition

Deadline is March 30 at 5 p.m.

For more information and nomination forms visit www.gov.yk.ca/commissioner

Mail or fax nominations to:Commissioner’s Advisory Committee

1098 First Avenue, Whitehorse, Yukon, Y1A 0C1 Tel: 867-667-5121 • Fax: 867-393-6201

Email: [email protected]

Call for Spring 2011 Nominations

Commissioner’s Awards

Alcohol and Drug Information and Referral Service: free helpline � 24/7 � multilingual � anonymous

Story & Photoby Dan Davidson

For three years Robert Ser-vice School satisfied the desires of the town’s Francophone population by offering an en-hanced French program to as many as 30 students across sev-eral grades during the regular school day. When that program concluded at the end of the 2009/2010 school year, Fran-cophone parents and others who saw the program as a positive thing were upset that there was nothing put in its place.

In response to concerns from this group, the school council and the Dept. of Education as-sembled a committee to discuss alternatives. One possibility was the sort of Intensive French program that has been running at Holy family School in White-horse for the last five and a half years.

A public meeting to discuss this option drew some 28 people on February 22, though it did not, unfortunately, attract the number of parents with students in Grades 4 and 5 that it would have needed to be completely effective as a meeting.

On top of that, the radio spot which promoted the meet-ing made it sound as if a final decision would be taken that night by a show of hands at the meeting. That did not go over well with those who attended, especially with members of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in com-munity.

Principal Joe Karmel opened the meeting with a brief account of some of the discussions cur-rently taking place on the staff, with the council and with the education office at TH. He made it clear that increased attention to the French language was not the only item on the school’s planning board.

“We’re always trying to look at ways of improving pro-gramming,” Karmel said, and referred briefly to pre-appren-ticeship programs and expan-sion of the Hän and Traditional Knowledge curriculums, di-recting parents to the school’s website for more information on these plans. (http://www.yesnet.yk.ca/schools/robertser-vice/sg_initiatives.html)

Intensive French implement-ed at the Grade 5 level, might be the answer to a call for more French language instruction, he said.

It was left to Regional Super-intendent Greg Storey; Yann

Henry, Coordinator, Franco-phone Partnerships; Ted Hupe, Principal, Holy Family School; and Pasquel St. Laurent, the IF teacher at that school.

Both Storey and Henry made the point that Whitehorse par-ents wanting options in edu-

cation have a dozen or more schools to choose from. In Dawson, they said, it was neces-sary to come up with a solution that could be implemented in one school.

While they did not address the issue of the decline in school population, it is a fact that the school, which once boasted 320 students during a population boom in the 1990s, has dropped below 200 students this year. At one time the school was so crowded that a second school was actually designed for the town, but the boom period ended, and the site for which that school was designed now houses three new building proj-ects: an apartment building, a

wastewater treatment plant and a district heating utility.

Hupe and St. Laurent de-scribed Intensive French as a literacy-based approach to teaching French as a second language. First developed in its present form in Newfoundland

and Labrador in 1998, and cur-rently in use in New Brunswick, the program generally works at the Grade 5 or Grade 6 level, and involves teaching half the school year almost entirely in French, covering all the usual subjects at that grade level (except for Mathematics) in French.

St. Laurent described the pro-gram as being theme-based, but covering all the core subjects. It is taught as if the students have no previous background in French, so they learn all the necessary language skills, starting at the same level. St. Laurent says this is good for slower students, as they are not behind to begin with, and good

for higher level students as it gives them a challenge.

During the second half of the year the curriculum is com-pacted to cover the remaining portions of the grade level top-ics. The year is both preceded and followed by years in which

the teaching of the regular core French program is increased to an hour a day. After Grade 8 French is an optional rather than a required subject.

St. Laurent was an enthusi-astic booster for the program, as was Hupe, who described himself as a Manitoba Métis who had lost two languages in his lifetime.

“I’m a cheerleader for the program,” Hupe said.

Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in citizens were skeptical about the pre-sentation, wondering how the plan would mesh with their

goal of expanding the existing Hän language program, which goes to Grade 4 at present, and concerned that their own chil-dren not be forced into a French language program if they did not wish them to take it.

French speaking parents at the meeting said this was not the intention, and education officials indicated that the pro-gram would be implemented in such as way as to avoid any sort of coercion. It was possible that two split 5/6 classes might be an answer to the problem, but none of that had been decided or planned for yet.

As things stood, there were not enough people at the meet-ing to make any sort of decision. The only proposal coming out of this one was that there would probably need to be a series of meetings with individual grade level parents over the next sev-eral weeks to gauge the level of acceptance of the proposal.

These will need to be held soon as the school is nearly half-way through its second semester and the last two and half months of the year are when planning for staffing assignments and organization for the next year take place. If anything is to be done about this it needs to be ready to start in the middle of next August, at the beginning of the 2011/2012 school year.

Robert Service School Considers Intensive French

Ted Hupe, Greg Storey, Yann Henry and Pasqual St. Laurent presented the Intensive French option to parents at the Robert Service School.


Who we are:Editor/ Head Writer

Dan DaviDson

Advertising & Production ManagerEvan REnsch

aRchivistchRis LEvEtt

Subscriptions/Distribution taRa BoRin, thE BanDit

BookkeepingKaREn McintyRE

it FiguREs BooKKEEping

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BEtty DaviDson, Jay aRMitagE & othERs as notED

WebmasterJohn stEins

Published by the literary society of the KlondiKe:President: Tara BorinVice-President: Dan DavidsonBoard of Directors: Florian Boulais, Miles Kenyon, Megan Graham.Director Emeritus - Palma Berger

This is YOUR space. Write!The Klondike Sun is produced bi-weekly. It is published by The Literary Society of the Klond-ike, a non-profit organization. Letters to the editor, submissions and reports may be edited for brevity, clarity, good taste (as defined by com-munity standards), racism, sexism, and legal considerations. We welcome submissions from our readership; however, it should be under-stood that the opinions expressed herein may not always reflect those of the publishers and pro-ducers of the Klondike Sun. Submissions should be directed to The Editor, Bag 6040, Dawson City, YT, Y0B 1G0, e-mailed to [email protected], directly to the paper at [email protected] or dropped off in the drop-box at our office in the Waterfront Building, 1085 Front Street. They should be signed and preferably typed (double-spaced), or saved on digital media (CD). If you can give a phone number at which you can be reached, it would be helpful. Unsigned letters will not be printed. “Name withheld by request” is acceptable and will be printed, providing the writer identifies themselves to the Sun editorial staff. A Publishing Policy exists for more details.

Welcome to 2011 from the staff and volunteers at the Klondike Sun! Thanks to all our loyal readers for your continued support of our community newspaper.We invite you all to get involved. Have you got a great idea for a regular column? Interesting photos or stories from local events? Send it in to us and see your name in print! Check

out our WEBSITE where you will soon be able to view archived Suns from 21 years ago! Webmaster Steins is slowly but surely filling in those early years. 1989 is there now. Have a look at http://cityofdawson.com/category/klondike_sun

OpiniOns in the Sun LETTER to the Sun

Literary Society of the Klondike

Uffish Thoughts: Spreading the Democracy VirusDear Editor:

In Dawson City, Jack Fraser was known, he was respected and he had status.

Fraser was a trapper. He passed away earlier this month (Febru-ary), and like his peers before him, he leaves a significant hole in Dawson as well as in Yukon’s trapping community.

I met Fraser more than 30 years ago. As a young wildlife manager with the game branch, I quickly learned Yukon’s trapping com-munity had leaders in every town in the territory. People you wanted onside if you hoped to get lo-cal support for programs and/or regulations.

Fraser was the go-to person in Dawson City. That doesn’t mean he was always in agreement. You still had to do your homework. He had zero tolerance for poorly supported theories.

Fraser had a wealth of informa-tion on wildlife in the Klondike region. He kept detailed records of his observations on the land, of the animals he caught, tracks he encountered and weather condi-

By Dan Davidson

Back in 1996 Gwynne Dyer, whose columns often appear here, presented a six hour radio series called “Millennium” in which he discussed cultural change and put forth the idea that democracy was on an ascendant curve around the world. It didn’t seem to be an unlikely proposition. The Berlin Wall was down, the Soviet Union had fallen part, the Cold War had ended, most people had never heard of Osama bin Laden and American foreign policy had not yet entered the era of the Bush leagues.

His thesis, as clearly as I can remember it, was that the spread of global culture, boosted by the new communications technologies of that day, were making it impossible for nations to remain locked up by tyrants and tyrannical ideologies.

It was a tempting idea, but it didn’t allow for events like those of September 11, 2001, or the massive setbacks in world peace and security which followed that dreadful day.

