When I was just a lad growing up in Ontario, I could never remember whether the capital of the Yukon was Yellowknife or Whitehorse.

A six-year stint at the Star, however, permanently ensured that I would never forget either Whitehorse or the Yukon, long after I had headed back south.

In 1999, Jim Butler gave me an incredible opportunity to leave behind the big smoke of Toronto and move to Whitehorse. As a lifelong political junkie, who had just graduated from Toronto Metropolitan University, I was excited to get the chance to cover politics in the territory.

I didn’t know what to expect. When I left Ontario, I figured I should stay for six months (back then that seemed like a long time).

Thankfully, I didn’t follow through on that plan.

Six months would turn into six, wonderful years.

When I first arrived, one of my first assignments was to cover the budget lockup. This was not something I was familiar with but the idea of being locked in a room with the embargoed 1999-2000 territorial budget was exciting.

Thankfully, I was riding shotgun with a legend when it came to Yukon reporters, Chuck Tobin.

Over six years, I learned many things from Chuck, but the first lesson he taught came quickly before we headed to the budget lockup: always find out what they’re serving for lunch.

From there, I would have many experiences over the next six years as a political reporter that many grizzled journalists back in Ontario could only dream about.

I covered two territorial elections in 2000 and 2002. I frequently interviewed three different premiers, each of a different political stripe – Piers McDonald (NDP), Pat Duncan (Liberal) and Dennis Fentie (Yukon Party).

As Jim Butler recently reminded me, one election led to what was my favourite scoop as a reporter. On an early Thursday in October 2002, I found out from the federal Privy Council Office that the Yukon legislature had been dissolved the day before at the request of Pat Duncan’s government, meaning that the election would be called the following Friday. We reported in that day’s paper that the election would be held on Nov. 4, announcing the date for the next election to Yukoners a full day before the government had a chance to do so itself.

My six years also included interviewing many different MLAs who moved through the Yukon legislature over the years, some of whom left indelible imprints on my memory. I have so many fond memories of my days sitting in the legislature, living and breathing territorial politics.

I also got a chance to cover two federal elections and interview a cavalcade of federal politicians including: Paul Martin, Brian Tobin, Preston Manning, Alexa McDonough, Jack Layton, and Yukon’s own Audrey McLaughlin. There was even one night when I was able to dangle my tape recorder over the shoulder of a Mountie while a gaggle of reporters scrummed then-prime minister Jean Chretien on the 2000 campaign trail.

The Yukon also gave me a valuable education. When the issue of residential schools became a national issue in recent years, I knew that my prior knowledge of that system and its tragic impact of Indigenous Canadians was only due to my time at the Star.

Before arriving in the Yukon, I didn’t realize that my Ontario education had let me down, as I had never even been taught about residential schools or their detrimental impact on Indigenous Canadians. However, once I arrived in Whitehorse, I started to learn the truth about that dark part of our national history via the stories I covered and the individuals I had the chance to interview.

Thanks to my time at the Star, I was also able to venture all over the territory, including to places that not everybody got to see, such as Herschel Island and Old Crow.

When it came to traipsing around the North, however, the Star provided me with the greatest experience I have ever had as a reporter – covering the Yukon Quest, twice.

Covering the 2001 and 2002 Yukon Quests are some of my favourite memories of my entire life. Being out in the middle of nowhere, with northern lights dancing above, while the remarkable women and men, who followed their dogs down the race’s trails, regaled me with riveting stories, was a rare expertise that I will always treasure. I quickly discovered how extraordinary mushers are as individuals.

They made for excellent subjects of my interviews, even when I was tired from a lack of sleep. I will always be grateful to the Star to have had that opportunity.

With the recent announcement of the Whitehorse Star’s impending closure, I initially felt the melancholy that comes with a death in the family. However, this has also given me a chance to reconnect with former colleagues and fondly remember my six-plus years at the Star.

As I sit here in Winnipeg and write this out, I can’t help but remember the cast of colleagues who made my experience so special including: Jim Butler, Chuck Tobin, Mike Onesi, Bernie Adilman, Cathie Archbould, Sigrun Maria Kristinsdottir, Nadine Pedersen, Craig Carpenter, Kelly Slessor, Stephanie Waddell, Sean McNeely, Vince Fedoroff, Jeff Korenko, Echo Ross, Sarah Elizabeth Brown, Michael Hale, Sarah Glen, Carmel Ecker, Don Campbell, Kim Matthews, Rhonda Glenn and many others.

Even though it’s been nearly two decades since I left the Yukon, and 13 years since I’ve been back to visit, I still consider myself a Yukoner. That’s how much of an impact the territory has made on my life. I would not have been able to have make the Yukon my home without the Star and Jim’s call more than 25 years ago to offer me the job.

The Whitehorse Star will always live fondly in my memories, as it will in those of many others.

By JASON SMALL