Choosing the Yukon’s top 10 stories of the year is, to a large extent, an arbitrary task. It’s a mixture of our judgment, of the stories which have attracted considerable media coverage, or those with the most significant effects on the largest number of Yukoners.

Here, then, are the Star’s top 10 stories of 2019.

1.) Hardrock gold mining production returns to the jurisdiction of the fabled Gold Rush for the first time in almost two decades.

Victoria Gold caps a decade of planning, development and construction work by pouring its first gold bar the evening of Sept. 17 at its Eagle Gold Mine north of Mayo.

It was the first bar to be poured by a hardrock mine in the territory since the Brewery Creek gold mine east of Dawson City poured its last bar in 2001.

The company expected to employ 350 people by year’s end and produce 200,000 ounces per year. The estimated lifespan is forecast to be 11 years.

2.) The federal government’s decision to reimburse Yukon First Nations that borrowed money to negotiate their land claims from the 1970s through the ’90s could involve some $100 million, Peter Johnston, the grand chief of the Council of Yukon First Nations, says March 21.

Some First Nations with larger citizen enrolments, such as Kwanlin Dün, could see reimbursements in the neighbourhood of $100 million, he says.

Many First Nations had argued that having to borrow the money, and the debts that consequently accumulated, were a barrier to participating in economic and community development opportunities.

3.) The Peel Watershed Regional Land Use Plan is signed Aug. 22 in Mayo.

Eighty-three per cent of the area is protected from development, with no provision for access by road or rail.

The remaining 17 per cent is set out as integrated management areas that will allow for development, with the type and intensity yet to be defined.

The Peel planning process had begun in 2004, and the final plan had been the subject of court battles until a final ruling by the Supreme Court of Canada on Dec. 1, 2017.

It required the territorial government to adopt the terms of the final plan recommended by the commission, though it sent the parties back for a final round of consultation, based on the recommended plan.

Some representatives of the mining industry hint that legal action seeking compensation for the alienation of their legitimate claims is a real possibility.

4.) Many Rivers Counselling and Support Services closes its doors for good in August after an employees’ strike, financial woes and non-compliance with the Yukon government halts services, leading to ill-fated efforts by a new board to resurrect the program.

Staff end an 80-day strike on Jan. 22 with a promise of a seven per cent increase in base salaries. The centre is set to re-open on Feb. 7.

Despite the organization making amends with staff, the government says the organization is in non-compliance because financial statements are six months overdue.

On Feb. 19, Many Rivers announces an “anticipated temporary stoppage of funding” from the government, due to being out of compliance, and begins laying off employees – who have just returned to work.

The Yukon Employees’ Union tells the Star in February that Many Rivers’ executive director, Brent Ramsay, has quietly resigned.

In April, a new board of directors is appointed with intentions to bring Many Rivers back into compliance.

Meanwhile, the government conducts a financial audit into Many Rivers. On Aug. 9, the board receives a letter from the deputy minister of Health outlining “a number of areas of concern”: expenses that massively exceed the budget, a substantial salary increase for the executive director and thousands of dollars in tuition paid for him to the Paris School of Business.

The letter informs the board it is responsible for more than $500,000 in debt accrued by the previous leadership.

Two weeks later, the Yukon government announces funding will be awarded to the Canadian Mental Health Association and the All Genders Yukon Society, with no mention of support for Many Rivers.

Taking the announcement as a signal of non-confidence, the Many Rivers board quits en masse on Aug. 30, closing the counselling office indefinitely.

The following months see a chorus of calls for a forensic audit into Many Rivers’ excessive spending.

Health and Social Services Minister Pauline Frost says she is working with the Department of Justice to plan next steps – and the issue remains unresolved.

5.) Incumbent MP Larry Bagnell tastes victory for the sixth time in the Oct. 21 federal election. The veteran lawmaker wins a thriller over Conservative rival Jonas Smith (7,034 votes to 6,881).

New Democrat Justin Lemphers takes 4,617 ballots, while the Greens’ Lenore Morris draws 2,201 votes and the People’s Party of Canada’s Joseph Zelezny 284.

Up until shortly before the final results were known, Bagnell tells jubilant supporters, he had been practising his concession speech, thinking Smith might eek out a narrow victory.

This month, Bagnell is named parliamentary secretary to Mélanie Joly, the federal minister of Economic Development and Official Languages.

6.) Two people die after their Cessna 208 crashes on the north side of Mayo Lake on Aug. 6.

