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INUVIK
The face of visitor services in the Inuvik office of Parks Canada may be retiring but Gerry Kisoun won't be vanishing just yet.

Gerry Kisoun, the face of Parks Canada in Inuvik, is retiring after 16 years with the federal agency. - T. Shawn Giilck/NNSL photo

Kisoun, who is also a NWT deputy commissioner, is taking his leave of Parks Canada this week after entrenching himself as the face of the office locally and across the northwest region of the NWT.

"We're going to need about six people to fill his shoes," said Parks Canada staff member Melissa Lennie.

Kisoun guffawed at that and confided "they're only size-10s" in a loud whisper.

Such is the workday when you have such a master of storytelling and chin-wagging around.

Give Kisoun a minute to talk and he will ensnare you in a colourful and compelling history of the area. He was born in the Mackenzie Delta and moved with his parents to Inuvik in 1956 when it was still largely a tent city.

"There wasn't much here then, just a few businesses and lots of tents," he recalled. "We spent the first few winters in a frame tent – it sure was cold in the winter."

His parents, particularly his mother, Kisoun said, led the charge for better working and living conditions for the town.

He joined the RCMP in 1971, and spent the next 25 years with the service. He was stationed for much of his career in Alberta and the Yukon, before eventually arranging a transfer to Tuktoyaktuk and then Inuvik as he approached retirement.

"Inuvik is home to me," Kisoun said, "and eventually you go back home. I didn't want to leave Inuvik again."

That was in September of 1996, and while he had retired as a Mountie, Kisoun certainly wasn't ready to settle down to retirement.

He saw an advertisement for local positions with Parks Canada and applied for a job. As he tells it, it was a way of returning to his roots, particularly with Ivvavik National Park to the west of Inuvik in the Yukon, where he had family history.

His family had lived in the area of Ivvavik for two or three generations, and Kisoun was familiar with it from trips made there in his youth.

"I've got family all over this area," he said, gesturing to a map of the Mackenzie Delta, "but I knew the Ivvavik area best.

"I like to reconnect to the land every so often," Kisoun added. "Ivvavik was probably my favourite. I had more connections there."

He's put that expertise – and an unbridled and unmatched passion for the area – to the best use working as an ambassador for Parks Canada.

"I try to make sure the information that goes out is relevant and accurate," he said.

"My favourite part is taking kids out," he said. "Giving kids a taste of the parks here in the Western Arctic. I think one of the best ways of educating kids is just sitting them down on the ground in a park so they can share what's out there."

That's an important consideration locally, since the nearest parks, like Ivvavik and Tuktut Nogait, are inaccessible except by plane in the warmer months and snowmobile and dogsled in the winter.

He turns 60 this year, and he thought that milestone meant it was time to move on yet again.

Although he's leaving Parks Canada, Kisoun is still likely to be appear in the parks.

"I probably will end up back in the park," he said with his trademark smile. "I'm going into tourism."

His immediate plans are to help out a nephew who operates Up North Tours, an eco-tourism company.

He will still hold his position as deputy commissioner as well, covering ceremonial functions locally. He's been appointed to a three-year term.

"I think I'll be busy enough," he said with a grin.

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