Guest Ep: Exploring the Yukon and Immigration

Welcome to the Yukon!

It has gold rush history, the midnight sun, and more moose than people.

I'm being joined by a few special guests. We'll be exploring some of the Yukon with some Would You Rather and True or False questions. We'll also be exploring the immigration process.

This episode is very different from the usual vibe, but we hope you have fun with us anyway!

Transcript

Intro

Sunnie 0:05

Imagine standing in a place so big, so wild, that moose outnumber the people. A place where grizzlies, caribou, and wolves roam freely, and the northern lights dance across the sky like they own it. With massive ice fields and an extraordinarily tiny desert tucked quietly into the landscape. Welcome to the Yukon. For thousands of years, this land has been home to the Yukon's First Nations. They moved with the seasons, following the animals and the food. Life was harsh, and elders tell stories of times when survival itself was a struggle. Yet, through it all, they endured. Over the centuries, a lot changed. The Klondike Gold Rush, for example, of 1896, brought tens of thousands of prospectors into their lands. And World War II brought the Alaska Highway and new ways of life. Through these waves of change, the First Nations persisted. They built languages, traditions, and cultures that are still alive today. I do have some guests joining me today, including one who actually moved here from France, and we'll be sharing what it's been like navigating the immigration process. We'll also be asking some fun questions and answering a few sent in by listeners from Twitch and our Discord. Together, we'll explore the Yukon a little bit.

First Impressions and Canadian Animation

Sunnie 1:22

So I'm gonna start simple. So be honest. When someone says Yukon, what's the first thing that pops into your head?

Adam 1:32

Yvonne, Yvonne from the Yukon. I think it's of the Yukon.

Sunnie 1:39

That is a very good answer.

Adam 1:41

And I think it is of the Yukon, and that was my mistake.

Sunnie 1:44

That unlocked a memory that I forgot that I had, if I'm honest. Anybody else? Like, what's the first thing? Just don't think about it, just first thing that pops in your head. Gold, okay.

Tally 1:56

This is gonna be gonna be a bad start, but just like the north, or what are they called? The Northeast territories, Northwest Territories.

Sunnie 2:07

The North Ish. The North-ish territories, you know. I mean, it is a territory and it is North, so I mean you're you're you're on to something for sure, 100%. That Yukon reference. I was not ready for that of the Yukon. Oh, I was not ready.

Phil 2:25

Of the Canadian animation boom.

Sunnie 2:28

It was great, honestly.

Adam 2:30

I do actually think that we got it in France, because I grew up in France. And I'm fairly sure because I I had never actually watched an episode uh how it came up, and it and it did like when I saw it, like trigger. Oh, I've definitely seen this before. So the the only place I could have seen it would have been France for some reason. So I don't know if it was translated uh and therefore available there.

Sunnie 2:52

But uh I would assume that there would be a French version for sure.

Phil 2:56

Like there would have to be, right? So most most Canadian animation were done in English and in French, usually by the same voice actors, because of our content quota, basically like um totally spies Martin Mystery and all that. Like half of the casts are both the same for English and French. So when you're watching them, it's like super weird to see them in French because it's like, oh, all the voices are exactly it's like the voices are the same, but yeah, because we're such a bilingual country, it's just kind of a given, right? Specifically because of our um content quota. Basically, um the Canadian government put a content quota in place that so much stuff airing on channels needs to be um Canadian content, which is why like YTV, they didn't actually have enough shows from Nickelodeon. That's why you had like channel hosts, because like on top of cartoons, you have like some guy, and he would be like, Hi, I'm Carlos from the zone, thanks for watching. And then like throughout the course of the day, he would count as filling in that quota.

Sunnie 4:01

Huh. I did not even think about that. That is crazy. I just kind of knew, you know, obviously, you go from province to province, territory to territory, and everything's usually in English and in French, just standard, right? And depending on which province you go to, everything's either gonna be French first or English first. Like you go out east, and a lot of stuff is gonna be French first because there's more French speakers out that way, and same as obviously Quebec, because no duh. But the rest of like, especially Western Canada, is like not nearly as much French as over here. So it's just it's very interesting to kind of see that across the board, and then that kind of makes sense for content-wise as well.

Northern Lights and Who'd Survive the Gold Rush?

Sunnie 4:45

Northern lights, would you say they're worth it or overhyped? I have not seen that. Okay.

Phil 4:54

I have seen them once up north when they're really bright. If you see them when they're bright, they are worth it. But um, overall, unless like you're going really, really far north or you're like you're incredibly lucky with a solar flare or something going on, you're not really going to see like them like powerful to the point where this is the most incredible thing I've ever seen, unless you're going all the way up to the territories. 100%. Yes.

Tally 5:22

Well, like a year ago, didn't they? I don't remember the timeline, but they did come over, but the only way you could see them, like it was a very small hint of a color by the eye, but you had to take a picture with your phone to like see the actual.

Sunnie 5:35

Yeah, I remember seeing them over our house. Um, like that was in June. Close by. Yeah, I think so.

Phil 5:43

But all it all it looked like from the ground was basically um, oh, the color is it looks like the streetlights are on a bit bright tonight.

Sunnie 5:51

Yeah. If you were outside of um, then it was a lot better. We drove a little bit out further, and we saw them like very vibrantly, and we got a couple pictures that way, and that was really cool. But yeah, if you went anywhere with any type of light, like street lights or anything like that, that's just it's not gonna happen. And for the gold rush, because obviously the Yukon is known a lot for its gold rush kind of time in 1896, but are you thriving back then? Like, are you absolutely thriving? You're getting gold, like you're killing it, or do you have frostbite by day three? I had frostbite in the first time. I was gonna I was gonna say, I think I had frostbite by like the first 30 minutes.

Phil 6:40

I am see the real money isn't in the gold rush, it's in the guy selling all the tools for the that's exactly it.

Adam 6:48

Yeah, I think the shim is proving definitely that absolutely fill is evil and would exploit people very, very efficiently.

Sunnie 6:56

Oh, 100% he would. I could see that.

Adam 6:58

I I I would be I would be the idiot who would buy hook, line, and sinker that for some reason gold was for the betterment of humanity, and I would do everything I could to get as much as I could and die in a terrible, terrible accident.

Sunnie 7:14

Terrible, terrible accident. Oh my gosh.

Adam 7:19

Like a mudslide or something in a deep in a mine.

Sunnie 7:22

Oh god. Yeah, no, I'm just I'm freezing. I've got like no fingers left. That's that's where I'm at. First 30 minutes. I'm out.

Phil 7:30

You accidentally bury yourself with that like hydroforming where they just sprayed high-pressure water to like melt the rock away, and they did like massive environmental damage. Yep.

Adam 7:41

Would they have done that back then, or would that be like more recently?

Phil 7:44

Yes, that was one of the main um ways that they did um for like large scale for the gold rush, like all around Dawson City. There are these huge pits where they basically set up like these massive water pumps and they just sprayed the rock side and made it all sort of like turn into a slurry, and they would pan through that, hoping to find big nuggets of gold.

Sunnie 8:04

Yep. Damn. I feel like Phil's gonna do really well on the test. I think we shall see.

Phil 8:14

My knowledge is very specific, but also incredibly spotty on certain things. Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

Would You Rather

Sunnie 8:24

All right, we're gonna play a little bit of would you rather? Just because we're doing a couple questions here, so we might as well just get into it. So summer in the Yukon or winter in the Yukon. There's advantages to both, but then there's also disadvantages to both.

Adam 8:43

So I mean, winter in the Yukon has to get real cold.

Sunnie 8:49

I think the record is like under minus 60, something like that. Yeah, Celsius. Oh no. For our Freedom Unit uh listeners.

Adam 9:00

I it would have to be summer in the Yukon. Because even then it would still be like cold. But it wouldn't be great. Enjoyable.

