In the Yukon, newly elected councilors are mandated to swear an allegiance oath to the UK's King Charles III, as the monarch is still considered Canada's official head of state. Five councilors in Dawson City, however, say they simply won't do that, possibly putting their newly won roles in jeopardy, reports CBS News. Four of the five new councilors took their general oath of office on Tuesday, while the fifth, who was on vacation overseas, will do so when he gets back, per the Yukon News. Typically, that oath would then be followed by the pledge of loyalty to Britain's king—but one new member, Darwyn Lynn, balked.
"Early in the morning we all got an email and it was from Darwyn," Mayor Stephen Johnson, another new councilor, tells CBS, noting that Lynn's wariness to swear allegiance to the king was due to the Crown's past dealings with Canada's Indigenous people, as Britain exploited marginalized communities to build its colonial empire. The other councilors joined in, refusing to say the oath out of solidarity with Lynn. Samantha Crosby, the Yukon's director of community affairs, tells the CBC she's never heard of an entire group of new councilors rebuffing the oath at once.
According to Yukon regulations, the councilors must make the pledge within 40 days of their election. If they don't, their election can be nullified and a new election may be held, called a by-election. Crosby says she's been in touch with the councilors to try to find a path forward that doesn't go that route, and that meets all legislative rules while still respecting the councilors' concerns. She also said that changing the wording of the oath, which is simply a regulation under the legislation, might be an easier way to go than trying to change the legislation over the oath itself. CBS notes that one Parliament member tried to pass a bill earlier this year that would make the monarch oath optional, but it failed 197-113. (More King Charles III stories.)
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