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HAY RIVER - There is no doubting Ken Latour's Northern roots and credentials.

Born in Tuktoyaktuk, raised in Hay River where he is now a town councillor, and an adult educator with Aurora College, Latour is definitely a Northerner.

Ken Latour is an adult educator at Aurora College's Community Learning Centre in Hay River, along with being a town councillor. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

However, he also has unique experiences elsewhere in the world.

"I think I'm both an insider and an outsider," he said. Latour, 39, was an infant when his family left Tuktoyaktuk for Old Crow, Yukon, and eventually settled in Hay River when he was about two.

"I consider this my hometown," he said of Hay River.

After attending early grades in Hay River, he went to boarding school in Winnipeg for Grades 8 to 12.

"It was a difficult transition because I was 12 years old when I left," he recalled, adding he was not used to southern culture and cities. "It was quite different. It was quite a shock."

For his post-secondary education, Latour earned an anthropology degree from Princeton University, a prominent Ivy League school in New Jersey. In fact, he is possibly the only person from the NWT ever to attend Princeton, a university with many claims to fame including being the home of Albert Einstein until his passing in the 1950s.

Latour believes being a Northerner helped him get accepted to Princeton.

"They really work hard at bringing together a very diversified community," he said.

Latour said it was a great experience to attend Princeton, which he described as a "magical place" with a beautiful campus and some of the brightest people from around the world.

Latour said he graduated without a definite idea for what he was to do afterwards.

"I wasn't someone with clear plans of what I wanted to do," he said, although he recalled with a laugh that he didn't want to be a teacher. After a couple of years as a computer draftsman in Hay River, he went to Indonesia for two years as part of a Princeton program that placed people overseas to teach English as a second language.

"That's where I discovered a love for teaching," he said.

After returning to the North, he became the adult educator at Aurora College's Community Learning Centre in Fort Resolution, where he worked for five years until 2002.

"It was a great start," he said. "It gave me a great grounding in adult education."

And, he liked Fort Resolution, which he described as a lively, interesting community.

"People there have a wicked sense of humour," he said. "It's got a great heart."

Returning to Hay River, Latour said he again didn't have a plan for his future and over the next few years did various things – consulting work in the educational field, contract teaching at the South Mackenzie Correctional Centre and running a café with his partner, Kate Osted.

A year ago, he became the adult educator at Aurora College's Hay River Community Learning Centre, and hopes to stay there for the foreseeable future.

On the personal side, Latour said he and Osted are planning to get married next year and hope to start a family.

As a Hay River resident and town councillor, Latour is upbeat about the future of the town.

"I've always seen potential for this community," he said, adding it has a lot of resourceful residents.

Latour believes Hay River could develop into an arts community.

"I think it's happening now," he said, pointing to efforts by the Hay River Artists' Co-op and NWT Centennial Library.

Plus, Latour said Hay River could do more to highlight its natural beauty, and start by upgrading its downtown core.

"We could become a funky little town that attracts people," he said.

Latour said he has enjoyed his year and a half on council.

"It's been a great learning experience, that's for sure," he said, although he is unsure if he will run again for council later this year.