Earlier this month, one-time clerk Patrick Michael paused to reflect as he addressed a crowd made up of those who played active roles in governing the territory dating back four decades.

Explaining his and wife Janet Moodie’s move up to the Yukon, the mustachioed Michael smiled as he remembered that fond time in the front of his listeners at the Yukon Government Main Administration Building.

“We were what (former NDP leader) Tony Penikett ... called boomers,” he said. “We were going to come up for two years, have a good time here then go back to civilization,” he joked as chuckles spread across the lobby.

But Michael would eventually become a lifer, and embark on a career that would allow him to see the first official elected members of the legislative assembly take office just a year later in 1978.

That celebration was at the heart of a gathering that featured a who’s who of Yukon politics on Dec. 13. Nils Clarke, the current Speaker of the legislative assembly, hosted a celebration event of the 40th anniversary of party politics in the territory.

It truly was a family affair, with those who played pivotal roles since the introduction of party politics into the Yukon rubbing elbows with current MLAs, officials and civil servants.

“Party politics was really the forerunner of just being able to get responsible government,” Michael said shortly after his remarks.

His role as clerk meant he swore in the 16 members of the legislature in 1978. They were made up of 11 Progressive Conservatives, two Liberals, one NDP and two Independents.

“It took me a moment or two to realize I was there then,” he laughed, reflecting on being asked to deliver remarks at the event.

While that may be true, some nearby smiled knowingly as Clarke explained there was some level of party lines and affiliation dating back decades before that.

Back then, there were a handful of candidates who were known to have party connections and were supported by them. The late-’70s election cemented this though, said Clarke.

“It was truly historic – with that election, party affiliation became a central organizing principle of elections,” he said.

The year saw Liberals, Conservatives and New Democrats form associations and parties that chose leaders and contested elections, Clarke explained. “So the move to party politics was more of a process than a single event.

“What was different was the formal recognition that registered political parties ... selected leaders,” he said.

That first year, for example, saw about 43 of 52 candidates eye a seat by running under a banner.

“Party politics had arrived,” Clarke said, before adding that having parties was not necessarily an end in itself.

“The ultimate goals were broader: greater self-determination, responsible government and the holy grail of political aspirations at the time: provincehood,” said Clarke.

While the Yukon is still not a province, the move to a more province-like system did bring in some of the benefits that style tended to go hand-in-hand with.

For instance, during that 1978 election, there were two Indigenous MLAs elected – Alice McGuire for the Liberals in Kluane, and PC Grafton Njootli (now deceased) of Old Crow.

That was more than a decade after 1961, Clarke said, adding that those who held Indian status couldn’t vote in territorial elections nor be candidates for the former territorial council before 1961.

He beamed that voter turnout has also been relatively strong over the years, with the figure hovering around the 70 per cent range or higher. (It sat slightly lower at around the mid-60 per cent mark during the two elections before 1978.)

For the current premier, the move also meant more control of the territory for those actually living here.

“Today’s party system is well-entrenched in the Yukon,” said Premier Sandy Silver. “In 1978, that was not necessarily the case.”

He explained that there was a quasi cabinet group of sorts that helped the federally-appointed commissioner, who chaired that group, in the goings-on of the day. “But the political landscape was to change,” Silver said.

Looking at the results of that day, he said it was clear that “Yukoners embraced party politics.”

Of the 16 seats available, two went to independent candidates – and those two, including the late Bob Fleming of the old Campbell riding – were convinced to join a party come 1982. Fleming joined then-government leader Chris Pearson’s Conservatives.

“Tonight we pay tribute to the many people who played a role in getting us to a place where decisions about Yukon are made by Yukoners,” Silver said.

Among them were Doug Bell, who was the feds’ top official as commissioner of the territory and oversaw the final transition period to responsible government.

As the ceremonial head of government, the commissioner has a number of duties, including assenting to bills, signing orders-in-council and other legislative functions throughout its appointment.

Bell’s responsibilities were effectively much of the same as premier at that point. That began to shift when one of his predecessors brought two elected representatives onto the executive committee.

That eventually paved the way for Jake Epp, the one-time Northern Affairs minister under Joe Clark’s short-lived Conservative government, to draft the historic “Epp letter”. It instructing the commissioner’s office to release some of its powers and help transition the territory toward responsible government.

Bell was subsequently the first commissioner to swear in a fully elected Yukon government – headed by Pearson.

For his part, Bell read from some of the remarks he made during that era, citing a speech he delivered.

Smiling that he has been used to introducing and addressing endless guests through his various roles in the territory, Bell looked out into the crowd. “Fellow Yukoners is my title for you tonight,” he said.

The speech he read from referenced “a day that signals the beginning of the end of our form of colonial status that moves us one step closer” to the Canadian confederation.

For her part, outgoing Yukon NDP Leader Liz Hanson kept her remarks to the crowd relatively brief.

“1978, if anything, was a coming-out party,” she said.

“We all knew what we were, we just finally said it out loud – so I think that’s a great thing to have.”

The night also featured comments from the Yukon Party’s Geraldine Van Bibber, who served as commissioner for the territory between 2005 and 2010. That was after her role as an administrator from 2001 to 2005.

“Often times when you’re in politics, you get to be involved in parts of the process but sometimes you don’t get to reap the rewards,” Hanson explained.

She pointed to predecessors Penikett (who governed over the territory from 1985 to 1992) and Piers McDonald (1996-2000) as being involved in eras that included work on files during a term that ended before formal agreements were signed.

“One of the challenges we find, and part of our partisan politics, is we share a common vision of this territory but who the person is that gets to be in the limelight at various times is never predictable,” Hanson said.

“That’s one of the neat things about being involved in politics in this territory,” she smiled. “I think regardless of where we are on some form of the political spectrum, we all believe we’re serving all of you.”

And with that, the night came to its formal end – but not before a shout-out from Clarke to one-time Liberal premier Pat Duncan.

The current-day feds had announced earlier that week that she would fill the sole vacant seat in the Senate for the territory.

“Responsible government, a larger assembly, First Nations members, more women members and a higher voter turnout,” Clarke said.

“That, I think, is fair to say was the legacy of the general election of 1978 and other elections up to the current day.”

Agreeing the year marked a coming-out of sorts, Michael smiled.

“In territorial councils, people always knew what the political leanings were of people running; they always knew.” The year just marked a formalization of that, he said.

The Yukon has been run by all three major parties (the Yukon NDP, Yukon Party and now Yukon Liberals) since the formal advent of party politics in 1978.