A few days after Remembrance Day 1999, Warrant Officer Ryan Stout made his first parachute jump, from 1,250 feet above a farmer’s field in Prince Edward County, Ont. “We refer to it as a stop drop. So, I was hoping that our jump would get cancelled,” Stout laughs. “I will not lie. Every day, I
After running for three days this week, repeat sex offender Bobby Zoe’s trial has been postponed. Though originally scheduled to finish by the end of this week, by the time it wrapped up Friday afternoon, the defense lawyer had yet to make his case. Zoe, 34, is charged sexual assault, after allegedly breaking into an
Given that you can’t even buy a Globe and Mail in Yellowknife now, it’s hard to believe that Canada’s national newspaper once cared so much about the city it undertook an extraordinary fundraising effort to help us build a theatre. The cash-strapped Northern Arts and Cultural Centre could use a deep-pocketed benefactor like that now,
She resented it at the time, but Julaine Debogorski says she’s grateful her celebrity dad Alex – recognizable worldwide as reality TV’s most fabled ice road trucker – once tossed a television off their deck to teach them a lesson about the evils of mainstream media. “My dad wouldn’t allow us to have a TV
Last Saturday, EDGE’s annual Halloween party kicked off into high gear, reaching capacity within minutes of opening. (We’re sorry for those attendees who had to wait out in the cold, but we’d like to thank you for your patience; and we’re working on finding a solution for the demand when next year’s bash rolls around.) As always,
Back in the summer of 2009, Alison McCreesh and her partner Patrice Tremblay arrived in Yellowknife with no fixed plans. McCreesh had just graduated from university, and the pair were on an extended drift around the country. For the first few months, they slept in their car, and poked around this strange Northern city, exploring
The blurry pictures and excited hosannas started appearing on social media early this week. The Woodyard, the official name of the NWT Brewing Co.’s dining and drinking establishment, was on the verge of opening. Owners Fletcher and Miranda Stevens and their fledgling crew had hosted a private function on Monday night. Yellowknifers — well, Yellowknifers who imbibe and
On Monday night, Yellowknife city council voted unanimously to adopt six of the 99 recommendations made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. The vote came as the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation arrived in town to consult with former residential school students on how their stories should best be presented. “I think it’s important for all
Yellowknifer Alex Sparling, the wise-cracking class clown who once played a fart in a Sir John High School drama production, has just been tapped on the shoulder by NBC Universal. On Tuesday night, the 27-year-old comic received an email informing him he’d been chosen as a finalist in the NBC Standup Diversity Showcase. That means
For 25 years, Bill Powless began his workday in a steel cage. Below him, a mineshaft, 2000 feet deep. Above him, the C-Shaft headframe – the central point of a huge pulley system that hauled ore to the surface and lowered miners into the depths of the earth. On his daily trips downward, Powless had to
In 1994, Tom Holst was working as the breakfast cook at the Explorer Hotel when Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip visited Yellowknife. Hotel staff were given strict orders that only the head chef and sous chef were to cook for the royal couple. And no one else. “At 7 a.m., the Queen’s valet came
After reading last week’s YK Mythbusters about the Gold Range and its possible per capita beer sales record, reader and ex-Yellowknifer Dorothy Mellor wrote us a fascinating follow-up: “The nickname ‘Strange Range’ was originally given to the Gold Range bar which existed before the one that is there now. By way of background, my sister
It may have been pure coincidence, but Justice L.A. Charbonneau gave Mayor Mark Heyck something of a gift by waiting until after the election to shoot down the City’s bid for more political representation in the legislative assembly. The day after Heyck was handed a solid mandate for the next three years, Charbonneau released her
Behind his gruff exterior, Jack’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. I first met Jack Danylchuk in the summer of 2004 at the Yellowknifer, my first reporting job. Looking around, I quickly realized he was the only journalist with any real experience, having spent years doing award-winning work at the Edmonton Journal. From
Taking a page out of Medicine Hat’s housing first book, a group of Yellowknifers is planning to end homelessness within the next few years. The idea: bring government, businesses, NGOs and private citizens together to develop housing and supports for people currently living on the streets. The Homeful Partnership, a group of a dozen or