Phil 9:09

Yeah, that's fair. Yes, but the summertime, it is nothing but bugs. That's also a very good point.

Sunnie 9:17

So it's like, do you want nothing but bugs, or do you want like freezing?

Adam 9:23

Like there's no in between. Like go go fully north where it is like a nice like zero degrees and enjoy that. Like, you know, like like we like we're having right now, you know, a nice yeah, like this is mild.

Sunnie 9:38

I went out in a skirt and a short sleeve top, like just t-shirt, and you know what? A lot of people were wearing similar things, and I was like, you know what? That's how you know you're in Canada because it's like minus one or like zero today, and everyone's dressed the same as me and just not caring. No coats, nothing.

Phil 9:58

On my trip to Australia, when I was living there for a year, in the wintertime, it was like 10, 12 degrees, and people were all bundled up, and I was walking around and coursing a t-shirt. Everyone thought I was completely insane.

Sunnie 10:11

Yeah, no, and honestly, I'd probably be doing the same thing. I'd be like, it's warm out. What do you mean? This is what hello.

Tally 10:18

When I was researching for my trip for Ireland like a handful of years ago, it there was like a warning on Google. It's like it gets as low as 11 degrees Celsius. So you know you gotta have flavors, and I'm like, oh, it's so funny.

Sunnie 10:33

So there's actually um a friend of mine, uh, another streamer, uh Chimp Dan, him and his wife Danny live in Ireland. And I can't remember what they were saying the other day. They're like, oh, it's only four degrees, and it's freezing. And I was like, homie, that's a nice day. What do you mean? But then I also know like their cold is gonna be different than our cold, right? Like, because our cold is a wet cold. Yeah, like it's yeah, theirs is more like very wet cold, like it's gonna really go to your bones kind of idea. Cabin in the woods, like you're living off the land, or apartment in Whitehall, like the capital.

Phil 11:13

I definitely want to live in a white horse. I am not the outdoorsy type. That's her, that's her.

Adam 11:21

Okay.

Tally 11:22

I don't know nothing about white horse, but I'm happy to be in a cabin.

Adam 11:25

Yeah, I didn't know that white horse was a capital, so I appreciate the uh specificity of that. Yes. I did go one time to a cabin in Algonquin in Northern Ontario. Right. And I don't think I've ever felt that peaceful. Yes, so it's so nice, genuinely. I think if we didn't live in capitalism, absolutely the cabin.

Sunnie 11:47

That's right.

Adam 11:47

Uh and that would be the like I think that that is the more idyllic way to live.

Sunnie 11:52

Like, keep in mind, like, this is a place that moose outnumber people. So, like, if you have a gun, like you have meat. I mean, it's gonna be really hard to drag and get somewhere, but you know, it's it's it's available.

Adam 12:05

Yeah, you better not miss. The moose will kill you.

Sunnie 12:07

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you better not miss, but you know, it's available.

Adam 12:12

I'll I'll hunt squirrel. I'll hunt squirrel is safer, usually. Moose isn't a bad idea.

Sunnie 12:19

As long as they're not red squirrels, you'll be fine. Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, exactly. Honestly, yeah, I think I'd I'd probably go cabin in the woods too. Mostly because like I do have the experience in hunting and doing those things. So I feel like for me, that is an actual option. I would just have to get Dave on board, really.

Phil 12:39

Well, but he'd probably be on board pretty quickly. I think Whitehorse would still be really great to have an apartment in because it is just a lovely scenic place. Like you are right, like you just look out of a window and boom, there's the forest and lights, the bay, everything's just like right around you. That would be really cool.

Tally 13:00

I wish I knew stuff more like that.

Sunnie 13:02

I don't think see, I think like for me, an apartment in Whitehorse, say you go into a grocery store, okay? Like this is a territory specifically, um, but total for the entire territory, it has 47,000 people. That's like a Costco. Like, that's that's not very much, if we're gonna be honest, especially for all of the landmass that they have. So 100%, you live in Whitehorse, you go into a grocery store, you shit your pants, everyone's gonna know you as poo pants. Like forever. That's that's gonna be the thing, you know. I think about these things, okay? Like, you have to be prepared.

Adam 13:42

So that is your business.

Sunnie 13:48

I'd rather call the cabin in the woods if I'm gonna shit myself, at least it's out in the woods.

Adam 13:52

Like the sunny shit in the woods.

Sunnie 13:57

Damn it, she does. But no, it's true. It's like a small town thing. You do one embarrassing thing, or you step one thing out of line, or you insult somebody, everyone hates you immediately. Like there's no conversation, it's just rumor mill, and everyone knows. And then you were just known for that one thing forever. 100%. The logic is the logic is logicing. It's mostly girl math, but you know, it it's there. Mostly girl math. If you live there now, would you be a gold rush miner or a tourism guide?

Tally 14:40

Mining seems like so much fun. Yeah. Okay, okay.

Sunnie 14:44

It probably I feel like I gotta do tourism for sure. Especially with like how Phil has talked this up. I knew Phil was gonna go for Gold Rush Minor.

Phil 14:58

Just give me a backhoe, put her on a podcast. Yeah, man. Like drive around, push rocks for a day, pile stuff up, let other people do the hard work, get a paycheck.

Sunnie 15:08

Minus 40, obviously, Celsius. This is the same. But dry. It's the same here. Oh yeah, that's right. It is the same for freedom units and Celsius. So minus 40, but dry. Or minus 10 Celsius and damp, like wet cold.

Tally 15:26

Is is it just the outside that's damp, or am I also damp?

Sunnie 15:29

Like you're also damp. Like you are soaked to the bone, freezing.

Phil 15:32

Oh, minus 40. I've like I can deal with minus 40. I've probably gone through the cold weather training for work and things like that. You bundle up, you wear like 20 different layers, that's it.

Sunnie 15:44

For for the northerners, like you, you know, you just get your big coat.

Adam 15:48

I've never actually experienced minus 40. I think the lowest I have experienced is minus 25.

Sunnie 15:55

Very big interesting.

Adam 15:57

So I've never so I haven't actually experienced the proper, like the cold hurts. Like, I haven't actually experienced that before. I've been I've been told about it, I've heard people talk about it. I haven't actually experienced Aegis. You are outside and you feel like the environment wants to kill you.

Sunnie 16:14

It definitely is really cool and it's very interesting. I don't know if any okay, I don't know if anybody else here can do this because we're all Canadian at this point. So when you step outside, without checking like the weather, anything like that, snow crunches. Can you tell about what Celsius it is? I 100% can. So I don't know if everyone else is like this as well, or if this is just like a TISM thing for me. So I gotta know.

Tally 16:46

I gotta know. I mean, I if it's squeaky, uh no.

Adam 16:52

I do not know Tally that well, but I'm fairly sure three or four three out of four of us have TISM here, at least. Yeah, oh 100%. Absolutely.

Sunnie 17:01

I was gonna say four out of four.

Adam 17:03

Uh so I have a story for this. Um there was when I was a kid, like a really young kid, there was a Winnie the Pooh book that we had at home that was for kids, so you know that you have to press things, you have to touch things, and one of them was this was a page where I remember two of the sounds. One of the sounds was ice skating, and the other sound was Winnie the Pooh walking on snow. And I was really confused because the sound it had was Winnie the Pooh walking in like minus 30 snow, you know, the real like real crispy, like like crispy. But to me, having grown up in France where there was only ever very little snow, walking in snow sounded like like slushy, yes, because it was always half melted. So I was genuinely so confused by that book as a as a small child, and I remember this being like, that's not what snow sounds like. That's not what it sounds like. I was genuinely this happened not that long ago. I was out with my wife for a walk, and it was like minus 25, and I stepped on the snow. I was like, huh, this is weird the poof snow. This is what this is what that sounds like. Okay, so they did the book right for years. I thought they'd done the book wrong, but no, I just hadn't experienced the the right temperature to like confirm it.

