Campaigning fierce as Dawson City votes on lagoon

A controversial referendum is underway Thursday in Dawson City, Yukon, as residents vote on whether to block the proposed location of a sewage lagoon near the entrance to town.

That referendum has sparked the Yukon government and the local Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation to wage opposing public awareness campaigns on whether construction of the lagoon should continue at the current site, located on Dome Road.

Posters and flyers from both sides have been popping up all week on walls and billboards around the town, which has a population of about 1,300.

The First Nation has pushed for a majority Yes vote, which would order the town to halt construction of the lagoon at the current site. Tr'ondek Hwech'in Chief Darren Taylor has proposed an alternate site on First Nation land across the Klondike River.

The government, which is funding and engineering the sewage treatment facility, has campaigned for the construction to continue at the current site.

"I'm thinking [it's taken] about three years to get to where we are, and we've spent about $1.4 million to date," Kriss Sarson, the government's project manager on the lagoon, told CBC News in an interview.

"A large portion of that, yes, would be lost it would take a considerable amount of time and effort to restart on any other options."

The government has been scrambling to get the sewage treatment plant built since 2003, when the territorial court ordered the town to stop dumping raw sewage into the Yukon River.

Officials are already at least three years behind schedule in meeting the court's deadline on having the lagoon up and running.

The referendum was ordered by residents opposed to the proposed location. Some residents and the First Nation have argued that the site is too close to housing and the local underground drinking water source.

While Sarson said moving the site now would cost more time and money, Taylor said the government is not even listening to his idea.

"There's nothing preventing the Yukon government from injecting more money into this project to ensure that it's done properly," Taylor said.

However Thursday's vote turns out, another court review is scheduled for April to reassess the project's timelines.

Residents are also electing a new town councillor in a byelection on Thursday, in order to fill a vacant spot on town council.