SUPPORT 'VERY HUMBLING,' FENTIE SAYS

The Yukon's premier admits his past conviction for dealing heroin is
an embarrassment.

In a press conference Monday afternoon, Dennis Fentie addressed the
issue of his 1976 conviction of being part of a heroin trafficking
ring in Edmonton.

Fentie told the Star during the 2002 election campaign about his
conviction for narcotics trafficking. However, the Yukon Party leader
refused to say, at the time, what drug he had been pushing.

It was revealed recently that Fentie had spent 17 months of a
four-year sentence in prison for peddling smack, also known as heroin.

"I think it's an unfortunate situation and it's not easy to deal
with," a solemn Fentie said Monday outside the cabinet offices in the
main government building. During the interview, a number of cabinet
staffers and MLAs gathered around to support the premier.

"I'm quite embarrassed about my past, to be honest with you."

Yesterday, prior to Fentie's statement, both opposition parties
questioned why the premier didn't just come clean during the election
campaign about what type of drug he was busted for dealing.

Fentie was asked if he regrets not telling the whole story during the
election and whether the type of drug he sold matters.

"The charge is the charge; it's the contravention of the Narcotics
Act. I'm very, very embarrassed about that," said Fentie.

"It was brought (up) in the election and I responded during the
election that I served time for the contravention of the Narcotics
Act."

Fentie pointed out that Canada gives people the opportunity for a
second chance in their lives to do something for society.

"I'm trying to put something back into a system that afforded me such
a wonderful opportunity," the premier said.

"I'm not proud of what happened to me in the past but I took
responsibility for those actions and now I'm trying to put back into
society, something useful and good."

He said there are only two ways his past conviction could keep him
from becoming premier - legally and morally.

Legally, Fentie said, there is no law that prevents someone who has
been pardoned of a previous conviction from running for office in the
Yukon.

"Morally, I say to you that considering what's been achieved here in
being given a full pardon, that should absolve me from any moral issue
to run for public office."

In 1996, before first running for the Watson Lake seat, Fentie
received a full pardon for all past criminal convictions.

Therefore, Fentie indicated the conviction does not keep him from
doing his job.

"I want to assure people that my past does not in any way, shape or
form reflect on my ability."

There was no sitting of the legislature Monday because the public
address system failed to work. The system is necessary for officials
to tape the proceedings and to record the daily transcripts.

But if the house had sat, Fentie would have been supported by more
than 30 people who had made the trip to the legislature to get behind
the premier. A number of the people had come to Whitehorse from Watson
Lake for the day.

At one point, while the crowd sat in the gallery waiting to see if the
sitting would eventually proceed, Fentie came out and spoke to the
people, thanking them for their support.

"(It's) very humbling," Fentie said of that support during the press
conference.

"I think it shows that Yukoners are prepared to express their
tolerance and allow people to better themselves. That's, to me, a very
good sign of our society." Among those in attendance were Fentie's
partner, Lorraine Nixon, and John Devries, a former Yukon Party MLA
for Watson Lake.

The contingent were upset with the media members who broke the story
about the type of drug Fentie had been involved with.

Fentie was asked what kind of toll the issue had taken on him over the
weekend.

"These things aren't easy; it's a big hit," he said.

NDP house leader Gary McRobb said after the day's sitting was
cancelled that there are probably valid questions to be asked of
Fentie about "how the Yukon will be treated by other jurisdictions and
other politicians in the future, because of this."

A Liberal strategist from Toronto, Warren Kinsella, said yesterday the
national attention this issue is drawing may upset some Yukoners who
don't want the territory known for the heroin issue.

"It most certainly could be a concern," McRobb said.

"Judging from the people in attendance today at the gallery, certainly
they didn't have too much concerns about it.

"I don't know how other Yukoners feel. I think we should hear from
them to figure that out."