A skier's heart

CBC

16-03-2025

Gary Bailie founded the Kwanlin Koyotes youth ski program in Whitehorse, and over the years he's spent many hours grooming trails and showing young people the joy of staying active outdoors.
Gary Bailie out for a ski in Whitehorse.Sarah Xenos/Radio-Canada
Sarah Xenos Translated by Virginie Ann Mar. 16, 2025
Everything is peaceful at the Kwanlin Koyote cabin in Whitehorse. The only thing disturbing the silence is the hoarse call of ravens perched high in the pines.
The sun rises slowly from behind the mountains, sending a soft glow over the cross-country ski trails.
Then, from afar, a low, distant rumble drifts through the crisp winter air. The rhythmic sound of a motor gets louder until the machine appears.
Gary Bailie, founder and head coach of the Kwanlin Koyotes ski program, is standing tall on his snowmobile, pulling a trail groomer through the fresh snow.
During winter, the 68-year-old can usually be found either out on his skis, or on his snowmobile making sure the trails, which cut through the traditional territory of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation, are always ready to welcome skiers.
For Bailie, a citizen of Kwanlin Dün, cross-country skiing has been more than just a sport or a fun way to spend a winter day. It also connects him to the land, and his spirituality
'I see [spirituality] in everything. I see it in the animals, I see it in the land, in all the trees, in all the things that go on amongst them all. And when I'm out there skiing, I feel like I'm part of it — I feel like I'm home. I feel like I belong there.'
Skiing has also offered Bailie a way to deal with the pain of loss in his life — first his wife, and then his daughter a few years ago to an overdose.
Bailie is well-known around town and easily recognized. People stop him everywhere he goes, for a quick chat or simply to say hello.
That's because his contribution to the community is remarkable.
Bailie, along with many other Indigenous youth in the Yukon during the 1960s, was introduced to cross-country skiing through the late Father Jean-Marie Mouchet 's Territorial Experimental Ski Training (TEST) program.
'I started skiing when I was eight, nine years old. I was at Takhini Elementary school and Father Mouchet had come to the school,' Bailie recalled.
It was a pivotal experience for Bailie, who was soon skiing competitively. But it also seemed to give him a boost in other aspects of his life, too.
'The discipline of skiing actually helped with my schooling as well. It just really elevated me.'
images expandEvery winter, Gary Bailie helps maintain a small network of ski trails in Whitehorse for the Kwanlin Koyotes program.
Bailie joined the national cross-country ski team at 17 after winning several competitions. He opted out of pursuing his Olympic dream, however, deciding instead to focus on the sport itself rather than competition.
'I got away from the high-level sport because of all the politics and everything,' he said. 'I just really didn't want to lose the joy of skiing … I felt that that was a possibility.'
Decades later, he continues to pass on his love for the sport through the Kwanlin Kotoyes, a ski program for youth that was initially inspired by his daughter, Stacity Lauren Bailie.
Stacity's legacy
The volunteer-run Kwanlin Koyotes program provides young people with an opportunity to build deeper connections with the land, while staying healthy and active.
While Bailie acknowledges that his love for skiing comes from the late Father Mouchet, he says his desire to pursue Mouchet's mission and promote a healthy lifestyle 'has everything to do with my daughter.'
"She just really inspired me and made my life so much richer,' he said.
Bailie described how he used to take Stacity skiing when she was young, and she would often ask to bring some of her friends along.
'And suddenly there were 20 of them!" Bailie said.
Indigenous culture is an integral part of the Kwanlin Koyotes program. That starts at the club's front door, with a welcoming sign that depicts a bear walking in the forest.
'We are the traditional host of this area,' Bailie said. 'What that means for me is that we welcome people and we share with them. And I think that is a great part of the healing, that's a part of reconciliation.'
Bailie says everyone is encouraged to come and ski with the club. The program has even grown into a partnership with local schools, with students coming to use the trails during school hours.
Bailie says he started to buy more children's ski gear and then built the cabin that has become the ski club's den.
At first, he says, participants were meeting twice a week, after school, to ski around Kwanlin Dün territory.
Bailie says the kids got really into it, 'because it was a healthy thing,' and he just kept going.
'There's been like, hundreds of kids that have come to the program and it made a difference in a lot of people's lives,' he said.
The chief of Kwanlin Dün First Nation agrees. Uyenets'echᶖa (Sean) Smith doesn't shy away from praising Bailie and the Kwanlin Koyotes program.
'It's definitely one of the highlights during winter for a number of our younger kids … the work that Gary has done in our community over the years, to build up that program, has really shown a testament of his will and his determination,' Smith said.