Tally 18:24

I feel like I'm gonna die either way, honestly. Maybe negative 40 will take me out faster.

Sunnie 18:28

Maybe minus 40 will take me out faster. Uh 20 hours of daylight or 20 hours of darkness.

Tally 18:40

Daylight, really.

Adam 18:42

It probably has to be daylight.

Sunnie 18:44

Fair.

Tally 18:45

I see four hours every day if it lets me do that.

Adam 18:49

So here's the thing: do I get to be a vampire? Because if so, 20 hours of night.

Tally 18:55

These are important questions.

Sunnie 18:56

The very important questions here.

Adam 18:58

Yeah, just just as me probably would get pretty bad seasonal depression if I was 20 hours in darkness each day.

Sunnie 19:06

Completely fair. So the Yukon obviously experiences uh the midnight sun, like Alaska does. So I think honestly, I'd probably do the same thing because like imagine barbecuing at like 1 a.m. Like, I don't know why, but that immediately comes to my head of like, yo, it's 1 a.m. I'm gonna go barbecue something because it's still light out.

Adam 19:27

You can do that here, it's just dark.

Sunnie 19:31

Yeah, but it's dark. I want it to be light.

Adam 19:34

We have electricity, you can't experience daylight at night.

Sunnie 19:40

You just get a bunch of things. I know I know I do, but still the experience.

Adam 19:47

Yeah, I I I do think once like there's this uh there's a fairly famous town. I always forget if it's in Norway or in Sweden, but that that is the town that actually gets the least amount of sun anywhere because they are in a fjord, and so they are perpetually of the the mountains around them, and so they literally put somebody put up an art installation which is just two giant mirrors that therefore pushes light like push the light into at a town center, yeah. So people can like go and experience sunlight uh despite being like otherwise in shadow for for a big amount of that. I do think that would weigh on you a little bit after a while.

Sunnie 20:29

Oh, for sure. Like if you're around it all your life, okay, maybe different story, but if it's like not your norm and that's just suddenly 20 hours of darkness, like yeah, that's gonna that's gonna definitely take its toll.

Phil 20:43

I gotta think about the world building here. A town in Italy that is like that where they had to put up giant mirrors because it's surrounded by mountain peaks.

Sunnie 20:51

Yeah. So there must be a couple places in the world then that do that. It's definitely an interesting way to get around it. And you know, if it brings in light, then hey, it works. Oh, this is a good one. Uh snowmobile or sedan.

Adam 21:12

I mean, by minus 40, the snowmobile is gonna be painful. Uh but it it is a cooler way to ride, for sure.

Phil 21:23

Yeah, I'd probably go with snowmobile.

Tally 21:25

Fair, fair. This is where info about Yukon would be helpful because they have all year round. I don't know. But I'm living in a cabin. Uh so I should probably do a snowmobile.

Sunnie 21:37

Yeah, I'd probably go with a snowmobile as well. Like the sedan's great. But like snowmobile go fast.

Adam 21:43

Okay. Do we want another embarrassing story from me? Absolutely. Okay. So so always again, because because I grew up in France, um, sometimes words don't quite materialize in my mouth by the time they need to. And yeah, I want I forget the concept of a sedan. And so I'm calling the garage for a tire and oil change because you have to do that every winter and every spring to change the tires. And he's like, What kind of car is it? And noise that he wanted the make and model of my car. But in my brain, I was reaching for it's not an SUV, it's not a truck, it's a sedan. But I didn't remember the word for sedan. And I had to I had to start talking because it'd be awkward if it was just silence. So I said, Oh, you know, it's just a regular-sized personal vehicle to the auto mechanic.

Sunnie 22:44

Oh my god. He probably paused. He probably was like, uh what?

Adam 22:50

No, no, he just he he chuckled and went, Okay, we'll see you Tuesday. Um basically, like to be like IT-minded in this crowd, when somebody asks, basically, somebody asked me, uh, what kind of computer do you have? It's a black one, like it's that yeah, that's a level of response I gave. And then when I made it there, I was like, ah, he wanted to make a model of the car.

Sunnie 23:12

I'm never referring to it as a sedan ever again, by the way. True, very true. I guess we probably already kind of asked this one, but uh chop wood or call a handyman. Because like us, all of us are in the cabin. I think all of us chose the cabin except for Phil. So I think all of us are basically chopping our own wood.

Adam 23:40

I I think the call is call Phil.

Sunnie 23:43

Yeah, call Phil. He's the one in the apartment in Whitehorse, he can make it.

Adam 23:49

I love actually chopping wood and getting that ready for the fireplace. So yeah, I'm totally down to do that.

Sunnie 23:56

It's honestly kind of therapeutic, like Loki. Yeah.

Phil 24:00

I know most houses in the Yukon and Northwest Territories and the like have like some stack of flammables, even if they are not living in like, or even if they're not living like out in the wilds. Because if you're in negative 40 and the power goes out, you need to keep your house warm or else exactly.

Adam 24:22

Yeah, I don't know for the Yukon. I know for Norway, it is a requirement for every house to have a non-city dependent source of heating. Yes. Just in case power goes out and stuff like that. Yeah, just in case. Yeah.

Sunnie 24:36

We kind of already asked this one, so I'm gonna skip it. But small town gossip or city on anonymous. I cannot say that word. Please send help. Yeah, we already went over this.

Adam 24:47

I feel like I I grew up in a in a small town of fewer than a thousand people.

Sunnie 24:53

Yep. Uh I feel that I was the same, so I get you.

Adam 24:58

Not like a petie.

Sunnie 24:59

Okay, one cozy local pub or 20 chain restaurants. Yeah, one country.

Tally 25:07

That I'm owning.

Sunnie 25:09

No, no, no. That's around. Like, so if you want to like Uber eat something, then you have the option of 20 chain restaurants or one cozy local pub you could like walk to, get food, go back. Kind of idea. So I think the answer is. I would say the pub because like the pub's probably gonna have the best food.

Phil 25:30

So this is something that's interesting. I've noticed from um it was a study in my political science classes. But, anyways, if a cozy local pub, when you describe it like that, people are of course going to say the pub in Canada because it's something that we know is reputable and we can trust. However, if you describe it as the unknown pub, like there's one pub in town that you've never in town and you don't know. Yeah, or you can go to the familiar chain restaurants. Canadians as a whole are going to pick the uh chains.

Sunnie 26:04

They're probably gonna go the chain, yeah. Yeah, like realistically,

Why Do The Territories Get Ignored?

Sunnie 26:08

like Canada ignores the territories, like quite a bit. Like, we don't really talk about them, especially down here. And like anywhere you go in Canada, for the most part, you don't really hear Yukon, Northwest Territories, none of it, like you hear none of that. So I'm interested to know like what you guys' thoughts are on why people learn more about Toronto. Like it's Ontario's capital, okay, sure. But it's like you learn more about that than one of our territories.

Adam 26:37

I mean, do you need a more specific answer than capitalism sucks?

Sunnie 26:41

Or I mean, yeah, you can go with that. That's totally fine. Yeah.

Phil 26:45

I think it's just due to the sheer population differences, like we were saying before, like 40,000 people across the entire territory. Yeah, that is um like that's not generating nearly as much news as what's going on in the everyday of Toronto. Definitely, yeah.

Sunnie 27:02

Yeah.

Phil 27:03

You could basically like fit everyone in the Yukon Northwest Territories and Nunavut into Toronto, and it wouldn't even like make a sizable difference in the overall population of the city.

Sunnie 27:16

And honestly, yeah, that's completely fair. Like, that's very understandable.