One thing that was clear was that the government in China took this outbreak of liberty quite seriously and, when they saw that the Soviet

Union had collapsed, the Chinese leadership was determined that their empire should not follow that path. So when students and citizens in China were moved to the same sort of peaceful protest which brought down the Berlin Wall, the government there responded with military force.

We don’t know how many people were killed at the end of the seven weeks of protests in 1989. Estimates range from hundreds to many thousands. Twenty-two years later these events are hardly mentioned in the history taught in Chinese schools, but we need to remember them.

The government called out the army, and the army was willing to serve.

Now, here we are again, with what seems like a wave of protest movements rushing through the Middle East with the tenacity of the H1N1 flu virus. Events in Tunisia and Egypt have led to regime change in ways that George W. Bush could only fantasize about, and protests are continuing in Iran and Yemen.

A lot of this has been spurred on and organized through the use of social media, which have proliferated far beyond

the fledgling Internet that Dyer cited in his radio series. Instant messaging, Facebook and even that haven for short attention spans, Twitter, have been called to serve the protesters, and have answered the call, serving as vectors for the democratic virus to such an obvious extent that

embattled governments have tried to shut them down.

In China, the effective antibody to the virus was to call out the military. That has been tried in the current round of protests, but so far the military have refused to answer the call in any effective way. In Egypt they even went so far as to state publically that they would not serve in this manner.

The current crop of pro-democracy movements may seem strange to us. How do we understand a protest movement that is happy to allow the military to take over the government, as has happened in Egypt? Yet that kind of thing may well be the path that has to be taken in order

to prepare the social culture of the nation for democracy, a plant that is not native to the region and does not transplant well. It needs to develop on its own.

Not sure about this? Look at what has happened to the attempts made by the US and the “coalition of the willing “ in Iraq after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. The transplant hasn’t taken and

the receiving body doesn’t know what to do with it. Things are hardly any better in Afghanistan, where NATO forces have installed a government that has little authority outside the urban protected zones.

Democracy needs a culturally relevant milieu in order to thrive, and those nations just don’t have it.

Maybe Tunisia and Egypt will be receptive to democratic change, but the governments they come up with may not look a lot like the one we have.

Then there’s the problem of the military. Will the government of Iran hesitate to call out the troops? Who will the ayatollahs and mullahs support in such a case? If this spreads to Saudi Arabia, what will the House of Saud do to protect itself? Will the Libyans finally tire of 69 year old Colonel Gaddafi, who has been in power much longer than Egypt’s 83 year old Mubarak, and stage their own protests?

It’s been an interesting few weeks, that’s for sure. I wonder what comes next?

(Note: I wrote this before things started to unravel in Libya and Iran.)


LETTER to the Sun

This free public service helps our readers find their way through the many activites all over town. Any small happening may need preparation and planning, so let us know in

good time! To join this listing contact Tara Borin at [email protected].

Klondike Institute of Art and Culture (KIAC) - Odd Gallery: Mon. - Fri. 11 am - 5 pm Sat noon - 5pm. Visit www.kiac.ca for current exhibitions and programming infor-mation. Film Fest Selection Mondays & Wednesdays, Nov. 8th - Feb. 28th 2011, in the KIAC classroom: Help choose films to be screened at the 2011 Short Film Fest. Just show up, or contact Dan at 993-5005/[email protected] Upcoming Concerts - Feb. 25th, David Friesen. Doors @ 7:30, starts @ 8 p.m. Tickets available at KIAC. March 6th, Trio Accord. More info TBA.

Northern Songs and Stories - Feb. 24th, 7:30 p.m. at the Dӓnojà Zho Cultural Center. Free admission!

Trek Over the Top - March 3rd-6th, March 10th-13th. Contact [email protected] for more information.

Thaw-Di-Gras - March 17th-20th. We’re almost there! Contact [email protected] for more information.

Dawson Curling Club - The ice is in! Team nights every Tues. Drop-in curling Mon/Wed/Thurs. Any skill level welcome! For info call 993-6262 or visit www.dawsoncurl-ing.blogspot.com

Dawson City Rec Department - Drop-in Badminton Mondays in the RSS Gymna-sium Families from 6:15-7:15 p.m., Adults from 7:15-8:30 p.m. Fitness Classes Mon, Wed and Fri 5:30-6:30 p.m. in the Ancillary Room. $2 drop-in fee or $25/6 weeks. For more information on these and other available programs, please contact the Rec Depart-ment, 993-2353

Dawson City Museum Theatre - Please see www.dcmmovies.blogspot.com for up-coming show titles.

Westminster Hotel - Barnacle Bob in the Tavern, Thurs. - Sat. nights, 4-8. In the lounge this month: Friday nights, the Greasy Band, Saturday nights featuring Harmonica George. Music starts at 10 p.m.

Dawson City Chamber of Commerce - Regular meetings 2nd Wed. of each month. Dawson City Community Library - Open Mon - Fri, noon to 6:30. Reading by Berton

House Writer-in-residence Sara Tilley: Wed. March 9, 7 p.m.Conservation Klondike Society Depot Hours - Sat, Sun, Mon, Wed: 1-5 pm, Tues: 3-7

pm. Donations of refundables may be left on the deck during off hours. Info: 993-6666

WHAT TO SEE AND DO IN DAWSON NOW

Dear Editor:

In Dawson City, Jack Fraser was known, he was respected and he had status.

Fraser was a trapper. He passed away earlier this month (Febru-ary), and like his peers before him, he leaves a significant hole in Dawson as well as in Yukon’s trapping community.

I met Fraser more than 30 years ago. As a young wildlife manager with the game branch, I quickly learned Yukon’s trapping com-munity had leaders in every town in the territory. People you wanted onside if you hoped to get lo-cal support for programs and/or regulations.

Fraser was the go-to person in Dawson City. That doesn’t mean he was always in agreement. You still had to do your homework. He had zero tolerance for poorly supported theories.

Fraser had a wealth of informa-tion on wildlife in the Klondike region. He kept detailed records of his observations on the land, of the animals he caught, tracks he encountered and weather condi-

tions at the time. Keeping a written record is not uncommon for trap-pers, but Fraser is the only Yukon trapper I know who organized his observations and presented his theories on furbearer popula-tion cycles to a very appreciative gathering of professional biolo-gists at an international wildlife symposium. From the reception he received, there was no doubting the value of local knowledge of a lifetime spent on the land.

Fraser was very much aware of his responsibility, and that of his profession, for animal welfare. He cared. He embraced new technol-ogy. He encouraged training, not only for new trappers, but for veterans as well.

And with the respect he had, he could fill a community meeting with trappers, even the skeptics. He knew the world was watching, and he knew he had every reason to be proud.

Fraser was also a placer miner, but, first and foremost, he was a father and grandfather. Nothing pleased him more than to have his family involved in the lifestyle he loved. Combining his trapline with

that of his wife, Fraser convinced government to establish the first family group trapline, a designa-tion historically reserved for First Nation communities. Each and every member of the family was a member of this new group trapline, and they couldn’t have had a better teacher and spokesperson.

One of Fraser’s legacies is the Dawson City Fur Show held every two years. Fraser wanted an occa-sion for trappers to get together, share stories and trade secrets and engage in a little friendly competi-tion.

He also wanted an opportunity for people, perhaps less familiar with trapping, to experience, first-hand, something of Canada’s founding industry, and the dedica-tion and pride of the folks who are still very much engaged. It is a much anticipated event by trappers and nontrappers alike.

I know Fraser will be on the minds of the organizers and at-tendees of the fur show, scheduled for March 26 this year.

I regret I can’t be there in person, but I will be there in spirit. Change is inevitable, and not all of it is bad, but I am saddened nonetheless by the passage of a time and era de-fined by people like Fraser.

Harvey JessupWhitehorse

Remembering Jack Fraser


in OUR community

To our many friends in Dawson City, we want to say thank you for everything you have done for us following our loss of Tim. The support phone calls, the flower arrangements, the casseroles, trays of sweets, the pizzas, the lovely cards, the donations and dropping by our home for a visit.

We have so many happy memories while

in Dawson City and they will live on forever. Tim touched so many lives and enjoyed every moment he had with us.

We want to thank all the people who traveled

so far to be with us – Dawson City, Vancouver, Phoenix, Hawaii, Chauvin, Provost, Edmonton, Grand Prairie and Prince George.

We want to thank Father Jim from the

Sacred Heart Cathedral and Chris and Krystal at the Heritage North funeral home for being so helpful and being so caring and ensuring our needs were met.

