Yukon looks to avoid municipal byelection in Dawson City, where councillors refuse to swear oath to King

A spokesperson for the Yukon Government says the territory does not want to force a municipal by-election in Dawson City, despite legislation saying that may be necessary.

Earlier this month, the newly-elected town councillors in Dawson refused to take the oath of allegiance to the King while being sworn in to office.

Under the territory's Municipal Act, elected town councillors are required to take the oaths of office and allegiance within 40 days of being proclaimed. Failure to do so could make the election results null and void, and the office deemed vacant.

"We are looking to avoid a by-election," said Community Services spokesperson John Tonin. "We do not want that."

Instead, Tonin said the government is looking at alternative options for the oath but couldn't provide further details about what that could be. He said the deadline for councillors to take the oath, or for finding an alternative, is Dec. 9.

Philippe Lagassé is an associate professor at Carleton University in Ottawa whose research focuses on things like the roles of parliament, the Crown, and executive power in Westminster states, notably in the areas of foreign and military affairs.

He said Dawson City's councillors aren't the only politicians who have recently taken issue with the oath of allegiance, noting other cases in Quebec and Ontario.

"I think this is really demonstrating the extent to which the oath is now running into some fairly difficult situations in a number of jurisdictions," he said.

"The reality is there's a legal requirement to take the oath. The oath is in statute and the statute is very clear about the necessity to take it."

However, Lagassé also points out that Quebec found a way around it for MLAs in that province, "and I do wonder if in this situation again we'll find a way to somehow circumvent it."

Lagassé suggested that one way to ensure Dawson's elected councillors take office while still standing by their values would be for them to just take the oath of allegiance and then subsequently change it.

"That would be the act of demonstrating what one is trying to do here, on the part of the councillors," he said. "And that would arrive at a proper balance, I would argue, between the demands of the rule of law on the one hand, and a desire to move beyond this oath on the other."

Lagassé said the oath of allegiance is often viewed differently depending on the person.

He said the oath to the Crown doesn't necessarily mean an oath to the King himself, but to the system of government, and democratic institutions.