Father Jean-Marie Mouchet

Hall of Fame

A French Oblate Priest who was part of the resistance and fought Nazis on a pair of skis, Father Jean-Marie Mouchet carved another unique path in the Yukon.

Father Mouchet emigrated from France to Canada after the war. He first settled in Telegraph Creek, BC and then he was sent to Old Crow in an attempt to convert the Gwich’in people to a Western concept of religion and God in 1955. Finding the Anglican Church was already trying to do that, he turned his attention to another form of conversion and taught the people of Old Crow how to ski.

He took heavy wooden skis donated by the U.S. military and formed the Territorial Experimental Ski Training program (TEST) in the sixties. Within a decade the Canadian National Ski Team was filled with athletes Father had nurtured in the Yukon and Inuvik.

The TEST program aimed to develop character in young children through cross-country skiing. By combining a strong work ethic with knowing how to be healthy and live well, Father Mouchet was convinced his ski students would be successful for the rest of their lives. Some of his TEST athletes went on to compete in Canadian Championships, World Ski Championships and the Olympics  — including the 1972 Sapporo, Japan Olympics and the 1976 Innsbruck, Austria Olympics.

Father Mouchet inspired First Nations people to reconnect with the power of their bodies and reawaken their link to the land. Rather than preaching to them, he taught them to ski. The history of cross-country skiing in the Yukon owes much to the vision, strength, character and wisdom of Father Mouchet. The annual Father Mouchet Memorial Loppet in Old Crow is just one example of how his legacy continues to live and breathe on ski trails around the world.