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Yukon installs new information stop in Whitehorse for travellers passing through

The Yukon government says a new information station set up on the Alaska Highway in Whitehorse will help enforce COVID-19 travel restrictions.

Station will ensure 'non-resident travellers stay on their designated route'

An information station was set up in Whitehorse on Friday, along the Alaska Highway at Robert Service Way, to make sure people understand COVID-19 travel restrictions in place. (Paul Tukker/CBC)

The Yukon government says a new information station set up on the Alaska Highway in Whitehorse will help enforce COVID-19 travel restrictions.

In a news release, the government says the station at the intersection with Robert Service Way will help ensure that "non-resident travellers stay on their designated route and do not travel into Whitehorse."

The station was in place as of 8 a.m. Friday morning, in a highway rest stop. Travellers are not required to pull in but a sign directs them to "information for transiting through Yukon."

Three people and a small trailer were on hand Friday morning and said nobody had stopped in their first hour there.

Yukon implemented border restrictions under the territory's Civil Emergency Measures Act (CEMA) last month.

Right now, entry to Yukon is forbidden to anybody but Yukon residents and their families, critical and essential workers, people in transit through the territory, and people exercising Indigenous and treaty rights.

The government now has four mandated routes for people travelling through the territory to Alaska.

The information station was set up at 8 a.m. Friday morning. (Paul Tukker/CBC)

The government says CEMA enforcement officers are now in place in Carmacks, Mayo, Dawson, Ross River, Faro, Haines Junction, Old Crow, Teslin and Watson Lake. 

RCMP in all communities may also issue fines or arrest anybody found violating CEMA orders.

The government is expected to release a reopening plan for the territory later on Friday, but officials have said that border restrictions will not likely be lifted any time soon.