Adam 27:20

Yeah. Um so yeah, even without going as far as as Yukon, um, I went to school here in Canada at Western University. Right. It used to be called the University of Western Ontario, it's now called Western University. Um, Western University isn't west of anything. No, not at all. Other than maybe Toronto, and even then you're kind of pushing the concept of West. Yes. Um it is just very much, yeah, a like like Phil was saying, that's where the population density is, that's where all of the money is, therefore where all of the news is going to be. And everything is is driven based on, yeah, what are the like economic drivers of any country, but that's also where all the decision makers are going to be, but therefore that's what we talk about. Um there would be a lot to to learn about uh about all the the territories in Canada for sure.

Sunnie 28:17

Totally fair, totally fair. Yeah, honestly, yeah. I would I would agree with that. Obviously, Yukon is rich with a lot of culture. A lot of people don't really think about that, they just think gold rush because that's what it's known for, right? But it's interesting that gold rush gets more attention than like the indigenous and other really cool history that it actually has. So, same kind of question, I guess, there. Why are we not taught more about those things instead of just gold rush?

Adam 28:47

I mean, the white people did the gold rush.

Sunnie 28:49

Yeah, exactly.

Phil 28:50

Yeah. It comes down to like immigration of um Western people up into the area. That's kind of like the big period, and where most of like if anyone has a connection to the Yukon, it is likely because they might have had some of their family go up there in the 1800, 1900s to go participate in the gold rush, and that's sort of like a tie that people can connect to it.

Sunnie 29:12

Yeah, absolutely. Or like there's certain jobs that are really needed up there versus down here. I actually used to work with a lady and uh her husband worked in the Yukon for years because I can't remember what he did, but it was specific that he had to go to the Yukon for it, but he made bank, like it was great, and I was like, dude, like why did you not stay there? Like she showed me pictures and I was like, it's beautiful there. Like I would have stayed. She's like, you know what? It was great, but there wasn't enough people, and I was like, that's you know what, very valid. Like they have a bunch of young kids, there wasn't a whole lot of kids where they were, and it's like, okay, you know, and I kind of get it.

Adam 29:56

Yeah, I know, I know this is not Yukon, this is Alaska, but uh Bob Ross, right? The painter from the US, like all of his paintings are of Alaska, which is just next to the Yukon, right? Absolutely, this beautiful territory. It it it basically like set Bob Ross's entire career, which is the beauty and the peace of that landscape.

Sunnie 30:17

Yeah, and no one was so happy painting everything, and it's all pretty.

Adam 30:21

Exactly. Um so I think it would be a beautiful place to visit. I I haven't been to any of the territories. I am uh slightly obsessed with the name of Nunavut. Oh, that's great. The the Yukon could be a ton of fun too.

True or False

Sunnie 30:36

Okay. So don't overthink it, just true or false. The largest mammal migration in the world happens here. Referring to the Yukon.

Phil 30:51

I'll say true.

Sunnie 30:52

Okay, so Phil says true, Adam says false. Tally.

Tally 30:59

I'm trying to think of what animals would even be up there. I'm just I said false, I'll go with false. You said false?

Sunnie 31:04

Okay, so Phil is correct.

Adam 31:05

Because it'd be the whale, right?

Sunnie 31:07

Surprisingly, no. So it is true. Um, so insane amounts of specifically porcupine caribou migrate over 2400 kilometers across the Northwest Territories, Yukon and Alaska.

Tally 31:26

Dang, how much do they win?

Sunnie 31:28

Like they have a lot up there. Um, they have a lot of big game up there, realistically. True. Okay, next question. The Yukon River is Canada's longest river. This is on your citizenship test, Adam.

Adam 31:45

Yeah, it probably was. Uh I'm gonna say false.

Sunnie 31:52

Okay.

Tally 31:58

Okay.

Sunnie 31:58

All right.

Tally 31:59

Pretty tall, so I would say true.

Sunnie 32:02

So Adam got it right. So it's the second longest river. The Mackenzie River in BC is actually the longest river in Canada.

Tally 32:19

Oh, well, that's just basically out of the Uh.

Adam 32:26

And I guess I guess it depends how you count a river. Yes, yeah. Especially in like the Northwest Territories, like there's just like so many like little lakes that connect. Like, does that count? Because that is a lot of yeah, because yeah, it's a lot of stuff.

Sunnie 32:43

Yeah, exactly. The Yukon. So this is question number three. The Yukon is home to Canada's oldest casino.

Adam 32:56

No.

Sunnie 32:58

Okay, so you're going false? Okay, false. Okay, two falsees, Tally. I'll say true just to be different.

Tally 33:07

They need a casino. They need a casino. So don't gamble up there.

Sunnie 33:14

So Tally going differently, uh, worked out. It is actually true. So, Diamond Tooth Gertie's gambling hall in Dawson City opened in 1971 and was named after a dance hall girl who had a diamond between her teeth. And it is still there today.

Phil 33:42

Only since 1971. See, I assumed there would be something in like at least a hundred years old. Right.

Sunnie 33:48

I I thought the same thing when I was doing a bunch of deep dives, but yeah, no.

Adam 33:52

Is it is it the oldest still standing?

Sunnie 33:54

It is, in fact, still running. Can't confirm it.

Adam 33:59

71 is late for a casino.

Sunnie 34:01

For anybody who's up in the Yukon right now, uh, it opens at on Friday at 7 p.m.

Adam 34:08

Anybody in the Yukon as if you could drive from one bit to another bit to the Yukon easily.

Sunnie 34:13

If you want to go to the Yukon, it's open Fridays and Saturdays, 7 p.m. to 1 a.m. Have fun. I know that Phil knows this one, so we'll have Phil answer this last.

Tally 34:25

Settle down over there. Yeah.

Sunnie 34:28

Because him and I already talked about this. The Yukon's famous sour toe cocktail is served with a mummified human toe in it. Real toe. I hope that's false.

Adam 34:43

I'm assuming it's gonna have to be true.

Sunnie 34:45

Okay, all right. So tell you you you're going false? Are you going true? Optimistically, optimistically false. Optimistically false. And Adam went true. Okay, all right. Phil, what is our answer? Because I know you know that it is in fact true. Yeah, so sour toe cocktail has been around since the 1970s when a riverboat captain, Dick Stevenson, found a preserved toe in an old cabin uh and decided to put it in a cocktail. So those who drink the cocktail and have their lips touch the toe become a member of the sour toe cocktail club. Still a thing they do today. Of course it was a dick that made that. Of course it was a dick.

Adam 35:35

Dick Stevenson. No, thank you.

Sunnie 35:38

You know what, Dick Stevenson? I don't know who you are, but I don't like you.

Adam 35:44

Thank you, Phil, for showing that the picture. Yes.

Sunnie 35:47

So um, for those of you obviously who can't see. Yeah, I'm very thankful that you didn't actually post a picture of the actual toe. But um, so the sour toll rules are follow the caption captain's instruction. Membership will be voided if you chew, suck, bite, or put the toe in your mouth. If the toe is swallowed, you must pay a $2,500 fine. Uh failure to pay will result in prosecution, no refunds of shot or toe fee.

Adam 36:23

No thanks. I mean, so gross. I'm sure we've all heard of how in Victorian times they were sniffing or yeah, stuffing mummies up their noses. Yeah, stuff. Yeah. Uh so many of uh so many great Egyptian kings went the horrible way of consumption by Victorian nobility.

Sunnie 36:44

Victorian nobility? Uh unfortunately, yes.

Tally 36:49

Humans are weird, they're so creative, but they're so weird. They're very, yeah.

Sunnie 36:54

We're a weird species, let's be real. North America's lowest recorded temperature was in the Yukon. True or false? True. True.

Adam 37:06

You gave the temperature earlier. Um, so I think that is false. Because I think it would get colder in the in Nunavut.

