Great River Journey is bankrupt.

The company failed to file a restructuring proposal by the Oct. 8 deadline imposed by the Yukon Supreme Court.Under the rules set out in the Bankruptcy Act, proceedings are now in the hands of the court-appointed trustee to manage Great River Journey's affairs.

Abakhan & Associates of Vancouver has scheduled a meeting of the creditors for Oct. 28 at the MacBride Museum.

Great River president George Asquith said Tuesday he will not be commenting on the situation until the creditors' meeting.

He did say, however, there is still an opportunity to relaunch the business proposal, given the value of what has been achieved to date.

"It is ready to go if somebody comes forward,” Asquith told the Star.

Great River Journey's financial problems came to light last February. That was two years after the company held a lavish party to announce its business plan and partnership with four Yukon First Nations.

Last April, it filed for Yukon Supreme Court protection when it put forward a notice under the bankruptcy act indicating its intent to develop a restructuring proposal.

The company was given its first extension in late May to complete the proposal, and second extension in July.

It received a third extension to Oct. 8 after Asquith indicated to the court in late August he was making progress finding the $2.5 million required to save the business.

According to court documents, the three secured creditors are owed a total of $9 million: $5.1 million to a group of private investors who include Asquith, who put up $800,000 ; $2.75 million to the Business Development Bank of Canada; and $1.1 million to the corporation representing the four First Nations.

Another 76 unsecured creditors, most of them local businesses, are owed a total of $1.38 million, with outstanding debts ranging anywhere from $100 to the $712,500 claimed by the federal Department of Indian and Northern Affairs.

Great River Journey was proposing to sell tours down the Yukon River last summer for $5,500 US for five days and four nights, or $6,500 for seven days and six nights.

The business ran into trouble after investing in three new plush wilderness lodges built along the Yukon River, uniquely designed guest cabins and the required infrastructure such as three first-class river boats costing $250,000 each.

In interviews earlier this year, Asquith indicated Great River Journey was broadsided by the worldwide recession, which hit even the upper-end tourism industry.

The company tried in the spring but was unable to secure further Yukon government assistance to keep the business proposal afloat.

The government had already granted Great River Journey $630,000 through its various business development programs to help advance the proposal.

In documents provided to the court in late August to support another extension of court protection, Asquith indicated he'd secured interest from an international marketing firm to provide $500,000 of the $2.5 million required to keep the dream alive.

Back in May, when Great River Journey was seeking its first extension, its Whitehorse lawyer, Grant Macdonald, told the court if the company was not given time to prepare a restructuring proposal, it would lapse into bankruptcy.

Once it became bankrupt, the existing assets would be swallowed up by the three secured creditors and nothing would be left for the 76 unsecured creditors, Macdonald told Justice Leigh Gower.