City Councillors Discuss Transferring Full Control of Schwatka Lake Aerodrome to Yukon Government

Tuesday, 30 July 2019 16:27

Schwatka Lake around Whitehorse (Photo courtesy of City of Whitehorse)

City councillors discussed the feasibility of transferring full control of the Schwatka Lake Aerodrome to the Yukon government last night at a city council meeting.

Councillor Samson Hartland raised the suggestion of letting the Yukon government have full jurisdiction of the Schwatka Lake Aerodrome at a city council meeting last night.

While the aerodrome allows authorized float plane users to fly in and out of the lake around Whitehorse, Hartland says a recent discussion he had with the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) around the operations of the lake raised some red flags for him.

"It is clear from my meeting that there is a bit of a jurisdictional muddle. Schwatka Lake is a navigable water body, thus it's a federal jurisdiction. (The aerodrome) is also in a federal jurisdiction since it's registered with Transport Canada. The land around the lake belongs to the Yukon government, but through a road agreement for Schwatka Lake Road, the city's responsible for permitting and development of the area. In the opinion of COPA and myself, Schwatka Lake and any other aerodrome in the Yukon is part of the territory-wide transportation and infrastructure. As such, It is clearly beyond the mandate of the City of Whitehorse."

Hartland highlighted during the discussions that recent legislation changes by Transport Canada could also create jurisdictional issues over the management of the aerodrome moving forward.

City administration highlighted while the Yukon implemented a flight path aviation strategy earlier this year, no significant action by either parties had been made on the issue just yet.

Councillor Dan Boyd says it's important to get management of the aerodrome right as traffic along the body of water increases over the coming years.

"It's an extremely busy lake and it's going to get a lot busier. More float planes want onto the lake, more recreation (activities) are occurring on the lake, and there are overall more users. I think it's worth doing some homework on it to try and figure out what exactly is involved, what is the gap, and then who should be doing it. Right now, it seems to me that the Yukon government should be managing it. I don't know that for sure, but I'd like to get more information."

After the discussions, councillors requested in a vote more briefing information from city administration on the status and operations of the aerodrome moving forward. Holding formalized discussions between the city and Yukon government around future aerodrome management was another request made.