THEBACHA/FORT SMITH - After nearly 16 years at Aurora College, Tim Gauthier is moving on to a new challenge.

Tim Gauthier: leaving Aurora College after nearly 16 years for a new challenge with Parks Canada. - NNSL file photo

Gauthier, who became well known in Fort Smith and throughout the NWT as the college's manager of public and corporate affairs, is starting a new job with Parks Canada.

As of May 25, he will be the partnership, engagement and communications officer for both Wood Buffalo National Park and Nahanni National Park.

"'Sixteen years at one place is a long time," he said of his time at Aurora College. "I would have gone on happily there, but an opportunity came up here in Smith and I knew I didn't want to leave (the community). This town is full of wonderful people. It's a beautiful place. The lifestyle is what I want to live."

Gauthier first arrived in Fort Smith from his native Nova Scotia as a 22-year-old in late 1986 to report for The Slave River Journal.

"It was an adventure for me," he said of his decision to come North, adding he had been raised in the staid and settled East.

Gauthier said he knew absolutely nothing of Fort Smith and the North. "It was a leap-into-the-abyss sort of thing."

His first impression was of a couple of kilometres of bush while being driven into Fort Smith from the airport.

"So I wasn't sure where the heck I had come to," he recalled. "When I finally arrived in town, I was charmed, but somewhat intimidated by what I perceived of the town, its isolation."

Like many people coming North for work, Gauthier said he thought he'd come up for a year or two of experience and then shop that around down south.

"What can I say? The town grew on me and the North grew on me," he said. "Now I honestly can't imagine living anywhere else."

Gauthier has become deeply involved in Fort Smith, where he started a Cubs and Scouts troupe, volunteers at the Northern Life Museum and sits on its board of directors, and serves on the tourism advisory board.

After five years at The Slave River Journal - starting as a reporter and leaving as editor - and a couple of years as a freelance writer, he was hired by Aurora College as manager of public and corporate affairs in August of 1994.

In that position, he was responsible for media relations, marketing, communications, college promotion and special projects.

"I was very happy to find a job I enjoyed in the community I wanted to live in," he recalled. "Even by 1994, I realized that Smith was the place I wanted to be. I met my wife here, my children were born here, my adult life really developed here."

Gauthier, 46, loved his time at the college.

"It was a wonderful place to work," he said. "It is an institution that is doing yeoman's work in terms of helping Northerners achieve their goals."

Now, he said he is moving from a great Northern institution, Aurora College, to a great Canadian institution, Parks Canada.

"I feel very fortunate," he said.

His new role at Parks Canada will be similar to his work at Aurora College, including communications, media relations and promotion.

"I also have the additional aspect of engagement," he said. "What that means is building a connection with Canadians and these magnificent wild spaces that we have up here. It's having them find meaning, even if they never get to Nahanni, knowing that it's there and knowing that these places are there for the long term, safe and protected for future generations."