Good morning, Yukon.

Five years ago, the territory introduced a rent cap to make “increases more predictable”. Now the government wants to remove it.

This week, we look at how the rent cap impacted Whitehorse’s average rental price.

We also meet a wolf pup whose short life left an extraordinary record beneath the Klondike, celebrate a young Dawson artist, and find a few good reasons to leave the house after dark. There is even a free Down With Webster concert coming to downtown Whitehorse.

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Average rent across Whitehorse’s surveyed rental market rose 17.0% in the five years before the cap, and 31.1% in the five years after it.

Rent caps sound like protection for renters. In Whitehorse, the numbers prove they work the other way around.

In the five years before Yukon capped rent increases, average rent rose $197 a month. In the five years after, it rose $422, more than double. Annual growth jumped from 3.2% to 5.6%. That’s $5,064 more a year than a renter paid in April 2021.

The cap was introduced in May 2021 to make rent increases more predictable. Renters got faster increases instead. That isn’t a coincidence. It’s what rent control tends to do.

Now the government wants to end it. Changes announced on October 8 would remove the cap on December 1, if the legislature approves them. They would also bring back no-cause evictions, with landlords required to give six months’ written notice for rent increases and no-cause evictions.

The cap only limited increases within an existing tenancy. It did nothing to the rent on a vacant unit.

So every time a tenant moved out, the owner had one chance to reset the price, knowing future increases would be held to a government-set percentage. The rational response is to price high on day one. If you can’t adjust later, you build tomorrow’s costs into today’s rent.

Every new lease became a hedge against the next five years, and everyone searching for a place paid for it.

A cap also changes what owners do with their property. Some sell to owner-occupiers. Some stop renting the basement suite and save it for their family. Some switched to short-term rentals, which the cap never touched.

Community Services Minister Cory Bellmore says the controls suppressed housing supply and pushed property owners out of the rental market, although she says she doesn’t have figures on how many left.

Economists have studied rent control for decades, and their conclusions are unusually consistent (which is rare for economists).

A 2024 review of more than 100 empirical studies found that rent control overwhelmingly leads to less rental housing, less new rental construction, higher rents for homes outside the controls, fewer tenants moving and declining housing quality.

When the University of Chicago surveyed leading economists in 2012, almost none agreed that rent control had improved the amount and quality of affordable housing.

Rent control may helps tenants who already hold a controlled unit. Everyone still looking for a place pays for it.

Rent is a price. When the rules make offering a home less attractive, fewer homes get offered, and the ones left cost more. Whitehorse already had a tight market. The cap made it tighter by discouraging the one thing that brings rents down: more places to rent.

Removing the cap won’t lower rents overnight. It does remove a reason not to build, buy or rent out a home in Whitehorse.

If the repeal works, it will show up in the numbers: more listings, more construction and rent growth that finally slows. The Almanac will be watching.

About the figures: The comparison uses the Whitehorse “All Types” average-rent figures from the April 2016, April 2021 and April 2026 Yukon Rent Surveys. It includes all surveyed rental building types, but excludes subsidized, government-owned and informal rentals. The mix of properties can change between surveys, and rents may include different utilities. Amounts are not adjusted for inflation. Annualized growth is the compounded yearly rate.

Sources: Yukon Bureau of Statistics, Yukon Rent Surveys (April 2016, April 2021 and April 2026); Government of Yukon, rent index; Yukon News, proposed repeal; CBC North; Government of Yukon, short-term rental indicators; Kholodilin, Rent control effects through the lens of empirical research, Journal of Housing Economics (2024); and University of Chicago IGM Forum economist survey (2012). Calculations by Almanac of the Yukon.

In July 2016, Neil Loveless was working a placer claim on Last Chance Creek, just outside Dawson, when the frozen ground gave up something that wasn’t gold.

It was a wolf pup. Head, paws, tail, skin and fur. All of her.

Yukon paleontologist Grant Zazula said that, as far as anyone knew, it was the only mummified ice age wolf ever found anywhere in the world.

Then came the detective work.

Nobody wanted to cut her open, so researchers X-rayed her instead. Her bones put her at six to seven weeks old, about the age wolf pups begin weaning today. Her den had most likely collapsed on her. The permafrost did the rest, sealing her away from scavengers for 57,000 years.

Next, samples of her hair and teeth went to a lab at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Teeth and hair keep a chemical record of what an animal ate, and Zhùr’s record said fish. Her mother was likely pulling salmon out of the Klondike River, the same river where Chinook still spawn today.

Then came her DNA. Compared with 29 other ancient and modern wolves, she traced back to wolves of ancient Beringia and Russia, a family history written across the Bering Land Bridge.

“They told the same story,” said lead researcher Julie Meachen, “and that doesn’t always happen in paleo work.”

The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, on whose land she was found, gave her a name: Zhùr, the Hän word for wolf. One of the scientists called her “a different kind of gold.”

Here is the part most Yukoners don’t know: she’s in Whitehorse. Zhùr is on display at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre. This fall it’s open noon to 5 p.m., Saturday through Monday, and adult admission is $6.

Fifty-seven thousand years is hard to picture. A seven-week-old pup is not.

Go say hello.

Sources: Current Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Government of Yukon and Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre.

Farrow MacDougall, a Grade 9 student at Robert Service School, earned first place in the Grades 7–9 category of the 2026 Canadian Art Inspiration Student Challenge.