Thanks go out to the Pallbearers and

Honorary Pallbearers, Mel Angeltvedt, Chad Thirsk, Mike Taylor, Andy Buck, Wayne Braga, Trevor Castgner, Peter Nagano, Jim VanDusen, Kevin Gammie, Graydon Greenlaw, Dave Irvine and Chad Sjodin.

Tim was predeceased by his Grandfather

Alois, Grandmother Lucie, Grandfather Ernest and Uncle John and Bertha. He leaves behind his wife Richelle, children Shayla, Kyle and Taylor, Mother Linda, Father Jim, Brother Brian, Tracie and their Children Tyler and Kara, Grandmother Mary and Uncle Bill, numerous Aunts, Uncles and Cousins.

The Bierlmeier Families

By Olivia Holmesfor The Class of ‘99

On Heritage Day Weekend the members of Robert Service School’s Grade 6 class spent their time raising money for the Bierlmeier Kids’ College Fund. Shayla (age 10), Kyle (age 8), and Taylor (age 5) lost their fa-ther, Tim Bierlmeier, in a tragic accident earlier this year.

Every year our class fundraises around Valentine’s Day for a good cause. We volunteered at both Bonanza Market and the Dawson City General Store helping with stocking shelves, returning carts, and bagging groceries as our Fundraiser. The reason why we chose the Bierlmeier family is

Kids Helping Kids by Packing Groceriesbecause a lot of our Dawson lo-cals were great friends with him. Although he eventually moved to Whitehorse to live and work, Tim was a student at Robert Service School from Kindergarten to Grade 12.

On behalf of our Class we thank everyone who gave money donations. We thank the owners and staff of The Dawson City General Store and Bonanza Mar-ket for supporting our fundraiser; our teacher, Mrs. Dewell, for giving us the time and support to organize the fundraiser; and our parents, who contributed in many ways. We are proud to say that we raised just over $2,800.

(Ed. Note: The Grad Class of 2017 has chosen to call itself after the year they were born.)

Grade 6 poses to celebrate their effort. The amount shown on the “cheque” below is $100.00 less that the actual amount raised. Some more money was donated after the

photo was taken. Raising money for a good cause is an annual event with this group.


in OUR community Last week famed musical group Luther Wright and the Wrongs came

up to Dawson on tour. While here, they were hired by “Artists in Schools” and the “North Klondike Highway Association” to work at Robert Service School. On the 24th and 25th of January they met with Grades K through 5, as well as as Grade 7, speaking about the importance and joy of music. The idea was to inspire a new generation of musicians, and it seems to have been very suc-cesful. The Grade 5’s managed to write an entire song! Luther and his fellow musicians also spoke to the highschool multi-media class. The musical group had a lot of experience in running websites and using multimedia to promote their music, and they wanted to pass that knowledge along before they left. The multi-media kids learned a lot, and had a lot of fun too! Overall, having Luther Wright and the Wrongs come into the school was a great experience for everyone involved. (submitted by Multi-Media 11/12)

Photo credit to Multi-Media 11/12. Story from The Sourdough

RSS Gets some of the “Wrong Stuff”

More signs of a hoped-for Spring. It’s not safe to walk beside the General Store, for fear of snow sliding off the roof. Is it possible that it might be getting warmer after all? Photo by Dan Davidson.


Bookendsby Dan Davidson

TR’ONDËK HWËCH’IN PLEASED WITH CARIBOU NUMBERS, DISAPPOINTED WITH YUKON ESTIMATES

By Dan Davidson Forests of the HeartBy Charles de LintTOR Books397 pages$17.95

There are places where we feel at home, what some call our for-ests of the heart. This book is about discovering such places and what the lack of one can do to you.

As is often the case with Charles de Lint, there are several central characters in this novel. Some of them are good people; some of them are people who have taken a wrong turn in life; some are vil-lains, but they have their reasons.

The central characters on the side of the angels would be Bettina San Miguel, Ellie Jones, Hunter Cole, and Miki Greer. There are a number of others, and some of them even get chapters and seg-ments from their points of view, but these are central. These are the people who change the most in the course of the story.

Bettina is of mixed heritage - part Indio, part Mexican - who grew up near the western wild-

lands but has since relocated to Newford, a city where the boundaries between the mundane world and the other world seem to be thinner than most places. Actually Bettina’s heritage is more complex than that, but this is not something she knows

anything about until late in the story. Currently she is a artists’ model and a bit of a naturopath in an artist’s colony on the fringe of the city.

Ellie Jones is a sculptor who is making ends meet in the city,

but is frustrated by having to do commercial work instead of fol-lowing her muse. She is also a volunteer on the homeless patrol van. When she is asked to take on a special commission involving the recreation of an ancient talismanic mask she has the chance to live for a time at Kellygnow. It is there she meets Bettina.

Hunter Cole owns a music store in downtown Newford. He is at loose ends in his life, feeling himself a bit of a failure after his recent break-up. He will be tested in ways he could never have imag-ined – would not have allowed himself to imagine.

Miki Greer is one of his em-ployees, an accomplished Celtic musician who has an unfailingly sunny disposition in spite of the hardships in her childhood. All the bitterness seems to have been absorbed by her brother, Donal.

All of these people come into contact with the shape changing wolf-men known as the Gentry, descendants of Irish faerie folk who were stranded in the New World when they followed the people who believed in them in centuries past.

In de Lint’s version of the mys-

Looking for the Forests of the Heart

tical world, there are indigenous spirits everywhere. They live among us and we do not see them, because doing so would upset our rational view of reality. Those con-nected to European settler cultures live in our cities, while those who were native to this land own the remaining open spaces.

The Gentry, tired of being spirits in exile and hardly welcome to return from whence they came, would like to change all that. They have a plan to invoke the Green Man spirit of the earth, control it, and use it to usurp ownership from the native spirits.

This is the plot within which our central characters interact, grow, and discover their own forests of the heart before the story is done.

There are a number of mystery characters whose true nature becomes clear only after much speculation by others. There are mystical battles and a real struggle with an ice storm that is surely a recollection of the great ice storm of 1998. Though Newford is a sort of generic North American city, which now seems to be in the

United States, the original tem-plate was sort of an amalgam of Ottawa and a few other Canadian cities in that general area.

De Lint lives in Ottawa where he moonlights as a Celtic musician when he’s not writing. When he was very, very young, his father worked as an engineer on the Alaska Highway and the family briefly lived in Whitehorse.

I had thought I was keeping up with Charles de Lint, and hadn’t bothered to visit his website for a while. When I did, some months ago, I discovered a number of books I had not seen before, including this one, which came out in 2000. The difficulty with following de Lint from sporadic visits to actual bookstores is that his books don’t tend to get issued in mass-market format these days. All the recent ones have come out in the more prestigious, larger format trade paperbacks. TOR keeps them in print and it’s just a question of ordering from either your friendly bookstore or one of the online services.

No, they haven’t buried the Gazebo. It’s just hiding behind one of the massive piles of snow that were a feature of Front Street most of last week while crews began the task of avoiding a melt flood - even though that may be hard to imagine with the cold temperatures we’ve been having

for most of the last month. Photo by Dan Davidson


by Rheas Flanagan

You’re so artistic, you could be a part time student!

Yukon SOVA is currently accepting applications for fall 2011 studies. Are you interested in fine tuning your paint brush strokes but unable to commit to full time studies? Maybe you should consider taking classes part time! This week’s column is profiling Angela Bonnicci, a part time student at SOVA.

Gurl, where you from?

I’m originally from Pe-terborough, ON but I was living in Vancouver before coming up here.

Why SOVA?

When I decided to spend the winter I thought it would be a good idea to take a few courses to help keep me from slacking off all winter.

Did you have previous in-terest in the arts before coming to SOVA?

Before coming up here I completed the first year of the Studio Arts Program at Capilano University in North Vancouver. And before that I was a makeup artist for five years.

What are your plans for after SOVA?

I’m going to head back to Van-couver and continue at Capilano this fall.

What’s your medium of choice?

Painting.

Do you have a theme or recur-ring subject in your work?

In my school work, not really, because we’re always doing some-

thing new, something that I haven’t necessarily done before. So in that case the subject changes depending on the project.

In my own work, yeah, in a way. The paintings I’m working on now and

most of the ones I’ve done in the past are non-representa-tional and I use circles a lot. I generally get to the point in a painting when I think that the only thing I need to do to finish it off is throw on a bunch of circles.

What’s your art philoso-phy?

My art philosophy in rela-tion to my own work is to go with the flow. I think when you’re developing yourself artistically it’s important to not judge your ideas and just go for it.

Are there any artists that influence you?

