The ribbon is cut by Deputy Commissioner Busson (with scissors) flanked (left to right) by Bonnie MacKenzie, Justice Minister John Edzerza, Larry Bagnell and Chief Superintendent Shewchuk. Photo by Dan Davidson

New Detachment is for the 21st Century

by Dan Davidson

The last day of September appeared to be the first day of winter in Dawson City, but that was not the reason why a large group of people were gathered, along with an impressive collection of red serge uniforms and government officials, at a familiar location on Front Street.

The outdoor ceremony on this snowy afternoon was to open officially the new Dawson Detachment building, the fourth such structure to be located on this plot of ground since Superintendent Sam Steele moved the force here from Forty Mile in 1898 and quartered it in a rented log cabin. That burned, and was replaced with a new structure, which was, in turn, ruined by the flood of 1979 and replaced once again.

That structure was outgrown by the needs of the detachment some time ago, and planning began for a new building early in the new century. Construction began in June 2003, and the building has been in use since late May 2004.

Deputy Commissioner Beverly Busson (Pacific Region) summed up her impressions of the force’s role in Dawson.

“The Royal Canadian Mounted Police has a long and proud history in Dawson City. Of particular pride is the strong, ongoing relationship between the RCMP, territorial organizations at all levels, business people and Yukoners in general. This relationship is key to our ability as an organization to ensure safe homes and safe communities, while helping to resolve community challenges.”

She went on to explain the reason for the new building.

“Unfortunately the old detachment building, with its crumbling foundation, could no longer accommodate the twenty-first century policing requirements which everyone expects. The fact is that the RCMP had outgrown its small and limited facility.

“This new and improved building is much larger, more modern, and has an open working area, facilitating employee contact and public accessibility. I’m very proud that this new building will be the centre for the RCMP to continue to bring the best possible policing services to the residents of Dawson City and the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in first nation...”

Member of Parliament Larry Bagnell spoke of the mystique of the force in Yukon history.

“Since the time of Sam Steele the RCMP have had a magic and a romantic and an honourable history in Canada and in the Yukon. It’s part of the essence of being Canadian. You’re really part of the soul of Dawson City, of the Yukon, of the country.

“The government has done you proud by providing this historically accurate facility in which to continue your great work.”

Bonnie MacKenzie, Regional Director Public Works & Government Services Canada was next to the podium.

“(We) are proud to be part of the design and construction of this unique facility. Our project management team ... worked closely with the RCMP and the Dawson City Historic Planning Board to develop a building that not only met the RCMP’s operational requirements but fit with this community’s unique heritage.”

One special feature she mentioned was the two canon sheds which flank the entrance to the driveway. Within them two restored field pieces symbolically guard the entrance to the building.

“I understand that one of these guns sat atop the infamous Chilkoot Pass in 1898,” MacKenzie said.

Yukon’s Minister of Justice, John Edzerza, expressed his admiration of the weather, saying that he had a lot of respect for things which man cannot control. He thanked the force, TSL Contracting, the federal departments and “all those who worked so hard to build this symbol of peace and order here in Dawson.”

“When I look at this new building I see a welcome addition to the City of Dawson which reflects the history of the community and of the RCMP. I am confident that this new building will meet operational needs for Dawson for the next few generations.

“This building should be a beacon of communication between the RCMP and the larger community they serve. As a minister of justice I recognize the often difficult task that the staff of our RCMP detachments sometimes has in the community, however, I am also a firm believer that if the community and the RCMP work together in cooperation with each other, some of the difficult tasks may become more manageable.

“In closing I must say that this is the one building in Dawson City which one wishes does not become filled to capacity.”

Chief Superintendent Dave Shewchuk, Commanding Officer of “M” Division, thanked all the various agencies at several levels of government which had made it possible to move so quickly on this project, especially Deputy Commissioner Busson, whose support for the project kept it from being delayed for years down the road.

The dedication plaque was unveiled by Deputy Commissioner Busson and Chief Superintendent Shewchuk and a assembly of all the dignitaries gathered on the porch to cut the ribbon which officially opened the station.

There followed a tour of the new facility, including offices, interview rooms, and holding cells at the rear, as well as the sharing of a commemorative cake.

Planning and Perseverance Pay Off, says mystery writer Wilson

by Dan Davidson

If Eric Wilson has one piece of advice for would-be writers that would be that they should keep trying. The author of twenty-one mysteries for young people wrote five books before he managed to find a publisher.

