Good morning, Yukon.

If you spent last night handing out candy, chasing children between houses or pretending not to hear the doorbell, I hope there’s a little chocolate left for your coffee.

This week, we look at a strange pair of numbers. Yukon is adding jobs faster than any other province, yet the average paycheque buys less than it did a year ago.

We’ll also visit a Dawson house where artists have reported supernatural company, cheer on a Dawson artist up for a $25,000 prize, and find a few good reasons to leave the house as November settles in.

Support the Almanac: If you enjoy reading it, consider buying or listening to a book from our sponsor, Anne Angelo Publishing House. We sell books that could make great gifts, just an idea as Christmas nears.

Let’s get into it.

By one measure, Yukon’s job market is among the hottest in the country.

Between August 2025 and August 2026, payroll jobs grew by about 1,400, or 5.5%. That’s second only to Nunavut, and far ahead of every province. Across Canada, payroll jobs grew just 0.3%.

Employers still want more workers. Yukon’s job vacancy rate was 4.1%, the highest in the country.

You’d expect that kind of demand to push pay up quickly. It hasn’t.

Average weekly earnings rose 2.8%, from $1,497 to $1,539. Across Canada, they rose 3.7%.

And prices rose faster still. Whitehorse inflation hit 5.9% in August, the highest of any province or territory. In September, it climbed to 6.1%.

Put those together, and the average Yukon paycheque bought about 3% less than a year earlier. That’s roughly $45 a week in lost buying power. Across Canada, pay grew a little faster than prices.

That said, Yukon pay is still high. Our average of $1,539 a week ranks third in the country, well above Canada’s $1,355. But it is losing ground to the cost of living here.

The data doesn’t give a single answer, but a few explanations fit. First, wages tend to lag prices: most people get a raise once a year, while prices change every month. That lag matters more here, where nearly half of employed Yukoners work in the public sector, and many of those wages are set in multi-year contracts negotiated before inflation took off. Second, the new jobs may not pay as well as the old ones. If growth is concentrated in entry-level, part-time or service work, it pulls the average weekly paycheque down, even if nobody’s pay was cut. And third, much of Whitehorse’s inflation is local. Electricity bills and housing costs have been climbing faster here than elsewhere, and those don’t automatically show up in anyone’s pay. A record vacancy rate should eventually push wages up, because employers who can’t find workers usually have to pay more. This year, prices simply moved first.

These are averages, and they shift as the mix of jobs and hours changes. They don’t mean every Yukoner fell behind. But more jobs and better-off households aren’t the same thing, and this year the gap between them got wider.

About the figures: Payroll jobs and average weekly earnings are seasonally adjusted; August 2026 figures are preliminary. Jobs are not unique workers; someone with two payroll jobs counts twice, and self-employed workers are excluded. Earnings include overtime. The vacancy rate is not seasonally adjusted. Prices use the Whitehorse and Canada consumer price indexes. The 3% real decline is an Almanac calculation: 2.8% earnings growth adjusted for 5.9% Whitehorse inflation.

Sources: Statistics Canada, payroll employment, earnings and job vacancies, August 2026; Yukon Bureau of Statistics, August 2026 report; Statistics Canada consumer price index, August and September. Calculations by Almanac of the Yukon.

In 2007, an artist living in Dawson’s Macaulay House did something unusual with his residency. Jude Griebel collected the ghost stories other residents had told about the house and turned them into a book: Footsteps in the Macaulay House.

There was plenty to collect.

Built in 1901, the house was once owned by Henry Macaulay, Dawson’s first mayor. Today it belongs to Parks Canada, and since 2001 it has been home to the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture’s artist residency. More than 300 artists, musicians and filmmakers have come from across Canada and around the world to write, paint and make films there

Many of them have seen, or claim to have seen, company in the house.

Residents have described a little girl in period dress and a figure on the staircase. Others report apparitions in a mirror inside an upstairs closet. One artist said a child’s ghost approached the bed at night. Another kept seeing figures pass through mirrors. Some people have simply had trouble crossing the staircase landing, unable to move and unsure what was influencing them.

These are ghost stories, passed along by residents and local storytellers. Records of the house are patchy, and no one has established an explanation for what people say they experienced. But you can appreciate the predicament without believing in ghosts.

Once someone mentions a figure on the stairs, going upstairs becomes a different experience.

That is what makes Macaulay House such a good Halloween story. It serves an ordinary, welcoming purpose: giving creative people somewhere to live and work. The unsettling details belong to familiar places. A landing you cross before bed. A mirror you might rather not look into after dark.

For visiting artists, Dawson has always offered plenty of material. At Macaulay House, the stories suggest you might not even have to leave home to find it.

