In the News

  One of the best ways to get to know a new town is by reading thier local newspaper. What is important to the town is in their local paper as well as information about how to get involved as a newbie. I took some pictures of some advertisements and articles that allow for some insights into life in Whitehorse.

Pets and Animals are extremely important to Yukoners. I'm sure many newspapers have a pet of the week, but in Whitehorse dogs and foxes can actually gain celebrity status. Just look up Trevor the Dog and Whitehorse and you will see what I mean.

Christmas craft sales have begun! There is one every weekend until Christmas and they bring me so much joy!!

As most northern towns can relate, Whitehorse has a shortage of doctors.

Big issue in the Yukon: The Peel. The Peel is the dark blue region of the Yukon pictured below. It cannot be reached by roads, but is a beautiful area that has been enjoyed by First Nations people as well as other Yukoners for a long time. This is the local environmentalists vs. economists battle. There is a proposal for industry to begin in the Peel such as mining and environmentalists and First Nations are trying to rally the population to stop a road from being built into the region.

Mining: Still a very big industry here. The highschools have courses on mining (I haven't had the opportunity to sub for them yet :(  Many believe there is going to be another RUSH beginning here in the Yukon.

Published in early November, you can now use your snowmobile on the Dempster Highway. This highway takes you to the Arctic Circle. Only in the North do they swap trucks for snowmobiles in November :)

Also- they have modified the caribou hunting season this year. There are apparently two separate herds that migrate through the Dempster Valley: the Hart River Caribou and the Porcupine Caribou. Usually environmentalists can time their migration patterns accurately, the Hart River Caribou move through first, then there is a vacant period, followed by the Porcupine Caribou. Thus, they plan the hunting seasons around those migratory patterns. However, the Hart River Caribou are still making thier way through the valley and the Porcupine Herd haven't made it through yet (at this time they are usually on the move). In order to avoid endangering the Hart River Herd by overhunting them, caribou hunting has been prohibited for a time.

These ads always makes me laugh. I'm not sure who funds them, but they are there every day! I've been really tempted to email or call.

Call for Artists. Whitehorse is a very artistic city and there is also a lot of funding available for artistic grants, especially to do with the environment or First Nations.

 

     They don't snowplow here! The roads have become packed down and completely white. We get a couple of cms
at a time and sometimes the sidewalks get plowed and some of
the main roads. It is really strange to drive on completely white
roads all the time. Oh- and those are Marcel's new boots- he is
pretty pumped about them.

We tried out curling one day! It is a lot harder than it looks, but by the end of the day Mar and I had seen some improvement in each other :)

 

 

    I know I didn't include any sports in the clippings, which I do feel guilty about! I know those days will come because Marcel just broke a story about the NHL visiting Whitehorse and of course the Quest is coming up after Christmas. He is really enjoying his job which is so great for me to see. Unlike any other newspaper he has written for, the paper comes out in the afternoon. Normally a paper is printed in the evening or early morning and for a sports reporter this means a lot of late nights writing up about the most recent sporting events (many of which occur in the evening). Since, deadline for Marcel is at 1:30 pm now instead of ten or midnight, he comes home tired, but pretty relaxed. The morning is his stressful time and often lunch doesn't occur for him until 1:30 or 2 pm.

  However, Fridays can be the opposite. On Friday, the newspaper is significantly larger due to an influx of ads and it being the "weekend" paper (I'm so glad there is no Saturday/Sunday paper!). The Whitehorse Star is printed on location (a very old-school-cool-looking operation!) and when the newspaper is extra big (say 68-72 pages) the press needs to do three separate "runs" due to the additional sections. This means that some sections of the paper need to be ready for the press at 9 am so they can get the whole paper printed in time for the afternoon deliveries.

  Yesterday Marcel was told that the sports section needed to be ready by 9 am. After dinner I went to the gym and then watched some friends play soccer, meanwhile, Marcel was at home typing away. I got a taste of what our life used to be like when he worked on midnight deadlines. It made me so thankful for these afternoon deadlines. He didn't make it to bed until 1:30 am and then needed a ride to work for 7:30 am to get his work readied in time. Thankfully, he'll be able to leave work a little earlier now that he's put in some advance hours which isn't too bad for a Friday of a long weekend (we get Monday off for Remembrance Day :) The best part though was when, despite his lack of sleep, Marcel woke up this morning cheerfully and said, "You know what, it wasn't even that bad staying up late to work. It was kind of fun!" That is when you know you are working in the right field, doing what you love.