The Contributions Of Yukon Francophone Women: With Angélique Bernard
2025 marks the 30th anniversary of Les Essentielles. For this occasion, short biographies of Yukon francophone women will be presented throughout the year in the pages of our paper. Thank you to l’Association franco-yukonnaise, l’émission Rencontres, and l’Aurore boréale for their collaboration in this project.
Sylvie Binette
Sylvie Binette was born in 1960 in Les Cèdres, in Quebec.
She has been attracted to the North since childhood. She visited the Canadian Pavilion at Expo 67 and was captivated by a film about the Arctic. She knew that she would one day visit this remote area.
She arrived in the Yukon in August 1985 to work as a French monitor, and then filled various jobs: head cook and maintenance manager in a North Canol Road lodge, contract worker for a needs analysis on Yukon francophone women, supervisor of the implementation and management of the French section at Mac’s Fireweed Books, guide interpreter at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre, supervisor of family programs at the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, and manager of the George Johnston Museum in Teslin.
She launched Binette Cultural Solutions in 2010, and Heavenly Wild in 2022.
Sylvie loves going on ski excursions, and she was a volunteer ski patroller at Mount Sima and Mount McIntyre in the 1990s.
She participated in several art exhibitions and was a member of many francophone and anglophone boards of directors.
Sylvie received the Exceptional Commitment Award from the Association franco-yukonnaise in 2022; the Alma Castonguay Award for a remarkable woman, at the 2011 Gala de la francophonie; and the Binet-Dugas Award for excellence in services in French, at the 2004 Gala de la francophonie.
In the Yukon, Sylvie was able to explore new passions and discover new skills such as creativity, endurance and resilience.
Ketsia Houde-McLennan
Ketsia Houde-McLennan was born in 1982 in Chicoutimi, in Quebec, and grew up in Montreal.
She arrived in the Yukon in the summer of 2004, to learn English. She returned for a year in 2005 and came back for good in 2007. She worked at the immigration department of the Association franco-yukonnaise (AFY). This position profoundly impacted her, and what she learned from immigrants still influences her work to this day. She always tried to bring this perspective to the projects she carried out.
From 2009 to 2014, Ketsia worked at her dream job: executive director of Les Essentielles, the Yukon francophone women’s group. Imagine being paid to be a feminist activist! Some of the projects she led were exhibitions of women artists, a play on the reality of a bilingual couple, campaigns on consent and violence prevention, and lobbying for services in French. This was a varied and interesting position.
Her career path then led her to Kaushee’s Place, the Yukon Women’s Transition Home; and Victim Services at the Yukon government. She met mentors that taught her everything she needed to know about gender-based violence. Since April 2025, she has been the director of the Women and Gender Equity Directorate at the Yukon government.
Ketsia took part in theatre projects with Les Essentielles and the Théâtre Art’lequin.
In the Yukon, Ketsia found a land of opportunities where she lived intense professional and personal experiences, supported by people that trusted her and gave her a chance.
Juliette Anglehart Zedda
Juliette Anglehart Zedda was born in 1974 in Québec City.
Very young, she seized the opportunity to go backpacking (Spain, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus, Israel, Egypt, Nepal, India and Indonesia). She says that travelling really opened her mind.
She visited the Yukon in 1992. The mother of her then boyfriend lived in the territory. The young couple came to visit her for a summer. Juliette came back to live in the Yukon in 2003.
She launched her business, Grace Space, in 2015, and offers psychosomatic services as well as counselling, yoga and mindfulness classes.
Juliette was the first employee of the Yukon Mental Health Association. She undertook the necessary steps to reshape the group into the Yukon Division of the Canadian Mental Health Association.
Juliette has always considered Les Essentielles as a unifying group of Yukon francophone women. It was one of the first reasons she loved the Yukon when she first came. Women are well-organized, strong, determined and pull together in a remarkable way. She was president of Les Essentielles from 2012 to 2014, as women’s issues have always been important to her and the group organized nice projects and events.
The Anglehart Zedda family loves to travel between Vancouver, Haines and Italy, and they spend several winter months in Nicaragua in a house that they own. Juliette loves to travel, and she met someone who loves to travel more than she does!
The Yukon has provided Juliette with great friendships, strong connections with First Nations and a deep love of luminosity.
Johanne Maisonneuve
Johanne Maisonneuve was born in 1957, in Montreal, and grew up in Chambly, Quebec.
She arrived in the Yukon in 1975. At 17 years of age, she had already travelled to four of the seven continents. She chose the territory for its unspoiled nature and other cultures. She arrived in Carmacks in 1977, to be a waitress.
In 1984, Johanne opened the Yukon College Campus in Carmacks and worked there for three years. She also launched the Carmacks Alternative Program. In 1990, she opened a shelter for women fleeing violence. She also worked for the Yukon government’s Wildland Fire Management.
In 2011, she moved to Whitehorse. At 53 years of age, she started a new career as a visitor service attendant in Kluane National Park and Reserve in Haines Junction and, in winter, worked at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve. She took a well-deserved retirement in the fall of 2023.
Johanne discovered a new passion for natural fibres. She became a member of the Whitehorse Northern Fibres Guild. She made her own wool with fleece from local sheep and learned to felt. She also creates willow baskets and latticework.
In 1998, Johanne became the first recipient of a prestigious award, bestowed by Concordia University and the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, acknowledging exceptional community involvement.
Johanne does not regret choosing the Yukon and listening to her gypsy heart. She worked in various fields and appreciated the simplicity of life. She is grateful for all that the Yukon has offered her.