I’ve always liked Kandinsky, especially his really geomet-rical stuff. Even though we

have different reasons for painting abstractly, his work makes me feel more comfortable with my own. An-other person I like is Julie Mehretu. She does huge, abstract prints and paintings that are amazing.

Eye on SOVA

dawson city, yukon

The Yukon School of Visual Arts (SOVA) offers a progressive, holistic and integrated first-year art school curriculum supported by renowned faculty, an international visiting artist program, state of the art equipment and facilities, custom designed studio spaces, low tuition fees and small class sizes. Fully accredited through Yukon College, graduates from the SOVA program earn transferable credit towards a BFA degree at Canada’s top art schools including the Alberta College of Art and Design, Emily Carr University of Art and Design, NSCAD University, OCAD University as well as other partnering institutions.

First selection deadline For Fall 2011: March 31867.993.6390 [email protected]

yukonsova.ca

Foundation year prograMdawson city, yukon

DAWSON CITY (Press Release) – The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in are pleased the latest Porcupine cari-bou census conducted by Alas-kan wildlife managers indicates a healthy herd.But the actual number, 169,000, is far from the estimate of 90,000 Yukon Government used when defending hunting restrictions for First Nations people.“The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in believe a conservative approach to cari-bou management is reasonable, but herd numbers were grossly underestimated by Yukon Gov-ernment officials,” said Chief

Eddie Taylor. “Those estimates were used to enact measures that impacted our Aboriginal harvest rights and strained relationships among user groups.

“Yukon was off by nearly 80,000 animals,” continued Taylor. “This miscalculation makes it difficult to rely on any future data provided by the Yukon Government.”Taylor noted the Porcupine Cari-bou Harvest Management Plan will ensure future decisions regard-ing hunting restrictions will not be as reactive as those implemented by the Yukon Government. More robust performance indicators and traditional knowledge will be in-corporated into decisions about the herd. Parties to the plan in-clude territorial, First Nations and Canadian governments.


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MARCH 4, 2011


DAWSON CITY – The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in are pleased the latest Porcupine caribou

census conducted by Alaskan wildlife managers indicates a healthy herd.

But the actual number, 169,000, is far from the estimate of 90,000 Yukon Government

used when defending hunting restrictions for First Nations people.

“The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in believe a conservative approach to caribou management is

reasonable, but herd numbers were grossly underestimated by Yukon Government

officials,” said Chief Eddie Taylor. “Those estimates were used to enact measures that

impacted our Aboriginal harvest rights and strained relationships among user groups.

“Yukon was off by nearly 80,000 animals,” continued Taylor. “This miscalculation

makes it difficult to rely on any future data provided by the Yukon Government.”

Taylor noted the Porcupine Caribou Harvest Management Plan will ensure future

decisions regarding hunting restrictions will not be as reactive as those implemented by

the Yukon Government. More robust performance indicators and traditional knowledge

will be incorporated into decisions about the herd. Parties to the plan include territorial,

First Nations and Canadian governments.

-30-

Contact:

Chief Eddie Taylor Darren Taylor

Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Director, Natural Resources

(867) 993-7100 Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in

(867) 993-7145


By Justine Davidson, Whitehorse Star on February 23, 2011

A Dawson City landowner who promised to fix up his dilapidated – and historically valuable – prop-erties once his legal troubles were settled has been sent back to trial by the B.C. Court of Appeal.

That has left Dawson residents wondering when the crumbling buildings will be repaired.

Mike Palma either owns or is the agent for numbered corporations which own a number of prominent properties in the Klondike town.

Those include the historic bank where Robert Service once worked, a large hotel and restaurant at the entrance of town, and an apart-ment building across from Robert Service School.

The crumbling state of the bank where the Yukon’s famous poet worked as a teller has been a long-standing sore spot for the Klondike Visitors’ Association (KVA) and community members.

The restaurant – Amica’s – and the apartment building are both re-quired to meet the ever-increasing seasonal housing needs of the “second gold rush” happening in the territory.

“I think there is a strong con-sensus there is an increasingly urgent need to do something with the building,” KVA director Gary Parker said this week of the aban-doned bank on Front Street.

“... It is getting older and becom-

ing an eyesore, and what that does is it invites more of a discussion around the community about what to do with it.”

Much of that dialogue has cen-tered on the fact the building is privately owned, so there is not much the town, visitors’ associa-tion nor the chamber of commerce can do about it.

Meanwhile, the chamber and the town’s administration are keen to get Palma’s other properties back up to code and on the rental market.

“It’s quite prominent as you come into town,” Olesh said of Amica’s. “Also, it’s a large space, so if a company came in, they could conceivably use the hotel to house their employees.”

The apartments across from the school, which are uninhabitable in their current state, would be a wel-come addition the town’s perma-nent housing stock, Olesh said.

When the Star spoke to Palma’s former lawyer, Frank Calandra, more than a year ago, he indicated his client would be attending to his Dawson properties once his legal battle was over. Apart from some scaffolding put up around the bank, however, nothing seems to have been done since.

“I’m not aware of any next steps, and I suspect there are none,” Parker said of Palma’s plans for his properties.

He noted there was some talk about the CIBC helping to restore the bank, but those conversations

never produced any significant results. There would also be heri-tage grant money available for a restoration project, Parker said, but he has not heard of any movement on that front either.

Both the apartments and the hotel/restaurant have been empty for at least five years, according to the town’s fire chief, who said he is in regular contact with Palma or a caretaker to ensure the proper-ties do not become a public safety concern.

Palma is presumably distracted by the fact he is being sued by the Insurance Corp. of British Colum-bia for alleged fraud, conversion and witness tampering in connec-tion with an insurance fraud ring.

The government-owned insurer claims Palma was part of a scheme whereby a person would falsely report his vehicle stolen, collect the insurance money, then either change the vehicle identification number and move it to another ju-risdiction or dismantle it and install the parts on other vehicles.

In 2009, a B.C. Supreme Court judge dismissed the case against Palma, saying that although his Surrey, B.C. property was clearly used as a chop shop for the “stolen” vehicles, there was no evidence Palma knew what was happening there.

Another Yukon resident, Joe Suska, was named as a major player in the scam. The same judge who exonerated Palma found Suska liable for extensive insur-ance fraud.

Once the trial was over, the judge awarded Palma special costs. He said the insurance company acted in a “reprehen-sible, scandalous or outrageous” way when it ac-cused Palma of m a n i p u l a t i n g witnesses.

But both rul-ings were thrown out earlier this month, and the B.C. Court of Appeal ordered a new trial – mean-ing Palma’s le-gal troubles have started anew.

T h e a p p e a l court judges also said the new trial should include evidence alleging Palma or some-one acting in his interests called a witness and convinced her to change her testi-mony to protect Palma.

The Star was unable to reach Palma or his cur-rent legal counsel for comment on this story.

Dawson property owner’s legal troubles rekindled Movie Nights in Dawson CityStory & Photos By Dan Davidson

In spite of its evolving cultural significance as the home of the Yukon School of Visual Arts and the Dawson City Short Film Festival, one of the things Dawson does lack is a movie theatre. There hasn’t been one since the Orpheum on Front Street was heavily damaged in the flood of 1979 and while there have been nibbles of interest over time, that lack has never been fully replaced.

Some people are trying however. The Klondike Institute of Arts and Culture has a large ballroom in the

Oddfellows Hall and the equipment used for the short film festival. Each winter it holds the KIAC Film Series, an effort sponsored by a number of local businesses - MacKenzie Petroleum, Klondike Kate’s Cabins and Restaurants, Jimmy’s Place Video & Convenience, The Raven’s Nook - and the Yukon Film Society.

The offerings there on Thursday nights are not, for the most part, the-atrical releases, but can, nonetheless, be quite entertaining.

A recent offering was Look at What the Light Did Now, a documentary about Canadian singer/songwriter Feist. Coming up soon are A Drum-mer’s Dream, a documentary about drummers by John Walker, and The Man of a Thousand Songs, William McGillvray’s profile of singer/songwriter Ron Hynes.

At the Dawson City Museum there’s an audio-visual room, used in the summer for programming related to the museum. In the winter, something else is happening. Thanks to the nice chairs provided by Holland-America for the comfort of their clients, and the recent improvements to the view-ing screen, the museum is comfy place to watch a movie on weekends.

It started a couple of years back with classic flicks, but now that Daw-son’s cable system runs Turner Classic Movies, the museum has upgraded to colour, obtained the proper licensing and moved forward in time.

Recently the room was full of Dawsonites watching The King’s Speech on Saturday and Sunday evenings. Usually there’s a matinee for kids. Coming up soon on March 12 and 13 will be The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawson Treader and The Fighter. A week later the fare will be Finding Nemo and Tron Legacy, one older film and one new one.