Sunnie 37:15

Okay, all right.

Tally 37:17

Interesting.

Sunnie 37:19

True or false, Tally.

Tally 37:22

Oh, uh, I said true, I think.

Sunnie 37:26

I think true. It is in fact true. So in 1947, in Snag, Yukon, and yes, that is a real place, uh, the lowest recorded temperature was minus 63 degrees Celsius, which means it was minus 83 degrees Fahrenheit for all of our Freedom Unit uh listeners.

Phil 37:49

So that's little cold.

Sunnie 37:52

Little chilly. The Yukon has the smallest desert in the world.

Tally 38:02

What is it, like a state park or something or a provincial park or something? I would say although I guess like the Arctic counts as a desert, doesn't it? So it should be a cold one.

Sunnie 38:13

So it wouldn't be the Arctic. No. Well, no, I was just like desert desert. Like cactus, everything. Let's say true.

Phil 38:22

Okay, true. All right. I know there is a desert area, like a desert desert, but I can't remember if it's in the I'll say true, although it might be in the Northwest Territories. Okay.

Tally 38:33

I don't know. I'll say I'll say true.

Sunnie 38:35

Okay. Everyone got it right. It is true. It measures exactly 2.6 kilometers across. Wow. Or 1.6 miles, roughly. Yes, just very, very dry.

Phil 38:54

Probably means it's in one of those like death bowls, the area where like the temperature just gets absolutely freezing because all the cold air goes there and then it can't escape.

Sunnie 39:05

The northern lights can be seen in the Yukon every single night of the year.

Tally 39:12

Every single night. I think someone's dreaming false.

Adam 39:15

That's false, that's not possible because it's based on solar radiation.

Sunnie 39:19

Uh-huh. Okay. Adam said false. Someone's researching. Phil said false. Tally, you said false or true?

Tally 39:28

I said false.

Sunnie 39:29

So you were all correct. Because as I mentioned earlier, the Yukon experiences the midnight sun phenomenon. So they can only be seen in the winter. But it is a regular occurrence in the winter. Alright. Moose outnumber people in the Yukon. You said yes.

Adam 39:55

You said yes earlier. You said it earlier.

Sunnie 39:57

Yeah, I was like, I think I gave this away earlier, but yes.

Adam 40:01

We were listening. We are paying attention.

Sunnie 40:02

You were. You were, in fact, paying attention. I appreciate it. I want a gold star. Gold star for you. So yes, it is true. The current population of people is almost 48,000 in Yukon total. And the population of Moose is around 70,000. So quite a bit more than people. Almost double.

Adam 40:26

Almost double.

Sunnie 40:27

Yeah, almost double.

Adam 40:29

You don't want a repeat of the emu wars, but against moose. We would lose. We would lose. The Australians lost to the emu, so yes.

Sunnie 40:40

Yeah, we're definitely gonna lose to the moose. Last true or false question. Archaeologists have evidence that people have been living in the Yukon for less than a thousand years.

Adam 40:57

False.

Sunnie 41:05

That's up to you.

Adam 41:06

Yeah, because archaeology that's true. That's a good point, but I'm gonna say false.

Sunnie 41:11

Okay. Adam's locked in the false.

Adam 41:20

With the strait, with the passage. Yeah.

Tally 41:22

Yeah, I was gonna say in Alaska's the bridge. Okay, I'll say, I'll say false. Rombo false?

Sunnie 41:29

Alright. You're all correct. So humans have actually existed on the Yukon for about 15,000 years. Way before it was even Canada. Um hell, way before it was even the United States. So it dates all the way back to the land bridge called Beringia, which connected Siberia to Alaska during the last ice age.

Tally 41:55

Yeah, so what those guys were saying. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Sunnie 41:58

Yep. So you guys are a bunch of spirits. Look at you guys. So smart. So

Immigration Process

Sunnie 42:03

we're gonna just I guess shift gears here for just a second, because I have to ask Adam, because immigrating somewhere is a crazy thought to someone like me who's lived here, you know, all our life. So I know you've obviously said you're originally from France, so why Canada?

Adam 42:24

Uh so originally it was uh bit of a coincidence. My home university, uh, which is the Université Catholic de Lille in France, uh, had a partnership with uh a university here in Canada, and I had an opportunity to teach basically for one year, uh teaching French to university students uh here in Canada. And just like, oh yeah, I get to meet France for a bit, study a year abroad. That's a good idea. And uh three months in I met a wonderful woman who is now my wife. Uh so I had to stay basically. Uh it was not uh an easy process, I'm sure we'll we'll get into, but uh uh basically that was it. It was just uh an opportunity to go see something different. I had been to the US, I had studied in Wisconsin, uh St. Number College in De Pierre, Wisconsin. Um, go packers and how dare you!

Sunnie 43:23

How dare you say go packers on my podcast?

Adam 43:26

I know I can't believe you've done this. So I genuinely I do not care about American football. But that was that was genuinely one of the first the one of the only pieces of advice my professor from France told me before I went. Just get into the football, just say go packers, don't think about it. Don't think about it, just answer. It is a religion, it is a religion out there. Um so yeah, I studied a year there, and this was you know geographically fairly close, so there'd be a similar vibe without. Did being the US, which was a bonus. Like, okay, we'll try this for a year. And like I said, yeah, I met my wife, and so uh that's why I stayed.

Sunnie 44:08

Yeah, no, completely understandable. Um, what would you say was the hardest part of the process then?

Adam 44:17

So I initially came so on a work visa, on a work permit.

Sunnie 44:22

Right.

Adam 44:22

And after that first year, I tried to renew it to redo the same job, and my visa application got denied. And um, I don't know if I filled out the paperwork one wrong or what happened, but I was actually I was still in Canada. Uh and I found out that my visa application got denied. And I was like, oh god, I actually have to exit the country now. Um so luckily uh France has visa-free entry to Canada. So I was able to come back uh for three months at a time as a tourist, but therefore I could not legally work uh while while being here, and I couldn't stay for more than three months without exiting and re-entering, and I didn't want to get into too much trouble, so I didn't want to just like hop across to the US and come back in. Uh so I would basically come here for three months, then fly back to France for three or four months, then come back to Canada for three months, and I did that like yeah, three or four times. Um that sounds exhausting. It was it was a bit stressful. Again, wasn't legally allowed to work. Yeah, um, found you know a few loopholes. Of course, that you know, in order to there's always a loophole to sustain my existence, and whenever I was back in France, same thing. I would try to find ways to to make a bit of cash to be able to afford the flight, etc. etc. Yeah. Um, and uh then I applied to become a student and therefore get in on a student visa into the country, and I had initially applied to the PhD program because I already had a master's degree and my PhD application got denied. Oh no, so I was like, oh my god, is there no way I can get into this?

Sunnie 46:16

Yeah, it's like yeah, what is happening?

Adam 46:17

This woman is really cool. I really would like to try this, but like, really, this isn't this isn't working. Uh, and they the university offered me a position in their MA program instead. Uh, so I was still able to come as a student um initially for one year, and uh then uh on a student permit, and then basically uh my wife sponsored me uh to become a permanent resident. Uh, there's a there's a couple ways of doing it. One is to just apply, and in that case, it is a points-based system. I don't like it has to do with education, uh, single, not single, a whole bunch of stuff. I I don't know exactly. Right. Uh, but luckily for me, basically uh Sid had to sign some paperwork saying uh that she would pay for my existence uh for the amount of time that it would take my application to be processed, and basically so that I would not be a burden on the Canadian state uh as a permanent resident, and ultimately my application got accepted. Um I think we yeah, so uh became a permanent resident in 2019 because that was the year Sid and I got married. Yeah, so a a month before am I right? Mary for a maple card, you say no, no, so we uh that's that's the thing. I had I knew that I was that it was granted before I proposed, because I didn't want specifically, I didn't want it to seem like I had proposed for that reason. Um for for immigration purposes, so no, and uh but by the time we got married, I was a was I a citizen? I might have been a citizen by the time. Like a full citizen, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I got my permanent residency just before we got engaged, and I got my citizenship before we got married. Um doing things in the right order. So yeah, so it worked out.