Shawn Thomas Kitchen, 24, and Julia Lane, 33, are the victims. Kitchen was from Whitehorse, while Lane hailed from Vancouver.

Kitchen, a pilot with Alkan Air, had been transporting Lane from the Rackla mining exploration camp to another location.

Alkan president and CEO Wendy Tayler says Kitchen had been well-respected and loved by his colleagues. He had been known for is work at the Wood Street Centre’s Music, Art and Drama program, where he participated in several productions.

Lane had been a geologist with Arch Cathro and Associates, a geological consulting firm in British Columbia. She is remembered as being a real leader, enthusiastic and a joy to be around.

Officials with the Transportation Safety Board travel to the territory to investigate the crash. The wreckage is located in a remote area that is difficult for investigators to reach.

As the year concludes, a report is not yet available.

7.) Two Alaska men perish after their vintage aircraft crashes near the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport on May 27.

The crash claims the lives of Charles Eric Benson, 56, and Jeffrey Brian Babcock, 58. Benson was from Palmer and Babcock was from Wasilla.

The Cessna 170B had belonged to Benson, and the pair had gone to Minnesota to pick it up. They were on their way back to Alaska when the tragedy happened.

Babcock had been the pilot at the time, though both men were experienced pilots.

The Transportation Safety Board investigates and releases a report in December.

The investigation concludes that the plane experienced drag and never climbed beyond 50 feet into the air. The wreck caught fire after impact, which made it difficult to determine if there had been any engine trouble.

“If the aircraft is not performing as expected during takeoff and there is sufficient runway remaining to bring the aircraft to a stop, pilots should consider discontinuing the takeoff,” says the report.

8.) Ken McKinnon, a father of responsible government in the Yukon, dies March 13 at the age of 82.

At 25, he had been elected as the youngest member of the former Yukon Territorial Council at the start of what would evolve into a lengthy political career, beginning in 1961. His involvement in sports, and academia were also important.

His grit and determination to make the Yukon a place more independent from the yoke of federal control was strong and passionate, Doug Phillips, a friend and former commissioner, tells the Star.

“He was a firm believer that Yukon should control its own destiny,” Phillips says.

McKinnon had been an architect of today’s Home Owners Grant and of the Arctic Winter Games. He also served as a chancellor of Yukon College, and was appointed the commissioner of the Yukon in 1986.

The year before, he had been an unsuccessful candidate for the leadership of the Yukon Territorial Progressive Conservative Party, which is today’s Yukon Party.

9.) Dennis Fentie, a Yukon Party premier from 2002 to 2011, dies of cancer Aug. 29 in Whitehorse.

He is praised by former colleagues as a no-nonsense leader whose accomplishments included negotiating a more lucrative health care agreement and transfer payment deals with the federal government, community hospitals in Dawson City and Watson Lake, and numerous other capital works projects.

Fentie presided over the 2003 devolution of federal powers to the territory, which expanded the size of the Yukon government, and made a memorably enthusiastic address to athletes and guests at the 2007 Canada Winter Games in Whitehorse.

His government purchased today’s Yukon Wildlife Preserve and helped advance the construction of the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre and the relocation of the Whitehorse Public Library to its premises there.

10.) It’s learned that two British Columbia teenagers who killed three people in the remote northern region of the province had visited Whitehorse during their murderous spree. The long-running drama had attracted global media attention.

In July, police believe two teenagers are responsible for the deaths of Australian Lucas Fowler, American Chynna Deese and Leonard Dyck.

Fowler and Deese had been found dead in a van near Highway 97, south of the Liard Hot Springs, on July 15.

A truck, registered to Kam McLeod, is found burned on July 19. Dyck’s body is found two kilometres away from the truck. All three had been shot.

The RCMP eventually report that Bryer Schmegelsky, 18, and McLeod, 19, admit to the killings in a video.

After the murders, McLeod and Schmegelsky travel east to Gillam, in northern Manitoba. Police search an area 70 km north of the town, with the help of the Fox Lake Cree Nation.

This video is found with the teens’ bodies after they commit suicide in the Manitoba wilderness. Police report that McLeod shot Schmegelsky before turning the gun on himself.

The RCMP add that the gun found with the teens match the bullets used at the Fowler, Deese and Dyck’s crime scenes.

Police say the teenagers arrived in Whitehorse after killing Fowler and Deese. Dyck was killed after the pair left the Yukon.