Speaking to an audience of grade 4, 7 and 8 students at the Robert Service School, Wilson mimed his five rejection letters in a spiel that was reminiscent of a Robert Munsch routine.

Wilson signed books and chatted after his presentation. Photo by Dan Davidson

“Dear Mr. Wilson,

“We don’t like your story.

“We don’t wanna publish it.

“Goodbye.”

By the time he got to envelope number three the kids were beginning to say it along with him.

Wilson began writing out of a desire to get a group of grade 8 sweat hogs to read anything back in the 1970s. He’d tried everything else he could think of in terms of books and these kids just weren’t buying any of it, so he did the one of the first things that a writer has to do: he wrote with a sense of his audience.

That book, Fat Boy Speeding, will probably never get into print, but it mattered enough to his class that students who missed a chapter would borrow it, take it to the library, and read it on their own time, so it was a success in that sense.

A relaxed Eric Wilson chats with fellow book lovers and shares some gems from Laura Berton’s I Married the Klondike at the Dawson Community Library. Photo by Dan Davidson

Wilson wrote other books over the next four years, but with no professional success. It was while he was in England that a professional editor advised him that his writing, while interesting enough, lacked the structure it would gain if he planned his stories.

Planning in great detail doesn’t work for everyone, but it worked for Wilson. He took his childhood memories of having his own imaginary detective agency (not an unusual dream for the son of an RCMP member), combined it with a train journey he had taken across Canada, plugged in a murder, and came up with Murder on the Canadian, a book that he said required far less revision than most of the 20 he has written since then.

Tom Austen is the Eric Wilson that might have been, and has been solving crimes for the last 28 years. He was a teenager when he started and seems to be aging about as fast as Archie, though he has grown up a bit over the years.

When the series began to be popular and readers began to ask about girls, Tom got a sister, Liz. Sometimes they work together; sometimes they don’t. Liz’s adventures are all narrated in a first person voice. Wilson told a gathering at the Dawson Community Library on September 23 that he did that because he’d been told he wouldn’t be able to. It worked and he’s continued, while Tom’s tales are told in a third person voice.

Wilson told his audience that he takes several months to plan a novel, working out the mystery backwards, creating the character sketches of the people he wants to use in the story, planning what scenes there will be. He likes to write in a totally dark room with nothing but the glow of his word processor to come between him and the story.

He might get more writing done if he didn’t tour so much, but he considers the touring the teaching part of his job, and he’s been doing it since 1976, right after the first book came out. It’s his mission to get as many students as possible interested in reading, and he’s worked up a presentation that does that fairly well.

In a sense he approaches his school visits as a blend of instructional time and motivational speaking. He gets the students to participate in an oral mystery. He hands out autographed postcards of the cover of his latest book whenever someone correctly answers a question during his talk. He reads a couple of exciting passages from his books and leaves the kids hanging at the cliffhangers with which most of his chapters end.

He tells them his own story, how he had to work at his dreams to make them come true, and how they did. He tells them that if they really want something they can make good things happen for themselves, but they have to apply themselves to get there.

For nine years after that first book, Wilson worked part time at various jobs and continued to produce books on a regular basis, taking Tom and Liz all over the country, not only telling gripping mysteries for the grade 5 to grade 8 crowd, but also introducing them to various parts of the country.

Titles include Vancouver Nightmare, The Kootenay Kidnapper, Vampires of Ottawa, Spirit in the Rainforest, The Green Gables Detectives, The Inuk Mountie Adventure, Terror in Winnipeg and The Ghost of Lunenburg Manor.

He’s written a couple of books outside the Austen series, like The Unmasking of 'Ksan, but mostly he’s stayed with his original idea. Since 1985 he’s been writing and touring full time.

Wilson and his wife (and business manager), Flo, have just finished a two month stay at Berton House, where they gathered the background material for what will become, in about two years time, the next Liz Austen mystery. It might have gotten written a little sooner, but there is a book already in the publishing pipeline, and then there’s touring. After leaving Dawson and giving several talks in Whitehorse, both at the Public Library and several schools, the Wilsons hardly have time to unpack in Victoria before heading off to a tour that will take in dozens of schools in Ontario.

Like any other author on tour, Wilson is out to promote his books and his work, but he feels he has a higher calling as well. He still thinks of himself as a teacher.