The winning work, Tombstone Mountains, combines watercolour and pencil crayon and draws inspiration from artist Annie Pootoogook.

There is something especially satisfying about a young Yukoner taking a landscape close to home and giving people across the country a reason to look at it.

Source: See Farrow’s artwork in the competition exhibition and CBC North.

After years of closures, Yukoners can fish for salmon again this fall.

A strong coho return on the Alsek drainage has pushed the count at the Klukshu River weir to 4,971 fish as of October 5, nearly 50% above the 10-year average. Fisheries and Oceans Canada has raised the daily limit to four coho on the Yukon portions of the Alsek and Tatshenshini rivers.

“After so many years of hard news, it’s good to have some hope to share,” said Yukon Salmon Sub-Committee chair Dennis Zimmermann. Yukon River Chinook are still struggling, but this fall at least, there’s salmon in the freezer.

Source: Yukon News, coho limits raised after strong Alsek return.

This week’s find is Stacey’s Butcher Block in Porter Creek, where the jerky is some of the best in town.

I love their jerky and would highly recommend checking them out. You’ll find the shop at 29 Wann Road.

Find Stacey’s Butcher Block

October 21–24 · 7 p.m. nightly
Guild Hall, 27–14th Avenue, Whitehorse

A charming devil arrives in a village offering people their darkest wishes in exchange for their souls. Elizabeth, the woman everyone has labelled a witch, proves a difficult customer.

The Guild’s dark comedy is a fitting evening out as Halloween approaches. Expect adult themes, strong language and onstage violence.

Witch tickets and details

Friday, October 23 · Listed for 9 p.m.
Lefty’s Well, 102 Wood Street, Whitehorse · Tickets from about $12

Cryptozoologists and Calla Kinglit share the bill for a local music night at Lefty’s. Bring a friend, find a spot and let someone else choose the evening’s soundtrack.

Check the ticket page on Eventbrite for final doors and performance times.

Saturday, October 24 · 1–4 p.m.
Yukon Arts Centre, 300 University Drive · Free

Kids Kreate offers families an afternoon of hands-on art. Children must be accompanied by an adult, so consider this permission to make something yourself, too.

Kids Kreate details

Saturday, October 24 · 5 p.m.
Third Avenue and Main Street, Whitehorse · Free · All ages

Down With Webster is coming to downtown Whitehorse for a free community concert. Dress for an October evening and bring a few people who could use a night out.

The admission price leaves plenty in the budget for dinner.

Down With Webster concert details

SPASM: a strange little Halloween film night
Wednesday, October 28 · Doors 7:30 p.m.; films 8–9:45 p.m.
Yukon Theatre · $5 · Ages 16+

Short films mixing comedy, suspense and the bizarre, with costumes welcome and an audience vote for the favourite. Films are in French with English subtitles.

SPASM program and tickets

Major Funk gets an orchestra
Friday, October 30 · Listed for 8 p.m.
Yukon Arts Centre

Major Funk joins the Problematic Orchestra, with Morningcloak also on the bill. A 20-piece orchestra gives the local band’s sound plenty of room to grow. Check the listing for ticket details.

Yukon Arts Centre listings

Yo Ho Ho and a UFO
Saturday, October 31 · 9 p.m.–2 a.m.
Tony’s Seafood & Pasta, 201 Wood Street · Ages 19+

Pirates meet aliens at this Halloween party with DJs Blown Breaka and Andy Who. Pick a side, combine both costumes, or simply come ready to dance. Tiered ticket prices are listed on the booking page.

Halloween party details and tickets

Closing snapshot: Friday, October 16, 2026.

The broader Canadian stock market advanced, but the mining companies on our board had a tougher stretch. Silver fell sharply over the week, while several Yukon-linked shares remained well below their mid-September prices.

Commodity prices are in US dollars.

Sources: Gold, silver, copper, S&P/TSX, S&P 500 and Canadian dollar. Calculations by Almanac of the Yukon.

Oil: The latest available observation in the EIA WTI spot series was US$101.91 a barrel on October 14, up 7.25% from October 7 and down 0.50% from September 14. It is reported separately because the spot series was not yet available through Friday.

Source: EIA WTI spot-price history.

Prices are Canadian dollars except Hecla.

Company names link to their price histories. Calculations by Almanac of the Yukon.

About the figures: Canadian equities compare October 8 with October 16 for five trading sessions because of Thanksgiving. US equities, metals and currencies compare October 9 with October 16. One month compares September 16 with October 16. These are price changes, excluding dividends, fees and currency conversion.

A promising drill hole is interesting. Finding evidence that nearby deposits might connect is a bigger story.

On October 14, Sitka reported 236 metres grading 1.15 grams of gold per tonne at its Saddle Zone, including 71 metres at 2.79 g/t.

The company also reported drilling that extended mineralization at Eiger towards Saddle and Blackjack. Its working interpretation is that these areas could eventually form a larger, connected gold system.

That has not yet been established. The reported intervals are lengths along the drill core, and true widths remain undetermined. But the results give the next round of exploration a clear question to pursue: how much of the ground between the deposits also contains gold?

Source: Sitka Gold, October 14 drilling results.

Thanks for spending part of your Sunday with the Almanac.

If something here gave you a new way to look at home, send it to someone who would enjoy it. And if you make it to a show, discover a local business worth sharing, or hear a Yukon story that deserves a little more attention, hit reply. Those recommendations help shape what appears here.

Have a good week, Yukon.

Michael