Sunnie 48:18

That worked out then, and then you still have like dual citizenship, I would assume, in uh like France as well.

Adam 48:25

I have triple. Uh I am okay. I'm also a British citizen. Um, so I am I would have never known. Yeah, there's a slight accent from yeah, well, you know, a little bit.

Tally 48:37

Um is there a limit to the number you can have?

Sunnie 48:40

Um yeah, actually, I'm kind of curious. Somebody tell us that.

Adam 48:43

So there isn't. Uh there is no limit. No. Uh so it's all dependent on the uh so here, so I can add to this. So I was born French uh because I was born there and I grew up there. My mum's British. Um, she grew up in London, England. So I got citizenship through her. Uh once the UK decided to start a little vote on something called Brexit. I was like, yes, doesn't sound too good. Let's apply for citizenship, so they can't deny me later.

Sunnie 49:10

Yep.

Adam 49:11

Um, I became Canadian through immigration. Uh, but my dad was actually born and raised in New Zealand. So if I and he has New Zealand citizenship. So if I wanted I could get that one as well. Uh do it, gotta collect them all. Do it.

Sunnie 49:27

Yeah, now you have to yeah, now you have to catch them all like Pokemon.

Adam 49:30

Yeah, and so uh to answer your question, Sunny, like the it all depends on the countries you are a citizen of, as long as the countries you are citizen of do not require you to choose, uh, you can have as many as you want. So, for example, I believe that in the US they recognize duo citizenship, but no more. I believe that if you want to be Japanese, it is one and only.

Phil 49:58

Oh, really? Okay, only be a Japanese citizen. You they don't recognize dual citizenship with Canada or anywhere else. Interesting. Okay.

Adam 50:07

There are some countries who basically decide if you want the citizenship, you have to make a full life commitment to this.

Sunnie 50:14

Yeah, like abandon everything else, and this is your home now.

Adam 50:18

Yep. So luckily for me, for France, for England, for Canada, and for New Zealand, uh, they do not impose a limit on the number of citizenships you might have. Uh but there are certain parties who might get elected to power in certain countries, which maybe would change those rules. So you never know how permanent that would be.

Sunnie 50:37

So fingers crossed, everybody.

Adam 50:42

So as part of becoming a citizen, uh, you have to wear to swear allegiance uh to the sovereign of the nation, which in Canada is still uh the head of the Commonwealth.

Sunnie 50:54

Yep.

Adam 50:55

And it so happened that during my application process, uh Queen Elizabeth died, and therefore I was among the first batch to actually swear allegiance to Charles, the new king, um, which is a bit weird because I am a British citizen as well. So it was odd to have to do that for Canada and never do that for for the UK, and I'm French, so uh that's always a bit weird to have to swear to a British king when you're a French person.

Sunnie 51:20

Is uh I feel like that would be like against every fibre of your being if you're French.

Adam 51:26

My my entire existence is like half my culture hating the other half of my culture, so it's true. I was used to that, but uh that all happened during COVID as well. So the uh the ceremony uh to be awarded citizenship where we had to swear and all that was actually through through Zoom. Um, and things, of course, it was a really weird time. It was COVID, we were all on lockdown. Um it was just yeah, just a really weird time, and I kind of like went through the process because I was very happy to become Canadian, but it wasn't vital for me because I already had permanent residency, uh, and I was well integrated in my my wife's family with my in-laws. Mementous occasion hadn't really struck me until I got into that Zoom call and I saw that a lot of the people who were on the call, uh, many of them who were, of course, of Middle Eastern descent and Asian descent, had were like draped in flags and had their whole family there to celebr to celebrate the moment, uh with them as well.

Sunnie 52:34

Which is genuinely kind of the cutest thing I've ever heard.

Adam 52:37

Yeah, and and and clearly for them, like this was not that it wasn't a big deal for me, but it was really a big deal for them.

Sunnie 52:44

Yeah.

Adam 52:45

And it it sort of like conveyed yeah, this is actually a big deal. Uh, because I'm sure many of the people who are there would have been refugees and or would have had, you know, I had a slightly complicated immigration story, ultimately still very privileged. Other people for them, like getting the citizenship would have been a really, really big deal. But to see everybody there with the flags, with their family, uh getting to like celebrate that moment was uh was really quite beautiful.

Sunnie 53:16

Um I guess moving on to maybe our next question, which I guess kind of ties in with that. What cultural difference surprised you the most coming to Canada?

Adam 53:29

Like I said, so I had been to the US, which I know is very different, but it also is kind of similar in some ways. Yep. So some of the the biggest differences uh size.

Sunnie 53:41

Okay.

Adam 53:41

And because there is a lot of territory here, even in the uh rather dense bit of Canada that we live in, everything just has a lot more room. It is uh it's kind of difficult to explain unless you are here. Uh, but that was one of the things that as a positive for me, this feels a lot more comfortable ultimately. And I didn't really I could never really express it because Europe was all I had known until I came here. And I was like, this is actually this feels somehow better. Yeah, it was difficult to explain.

Sunnie 54:15

Like our houses aren't right up next to each other everywhere, yeah.

Adam 54:19

Uh and all of that. The mostly the cultural shock now comes as a reverse culture shock when I go back home. Uh, and I experience the wonderful French culture, uh, and the rudeness of the sheer audacity of everybody, and it it it is just genuinely. Um, Trevor Noah, the comedian, has a great bit about this. About uh he flies into Paris and his luggage gets lost, and he talks to an airport attendant uh to help them find the the luggage, and the airport attendants are oh no, it's gone. Like that doesn't need to be like it's gone, it doesn't exist. Do you do you need do you need you want paperwork? Oh, you want to file for insurance? And Trevorno is like, no, I'm hoping you'll find it. And the guy's like, no, like no, we don't do that. That's not our job. You are in Paris, just buy new clothes, it'll be fine. And uh it's just very different levels of customer service in general, and just and a lot more, I would say rudeness in general. I'm not gonna make French people very happy, but genuinely, uh, it is just very, very different. Uh, and I think most French people don't even realize they're being rude. Um that's a thing, like I don't know if they realize. Yeah. Um, but by by contrast to how things go in Canada, it is surprising once I go back home and say, oh, right, this is what this was like. Um, it's a very different way of of doing things.

Sunnie 55:50

Like our mind you, our experience, I feel like, was a little bit different. Um, like when we went to France, we actually found everyone very nice. I don't know if it's just where we were, or because we were in a very touristy kind of area, or what maybe the difference was. But we also tried to speak French right away. We didn't try to speak English right away. We just kind of said, you know what, we're very sorry, like our French is poor, but we're trying kind of idea. Can you please help me? And they everyone was really welcoming and really good where we were. Um, and we didn't experience any rudeness, which was great.

Adam 56:28

So it depends, but I don't want to overstate it, but it's more of a if especially somebody working in a shop, yes, if you need them to help you, it feels very much like you are adding work, and therefore you are a you know, they would get paid by the hour regardless if they had to help you or not, and so you asking them to help is in a position, and and there are certain shops where very much you really get that vibe. There are other places not at all, people are very happy to help, and they consider it part of part of the service, but there is a vibe sometimes, like like you know, in Canada, you'll say, Oh, I'm sorry to bother you. Could you do this? And they'll be very happy to help. Yes. Uh, other parts, other expenses you really feel like, oh, I've really inconvenienced how your day was going by actually making it work.