Whether you would get much work done is another question.

Want to read the stories yourself? Footsteps in The Macaulay House was a small-run artist’s book, and we couldn’t find it for sale online. Your best bet is to ask the Klondike Institute of Art and Culture or Yukon Public Libraries. You can also read Yukon News’ 2007 story on the book, or see one of Griebel’s paintings from the same ghost-story series, Shadows-Like Things Out of The Corner of My Eye, in the Yukon Arts Centre’s permanent collection.

Sources: Klondike Visitors Association, Klondike Institute of Art and Culture and Global News. Reported hauntings are local folklore, not verified supernatural events.

Dawson artist Rebekah Miller’s graphite drawing, Hidden Mother, is one of 30 finalists chosen from almost 400 submissions for the Kingston Prize, Canada’s national portrait competition.

The title comes from Victorian-era photographs in which mothers hid themselves, often under a cloth, while holding their children still for the camera. Miller brings that hidden figure to the centre of the portrait: a veiled figure holding a bird in flight.

The finalists’ exhibition is free at Toronto’s Arta Gallery in the Distillery District until November 8. The $25,000 winner will be announced on November 6, alongside two honourable mentions and a People’s Choice award.

A Yukon artist, a striking piece of work and a national audience. We’ll be watching.

Sources: Miller’s artwork and statement and Kingston Prize finalists announcement.

Yukon crews completed 151.9 kilometres of chipseal resurfacing in 2026, compared with just over 76 kilometres last year.

The work included 69 kilometres of the North Klondike Highway, 45.3 kilometres of the Alaska Highway, and community streets in Watson Lake, Mayo and Carmacks.

Chipseal protects the road surface and extends its life. It isn’t a glamorous announcement, but anyone who spends enough time behind a windshield has reason to appreciate it.

Source: Government of Yukon, October 28.

A funding package announced October 27 will address $8.34 million in hospital operating needs, including support for more nurses across Yukon’s three hospitals.

It combines $3.94 million in additional government funding with permission to redirect $4.4 million made available through a pension contribution holiday.

The money also helps staff the eight beds that opened in July in Whitehorse General Hospital’s new Dandelion Medical Unit, which took the hospital from 71 to 79 inpatient beds. New beds need people behind them.

It doesn’t mean the pressure on hospitals has disappeared. It is a practical step towards keeping services staffed as demand grows.

Sources: Government of Yukon and Yukon Hospitals, October 27 and June 18 announcement on the new beds.

There comes a point in a snowy winter when the problem isn’t clearing the driveway. It’s finding somewhere to put what you’ve cleared.

A dump trailer can be one of the most useful tools in a high-snow year. Load it, haul the snow away and tip it out, rather than spending the winter building increasingly impressive walls around your parking spot.

Tait Trailers on Range Road sells dump trailers from 5×10 up to 7×16 feet, and also offers trailer rentals. If snow hauling is on your winter list, call or text for a quote, and ask about rental availability.

Not the most glamorous Yukon Find. Possibly one of the most useful by February.

115 Range Road, Whitehorse · 867-334-2194 (call or text)

Browse Tait’s dump trailers · Contact Tait Trailers

Headed to the City’s Robert Service Way snow dump? You’ll need a new 2026–27 permit, and each permit covers one licence plate for one winter. Apply by emailing the City’s application form or dropping it off at the Operations Building, 187 Range Road. The site opens after the first significant snowfall, and vehicles without a permit are turned away. Snow-dump information and permits.

Tuesday, November 3 · 7:30–9:30 p.m.
Lefty’s Well, 102 Wood Street · $20 advance, $25 at the door

Two songwriters and a room small enough to hear the stories between the songs. Tentrees brings music from his album Dandelion Blue to this double-bill record-release show with Cam Penner.

Concert information and tickets

Tuesday, November 3 to Saturday, November 7
Canada Games Centre and Takhini Arena

The World Broomball Championships are coming to Whitehorse, with up to 35 teams expected across men’s, women’s, mixed and masters divisions. If you’ve never watched the sport, this is your chance to discover how competitive running around an ice rink can become.

Want to try it yourself? Free-format See It, Try It broomball sessions run Thursday and Friday, November 5 and 6, from 4 to 5 p.m. on the Canada Games Centre’s ATCO ice. Bring a helmet; sticks and shoes are provided.

Championship information · Try-it sessions

Friday, November 6 and Saturday, November 7 · 7 p.m.
Yukon Arts Centre · $40 adults, $70 weekend pass, $30 students and seniors, $20 youth

Friday brings Nick Gilder & Sweeney Todd, Heart tribute band Barracuda, and Love and a .38. Saturday features William Prince, Donita Large & The Small Band, Average Joe and Gemini Fire.