Museum director Laura Mann says some of the older movies are great family draws. Even though a lot of people probably own VHS or DVD copies of The Little Mermaid, the theater was packed for both matinees when it showed that one earlier this winter.

All of which proves that, no matter how good your home entertain-ment system, there’s nothing quite like going to the movies with other people.

The ballroom at the Oddfellows Hall is ready for

movie night.

Museum Director Laura Mann shows off the movie room.


Crime Prevention and Victim Services Trust FundThe Board of Trustees of the Crime Prevention and Victim Services Trust Fund welcomes funding proposals from groups and organizations that are interested in providing community-based crime prevention and victim services.

Proposals will be considered by the Board of Trustees for projects that assist communities to:•provide services to support victims of offences;•reduce the incidence of crime;•address the root cause of criminal behaviour;•prevent violence against women and children;•publicize information about how crime can be prevented and how people can protect themselves from being victimized and;•provide information about the needs of victims and about services that can be offered to victims of offences.

Application forms are available from the Yukon Department of Justice and all Yukon government territorial agents or download at www.funding.gov.yk.ca.

For more information or to obtain a funding application, contact Shauna Clare at 867-667-5492. Outside Whitehorse call 1-800-661-0408 ext. 5492.

The deadline for proposals is April 1, 2011.

Justice

Memories of Dawson’s Hockey Day

student design from the RSS Sourdough

Northwestel Upgrades Yukon Voice Mail

Northwestel increased the quality of their voice mail service by completing the Yukon portion of a $1.6 million voice mail improvement project. The Yukon voice mail service is now operating on a new soft ware system.

“The changes were made to ensure that we can continue to offer our customers the highest quality service possible,” said Paul Flaherty, President and CEO of Northwestel. “We appreci-ate the patience our voice mail customers have shown during this upgrading process.”

This replacement project is part of Northwestel’s ongoing efforts to improve, upgrade and expand the services available in the Yukon. Voice mail service is available in most Yukon communities.

There is one change to customers as a result of this replace-ment. Now, to access a voice mail box from a phone number other than the one connected to that box, customers must dial in to the voice mail system and, when prompted, enter both the area code and voice mail box number. This means custom-ers will now need to enter ten digits rather than the previous seven.

Northwestel provides complete telecommunications solu-tions and entertainment services in the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon, northern British Columbia and High Level, Alberta. The company’s operations span nearly 4 million square kilometres of the most remote and rugged areas of Canada.

For more information, contact:

Sunny Patch Corporate Communications Manager. Northwestel

(867) 455-4245 [email protected]

Or visit our website at www.nwtel.ca.


WRITERS’ TRUST IS SENDING CANADIAN AUTHORS NORTH:

Future Berton House Writers-in-Residence Named January 19, 2011 – The Writers’ Trust of Canada announces four writers

who will take up residency in the Berton House Writers’ Retreat during the 2011-12 year. Each writer will travel to Dawson City, Yukon, to live and work for three months in the childhood home of Pierre Berton.

“The Writers’ Trust is proud to welcome these four talented authors to Dawson City to work on projects that we know will delight and inform Canadian readers in the coming years,” said Peter Kahnert, Writers’ Trust Chair and Senior Vice President, Raymond James Ltd. “Berton House provides writers with a unique sanctuary to enjoy a brief respite in the old homestead of Pierre Berton, where they can re-energize and refocus their efforts to produce more great books.”

The writers selected are: Jacob McArthur Mooney (July to September 2011)Mooney’s second collection of poetry, Folk, is forthcoming from

McClelland & Stewart in March 2011. A Nova Scotian now living in Toronto, he writes the poetry blog Vox Populism. He intends to work on a new collection of poems and a novel that he has “been chasing for over two years now.”

Manjushree Thapa (October to December 2011)Manjushree Thapa was born in Nepal and grew up in Canada and the

United States. She is the author of six books including a work of literary reportage, Forget Kathmandu: An Elegy for Democracy and the novel Seasons of Flight. Thapa will be working on a novel “with a Canadian protagonist who was adopted, as an infant, from Nepal.”

Hannah Moscovitch (January to March 2012)Dubbed “the wunderkind of Canadian theatre” by CBC Radio, Mos-

covitch is a playwright best known for her award-winning plays East of Berlin and The Russian Play. An Ottawa-native, she “will use the Berton House retreat to develop a play that’s not tied to the agenda or timeframe of any particular theatre, and to spend some time reconnecting to why [she is] writing.”

Tim Falconer (April to June 2012)The author of three non-fiction books, most recently That Good Night:

Ethicists, Euthanasia and End-of-Life Care, Falconer is an award-winning magazine writer who teaches at Ryerson University. He intends to “use the time [at Berton House] to work on a book about music – singing, actually.”

About the Selection ProcessThe program received 62 applications from writers across the country.

The applicants were assessed by a three-member committee: Charlotte Gray, a past writer-in-residence and Ottawa-based biographer and his-torian; Lulu Keating, a Dawson City-based screenwriter; and Carmine Starnino, a past writer-in-residence and Montreal-based poet, essayist, and editor.

About the Berton House Writers’ RetreatCreated in 1996, Berton House provides a three-month residency for

writers in a Dawson City home. Writers receive a monthly honorarium, perform public readings, and are encouraged to become involved with the community. Professional Canadian writers who have published at least one book and are established in any creative literary discipline (including fiction, non-fiction, poetry, play/screenwriting, and journal-ism) are eligible. Funding for the program comes from the Berton House Writers’ Retreat Society, chaired by Elsa Franklin; additional support is provided by the Canada Council for the Arts, Dawson City Community Library, Klondike Visitors Association, Aeroplan, City of Dawson, Ran-dom House of Canada, and the Whitehorse Public Library. The Writers’ Trust administers the Berton House Writers’ Retreat program. For further information visit bertonhouse.ca.

The house is currently occupied by Sara Tilley, a novelist from St. John’s. Jeanne Randolph, a cultural theorist from Winnipeg, will begin her residency in April.

About the Writers’ Trust of CanadaThe Writers’ Trust of Canada is a charitable organization that supports

Canadian writers and writing through programs, including literary awards, financial grants, scholarships, and the Berton House Writers’ Retreat. Canada’s writers receive more financial support from the Writers’ Trust than from any other non-governmental organization or foundation in the country. For further information visit writerstrust.com.

(February 22, 2011) - Best-selling nonfiction writer Howard Blum will be the keynote speaker of the second annual North Words Writers Symposium in Skagway, Alaska on June 1-4, 2011.

Blum, whose new book The Floor of Heaven is being launched by Crown Publishing in April, will join several recognized authors from the 49th State including Heather Lende, Seth Kantner, John Straley, Deb Vanasse, Kim Heacox, and current Alaska Writer Laureate Peggy Shumaker.

Blum has previously published seven nonfiction books and one novel, including the New York Times bestsellers American Light-ning, Wanted!, The Gold of Exodus, and Gangland. Blum is currently a contributing editor at Vanity Fair, has written for the Atlantic, Harp-er’s, and Rolling Stone, and while at the New York Times was twice nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting. He lives in Connecticut. His new book has special significance for Alaska-Yukon, as it follows three figures from the Klondike Gold Rush.

Other 2011 panelists include screenwriter David Hunsaker, Alaska magazine managing editor Tim Woody, and regional writer-historians Daniel Henry and Jeff Brady, along with conference coordinator Buckwheat Donahue of the Skagway Convention and Visitors Bureau.

In addition to engaging in panel discussions about writing and publishing, registered symposium participants will get to travel to Lake Bennett on the White Pass & Yukon Route and participate in other activities in and around his-toric Skagway and nearby Dyea.

Registration is now open on the symposium website, www.nw-writerss.com. A maximum of 50 participants will be accepted for this year’s symposium.

The event is sponsored by the Skagway CVB with generous support from Alaska Magazine, The Skagway News Co., and Sgt. Preston’s Lodge.

About SkagwaySkagway is a study in contrast

and survival. Our roots date back to when the coastal Tlingit Indians of Southeast Alaska first used the area 10,000 years ago as a trading route to the Yukon interior. They called it “place of the bunched up water (from the wind).” A few white settlers followed in the 1800s, but there were few visitors here until the Klondike Gold Rush hit in 1897-98. Skagway was the focus of the world as the primary jumping off point for nearly 100,000 stam-peders bent on reaching the gold fields in the Yukon. This rollicking event shaped the future of the north as we know it today.

