C. Brian Campion (1948 – 2002)

Brian Campion was born in Swift River to parents Helga and Chess Campion. His grandparents were pioneer families of the Manitoba Interlake area. Chess was a highway foreman and the family bounced around the territory.¹⁾ The family moved to Whitehorse and Brian graduated from F.H. Collins.²⁾ He attended the University of British Columbia in engineering but broke his back in an accident at a summer job driving truck in a highway resurfacing project. He needed a profession that didn’t require physical work, so he completed a degree in accounting and came back to Whitehorse as a full-fledged accountant. He hated it, so he attended law school at Dalhousie University and became a lawyer.³⁾ Campion returned to Whitehorse in 1978 to practice law with Erik Nielsen. He had common sense, honesty, and a formidable ability to think so he quickly established a respected legal reputation, especially in mining law. He had a pilot’s license and would fly himself and the Crown prosecutor to court in the communities. He explored the Yukon in his plane, on snowmobile and in boats.⁴⁾

Grant MacDonald, a co-partner at Anton, Campion & MacDonald, worked with Campion for twenty-two years. He said Campion enjoyed work that took him to mining recorder’s offices in the communities. He could fly to the offices and get things done quickly. He was involved in many of Yukon’s big mining projects including Cyprus Anvil, United Keno Hill, and Currugh, and advised the Klondike Placer Miners Association for free over the years. He was a jack of all trades and the master of two – the law and flying. Brian and his wife Carol had two children, Cara and Colin. A scholarship fund was established with the Yukon Foundation in his name.⁵⁾