This week we continue our look back at the top local news stories of 2016.
5. Special visit
In case you haven’t noticed, which would be shocking, there are a lot of people of Ukrainian descent in Yorkton and the area. In fact, as of the 2011 census, seven per cent of Yorktonites still report Ukrainian as their mother tongue.
Nevertheless, for a city the size of Yorkton, a visit by someone as high-ranking as a national ambassador is a very big deal.
In June, Andriy Shevchenko, the newly appointed Ukraine ambassador to Canada, who is a former journalist, activist and elected member of the Ukrainian Parliament, and who participated in the EuroMaidan Revolution of 2013-2014, came to town.
He was feted at St. Mary’s Ukrainian Catholic Cultural Centre by the Ukrainian-Canadian Congress. Dignitaries at the event included Yorkton-Melville MP Cathay Wagantall, former Saskatchewan finance minister Ken Krawetz and Bishop Bryan Bayda, head of the Ukrainian Catholic Eparchy of Saskatoon.
While here, the ambassador was very gracious and spoke passionately about solidarity between people in Ukraine and the Canadian diaspora.
“I would encourage the Ukrainian-Canadian community to stay together, to stay united,” he said. “They have been wonderful examples, role models, as community leaders, as community activists around country and specifically here in the Yorkton area and I would really encourage them to stay together, that helps them to have a strong voice, a strong say.”
4. Big turnover
Municipal elections tend to be dull affairs with predictable results. Incumbents are heavily favoured and change is usually gradual and incremental.
That was not the case in Yorkton this year. A total of 24 hopefuls ran for council while four candidates took a shot at the mayor’s chair.
Of six councillors elected October 26, five were brand new politicians. The only incumbent to keep her seat was Randy Goulden and she came in fifth place.
First-timer Quinn Haider, an elementary school principal was the top vote getter ahead of Aaron Kienle, Darcy Zaharia, Mitch Hippsley, Goulden and Ken Chyz.
And, while Bob Maloney retained the top job as mayor, that was a tight race. All evening as the results came in, it looked like Chris Wyatt, a multiple term councilor and one-time mayor, was going to win it. Finally, when the very last poll reported, Maloney overtook Wyatt edging him out by just 33 votes. It may very well have been the also-rans who decided this one with change candidates Calvin Tokarchuk and Andrew Probe garnering 15.6 and 2.6 per cent of votes cast respectively.
3. Missing teen
On April 12 horror arrived for a Yorkton family when then 16-year-old Mekayla Bali failed to return home from school.
Police said she was last seen at the bus station in Yorkton early in the afternoon and that they were looking for a person of interest, a man with a flaming cross tattoo on his forearm, whom they say is not a suspect, but may have information.
Efforts to locate Mekayla continued throughout the rest of the year. Police press conferences and candlelight vigils kept the disappearance fresh in the community’s mind and the family raised $25,000 to offer as a reward for information leading to Mekayla’s recovery.
Police received hundreds of tips including sightings, but none have so far panned out.
In October, Paula Bali, Mekayla’s mother, traveled to Vancouver based on RCMP information that she may be in the B.C. city to set up a poster campaign.
The girl, now 17, remains missing, but police still insist there is no evidence she has come to harm. They are still seeking the tattooed man, who may have been the last person to see her in Yorkton as he is alleged to have been at the bus station at around the same time Mekayla was last seen.
2. Breach of trust
Sex assaults are among the most serious of crimes, but are fairly common and while they are regularly reported on, they would normally not be ranked among the top stories of the year.
But when the alleged perpetrator is a former prominent public figure in a position of power over his alleged victims, such as a doctor, it becomes Top 10 news.
In February, the RCMP charged former Yorkton obstetrician-gynecologist Mohammed Haque with six counts of sexual assault.
In May, investigators tacked on an additional 10 counts after more alleged victims came forward.
Several adjournments followed as defence counsel George Green made arrangements for Haque to receive disclosure in London, Ontario where he now resides.
Finally, on October 20, Haque pleaded not guilty to all charges and elected trial by judge at Court of Queen’s Bench. A preliminary hearing has been set for March 27 to 31 and April 3 to 7, 2017.
1. Most foul
The alleged murder of Lawrence Skoretz comes in at number one because it has been six years since there was a murder in Yorkton.
Mr. Skoretz was found unresponsive on Wellington Park Road, close to his home on Waterloo Road, in the early hours of September 13. He was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital.
On September 22, RCMP arrested two youths, who cannot be named pursuant to a publication ban under the Youth Criminal Justice Act and charged them with first-degree murder.
At a hearing in Yorkton Provincial Court December 20, the Crown announced it would seek to have the two boys sentenced as adults if they are convicted. The Court set aside two days in April for a preliminary hearing.
The boys remain in custody at the Paul Dojack Youth Centre in Regina.
