Yukon: Oath to King made optional after council refuses pledge [Video]

DAWSON CITY, Yukon –

A day before his investiture ceremony, Darwyn Lynn stared at a copy of the Oath of Allegiance to King Charles he was required to take to officially take on his new role of councillor in the Yukon, wondering why the pledge was necessary.

“I actually sat there and I looked at it, and I read it probably about 15 times, and it didn’t get any easier to do,” he said, adding that, as an Indigenous man, the history that the Crown has had with his people was lingering on his mind.

So on Nov. 5, he refused to take the oath. His fellow council members in Dawson City and mayor-elect Stephen Johnson followed suit, halting governance in the Yukon’s second-largest municipality.

But on Friday, about ten days before their deadline to take the oath, the Yukon announced it had amended its Municipal Act because the territory agreed elected leaders shouldn’t have to only pledge their allegiance to King Charles.

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