Yukon who is who

Haakon Arntzen (b. 1946)

Haakon Arntzen was born in Norway, was educated there, and served in the Norwegian Army. He immigrated to Canada in 1968 and began operating a small business in Haines Junction. After moving to Whitehorse, he worked for White Pass for several years as truck driver, operations manager, with both the trucking division in Whitehorse and the marine division in Vancouver, as well as marketing manager for the freight and petroleum division in Whitehorse. He was also part of the management team with Yukon Freight Lines, Territorial Ventures, Anvil Range Mining Corporation, and Great Northern Oil Inc. Mr. Arntzen was a founding member and president of Cross-Country Yukon, Biathlon Yukon, and Speed Skating Yukon. He also served as director for Sports Yukon, was a member of the Whitehorse City Art and Recreation Board, the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce, the Yukon Transportation Association, and was the Yukon representative for the Canadian Multiculturalism Council. Haakon Arntzen represented the Yukon at many Arctic Winter Games, Canada Winter Games, and Canadian Championships. He was an athlete and coach for Cross-Country Skiing and Biathlon.¹⁾

Arntzen was elected to the Yukon Legislative Assembly in November 2002.²⁾ He represented the new riding of Copperbelt for the Yukon Party. In April 2004, he left the Yukon Party Caucus and sat as an independent after being charged with the indecent assault of two teenage girls in the 1970s. He was convicted on three counts in May 2005. The Opposition failed to get unanimous consent to call on Arntzen to resign and the Yukon Party leader, Dennis Fentie, never publicly called for his resignation, saying instead that Arntzen might decide to appeal the conviction. Arntzen resigned in September 2005 and was succeeded in a byelection by Arthur Mitchell, the newly elected Liberal leader. The Yukon Party retained its majority status in the legislature. The Crown and Arnzten appealed his conviction and sentence of fifteen months of community service. A new trial was scheduled but the Crown stayed the charges due to a loss of reliable evidence over time. One of Arnzten’s alleged victims filed similar charges against him in Hay River, NWT in 2007, but was unsuccessful. The judge ruled that Arnzten’s evidence was more reliable.³⁾