The Yukon Municipal Act regulations have been amended, allowing new councillors to swear an oath of allegiance to the Canadian constitution instead of to the British Crown 鈥� if they so choose.  

The changes were announced at a press conference held in Whitehorse on Nov. 29. Present was Community Services Minister Richard Mostyn, and Dawson City councillor-elect Darwyn Lynn.  

Darwyn Lynn, who is a member of Tr鈥檕nd毛k Hw毛ch鈥檌n First Nation, and the rest of the Dawson council initially declined to swear the oath of allegiance after being elected. The oath pledges allegiance to King Charles III and his heirs and successors.  

Lynn told reporters he had read the initial oath fifteen times and it didn鈥檛 seem any easier to take.  

鈥淚 think that's just with the history that the Crown has had in Canada and other places that I thought that there may be another option,鈥� said Lynn.  

Councillors are required by the Municipal Act to swear the oath of office and the oath of allegiance within 40 days of election. Councillors will have to swear the oaths by Dec. 9. 

 If they do not meet that deadline, a by-election is triggered. The addition of another option for the oath of allegiance will allow Dawson councillors to swear in before the deadline.  

According to Mostyn, Cabinet made the decision to change the regulation on Nov. 28.  

Samantha Crosby, the director of community affairs, specified that while legislation takes a longer time to change, regulations within legislation 鈥� like that regarding the oath of allegiance 鈥� can be changed quickly.  

鈥淲e didn't do a big public consultation. Should we have done that? If we had done that, rather, it would have, we would have lost the Dawson election, and we, I personally, did not want to put at risk a free and fair election in Dawson and force everybody to go through that again,鈥� said Mostyn.  

Mostyn said they did not need to contact anyone from within the monarchy to make this change. Mostyn also said that Ontario and Quebec are the other two jurisdictions in Canada with an alternate pledge.  

No firm date has been set for the swearing-in but Lynn specified he would prefer the ceremony to happen in Dawson. He mentioned that he hoped to do the ceremony before the council meeting on Dec. 3.  

Mostyn also said a change to the oaths required by MLAs was discussed by cabinet.  

鈥淲e've now acknowledged that perhaps we should look at, at the way we do swear oaths of allegiance within our governments, and I know the Yukon government will be looking at it as well.鈥�  

Contact Talar Stockton at talar.stockton@yukon-news.com