Maurice John Byblow (1946 – 2020)

Maurice Byblow was born near Parkersview, Saskatchewan to parents Steve and Annie Byblow. He was raised on a farm and in a rich Ukrainian tradition. He attended a one-room country school and graduated from Ituna High School in 1964. He took a year of teacher’s college to acquire an interim teaching certificate and taught a grade five class in Melville. He worked at different jobs through western Canada and returned to university in 1968. He married Lin Ash and they moved to the Yukon. Byblow taught for a couple of years in Whitehorse and then the family, with sons Michael and Bradley, moved to Faro in 1971. He continued to teach and edited a local newspaper, The Raven. He served on the municipal council and headed up numerous boards and committees. He also became the majority owner of the Faro Hotel. The family spent their summers in Saskatchewan and in 1975 Maurice earned his BA in Education. In 1978, he was elected as an Independent for the territorial legislature in the first election along party lines. He was seven years in opposition [to the conservatives]and lobbied popular causes. He established and chaired a Yukon Education Task Force and the final report paved the way for broad reforms and later, a new Education Act.¹⁾

In 1981, Byblow joined the New Democratic Party and won a seat in the legislature but didn’t run in 1985 and instead became Piers McDonald’s executive assistant.²⁾ He ran and won in 1988 and served as minister in several departments for the Penikett government. He met Janet Pauch and they built a life together in Whitehorse. Byblow left politics in 1992 and spent more than twenty years in business. He managed a Canadian division of an American oil company and expanded a number of stations through the Yukon. He also invested in the Capitol Hotel on Main Street, and managed it for a decade. He was diagnosed with cancer in 2013 but continued to teach, travel, and visit friends and relatives.³⁾