Yukon who is who

Robbie Benoit (d. 2007)

Robbie Benoit was born in Quebec and moved to the Yukon as a young man. He worked as a miner for many years until he fell down a mine shaft near the Katza River. He left the Yukon and took up dog breeding and showing. He released a CD of original verse called Tall Yukon Tales in 2004. In 2005, Benoit was diagnosed with gall bladder cancer and it spread to his brain. The cancer went into remission and in December 2005 he recorded a program called To Hell with Cancer with other Whitehorse performers. It was broadcast on the CBC program Sounds Like Canada. In 2007 his cancer returned and was pronounced terminal. He recorded To Hell With Cancer Part Deux in Whitehorse before he died.¹⁾ Benoit was poet laureate for a Whitehorse Peter Gzowski Invitational Golf Tournament. His second CD was a non-profit project with the proceeds going back into the community.²⁾