Bernie Phillips (b. 1953)
Bernie Phillips grew up in Ontario and moved to the Yukon in 1976. He came to visit a friend and never left. Bernie is a musician, actor, carpenter, and in 1998 he and his wife Pam established a guest house in downtown Whitehorse. Bernie helped to establish Frostbite Music Festival, the Guild Hall, and the Yukon Arts Centre. He served two terms as a Whitehorse city councillor from 1994 to 2000 and supported legislation to control wood-stove emissions, move sewage to a larger lagoon so it no longer ran into the river, and initiated recycling measures.1)
A major discussion by city councillors in 1999 was centred on a proposal by a Kelowna, British Columbia company to build a large mall in a wetland at the edge of the industrial area. It caused a spit in Council where Bernie Phillips, Duke Connelly, and Al Jacobs, were against bringing in a large complex [Walmart] to compete with the small businesses along Main Street.2) Bernie Phillips ran for mayor four times: in 1988, 1991, 2000, and again in 2012.
Bernie and Pam Phillips run the Historical Guesthouse in Whitehorse. The two-story log house was built in 1907 by Mike and Tony Cyr for Sam McGee.3)