Our speakers certainly have one thing in common: The mining town of Timmins was at the heart of the youth of Margaret Tolgese and Eric Bloord. The first lived there while her father worked at the Kid Creek mine and the second attended Tyrault Catholic High School.
It’s an immigration community, everyone comes from everywhere. We really do create a family because our families are often in Quebec, Ontario, or New Brunswick. Our isolation allows us to make really strong community bonds.
As Margaret says on a video call from this northern region.
Eric Blurd proudly poses with his dog in front of his home in Fox Lake.
Image source: Eric Plourde
Growing up, Eric associated the Lord Whitehorse with the arctic cold. He told us a secret about his adopted city. Tabarouette is better in Whitehorse than in Moonbeam and Timmins. First, there is a little snow, the more the worse worry.
Right now, it’s really weird, it’s like thawing this month. This is not normal, I must say
Adds Margaret Tolgese, who has lived in the Yukon since she was 14.
Golden opportunities in Yukon
Upon her arrival at Whitehorse, Margaret Tolgese doubled down on her commitments to Francophone society.
Opportunities and connections led her to the presidency of the French Canadian Youth Federation last September.
In small societies, there is less competition. At our events, there are a number of young people per delegation. Often in regions, there will be fewer young applicants. You have a better chance of being selected for an event than if you were in Alberta where there are 50 people who apply and only 20 people are accepted.
Margaret and her dog Kino in the Yukon Forest.
Image source: Marguerite Tölgyesi
The story is the same for worker Eric Bloord, who also lived in Fox Lake for six years. The trial that was scheduled to last three months finally managed to beat him.
In Ottawa, with my tools and then my 25 years of carpentry experience, I couldn’t make more than $25 an hour. […] I do double. I can’t stop, it’s boom, boom, boom. It’s one apartment after another. He’s sick, I’ve never seen a job like this before and I’m earning money. Why would I leave here?
Attracted by Yukon’s adventure
Margaret and Eric had no time to be bored in the vast territory that is the Yukon.
I love camping in the summer because it’s sunny all the time. Winter is like the other vibrations. you are all relaxing-You are like a hibernating bear. In summer, all residents are most active due to the sun. We’re always outside, campfire, canoe, it really is vibrations Different. The lifestyle is much less stressful
Margaret says.
As for Eric, he lives on a farm in Fox Lake, 50 minutes from Whitehorse. Fishing is part of his daily life.
I hunt all year round. The moose is open from August through December. Bison, from November to April, bear, from April to June. I missed my buffalo last week. I also have the right to two caribou a year.
Hunting is part of Eric’s daily life.
Image source: Eric Plourde
On this Heritage Day in the Yukon, Margaret concludes with this poem about the enormity of her land.
There is this greatness, Yukon is very impressive. It serves as a daily reminder that I am a human on Earth and Earth will triumph in the end. It is large, and unexplored.