Sunnie 57:19

What do people maybe underestimate about moving here? Especially from over there.

Adam 57:26

I mean, I mean, I mean, these days, the the obvious is the cost of housing is insane. Oh, yeah. Right. So that that that that is unfortunately so I was lucky, all the stories I was saying about me emigrating. I emigrated now a decade ago. So this would have been 2015-2016. Uh the housing in Canada, like in many parts of the world, really exploded during COVID. Even renting uh in parts of Canada where we live is genuinely difficult. And so I I think it used to be a fairly good deal, basically, to come out, you can make it work. I I don't know what the experience would be like to try that again now. I think it would be a lot tighter, a lot more difficult. Um there are also there's also some weirdness uh for insurance and healthcare while you are an immigrant and not yet uh a resident or things like that because of uh like yeah, weird like extra taxes you have to pay and things like that. So I it's been a bit of a while for me, but I I think that would be one of the difficulties today specifically is the um the actual cost of of living is is definitely quite high in Canada right now.

Tally 58:39

Yeah, yeah, exactly. Like I know there's a certain percentage you're supposed to go by it. I just did some quick math. Just my rent right now is almost 50% of my income, which is not idealized. Yeah, no, that's I think a handful of years ago, maybe 20 years ago, it was 30 you were supposed to aim for, and I'm not even sure if that includes like all your expenses and stuff, too. Um, but I know it got up to 40. Maybe I'm going off the top of my head, but it's insane.

Sunnie 59:09

Overall, would you recommend it?

Adam 59:14

Yeah, that was kind of I guess is a bit a bit the question. Yeah for me, it has gone very well. I know many, many people here have immigrated and for whom it went well. Um it depends entirely on what you're looking for. Um, of course, like again, I came from a French-speaking country, the majority of Canada will be English speaking. There are uh regions, uh specifically in Quebec and New Brunswick, where you'll have a lot of French speaking. Uh and therefore, yeah, immigrate. I I think most people who have immigrated have had a good experience coming to Canada. I under current circumstances with housing and everything, I don't know that it was that it is as much of the quote unquote the American dream in Canada. I don't know if that works as well today. Uh, but yeah, I mean that it still is a wonderful country. There's still a lot of great reasons to be coming to Canada. It just might be economically a bit more difficult, but then again, uh if you're immigrating, maybe the economic situation you are in isn't the best way you are. So trying that's what I did, right? I tried just going to be a different continent, trying something different, and for me it worked out. So yeah, it worked out.

Sunnie 1:00:26

So absolutely, yeah.

Phil 1:00:28

Um also willing to live further north in Canada, like um Sault Ste. Marie housing and property up there, as I'm sure it's gone up in price, but the actual um the actual property prices are still like significantly lower than the rest of the horn of Ontario.

Sunnie 1:00:50

Yeah, yeah. And even in other uh provinces, even it's much lower. Like it's crazy.

Adam 1:01:00

For people at home who who could Google this, um, there is a map out there where there's basically a a red line that crosses Canada and it says like 50% of the population lives below this line. Yes. And below this line is expensive as hell. Well, yes, uh, but it's also just like not even 5% of the country, of the territory of the country, but it's 50% of the population that lives there. Because we're all just like uh mostly in Ontario, where we are a bit in Quebec, a bit in BC. And that's and of course there are many, many other Canadians elsewhere, but 50% of the population lives in what I just said compared to the 95% of the rest of the territory of Canada, which does make it the housing in this in these parts quite expensive, and the political power of places outside of that area a lot less. So it's a it's a complicated uh gamble.

Sunnie 1:01:54

I do have some silly questions as well.

Adam 1:01:59

Yeah, go ahead.

Sunnie 1:02:01

Do you think you could survive a week where everyone only speaks in Canadian slang now that you've been here for long enough?

Adam 1:02:11

So we're in Ontario, there's very little Canadian slang being bandied about in these parts. I do follow a few Canadian content creators who are out in Alberta and who therefore have you know some of that slang. I would I would adapt uh and it'd be a fun time. Uh I know I seem talkative on this podcast, I'm actually quite quiet usually. Uh so I'd be just like listening, trying to figure out what's going on. Um, and I think it'd be a blast to hear more Canadian slang. But yeah, in Ontario it isn't that common. Yeah. It doesn't bother me too much.

Sunnie 1:02:47

Unless you live in like a hick town or something like that, it's you're not gonna hear it. Like if you're in a city, you're not gonna hear it almost at all.

Phil 1:02:56

See, Ontario, Lower Ontario does have it's not quite like an incomprehensible slang or accent, but there is something that um it's not noticeable to us. But yes, I've been told many times it's very noticeable. Yes, we are talking and explaining things. Um, people in southern Ontario, what sort of differentiates us from Americans is we start off low when we're talking and explaining things, and as we go on in our conversation, and as it sounds like we're getting more and more out of breath as our voice-wise is up and up in pitch. It's true. And now that you've heard we go up to be able to unhear it.

Sunnie 1:03:36

Yeah, we go up and then we go up, and then when we go down, it's your turn to talk. Like that's kind of little things that kind of happen, but only certain people notice it.

Adam 1:03:48

There definitely is some local terminology and stuff. When I talk to my parents who speak British English, yeah, definitely when they when they come over, there's sometimes a few things we say and they sort of look at me. What what did you say? I said, Oh, sorry. This would be the British equivalent. This is the the thing. Um, like talking about housing, like a like a side split or a backsplit. Yes, things like that.

Sunnie 1:04:14

I did not know that that was like a Canadian thing.

Adam 1:04:17

Well, I I think it's just a North American way of building a house that wouldn't be very common in the UK. So there's just always things like that that are just different depending on where you are.

Sunnie 1:04:26

Okay. The last silly question, and technically the last question overall. What food would you recommend from here to someone who's also from France? I mean, yeah.

Adam 1:04:39

Uh poutine is not known on the other side of the ocean. Okay. And I do love pulled pork, I do love ribs. Those aren't they're not the same. Uh and also uh Mexican food.

Sunnie 1:04:58

The Mexican food here that's not really a big thing over there, is it?

Adam 1:05:02

Well, no, because Mexico's far away. Well, I know, but yeah. But so that's the thing. Like the Mexican food here necessarily is so much better because it is there's a uh Sid and I we traveled, uh like I said, we traveled to Europe a fair, but at one point we had Mexican food in Edinburgh, Scotland, and it was that's a wild place to have that. But and here's the thing because I mentioned Trevor Noah earlier. I'm fairly sure Trevor Noah went to that same restaurant and said it was good. And I don't know if I was there on an off day, but I'm not gonna name the restaurant because no one viewed on them, but there's only one restaurant and they know who they are. Maybe, maybe. Uh at least that that time when I was there, it wasn't very good. Uh and after the fact, we've reflected yeah, maybe Mexican wasn't the smartest move when you're in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Sunnie 1:05:54

That's very fair. I 100%. I was expecting Putin.

Phil 1:06:00

Chocolate bars. That's what I was expecting.

Sunnie 1:06:02

I was I was half expecting chocolate, but then well also look at France and chocolate.

Adam 1:06:07

That's the thing. Yeah, I'm sorry, but no, I grew up right next to Belgium. I grew up very close to Switzerland. And no, sorry, the chocolate is you guys.

Phil 1:06:18

I have yet to see anywhere else that does coffee crisp wafer chocolates.

Adam 1:06:24

True. I do I do love a coffee crisp. That's Halloween time, those are mine. Um, because they always come up in the in those packages. Absolutely, I do enjoy those. Um but chocolate in general, I do think for my taste, Europe has America beats, like North America in general when it comes to chocolate.

Sunnie 1:06:46

I would agree with that.

Phil 1:06:48

Having banned. Did you get the vomit taste of North American chocolates? So I think what?