Howard Blum to keynote North Words Writers SymposiumRegistration now available online for second annual writers conference in Skagway,

Alaska on June 1-4, 2011Skagway is not just about its sto-

ried past. It’s a small community at heart that survived with the chang-ing winds – and it does blow here often. The White Pass & Yukon Route railroad outlasted the gold rush and other booms and bust of the past century. Now instead of hauling freight and supplies to the Yukon, it hauls more than 300,000 visitors a year. The town is also the headquarters for Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. Established in 1976, the park has preserved many of the town’s gold rush buildings, maintains the historic Chilkoot Trail, and is a vast cultural resource. The town also has several museums and authentic historical attractions, as well as many wilderness adventure tours that take you out of town and into the mountains at our doorstep.

Over the past 35 years, Skag-way’s tourism has grown, and with it the number of artists and writers in the community. The first NWWS symposium in 2010 was a great success, and the community is ready to host it again.

For more information on reg-istration, panel topics, schedule, and planned activities: www.nwwriterss.com

Conference contact:

Buckwheat Donahue, 907-983-2854 or [email protected]

Comes the Ice AgeFebruary brought us the annual closure of Mary McLeod Road, cut off to regular vehicle traffic by the advancing glacier, which seems to form differently each year. Still open to pedestrians (cleats recommended), ATVs and snow machines,

this mess would be treacherous travelling for anything else. Photo by Dan Davidson


Story and PhotosBy Dan Davidson

The Northern Songs and Sto-ries trio of John K. Samson, Chris-tine Fellows and Nicole Bauberger hit the road in Pelly Crossing on February 22, commencing a road trip that took them to Old Crow, Mayo and Whitehorse before they were done. On February 24, however, they were in Dawson City, performing at the Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre to a packed house.

Fellows and Samson have been in Dawson since the beginning of the month, songwriters-in-residence at Mccauley House for the Dawson City Music Festival’s program. He has played the DCMF with his band, The Weakerthans.

Bauberger served a stint at Mccauley House as part of the Klondike Institute of Art and Cul-ture’s program some years ago, and has been in and out of Dawson ever since.

Samson led off the concert with “One Great City (I Hate Winni-

peg)” a Weakerthans’ standard. “He doesn’t mean it,” said his

wife, Christine, who moved imme-diately into “Dragonfly”, the first of two tunes from her own latest album, Femmes de Chez Nous.

They traded songs back and forth, with Bauberger filling in on flute and background vocals until it was her turn to take center stage to tell a tale.

Her first story was a horror story about a woman who became a ghastly skeleton, a tale she had first heard at a storytelling festival in Toronto. It inspires quite a bit of squirming from her audience, especially the younger ones.

The second half of the concert was much like the first, except that Fellows and Samson, apparently a little turbo-prop lagged from the previous day’s aunt to Old Crow, had to prompt each other on some of the words to each other’s songs.

“Maybe it was crossing the Arctic Circle,” Samson suggested before trying out one of the new songs he had been writing while in town. Another song, he said, had

been giving him a lot of trouble.“I’ve been trying to find a

rhyme for ‘master’s thesis’”Various members of the audi-

ence shouted “Reese’s pieces,” “crackers and cheeses”.

“I came up with ‘new releases’, ‘curtain’s creases’ and ‘smashed to pieces’,” Samson said.

Samson’s newest song was “Letter in Icelandic from the Ninette San” about a patient in a tuberculosis sanatorium, which compares the experience to events in the Icelandic Sagas. The patient

knows he is dying and writes to his children, telling them to look after their mother and to, “stand up straight in the place that you’re longing for and don’t write to me anymore.”

Bauberger’s second story was a much more pleasant tale about a hippopotamus which got every-thing it had ever wanted. It has a surprising ending.

Two more songs and this enjoy-able concert was over, except that the audience wasn’t having any of that and demanded an encore.

Northern Songs and Stories on the RoadThis was Samson’s “Petition”, a description of the career of hockey player Reggie Leach, in the actual language of the petition set to mu-sic (“Whereas Reggie Leach was born and played his minor hockey back in our home town. The Rifle fired his first 500 here, then slapped his way into the NHL.”) with its chorus/background chant of “We, the undersigned, put forth his name, to the Hockey Hall of Fame.”

It was a fine show, and the audi-ence was most appreciative.

John K. Samson, Nicole Bauberger and Christine Fellows on stage at the Dänojà Zho Cultural Centre.

Christine Fellows makes a point to her husband. John K. Samson complains about his hometown.

Nicole Bauberger tells a spooky story.

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CYFT 106.9 FM: Dawson City Community Radio

“The Spirit of Dawson”

Tune your dial to 106.9 FM or Cable Channel 11 (Rolling Ads) in Dawson City,or listen live over the internet at www.cfyt.ca!

Thursday, March 10th

5:00-6:00 Jorn- Training Day6:00-7:00 Aaron- Fill In Like A Lion7:00-8:00 Rosie and Capri- Queens of Dawson City9:00-10:00 Ben- Party Time Machine

Friday, March 11th

3:00-5:00 John- On The John5:00-6:00 Tara- Tara’s Show6:00-8:00 Aaron- Old Fashioned Gumption8:00-9:00 Sonny Boy Williams- Rockin’ Blues Show9:00-10:00 Jim- Psychedelic

Saturday, March 12th

10:00-12:00 Jason- Foxy’s Breakfast12:00-2:00 Simon- The Story Hour2:00-3:00 Steve and Nathan- Sports Talk Radio3:00-4:00 Freddie- The Howling Revivalists Hour Of Power4:00-5:00 Tim and Megan- Nuggets5:00-7:00 Molly - Shore ’nuff7:00-9:00 Jen- The Cave of Spleen

Sunday, March 13th

12:00-1:00 Mike- The City Mic1:00-2:00 CKLB- The Ends of the Earth2:00-3:00 Julie- Francopen3:00-4:00 Various Hosts- Yukon SOVA Radio Program4:00-6:00 Matt and Aubyn- Diff’rent Strokes6:00-8:00 Kit- Meat and Potatoes8:00-10:00 Ben and Brendan- The Kings of Dawson City

Name of DJ: Simon CrelliName of Show: The Story HoursDay and time the show airs: Saturdays, 12 – 2pmOn CFYT since: 2007 (with a break in 2008)

Description of your show: Reading stories, such as Treasure Island, Kid-napped, and The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson. Also short stories, such as those by Patrick McManus.

Genres of music typically played on your show: Classical, Celtic, Irish

Who are some of your favourite musicians?: Beethoven, Mark O’Connor, Handel, Tchaikovsky

What do you like best about being on CFYT?: Reading for people, playing music—sharing, in other words.

What has been your favourite on-air moment?: When someone calls me up and says he/she likes the story; reading a good story.

What do you do when you’re not on the air?: Teach violin, mush dogs, hike, practice violin.

Check the CFYT schedule in the Klondike Sun or at http://cfyt.ca for the next edition of The Story Hours.

Name of DJ: Aaron BurnieName of Show: Old Fashioned GumptionDay and time the show airs: Fridays, 6-8pmOn CFYT since: 2005

Description of your show: Each week, tune in for unique observations on the songs that influenced the songs your children are listening to today. No guff, just good tunes.

Genres of music typically played on your show: Southern American, British Isles and Canadian Folk, Singer-Songwriter, Lonesome Country, 50s-60s Pop

What are some of your current favourite albums?: Laurie Spiegel – The Expanding Universe, Es – Kesämaan Lapset, John Cale – Fear, Wade Hemsworth – Folk Songs of the Canadian North Woods

What are your top 5 “desert island” albums?: Townes Van Zandt – Kitchen Album, Fleetwood Mac – Rumours, Michael Hurley & Pals – Armchair Boogie, Neil Young – Harvest, Bonnie “Prince” Billy – Sings Greatest Palace Music

What do you like best about being on CFYT?: Being a part of a team of some of the most consistent volunteers in Dawson City.

What has been your favourite on-air moment?: Inter-viewing Thor by phone from Vancouver.

What do you do when you’re not on the air?: Count down 166 hours until my next show. Oh, and at least once a week I’m perfecting my soup recipes.

Stay tuned at http://cfyt.ca for the upcoming Old Fash-ioned Gumption website.

In each issue of The Klondike Sun, we’ll be profiling programs on CFYT 106.9FM, Dawson’s community radio station. You can listen to CFYT on your FM radio, the DC TV Channel 11 Rolling Ads, and online at http://cfyt.ca. This issue, get to know Aaron Burnie of Old Fashioned Gumption and Simon Crelli of The Story Hour.

