Pati Jinich Explores Panamericana

Bostin: From listener-supported KTOO, welcome to "Juneau Afternoon."

On today's show, a special chat with guest host Mexican chef Pati Jinich.

And right there is where I usually fade it down.

Pati: When you go down, I say hello?

Bostin: Yeah.

You can say whatever you want.

Pati: I love it.

I love it.

You don't know what you got into.

Bostin: Ha ha!

I don't.

[Laughter] Bostin: All right.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1.

Pati, voice-over: My life's work has been about forging bonds between my homeland of Mexico and my new home of the U.S. Now I'm embarking on a journey inspired by the Pan-American Highway, a network of roads connecting the Americas and a symbol of collaboration across countries.

Oh, my gosh!

Pati, voice-over: Join me as we share meals, make friends, and reimagine what it means to be American.

I'm Pati Jinich, and this is "PanAmericana."

Pati: I'm on a journey inspired by the Pan-American Highway, which aims to connect the people of North and South America.

Just as I began my travels in Alaska's Arctic far from any roads, I'm now starting the next leg in Juneau, Alaska's capital.

Deep in southern Alaska, it sits within a temperate rain forest and is also inaccessible by road.

During peak season, cruise ships increase Juneau's population by 50%, but Juneau's heart lives in its tightknit communities, like the generations of Filipinos, who first came for the fishing and mining industries and stayed to build a home.

Bostin: From listener-supported KTOO, broadcasting live from the homelands of the ak'w Kwan and on demand as a podcast.

On today's show, a special chat with KTOO's Tasha Elizarde and guests.

All that coming up today on "Juneau Afternoon."

Pati, voice-over: Bostin Christopher, host of KTOO's "Juneau Afternoon," invited me to guest host an episode spotlighting Juneau's vibrant Filipino community, the largest minority group in the city.

[Speaking Indigenous language] Thank you for joining the conversation.

Well, hello, Juneau!

This is Pati Jinich.

Oh, my gosh, radio is so much fun!

Yes, I agree, I agree.

Pati, voice-over: Melvin Cristobal is a local chef, Aims Villanueva is a former restaurateur, now holistic nutritionist, and Tasha Elizarde is a producer for KTOO.

I also run a media collective called Mana or Mana Alaska.

Uh, we are a group of Filipino storytellers that works to reclaim and share the stories of Filipinos around the state.

Pati, voice-over: Tasha's project is dedicated to preserving the past to inspire and empower future generations.

You've worked on this project collecting the oral history of Filipinos in Alaska.

Tasha: Mm-hmm.

Pati: What are you getting?

Tasha: We connect with so many community members around the state who have just not had their stories been told and not have had their stories been told by other people who are like them.

I can amplify our voices on not just a local scale, but even a national scale.

Pati, voice-over: Aims' family was recently featured.

Aims: My mom was, like, "I--My story's not important," and that part, like, killed a part of my soul because I was like, "Are you serious?

I'm part of your story," and so when they ended up filming, it was a whole different layer of just, like, healing generational trauma, ancestral trauma.

[Slide projector clicks] Pati, voice-over: In the early 1900s, Filipinos were drawn to Alaska by the booming canning and gold industries.

Pati: Can we talk a little bit about intergenerational trauma and what are the lessons learned, or where do you move forward with all of these collections of stories?

You know, like, there's so many layers between, you know, being Filipino, what generation, um, you've been when you come to Alaska, all these different things.

I think about how, you know, the Philippines has been through colonization, continues to deal with the legacy of colonization and imperialism.

Um, Alaska, the same situation, as well, and for me, like a lot of my identity as a Filipino, I was able to accept and learn because of the conversations that a lot of Indigenous friends would have around me about how do you come to terms with how people view you because of the legacy of colonization?

What I realize is there are so many challenges to just being able to tell the stories of Filipinos, um, because m-most of the time a lot of media institutions don't really care.

They don't want to cover us in the way that is true to us and true to our community.

I didn't really think anything different growing up.

I just knew I was Filipino.

I knew who everyone was.

like, when I go to the store, I say, "Hi, Auntie, hi, Uncle."

You know, it was very tightknit, but then when I go down south and I see other Filipinos or, like, other cultures, it's a little different for me because I was, like, "Oh, you guys--isn't that your aunt or something that you say hi in the store?"

And they're like, "Oh, no, I don't know them."

