When Lindsay Johnston took a contract as a recreation manager in Old Crow, she was nervous about the year-long commitment that was part of the deal. Born and raised in Calgary, she’d never been to the remote Yukon community.
“Off the hop I was like ‘I don’t know if I can do that,’” Johnston told the News over the phone on Oct. 12. She was surprised to find that, within the first couple weeks, she knew she’d stay in the community at least a year. She ended up staying for five.
Now, as the recreation manager in Teslin, where she’s been the last four years, she credits her experience in Old Crow with defining the way she approaches recreation.
That approach is one reason Johnston was given the community recreation leadership award this year at the Yukon’s annual recreation gathering in October. It’s an honour she shared with Tina Freake, recreation manager for Faro, who was also named a recipient.
The gathering is hosted by the Recreation and Parks Association of Yukon. The award is presented by the Yukon government.
“Lindsay is an inspiration and a constant source of positive energy,” said Teslin Mayor Gord Curran in an email to the News.
Curran said she uses recreation as an opportunity to build community spirit for residents of all ages, but particularly for youth.
“She sees recreation as a crucial part of their well-being today and their development as community members and future leaders.”
Johnston sees it as a reciprocal relationship. In fact, she said the residents of Old Crow taught her a different definition of recreation than the one she’d carried into the community.
“You come in with your ideas and your interests and your own individual passions and think that’s what the community needs, or it’s a great place to start,” she said. “It kind of got debunked pretty quickly and I think I recognized that.”
Johnston said she learned that a huge part of recreation in a rural community is people wanting to get to know who you are. They want to sit down. They want to talk with you. She learned to accept that those conversations could often be the most important part of her day, regardless of what else she had pencilled in. Building those relationships allowed her to do the job in a way that worked for the community.
Not only did that experience give her insight into the job (she said she also felt like it gave her a bit of street credit when she first showed up in Teslin), it gave her practical experience with how to do it in the North.
This past summer, for example, she implemented a sports camp for kids from all over the territory. It gave Teslin kids the chance to participate in certain team sports, like flag football, lacrosse and soccer, that aren’t possible year-round because there aren’t enough kids to make up a few teams.
Johnston also adapted a swim camp from Old Crow for Teslin that aims to teach kids how to swim in local water. Kids in both communities are comfortable around water, but she said there’s a difference between splashing in lakes up to your knees, or dog paddling the lazy river at the Canada Games Centre, and being able to survive falling out of a boat into the chilly water of Teslin Lake or the Porcupine River.
Most recently, she just found out the Village of Teslin has received funding from the crime prevention victim services trust to implement First Assist — a program that advances educational outcomes in Indigenous communities through sport.
“We’re teaming up with Carmacks to bring that in and deliver that in the new year,” she said.
It will be a busy few months, but that’s the nature of recreation work. And it’s why some rec workers love it.
Freake is one of them. Over the last 20 years, she’s worked in recreation positions in Faro, Whitehorse and Nanaimo, B.C. The pace is what’s kept her interested in the job since moving to the Yukon from Newfoundland.
“I just felt I was multitasking all the time,” she told the News of her early days. “You’re just constantly changing and shifting even throughout the day, and it’s so different from day-to-day.”
Part of the reason for that is that, in a smaller community, where there are fewer staff, they have to take on everything. That includes event planning, funding applications, program delivery, writing follow-up reports and handling administrative tasks.
Because of that, there’s a constant need to change up the way she does things. Rather than being overwhelmed by that, Freake finds it motivating.
Like Johnston, she said she has to listen to the community’s needs if she wants to feel like she’s doing her job properly. And that’s given her a broader definition of recreation than just a gym.
“Recreation isn’t just about being active and active living and sports or going into the weight room, that sort of thing,” she said. “It’s about finding community and connection.”
In the last couple years, she’s brought in classes including a women’s wellness program where activities ranged from hikes to making beaded earrings to a carving workshop with Ross River artist Dennis Shorty.
This summer, she took a group of seniors to Whitehorse for a three-day getaway. This fall, she’ll do the same with a youth group. Her ability to cater to various groups is one thing that stands out about her to Faro Mayor Jack Bowers.
“Tina’s training, experience and passion really shows when it comes to promoting the town and keeping our youth, seniors and all Faroites physically active,” said Bowers. “This weekend Tina will be transporting our youth group to Whitehorse for a weekend of activities. This will be her fourth trip this year transporting various youth groups and seniors to special activities throughout Yukon.”
Come winter, he said she makes sure there’s even more to do. If Faro residents are bored, he said, it’s because they’re not paying attention.
Contact Amy Kenny at amy.kenny@yukon-news.com