Dawson Regional Planning Commission Starts UpPRESS RELEASE - The Dawson Regional Planning Commission has taken a first step toward the production of a regional land use plan for the Dawson Region. The Commission held its inaugural meeting in Whitehorse in mid-February, where it was decided that an office should be set up in Dawson City as quickly as possible. The Commission seeks to have meaningful interaction with residents and other stakeholders within the region. The Commission believes that it will be impor-tant to have residents of the Dawson Region contribute their knowledge and experience about good land management practices so that land use conflicts can be avoided.

One of the first steps of the new Commission was the hiring of Jeff Hamm as full time Senior Planner. Mr. Hamm has worked extensively on both the North Yukon and Peel Watershed land use plans, and the Commission intends to draw on that experience in hopes of keeping on time and on budget, while still meeting the expectations of government and stakeholders for a rational, imple-mentable land use plan.

The Commission has three years to complete their recommended land use plan. The Commis-sion and staff will draw upon the experience and protocols of the previous planning exercises in the North Yukon and Peel regions and they are optimistic that completing a recommended land use plan by the end 2013 is a reasonable goal.

The Commission is a six-person board established under terms of First Nation Final Agree-ments. At the inaugural meeting Scott Casselman was selected as the first Chair of the Commission. The other members are Bill Bowie, Roger Ellis, Will Fellers, Chester Kelly and Steve Taylor.

The land use plan, prepared on behalf of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, Vuntut Gwitchin and Yukon governments, will consider issues such as mining and mineral exploration, renewable resource use, traditional uses, heritage and cultural significance, recreation and tourism. Until the Commission gets its feet on the ground in Dawson City, it is operating out of the offices of the Yukon Land Use Planning Council in Whitehorse.

Contact Information: Scott Casselman, Chair,Dawson Regional Planning Commissionc/o Yukon Land Use Planning Council201-307 Jarvis St, Whitehorse, YT, Y1A 2H3

email: [email protected]: http://dawson.planyukon.caPhone: 1-867-456-2314Toll Free : 1-866-800-9088


By Florian Boulais

“The Mayo-Dawson Trans-mission Line saved 500 semi-trucks worth of diesel since it’s opening in 2003,” says Martin Gehrig, the Yukon Energy tech-nician responsible for the main-tenance of the generators in Dawson. Before the transmis-sion line, all the electric power Dawson needed was supplied by the four 1,000 horsepower generators at the power plant in the south end of Dawson. When they are running, they use about 10000 liters of Diesel a day.

I went to the public meet-ing Yukon Energy held at the cultural centre on Wednesday, Feb. 23. It is now quite well known that a number of min-ing operations want to come to the Yukon.

“The price of metals went up faster than the price of oil, making this mining boom hap-pen,” says John Striker during the meeting..

On top of a general increase in consumption, the substantial needs of those mines for electric power makes it necessary for Yukon Energy to develop their electricity production by quite a bit. Yukon Energy wanted to hear from people about how they think they should be meet-ing that need.

Of course there are a great number of alternatives to sat-isfy the demand, going from wind farms and geothermal to nuclear and diesel power. These are complicated decisions to make and Yukon Energy, being a crown corporation at arms length from the government, needs to take those decisions in coordination with the Yukon Government.

Even though Yukon Energy is committed to do the best to satisfy the demand and have as little impact as possible on the environment, I understand that the government and the Yukon Utility Board are more concerned about keeping the customer as happy as possible

by offering the lowest price pos-sible and satisfying the demands of industry.

The government’s position as a leader is, I hear, directly tied to their ability to provide contentment by keeping prices low and encouraging paid jobs for Yukoners. If people are un-happy, they are out by the next election. It looks like there will be no easy way to find more power and that the answer will be a mix of different technolo-gies. Trying to keep costs and pollution as low as possible are going to be key factors. In the process, the limits of what is acceptable are being stretched further every day.

As I interviewed Norm Carl-son, the city chief of mainte-nance, we discussed the dif-ference between economic realities and scientific realities. A capitalist economy is based on indefinite growth. Indefinite resources are not a physical reality of this world. We know now that our environment is in a very fine balance that eons of settling achieved and we, people, need the integrity of this environment to supply the very foundation of our life: clean air, food, water and a livable mental environment.

Indefinite growth is that which, with unflinching cer-tainty, threw every big empire that existed in the past to the floor. Indefinite growth is what the always hungry orcs from the Lord of the Rings are creating if you will.

“It’s not easy being green”. Kermit I’m sure, didn’t know how right he was when he said that.

Peter Menzies and I took some grade 6 and 7 students from Robert Service School to the power plant. As we were talking about what they saw at the power plant and why things were set up the way they were, I realized that it was for them that the power plant was there and that Yukon Energy was trying to improve the power grid. It was to make sure that they, the

kids, would take advantage of a better and easier world and that their kids in turn would take advantage of a better world. Kind of obvious, I guess, but I had forgotten.

During a recent meeting on another subject at RSS, a First Nation elder asked the group of representatives that came from Whitehorse how come it was more important to teach the children another language instead of teaching them sur-vival skills in nature since the world was going down in two years. Even though I cannot know whether the world as we know it is going to disappear in two years, what I gather is that things are not going to get easier much longer and that the price of energy is going to go up

Dawson Energy: 500 semi-trucks worth of gas saved

drastically very shortly. What I understand, from all

the interviews I did, is that, as residents of Dawson, it is in our best interests to use energy as wisely as possible. Of the 3R’s (Reuse, Recycle, Reduce) for respecting the environment, “Reduce” is by far the easiest to practice. By getting efficient light bulbs, cars and houses, and becoming as independent as possible from “Outside” energy, Dawson will live better. Prices will go up drastically over the coming years. All improve-ments we do now will pay for themselves in no time.

To learn more about what you can do to save energy go to the website: www.yukonenergy.ca. It’s clear and full of useful information. If you have any

questions ask Janet Patterson at the internet address blog.yu-konenergy.ca/ask_janet/. And if you aren’t computer savvy, you can call Janet at (867) 393-5333 or toll free 1-866-926-3749; she will know where you can find the information you need.

Sources for this article: I met with all the people I could that had an understanding of electric power in the Yukon and Dawson: Norm Carlson (Dawson City Public Works Su-perintendent), Greg Hakonson (former member of the Yukon Energy Board), Martin Gehrig and David Morrison (Yukon Energy, Plant Operator and CEO) and John Striker, an en-gineer who worked with energy for decades.

Kindergarten celebrates 100 Days of School from the Jan./Feb. Sourdough


Story & PhotosBy Dan Davidson

The David Friesen Trio breezed into Dawson City on February 24, spending a good portion of that afternoon at the Robert Service School and part of the afternoon of the Heritage Day holiday the next day holding a jazz workshop in the Oddfellows Hall before their evening concert in the same venue.

Friesen, who began his musical career on the ukulele, accordion and guitar, playing the latter pro-fessionally by age 16, gravitated to the upright bass in 1964 and has concentrated on that instrument since, as a performer and teacher. He has over 65 albums to his credit as leader or co-leader, and has played as sideman on more than 100 others, working with such diverse talents as Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie and Chic Corea, among dozens of others.

The Friesen Trio Plays the Ballroom

John Gross began his profes-sional career on the saxophone, flute and clarinet at the age of 16, touring with Harry James. He has played with Miles Davis, John Col-trane, Sonny Rollins and Muddy Waters, as well as Carole King, Stevie Wonder and Diana Krall.

Pianist Greg Goebel is the youngster of the trio. Having per-formed with an extensive list of jazz performers at this point in his career, he has worked previously with both his companions in the trio, and tours with Gino Vannelli’s band.

As befitted the name of the group, the evening’s tunes were all Friesen compositions, each one giving lots of space for the members of the trio to stretch out and solo. The music was by turns energetic, moody, contemplative and rowdy, but always intricate.

The group played two sets and was persuaded by the applause to provide one encore piece.

Dave Friesen Greg GoebelJohn Gross

Story & Photosby Dan Davidson

The Klondike Visitors As-sociation had a bad year in 2010. A projected profit of $120,240.00 had turned into a loss of $92,150.80 by the end of December.

“The last two years have been a real rollercoaster for the KVA,” chairman Jorn Meier told the roughly 20 members gathered for the annual general meeting on February 28. “For two years we’ve tanked.”

In 2009 the KVA man-aged a very slender profit of $47,000.00, but only after re-jigging its budget part way through the season and cutting out $200,000 in expenses. This was not possible in 2010.

Looking through the draft financial reports it was easy to see just what had caused last year’s shortfall, though no one really had a solid answer as to why. There were many factors.

Revenue on the slot ma-chines, which is usually around a million dollars (based on a ten year average), had been projected at $1,088,584. It came in at $885,794.00.

There may be a variety of reasons for this, as emerged in the discussion.

