Yukon who is who

John Kenneth McKinnon (1936 - 2019)

Ken McKinnon was born in Saint Boniface, Manitoba. He went to school at St. Paul’s College in Norwood, and at the University of Manitoba in political science.¹⁾

McKinnon came to the Yukon in 1956 to work for Northern Communication Systems as a lineman at repeater stations up and down the Alaska Highway. In 1959, he decided not to return to university and stayed in Whitehorse to play hockey and work as a bartender. He was vice-president of the Porter Creek Community Association when it was made a separate electoral district. He ran in the 1974 election and became the youngest member elected to the Yukon Council. This election was the first time Yukon Indigenous people were allowed to vote or run for the Yukon Council. McKinnon worked toward planning for a Yukon responsible government. Not gaining any progress, McKinnon returned to university to receive an undergraduate degree in Canadian history and governance. He returned to the Yukon to work for WHTV, climbing poles and doing news and sports programs with WHTV and CKRW. He was elected again to the Yukon Council in 1967.²⁾ He served as minister of highways and public works (1976-78) and minister of local government (1974-78).³⁾

In 1974, the Yukon Council was enlarged to twelve and became the Yukon Legislative Assembly. The Executive Committee grew to three and then four elected members and McKinnon was chosen to join in 1975. He also sat at the land claim table to represent the Yukon government. The 1978 election was run with political parties and McKinnon and Hilda Watson had a disagreement. He ran as an Independent and lost by a small margin. He became the vice-president of WHTV and was also involved with CKRW.⁴⁾ McKinnon was chairman of the Alaska Highway Gas Pipeline hearings in 1979, Yukon administrator for the Northern Pipeline Agency between 1979 and 1984, and a member of the Task Force on Northern Conservation in 1983/84.⁵⁾

Ken McKinnon became Yukon Commissioner in 1984 and served for nine years. During his term he was chair of the Yukon Anniversaries Commission.⁶⁾ The left-leaning Yukon News was critical of McKinnon for stopping some important and progressive legislation like the Public Governance Act which would have strengthened Yukon’s code-of-conduct and conflict-of-interest legislation.⁷⁾ In 2008, McKinnon was appointed chair of the Yukon Environmental Assessment Board (YESAB).⁸⁾ He was chancellor of Yukon College from 2000 to 2004. Dale Eftoda replaced McKinnon at YESAB in 2016.