Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jun 19/00) - When Harvey Bourgeois needs his space, he heads for the Grayling, a sailboat he shares with business partner Pierre LePage.

Bourgeois, known about town as the owner of the Monkey Tree Pub -- maybe you've witnessed his rambunctious turns with the karaoke microphone at his pub -- has learned the hard way that it's important he take time out. Time out to relax, and dream his dreams on the Grayling. Time out, also, to be with his daughter, Stephanie.

Bourgeois and LePage worked out the details of L'Heritage and Le Frolic Bistro Bar on the Grayling. The two are silent partners in each other's businesses.

"We decided the name, everything, while sailing," he says.

And what is it about sailing that gives him what he needs?

"I'll tell you this way ... half an hour on the water, I forget that I own two businesses. My body tells me (when to go). It's a way to restore my energy."

Success has come to the entrepreneur/restaurateur, but not without a few of those proverbial dues being paid.

Adventures in hospitality

Bourgeois first came to Yellowknife in 1981.

"A friend of mine was a teacher in Whitehorse and he talked about the North quite a bit. I was fascinated by it. So I decided to come check it out. There was a guy from my home town that used to manage the Hoist Room. His name was Eugene LeBlanc."

Home town for these two was Cheticamp, Cape Breton, an Acadian community on Nova Scotia's Cabot Trail.

At first, Bourgeois worked for LeBlanc, then moved on to a job at Sam Yirkuw's Gallery Neighbourhood Pub.

"I knocked on the door and I remember Sam answering the door. I started with him as a labourer. He asked me if I had any experience bartending. I didn't have much so I took the day shifts in order to learn my drinks and my speed. Then I became night bartender and six months later I was managing for him."

Bourgeois managed the Gallery until 1984. He then left Yellowknife to take a business program at Dalhousie University in Halifax, N.S. In 1985, he moved on to Algonquin College in Ottawa, where he completed a degree in hospitality management.

"I had no plans on coming back," he notes.

He graduated in 1987, and went to work for the Sheraton Hotel chain in Halifax. That's when Yirkuw called Bourgeois back to Yellowknife. He was building the Monkey Tree complex and wanted Bourgeois' help.

In August 1988, he was back, serving in the capacity of property manager for Yirkuw's many businesses, which at the time included Yk Pizza, the Gold Range, the Gallery, Sam's Monkey Tree Pub, as well as the restaurant, the car wash, Top Forty and other retail stores in the Monkey Tree complex, and eventually, Cheers, now known as the Cave.

Property managing involved making certain there was staff in place, as well as management.

"Then in '93, I left. Burnt out," he says.

Juggling the career and a marriage -- he was married in 1991 -- and a young daughter, proved near-impossible. Yet, Bourgeois is circumspect about those years. He learned a lot from Yirkuw.

After the burn-out, he followed his now ex-wife to British Columbia to be near his daughter.

Endurance required

But one year later, he was back, working at Edgson's Produce and as a bartender at Broadway.

"I finally realized it was home. A home away from home," he says.

In '96, he bought the Monkey Tree Pub.

Asked what it takes to be in the hospitality industry, Bourgeois grins and says bluntly:

"Endurance. Because of the hours -- the lifestyle."

But he notes that it is a lifestyle that suits him.

"There's not one day that I go to work where I feel like I'm going to work."

Plus, he adds, people skills are essential.

"Liking people -- all the skills can be learned if you've got that. I don't think you can teach somebody people skills. You have it or you don't. You can better yourself at it. But I think it's something you acquire as you're born. My people skills brought me to this industry."

Bourgeois remembers his high school days, and the activities that captivated him.

"Different committees ... student council ... I brought a group of 40 people to Europe at the age of 16. I raised $40,000 to bring them to Europe. I was quite involved in community development back home, the arena, the golf course."

And as much as people are a passion, sailing has become an equal love in his life.

"I tried different hobbies. I've tried tennis, I've tried golf. But finally I discovered sailing."

Be a good dad

And as for motivation,, Bourgeois comes back to his daughter. When he mentions Stephanie, his face relaxes and his voice becomes warm and soft.

Dad challenges?

"To bring her up with a strong education, spiritual ... honest living."

Father and daughter sail together. And, according to dad, Stephanie seems to have been born with those people skills.

Dad goals?

"Communicating, and having a balance."

Businessman and father. Is there more to life? How about a love life?

"I think, in this industry, it takes a person that understands the industry in order to have a relationship."

For now, he's not looking.

"It's not a priority. I was married once. I did it before. And it's not because we hated each other; it's just that the communication wasn't there. Relationship has never been my strength. I think, honestly, I had lots to offer. But it was really hard for me. Because I'm surrounded by so many people, through my work and through my life in Yellowknife, it's very hard for me to come back, intimately, to one person. And the time that I have alone is my space from everything."

Bourgeois has many more plans -- plans that evolve and change when he's out on the water.

But for this sailor, it's steady as she goes.

"The timing has to be right."