"His whole work has led us to be very, very proud of Gary. He's an inspiration for us all as we grow older.'
images expandBailie says everyone is encouraged to come and ski with the Kwanlin Koyotes club. The program has even grown into a partnership with local schools.
Bailie says he uses every opportunity he gets to talk to young skiers about mental health and the importance of sport.
He says wellness became his personal mantra after Stacity died of an overdose in 2021, just weeks before her 28th birthday. Bailie is now raising Stacity's child, his grandchild, Essence.
'I've seen the good, the bad and the ugly throughout my life and I had to learn to live with the consequences of it. So I just feel it's my responsibility to talk about it and not hide away from it all, even if it's painful,' Bailie said.
It's important to Bailie to ensure that cross-country skiing is accessible to as many people as possible. The Kwanlin Koyotes club provides free access to its trails, as well as to any gear.
'I know a lot of people are struggling these days,' Bailie said. 'They can't afford food or gas, let alone buying sports equipment. So if it's all here, and there's no charge … I think it makes a difference for a lot of people," he said.
He adds that it's not enough for him to simply encourage others to pursue a health lifestyle — he also wants to 'walk the talk.' So when life gets hard, Bailie takes his skis out and hits the trails.
Joseph Graham, one of the program's coaches, says Kwanlin Koyotes is so much more than ski lessons.
'The beauty of the Koyotes is less about developing skills, but more about enjoying nature and being out on the land,' Graham said.
Graham adds that Bailie is an essential part of the magic that makes the program truly one of a kind. He says the founder's contagious positivity fosters trust and connection, making it easy to build relationships with young people.
'When you're around Gary, you feel like you are gold — because he makes everybody kind of light up,' Graham said. 'And he always has these words of wisdom and a great sense of humour.'
Graham, who's known Bailie for 20 years, says they often joke about how cross-country skiing is the best therapy.
'All the answers and all the solutions just come to us when we are out there,' Graham said.
From the ski trails to a festival stage
Bailie says some of his best ideas have taken shape on the ski trails, where each gliding stride clears the mind and makes way for inspiration to move as freely as his skis over the snow.
One of those ideas led to the creation of the annual Blue Feather Music Festival in Whitehorse, a mainstay of the territory's music scene since 2000. The event is dedicated to inspiring and supporting young people through music and the arts.
While the Kwanlin Koyotes program is part of Stacity's legacy, the Blue Feather festival was inspired by Bailie's late partner, Jolie Angelina McNabb who died in 1999.
After McNabb's death, Bailie travelled to her Cree community in Saskatchewan and learned her traditional name: Blue Feather Eagle Woman.
'She was such an awesome person, such a gentle, kind soul,' Bailie said.
The festival began as a one-time fundraiser, with the goal of raising enough money to build a youth centre. More than two decades later, it's still infused with McNabb's spirit as well as the passion and dedication of Bailie.
Bailie says the festival, which has a focus on Indigenous artists, is about bringing different generations of artists together. For some, it's their first chance to perform on stage, and for others it's an opportunity to offer mentorship.
'If we do make profit, we throw it back to our artists,' he said. 'We have a bursary that we give to young artists for recording music, or to go to music school.'
images expandThe Blue Feather music festival in Whitehorse has been a mainstay of the territory's music scene since 2000.
Winnipeg singer-songwriter Sierra Noble, who played at the festival last November and mentored a younger artist there, said Blue Feather is not a typical festival.
"It's funny because I don't think I can even put into words what it is, other than … it's Gary,' Noble said, laughing.
'When I first played at this festival, I was going through a really hard time in my life — and meeting Gary… He's just such a kind, supportive, and wise person. He just leads with love in every single thing he does. He's just such an inspiration to me.'
Yukoner William Pacaud, 15, also performed at the festival last November.
"I wouldn't be here if [Gary] wouldn't have encouraged me, if he hadn't helped me,' Pacaud said.
Bailie says his efforts with the cross-country ski club and the Blue Feather festival are his way of walking the good road — a path shaped by those he has lost and the lessons they left behind.
Through the rhythm of skis, and the power of music, Bailie honours their memory, and turns loss into purpose and struggle into inspiration.
'This is my home, this is where I was born and this is where I'll die. And this is where my ashes will go back to the land and I'll just become part of where I came from," Bailie said.
'In the meantime, I've got music festivals to do, and skis to wax, and trails to cut, and moose to hunt — and a granddaughter to raise.'
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