Adventures in the Yukon

Last July, Emmalee (Emm) Agnew and Terry Milne took their one-year-old son Cedar on his first Yukon expedition—a voyage snaking along the Pelly River past mountains where wolf packs, moose, and grizzly bears roamed.

It was glorious, but it wasn’t easy.

“Imagine a beautiful summer where the sun shines all day and all night and you’re trying to put your baby to sleep in a hot tent that feels like a greenhouse,” Emm says. “We had a lot of sleepless nights on that trip.”

Since then, they’ve been on shorter outings closer to their Whitehorse home and the couple is planning to take Cedar on another long expedition this summer.

“We have the highest of highs and the lowest of lows on those trips,” Terry says. “It forces us out of our comfort zone.”

Pictured right: Terry, Emm, and Cedar
“I want to give a huge shout out to Lakehead professor Dr. Julie Rosenthal,” Terry says. “She put so much energy and effort into creating incredible outdoor experiences. I was so thankful to have her as a professor, mentor, and friend.” 

Despite the hardships, they’re well prepared for the wilderness. Both Terry and Emm received Honours Bachelor of Outdoor Recreation and Bachelor of Education degrees in 2013. Emm also completed a Bachelor of Science, focusing on natural resources, in 2012.

But how did these two Lakehead grads end up making their home in Canada’s Far North?

Several Lakehead classmates originally from the Yukon often talked about how amazing it was.

“Then, the winter after we graduated, an outdoor education gig in Whitehorse came up and we both applied for it,” Terry says.

Neither of them got the job, but they decided to move anyway.     

“The following January, we packed up my great-grandma’s Ford Focus—filled with venison we’d harvested in Thunder Bay—and left,” Emm says. 

Their gamble paid off. They’re now teachers in the city of Whitehorse—Terry at Porter Creek Secondary School and Emm at Golden Horn Elementary School. 

“It’s tucked away in the woods and has a big focus on skiing, hiking, and getting children out on the land starting when they’re five years old,” Emm says.

Pictured left:  Emm walking in a river.

Lakehead’s partnership with Charles Sturt University in Australia allowed Emm to study there during her third year of university. “On campus, we lived in mud houses with composting toilets and used an eco-friendly hot-water system that used the sun to heat the water.”

Still, it’s a bit surprising that two people who grew up in southern Ontario ended up somewhere so remote. Emm’s parents are dairy farmers in the Ottawa Valley and Terry’s family had a hobby farm not far from Peterborough with highland cattle and draft horses.

Emm and Terry, though, felt an attraction to the wild at a young age.

“Every summer, my family visited my great-aunt and uncle in Kenora, Ontario,” Terry says. “I discovered that I loved the north and being outdoors. Then, in grade 11, I found out about Lakehead’s Outdoor Recreation program.”

Emm’s first contact with the wilderness came through her high school’s Outers Club as well as through outdoor research programming the school offered called OSPREY.

“We did projects like chickadee banding,” she says. 

This, combined with summer jobs such as tree planting and working as a Ministry of Natural Resources firefighter and Ontario Ranger sparked the idea of studying outdoor recreation. 

“Also, one of my older sisters, Kelsey, raved about Lakehead’s Outdoor Recreation program,” Emm says. 

During their time at Lakehead, a two-week trip to Northern Ontario’s vast Wabakimi Provincial Park was a highlight for Emm and Terry, but for Terry, it held particular significance.

“It was really magical. My dad was sick with cancer at the time, and I didn’t know if I should go, but my parents convinced me that I should. My dad passed away while I was in Wabakimi, and throughout the trip, I had experiences that connected me to him.”

Terry was reminded of a past family vacation to Kenora when he and his father paddled across a lake to explore an eagle’s nest. 

“Often, on the Lakehead Wabakimi trip, I’d wake up in the morning and there’d be an eagle flying overhead. It was like having the warm presence of my dad with me.” 

Pictured right: Terry on an expedition.
After graduating from Lakehead, Emm (HBOR/BSc’12, BEd’13) worked as a forest firefighter in Ontario and Terry (HBOR/BEd’13) as a raft guide in Jasper, Alberta.

Emm and Terry are now well settled in their teaching careers and enjoying instilling confidence in young people.

“I’m very fortunate to run outdoor programs for grades 9-11 students, including canoeing, backpacking, whitewater rafting, and water rescue trips,” Terry says. “These programs respect First Nations ways of doing and learning and empower youth to explore their territory.”

Terry has also created the Wilderness Initiatives for Leadership Development (WILD) program for grade 11 and 12 students, which gives students the certifications needed to apply for outdoor guiding jobs.

“At the end of February, my WILD students co-led a bison hunt and they’re now planning their own year-end expedition.”

“His passion and dedication to WILD is incredible,” Emm adds. “Terry is much more than your average teacher.”

Emm is now in her seventh year at Golden Horn where she’s taught phys ed, music, and outdoor education as well as grade 2 and 3 classes.

“This year, I’m providing one-on-one and small group learning assistance for students in grades 2, 4, 6, and 7 in reading and writing skills development.”

It’s not only the grandeur of the Yukon that keeps Terry and Emm there.

“The first people to drop off food at our house when Emm left the hospital after having Cedar were two of my students,” Terry says. “Not many 17-year-olds would do that—it’s those kinds of connections that make Yukon home for us.”