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Stephen Johnson, the mayor-elect of Dawson City, said he and the four-member council refused to administer Canada’s official oath to the monarch on Nov. 5 because of the crown’s history with indigenous peoples.

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He said the council has been unable to continue with municipal duties and is anxiously waiting for the territory’s Department of Community Services to respond to its request to take an alternative to the oath of allegiance.

“We can’t do anything legally that’s required of us under the municipal code … so we’re kind of a council, and I’m kind of the mayor,” Johnson said.

“It’s a bit of a sticky situation.”

Johnson said under the Yukon Municipal Act, elected officials must take the oath of allegiance and an oath.

The Oath of Allegiance requires newly elected councilors to swear or affirm that they “will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles III” and his “heirs and successors in law.”

The law states that if a person elected to the council does not take the oaths within 40 days of the election, “their election shall be considered void and their office vacant.”

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That puts a deadline of about Dec. 10, Johnson said. He added that the territory has indicated it wants to avoid a by-election.

The territory is reviewing the council’s request to take a different oath, a Community Services spokesperson said in an email. The spokesman did not respond to questions about how the review is progressing and when it would be completed.

Johnson said he and three other councilors refused to take the oath in solidarity with a fourth councilor, Darwyn Lynn, who expressed misgivings on the morning of their induction ceremony.

Johnson said Lynn is a member of the Tr’ondek Hwech’in First Nation, on whose traditional land Dawson is located.

Lynn expressed he was not comfortable pledging allegiance to the Crown because of its history with indigenous peoples, Johnson said, and the council decided to support him. Lynn did not respond to requests for comment.

“This is being done with no respect for His Majesty King Charles. And we’re also not doing this to say, ‘Rah, rah, look at us,’ to poke everyone across Canada, to get rid of the crown,” Johnson said.

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“It was just something we wanted to do together to show solidarity in what we do here in this city.”

We don’t do this to go, “Rah, rah, look at us,” to poke everybody across Canada, to get rid of the crown

The Yukon’s Bureau of Statistics says Dawson City has a population of nearly 2,400. The community’s website describes it as the heart of the world-famous Klondike Gold Rush that began in 1896.

“News spread like wildfire about a country where ‘lumps could be picked from the floor of the creek’ to a world suffering from recession and caused an unprecedented storm of an estimated 100,000 people to head to the Klondike,” the website says.

The Tr’ondek Hwech’in First Nation says on its website that miners have displaced their community.

It’s not the first time Canada’s leaders have questioned the oath of allegiance.

In April, MPs voted to kill a bill introduced by a New Brunswick private member that would have allowed parliamentarians to opt out of taking the oath.

The House of Commons says on its website that the oath affirms “allegiance to the institutions which the sovereign represents, including the concept of democracy.”

“Therefore, members make a promise to act in the best interest of the country. The oath or solemn affirmation reminds members of the serious obligations and responsibilities they assume.”

This report from The Canadian Press was first published on November 20, 2024.

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