L'Express Hors Série Spécial Canada

By Laurence Pivot Published June 23, 2010

Canada: Call of the Great North

Translated from French by Google Translator

Christiane and Jean-Marc, a couple from Alsace, opened a bed and breakfast "in the Yukon. When the adventure is at the end of the

road ...

In the local newspaper, the classifieds section, we search for a cook speaking Cantonese and are sold concessions to prospect for gold. The aurora borealis are announced for the night. On the banks of the river still frozen, an old tub, the SS Klondike, exhibits its holds filled with fake goods with few tourists. "It's far, Dawson City?" 600 km. In 1898, it took several days to reach by water the famous city of the Gold Rush.

The vein has dried up but the dream is forever etched in that territory as large as France, the Yukon. Capital: Whitehorse, where 90% of the 32,000 inhabitants of the province. Here, no office tower to obstruct the skyline. The streets are wide, low houses and facades echo those seen on the yellowed photos of the time of the rush.

Today is a day of racing for Christiane. Driving a huge 4x4 dusty, she stops at a "deli" held by a German. "The buffalo sausages are the best in town. Bisons, there are close to home. The Grizzlies also. I saw one once, through our land before the house! Since I am careful Do not let my daughter play outside alone. " Two years ago, Christiane was a pharmacist in Colmar. A busy life, happy but predictable. Her husband, Jean-Marc, owned two bakeries. He also worked hard.

He had already changed his life after abandoning a career as a gym teacher to get a postgraduate degree in management and become a famous baker. But the daily bread had hardly any flavor. One day, Christiane offers him a trip to Lapland. Bride of Jean-Marc for the white country and immense. And if the couple would leave everything? For various reasons, Scandinavia does not meet their expectations. But Christiane has already sold his pharmacy and Jean-Marc bakeries. Madam then crosses the North on the Web and finds a place in Canada near the Alaska and the Yukon. They will take a look, just to see. They see, they love and decide to stay. In Champeval, decisions are taken quickly. "We had our first board and bought a home on the Internet the night before our departure," she says. In Colmar, some do not always come back. Yukon, what an idea ... And what for, Great God! Not the bakery or pharmacy, for sure! Their secret dream is a bed and breakfast nestled in nature. The couple seeks a house, in vain. Finally, it will be a field, about forty miles from Whitehorse. "It's hard to find because, strangely, there is little land available," says Jean-Marc. First Nations (as they call Indians), have the majority of land and rarely sell. "

"Into the wild"

Christiane goes home, the trunk full of groceries. "I'm not used to cooking for many guests. I'm always afraid to miss." If the pharmacist does not know the proportions assayed, it measures the work without difficulty is a B & B. "It really work!" She admits. But that's what we wanted, so ... " So they built a beautiful lodge, while wood, Takhini River Lodge, next to the existing home where they live. Four bedrooms, a living cathedral, the setting is elegant, cozy, "so French" say their neighbors. Not easy to fill the place. "We must bring the pretty things in Vancouver, more than 1500 km. It is thus also the food arrives. Here, there is nothing." Because it is cold in the Yukon. "In winter 2009, we had four weeks to three days and -40 ° to -50 degrees," recalls Jean-Marc, without emotion. "We adapt quickly enough in fact, is largely a matter of equipment. Our neighbors have learned what to do to keep from freezing." Precisely, here for the cocktails.

There Nicol, an elegant German and her husband Cliff, a cowboy prairie (the central provinces of Canada), horse dentist. Cliff tells incredible stories of unwary tourists who are lost forever "into the wild", while Jacky and Scott, also from other provinces, more expensive with stories about wolves attacking their horses. Through these stories, where nature still dominates the man, each claiming in fact his choice to be there on this wild land they have elected. In turn, they are now adopting the new arrivals: "It is enough to live here one year to be considered a true Yukoners," said Cliff.

While Christiane activated in the kitchen, it's time for Jean-Marc feed the animals. "Just two goats, a few chickens for fresh eggs and an old horse to look pretty in the fields. There was also a pig but he was killed." This morning, Christiane went from a local butcher cut up the animal. "How do you say ham in English? For the sauerkraut, it would be nice ..." Not easy to explain the intricacies of the French cut the butcher Yukon, more accustomed to the hamburger as the sausage. Sometimes, she was surprised "to do all these weird things ...".

Meanwhile, Eugenie, six years, the daughter of the family, watching TV. Already, she speaks more French than with a big English accent. The first year she went to kindergarten French (frequented mainly by Quebec) in Whitehorse, but now the lodge is too far and she went to a nearby school. Now she only speaks French with her parents. Christiane is the opposite. In English, she has an accent you could cut with a knife. "It seems it has lots of charm!" she said laughing. At 48, she looks ten less even if its "hair is horrible. Here, there is not one good hairdresser!" French one day, French always ... Of course, besides the cruel lack of talented hair specialists, it lacks some things, Christiane. "Friends, especially. I'm getting a few girlfriends, but it was not easy until now, between work at the lodge and my English failed ..."

Jean-Marc, himself, has a job in town, in the provincial administration, where bilingualism requires, you need employees who speak French, even if the local Francophone population is rather small. "We invested all our money in this project because the banks would not lend us when we arrived. Customers are starting to come, notably the Japanese, for the northern lights, but it is not enough, so I had find me a job, "he says without animosity. He is optimistic anyway: "We should be able to live our business in one or two years later." To help stop a few weeks a year, just to finally visit the vast territory that surrounds them. "You see, there, just behind the lodge? If you go in this direction, you can walk 600 km without seeing a soul." Meanwhile, Jean-Marc has still achieved his dream: to become a trapper. "I passed my degree and hopefully soon have a" trap line ". It is highly regulated here, we do not trap anywhere or anything." He looks at the horizon and smiled. "When we arrived, that's what we're drawn to the beauty of landscapes, the color of the sky. But finally, it is because of people we will stay in the Yukon."