Yukon deputy minister Michael Prochazka, former firefighter Paul Gray and Thomas Johannes Schloter of North 60 remembered on April 28 Dozens of Yukoners gathered at Shipyards Park on April 28 to remember the two Yukon workers who died on the job in 2024 and one in 2023. Michael Prochazka, the Yukon’s deputy minister of Environment, and City of Whitehorse fire prevention officer Paul Gray passed away in 2024, while Thomas Johannes Schloter of North 60 died in late 2023. Yukon Federation of Labour president Teresa Acheson hosted the event in front of the Yukon Workers’ Memorial in the park on April 28, 2025, to honour workers that have been killed or hurt or got sick at work. In 2024, the Yukon Workers’ Safety and Compensation Board tracked 703 accepted claims and 377 lost-work time claims, in addition to the two workplace-related deaths, according to a press release from the federation and confirmed by the board. Acheson took a few moments to highlight Prochazka’s curiosity and passion for art and design. She drew his path from growing up in Ottawa to living at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve. “Mike’s move to the Yukon government launched his dream career, rising from strategic advisor to deputy minister,” she said. “He was a public service servant in the truest sense, thoughtful, collaborative and committed to helping people work together towards shared goals. He believed deeply in what was possible and empowered those around him to embrace it, too.” Prochazka was killed in a fatal two-vehicle collision that took place at the intersection of the Alaska Highway and the road to Swan Haven, south of Whitehorse, before 5 p.m. on Aug. 2, 2024. Yukon government Minister Nils Clarke, the other person in the vehicle, was seriously injured in the crash. During Clarke’s recovery, two ministers temporarily took over Clarke’s files regarding the departments of Environment and Highways and Public Works. Acheson remarked on Schloter’s love of nature and being outdoors. He immigrated to Canada from Germany in 2002, when he moved into a remote trapper’s cabin in the Ibex Valley. He took pleasure in making wooden toys and small-scale furniture. “He was a loving, courageous and strong man,” she said. “He had died of a pulmonary embolism due to complications of a work-related injury.” Schloter was 63 years old when his spouse and daughter found him on the floor at home on Dec. 23, 2023. “He will be forever in his family’s hearts and deeply missed,” Acheson said. “It’s these stories that remind us of why it’s so important to renew our commitment to keeping workers and workplaces safe.” The life of Gray, who died on April 18, 2024, from a fight with work-related cancer after years of fighting and preventing fires, was spoken to extensively during last year’s National Day of Mourning event. Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
2 Yukon workers lives lost in 2024, 1 in 2023 honoured at Day of Mourning