A rock-heavy Friday or a Saturday of big voices and songwriting. There’s a good argument for both. The festival is run entirely by volunteers and supports young Yukoners through music and art.

Full lineup and tickets

Saturday, November 7 · 7:30–10 p.m.; doors at 7 p.m.
Lewis Hall, Whitehorse United Church, 601 Main Street · $7 cash; children 12 and under free

Johnston and Keevil bring acoustic guitar, upright bass and country-bluegrass harmonies to the Folk Society’s coffeehouse.

There’s also an open stage. If you have a few songs, a poem or another act to share, sign-up starts at 6 p.m. Performers get in free.

Coffeehouse details

Remembrance Day · Wednesday, November 11

Pick up a poppy and make room in the calendar to remember those who served. The Legion’s Poppy Campaign is underway, with local donations supporting veterans and their families. Whether you attend a ceremony or pause wherever you are, set aside two minutes at 11 a.m. We’ll include local ceremony details in next Sunday’s edition.

Find a ceremony · Support the Poppy Campaign

Damien Robitaille, with Maya Chartier · Thursday, November 12 · Show at 7:20 p.m.; doors at 7 p.m.
Old Fire Hall · $30

An upbeat francophone evening of catchy songs, ballads and multi-instrumental showmanship. Yukon artist Maya Chartier opens.

Information and tickets

Rob Pue and Niki Wright · Friday, November 13 at 7 or 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, November 14 at 7 p.m.
Boiler Room, 4220 Fourth Avenue · $32, including fees and taxes

Touring headliner Rob Pue joins Vancouver comedian Niki Wright for three shows. An easy dinner-and-a-show option.

Comedy tickets

Broadway and Beyond · Saturday, November 14 · Reception at 6:30 p.m.; show at 7:30 p.m.
Yukon Arts Centre · Three pay-what-you-decide ticket options

Robert Pilon, who has played both Jean Valjean and the Phantom, joins Toronto musicians and local talent for Broadway classics and popular favourites. The evening supports LDAY’s work, including brain-injury services.

Event information and tickets

Friday, October 30, 2026

Gold fell another 3% this week, and most of the Yukon-linked companies on our board followed it down, just as last week’s graph would predict. White Gold was the exception, gaining 3.5%.

Oil: The latest available EIA WTI spot observation was US$103.37 per barrel on October 27. Friday’s spot figure was not yet available, so it is shown separately rather than mixed into the Friday comparison.

Sources: Gold, silver, copper, TSX, S&P 500, Canadian dollar and WTI spot oil.

Share prices in Canadian dollars, except Hecla.

Week compares October 23 with October 30; month compares September 30 with October 30; YTD compares December 31, 2025 with October 30. These are price changes, excluding dividends, distributions and currency conversion. White Gold’s YTD figure excludes the value of any W2 Critical Minerals spinout shares. Metals use spot or cash benchmarks, not futures. Company names link to their price histories. Year-end prices: Yahoo Finance historical closes; gold and silver from Texas Precious Metals’ December 31 quotes; copper from Westmetall’s 2025 LME table. Calculations by Almanac of the Yukon.

Drilling tells a company what is inside a narrow cylinder of rock. Working out what lies between those holes is another challenge.

Fireweed Metals is using muon tomography to help with that at its Macpass project. Muons are particles that rain down from space all the time. Dense rock, such as sulphide ore, absorbs more of them, so sensors placed underground can help map where the heavy material sits.

On October 29, the company said it had deployed the sensors in three holes at Tom East, building on an earlier survey at Boundary Zone. The aim is to better define the high-grade zone and guide future drilling.

Separately, a conventional drill hole at Tom East returned 17 metres (true width) grading 5.73% zinc, 10.87% lead and 143.5 grams of silver per tonne. Chief executive Ian Gibbs called Tom East “one of the highest-grade zones at the Tom deposit.”

For investors, that is useful work even during a difficult month for mining shares. The price on the screen and the work happening in the field don’t always move together.

Source: Fireweed Metals, October 29.

Your paycheque may not stretch quite as far this year, so it’s a good thing November has a $7 night of live music and a world championship on local ice.

Book a show, cheer on a team or bring someone along to the coffeehouse. There’s plenty happening between now and the depths of winter.

And as the poppies come out, keep November 11 in mind. We’ll be back next Sunday with local remembrance details and another collection of Yukon stories worth your time.

Thanks for reading,

Michael Angelo Hunter

Know a local person, business or achievement we should feature? Reply and tell me about it.