Adam 1:06:55

So yes, so there's a specific chemical that is used in the making of chocolate in North America that isn't in Europe, and to Europeans, it can slightly taste like a bath, and it it does slightly for some of it for me, not my cup of tea. Um I feel like it's too sweet. It's not very strong for me. It's not very strong for me, but there's just yeah, a little yeah, I basically prefer European chocolate to American.

Sunnie 1:07:23

Like I myself, Canadian, born and raised, been here my whole life. Um being here having chocolate, uh super unpopular opinion. Everyone's gonna hate me. I don't care. I don't really like chocolate. That's not my thing. If I am gonna have chocolate, it has to be dark chocolate. Um, and even then, it's like maybe once every couple months. It's just not my thing. I'll go sour candy or any other candy before I reach for chocolate. When we went to France specifically, and like everywhere else, that chocolate, I understand why people like chocolate. I had a French mousse just at a restaurant, and it was easily the best thing I've ever had in my entire life. And I would have laid in a bathtub of that and ate it. Like it was so good. And I'm just like, this is not normal. Like, this is not a very normal thing. Even my husband looked at me and he's like, You don't really do chocolate. Like, are you actually gonna eat that whole thing? I'm like, I am absolutely gonna eat this whole thing, and if you even try to like look at it the wrong way, I might hit you. Like very big difference.

Adam 1:08:43

So, what what one of the questions we were talking about earlier was like if you'd rather have 20 chain restaurants or one pub.

Sunnie 1:08:49

Yeah.

Adam 1:08:49

Um, that is one of the cultural shocks here, is the the fact that most things here are a chain.

Sunnie 1:08:56

Yes.

Adam 1:08:57

Uh whereas, at least where I grew up in France, it's mostly the inverse. There's a lot of just individually owned restaurants, and therefore the food there is like really good, and it's something it's just like just a an actual restaurant. Whereas here at least I feel like it is disproportionately way more chains than individual restaurants. Uh but yeah, yeah, the chocolate and the chocolate mousse are usually quite, quite good uh in France, I'm sure.

Phil 1:09:27

Oh, it was incredible. Love our uniformity, it's the same thing with supermarkets, that's why like we allowed basically a monopoly on all of our supermarket chains because we're just like, no, I want the same place no matter where I go with the exact same variety and exact same prices. Honestly, fair, different tax not included.

Adam 1:09:52

So I forgot that because it's been a while, but that still bothers me so much. That the price I see isn't the price I pay really bothers me.

Sunnie 1:10:01

Because I that it isn't that was one thing that kind of shocked us when we went over there. We were just like, okay, so that's this plus tax, and they're like, No, no, no, no, no. That's that's tax included, and we're like, What? We're like, it's that cheap, and they're like, Yes, like what do you mean it's that cheap?

Adam 1:10:20

Yeah, there's to me because like if ever you go somewhere, it's like, oh, like five dollar pizza or five dollar whatever. Like in Europe, you just get out a fiver and you put it on the table and you get the pizza and you're gone. Here it's like, oh, five dollars, but actually no, because you have to add the tax on top, so it's gonna be five, fifty, sixty dollars, something like that.

Sunnie 1:10:41

Anyway, yeah, exactly.

Adam 1:10:44

Exactly. Like, that's not fun. If you say something's five bucks, they want to pay five bucks.

Sunnie 1:10:49

Yeah. I feel like that would just be so much more simple. And it would just, yeah, it would make a lot more sense to just do that personally. Um,

Questions from Listeners

Sunnie 1:11:00

we actually got some questions in uh from our listeners, which is great. So they asked the questions not only in uh Twitch chat while I was live, but also in our Discord, which is where we get most of our questions. So our first question is from MKS Visionary. He says, This might be a dumb one. I love when they start with that. But is Yukon where you see the northern lights better? So it's both a yes and no. The only reason I say no, between May and early August, that's their summer months, and they experience the midnight sun just like Alaska does. So the sun never sets. So obviously, not super ideal for seeing the northern lights. However, in the winter, basically anything outside of those months, uh, there's long dark nights that make it a bucketless location to go see them. So I would highly, highly recommend that. Our second question comes from Sammy's Universe. And he asks, how many public holidays does Canada have every year? So I think it's like about what nine, nine to eleven.

Adam 1:12:11

So part of the difficulty there is that each province is different.

Sunnie 1:12:14

That's it. Yeah. Um, so I I think it's about nine to eleven, though.

Adam 1:12:20

Yeah. On my on my team, I have people uh in Quebec and Ontario, in BC and Alberta and all that. Uh and so everybody has slightly different stat holidays.

Sunnie 1:12:32

Um yeah, because in Quebec they have like Saint Jean uh Baptiste, whereas in Ontario we have Family Day. And then both nine. Yeah, like I don't know if it's uh I feel like it's roughly around 9 to 11, would be my rough guess. Um, but yeah, it really depends which province you're in or territory, I think.

Tally 1:12:55

Because yeah, it's like we almost have one in every month, again, depending on what calendar you're following. It'd be nice, like the occasional month that doesn't have one, it feels like a very long month, but yeah, yeah.

Sunnie 1:13:13

Our third question comes in from Chaos Agent Star. And he asks, What are the top three animals hunted? So top three animals hunted, I'll actually give you four. Um, so doll sheep, grizzly bear, and caribou, because they're all about big game up there, and obviously with the moose population outnumbering people, they're hunted too. Our fourth question comes from Sword Troll 1, and he asks, what is the origin of the name Yukon? So Yukon actually comes from the Gwichin word Yukuna, meaning Great River. And that was referring to the Yukon River at the time. So they figured, okay, Yukon, okay, let's maybe make that a little bit shorter. Yukon, okay, Yukon, let's just go with that, and then it that's stuck. Our fifth question comes from Chaos Agent Star again. Um, and he asks, What is the most fish species in the Yukon? So the most fish species are actually the Arctic grayling, lake trout, and northern pike. I know. Very normal sounding. I did not think that that was what I was gonna find in my deep dive, but that's what we found. And our last question comes from Mellow Bum. And she asks, When did your money start smelling like maple syrup?

Adam 1:14:50

Yeah, when they switch it to plastic.

Sunnie 1:14:52

Right? Like that's that's kind of what I thought. I'm like, what when did they switch it? Back 2011, something like that.

Adam 1:14:59

It was it was I know it was before 2016, because by the time I got here, it was already smelled like maple syrup.

Sunnie 1:15:05

I was gonna say it already smells like maple syrup, yeah.

Adam 1:15:07

And and if anybody comes here and tries it, like, don't try it on a $5 or $20 bill. Uh, because those are in circulation a lot, so they're less likely to have the scent.

Sunnie 1:15:17

It still smells like it to me, anyways.

Adam 1:15:20

But but it if you if you do get your hand on a hundred, it does smell quite strongly.

Phil 1:15:24

It does, it's true. I have like no sense of smell, so this is something I never knew.

Sunnie 1:15:31

Really? Yeah. Fun fact, yes, our money does smell like maple syrup. Um, it is actually a true fact. I think it's just a byproduct of whatever polymer plastic or whatever they're using to make our monopoly-looking money.

Tally 1:15:48

It is pretty beneficial for it to be plastic, it's very durable.

Sunnie 1:15:51

The only thing you have to watch out for is your dryer melt, but yeah, potentially could melt, but for the most part, it's like if it goes in the wash, it's no big deal, which is great.

Thank You & Outro

Sunnie 1:16:04

A huge thank you to our guests for indulging me and joining our conversation. Even though we're not from the Yukon, we do hope you did learn a little bit more about this wild, mysterious place and might be inspired to explore it further. Next Monday, we'll be stepping back into the forest where the scent of smoke lingers even when nothing is burning. This has been What Lurks North. Stay safe out there.