Executive director Gary

Parker recalled that when the first slot machines were in-stalled, back in 1992, Diamond Tooth Gerties was one of the few places in Canada that had legalized gambling. These days there are hundreds of ca-sinos across the country, most of them far larger and glitzier than Gerties can claim to be, and easier to get to.

Parker noted that a number of the casino’s machines are old and some are out of ser-vice. Some are too old to get parts for, and the KVA has not been able to afford to replace them.

KVA member Dick Van Nos-trand expressed the opinion that most of Gerties’ machines are pretty boring compared to the variety of play that exists in other casinos he has visited. No one disagreed with that.

Parker went so far as to quip that the slots at Gerties are in danger of becoming historic artifacts in their own right.

There were other factors that kept the revenue down. Parker reported that most businesses in town, including Gerties, had a pretty strong month of June. After that a round of floods in Alaska resulted in regular clo-sures of the Top of the World/Taylor Highway, cutting off the road to Eagle entirely. Holland-America may have been able to get its people here by a com-

bination of bus and aircraft, but other trav-ellers who might have taken the loop around from the Alaska High-way were cut off, and it’s certain that Dawson lost a lot of traf-fic.

Then, there may simply have been a shift in the interests of the clientele. Games in the casino actu-ally brought in $510,516, up $13,303 from last year, and gave that end of the op-eration a profit of $229,206. Taken to-gether with some trim-ming on the expenses side, that meant that gaming brought in $36,880 more than in 2009.

Bar sales

2010 was the Second year in a Row the KVA has “Tanked”

Not all the newly elected board members were able to be at the AGM. From left to right: Jorn Meier, Brian Stethem, Marc Johnson, Eric Zalitis, Carolyn Wong,

Johnny Nunan, and David Rohatensky.

Cont’d on next page


Roache’s Corner by Mike Roache

Tundra by Chad Carpenter

Elwood by Bryley

Cartoons

Nemo’s Notions

were down about $11,000, but still generated $220,344 in profit.

Since the operation at Gerties is the main source of revenue for the KVA, annual general meetings do tend to focus on that aspect of the non-profit so-ciety’s affairs. Because it em-ploys some 80 seasonal work-ers during the summer, it is a significant part of Dawson’s tourist based economy.

The KVA runs a number of special events in Dawson dur-ing the year, most of which do not make money or break even, including the upcoming Thaw-Di-Gras (Spring carnival), the Commissioner’s Klondike Ball, the Yukon Goldpanning Championships, the Authors on 8th celebrations and the Klondike International Out-house Race.

This year it is also running the Trek Over the Top week-ends, which will have two runs, the first one arriving on

March 3 and the second the next Thursday.

In addition the KVA runs the Jack London Interpretive Museum and makes a regular contribution to the operations at the Berton House Writer-in-Residence program, which is managed by the Writers’ Trust of Canada. Free Claim #6 on Bonanza Road is owned by the KVA and offers a place where visitors can try their hands at panning without trespassing on working placer claims.

One key part of the meet-ing was the election of a new board of directors. The KVA uses a system in which only part of the board is replaced each year, thus allowing for continuity. This year Marc Johnson, Jorn Meier and Eric Zalitis each had a year left in their terms. Newly elected (or re-elected) members include Brenda Caley, Johnny Nunan, Brian Stethem, Carolyn Wong, Nick Timms, Peggy Amendola

The first Trek Over the Top arrived on a chilly Thursday last week. The second contingent will arrive tomorrow. The Trek, is now managed by the KVA.

KVA - AGM Report - Not a good yearcontinued from previous page

Bring on the Snow Machines


Churches

Klondike Sun Classifieds

Business DirectoryAdvertise your business and services with The Klondike Sun!

Submit your business card at a normal size of 2” x 3.5” Cost is $20.00 per issue and yearly billings can be arranged.

K l o n d i k e O u t r e a c h Job Board

For more information on these and other positions, come into the Klondike Outreach office next to the Territorial Agent/

Liquor Store (853-Third Street).Klondike Outreach hours:

Monday-Friday 9-noon and 1-5 pmClosed weekends and Stat. Holidays

Phone: 993-5176 ~ Fax: 993-6947Website: www.klondikeoutreach.com

E-mail: [email protected]

DAWSON COMMUNITY CHAPEL

Located on 5th Ave across from Gold Rush Campground.

Sunday worship at 11 am.Everyone is welcome.

Pastor Ian Nyland 993-5507ALCOHOLICS ANONYMOUS

New Beginnings Group meets Thursdays 8 pm, St. Paul’s R. Martin Chapel kitchen, Church St. North Star Group meets Saturdays 7 pm at the Community Support Centre, 1233-2nd Ave, 2nd floor (use outside stairs). Call 993-3734 or 5095 for info.

Sunday Services1st and 3rd Sundays:

10:30 am - Morning Prayer2nd and 4th Sundays - 10:30

am - Holy Eucharist5th Sundays - 10:30 am -

Special service.

MANY RIvERS Counselling and Support

Services

Individual, couple, family, or group counselling. A highly confidential service located in the Waterfront Building.W e a r e a n o n - p r o f i t organization with a sliding fee scale. To make an appointment call 993-6455 or email [email protected]. See our website at www.manyrivers.yk.ca/.

ST. MARY’S CATHOLIC CHURCHCorner of 5th and King

Services: Sunday mornings at 10:30 am, Sat. & Tues. 7 pm,

Wed. to Fri. 9:30 amAll are welcome. Contact

Father Ernest Emeka Emeodi for assistance: 993-5361

ST. PAUL’S ANGLICAN CHURCH

FOR SALE BY OWNER1 1/2 COMMERCIAL LOTS

On 3 r d Ave nex t t o t he Westminster Hotel.

Call 993-5346

Support Real Estate

Employment Needed

Additional TV Channel Listings

7 - Dawson Dome Camera9 - Preview Guide11 - Rolling Ads

Your Business Card Ad could be in

this space

The Klondike Sun’s deadline for ad and story submissions is 12 noon,

Friday, March 18, 2011 for the Wednesday, March 23, 2011 edition. Ad rates available upon request. Classified

ads are $6 for 50 words per issue.

Email: [email protected]

Telephone: (867) 993-6318 Fax: (867) 993-6625

12 & 13 - Possible Local Programming

open Positions:Automotive Mechanic BartendersChildcare WorkersCommercial Sewing Machine OperatorCooksCrew Leader – Stats CanadaDishwashersDriver GuidesEnumeratorFleet Detail CrewFront Desk/Night AuditGuest ServicesHousekeepers/Room AttendantsHVAC Technician (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) JourneymanJeep GuidesMonitor OperatorNight JanitorOil Burner TechnicianRaft GuidesServersSnow Removal/LabourerTombstone Guides

Positions out of town:Elsa Administrative Assistant: March 18Elsa Camp Attendant: March 18Intermediate Environmental Professional/Engineer: March 18GIS & IT Technician: March 18Senior Hydrogeologist: March 18Journeyman-Surface Mechanic: March 18Metallurgist: March 30CookVarious Mining PositionsMine Technical AssistantIndustrial Electrician

Wanting summer employment

Experienced Op. 320 Cat excavator, backhoe 480FD.L. 1 Air. Gravel truck some logging truck.Machinist, Some welding ability,Structural rigger, fitter. Some electrical, electronic,Carpentry, drywalling.Computer,Non S. D.Honest,Health good.Need clean quiet residence.Salary negotiable. David306 398 [email protected]

Positions with closing dates:Fire Crewmember: March 10Fire Crewleader (anticipatory): March 15Regional Protection Manager (anticipatory-various locations): March 16

Land & Resource Manager: March 22 @ 4 PMForest Fire Crew (anticipatory): April 8


Klondike Sun Classifieds P.O. Box 308 (1336 Front Street), Dawson City, Yukon Y0B 1G0Tel: (867) 993-7400 ~ Fax: (867) 993-7434

NEW WEBSITE: www.cityofdawson.ca (updated regularly)

DAWSON CITY – HEART OF THE KLONDIKE

For More Information Contact the Rec Dept @ 993-2353.

Recreation Department Guide to

Youth Lip SyncSaturday, March 193-5 at the CasinoDoors open at 2, Admission $2

To register call the Rec Dept. 2353, all acts must be registered by 2:30on the 19th.

New Badminton Time!All Ages

Mondays 6:15-8

KIAC and the Rec Dept Presents:A Circus Camp for Ages 6-9

March 16-18, 9am - 1pm in the KIAC Ball Room$40 with included lunchRed Nose Clowning with Sara Tilley, Juggling with Graham Rudge, Tumbling with Terrie Turai!

To register, call 5005

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Klondike Sun March 11 2011

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