I was like, "Oh, this is totally different."

This is weird.

I was like, "They're not my aunts."

Because there's a certain culture in Juneau.

There's a certain culture in Alaska that sometimes I don't really feel like I fit, but when it comes to Filipinos, I'm like, yeah, everyone's accepted.

Melvin: There's a Filipino community hall here... [Playing on speaker] and then growing up, I would go there all-- like, for Filipino parties, holidays, and all that stuff, and then just building the community from the young age already.

I'm just like, "Oh, this is this is who I am."

Like, I remember talking to my cousin, too, in the Philippines that was like, "Cuz, you're Filipino," and I was like, "Cuz, I don't think I'm Filipino."

Aims: Oh!

Pati: What are you?

That was my next question.

Pati: What--what are you?

Melvin: Yeah, I was like-- I'm more like--I feel like I'm American Filipino because, like, what you guys are going through is totally different from, like, my regular day life, like.

But then--sorry to interrupt, but you said it's very different from the Filipinos in the Lower 48, so it sounds to me like you're Alaskan Filipino.

That's--see, that's another thing, too... Tasha: Ooh!

We coined a new term today.

because I would go down south, too, and I'd see other Filipinos like, "Oh, hey, Mabuhay!"

And they're like, "What the hell are you talking about?"

[Laughter] What is it about Filipino food in Alaska that is different from Filipino food anywhere else?

My mom would cook sinigang, which is a type of soup.

She always uses Alaska salmon, and that's something that you don't actually do in the Lower 48, but it's actually specifically Filipino Alaskan food.

Thank you so much for this conversation.

Aims: Thanks, Pati.

Melvin: Thank you, Pati.

I already feel very welcome, and I'm not Filipino or Alaskan.

You've been a baddie, though.

Yeah, you true, and we're gonna find some food, too.

Let's go eat.

Yes, yes, yes.

Pati, voice-over: The Filipino community hall downtown has been a living legacy for more than 50 years, where generations have come together to keep the culture thriving.

Melvin: I just remember, like, going in this hall, always, like, playing with my cousins.

You see everyone come in here, you greet every single person because that's your aunt, that's your uncle, that's your cousin, that's your grandma, that's your grandpa.

Pati: What are we eating?

Tasha: OK, yes.

So what have we got here first?

This might be chicken.

Pati, voice-over: Today's menu includes classic Filipino comfort food from Carrillo's, a street vendor right outside the building.

The cooks even use this hall to prepare the food.

They're also related to Melvin.

Pati: He says he's your nephew.

Man: Yes.

Melvin: Ha ha ha!

Does he behave?

Melvin: Ha ha ha!

Man: Do I have to say yes?

Pati: Oh, no.

[Laughter] Tasha: That was a long pause.

That was a very long pause.

Right now, he's behaving.

Pati: This is the papaitan?

Melvin: Yes, ma'am.

So tell me about the papaitan.

Um, it's a soup.

[Laughter] And this is the tripe and everything else?

Melvin: Mm-hmm.

Bile and all that.

The intestine.

I'm just gonna eat it with this.

Oh!

That is very...intense.

Intestine.

Ha ha ha!

Intense intestine.

Pati: And this?

Melvin: This is, um, the pig blood.

Just pig blood?

And then there's liver, too.

Pig blood, pig liver?

Melvin: Yes.

Tasha: Yeah.

You love it?

We grew up eating it.

Ha ha ha!

Please.

I'm used to this one.

See, I didn't know that was a Filipino thing.

Nah, bro.

Yeah.

I've never seen it.

Because I just--to me, it's just like, "Oh."

How do we feel?

Pati: Mmm!

Melvin: Yeah?

Right?

Tasha: OK. Pati: Mmm!

I'm kind of surprised, too.

What do you mean you're surprised?

Because I haven't had in a long time.

Pati: It's comforting.

Melvin: Yeah.

Tasha: Which one do you like better?

Which one do you like better?

Melvin: This one?

Yeah.

Tasha: OK. Can I just go with my hand or with a-- Honestly, You could just take it.

Pati: Oh, really?

Tasha: Yeah.

We eat like this, or we eat with our hands.

Tasha: We all--we got our own.

Pati: Mmm!

This is so good.

Melvin: Pati, you're always welcome here.

Melvin: Ha ha ha!

Pati: Aww.

[Barking] Pati, voice-over: Hidden in what looks like a typical American diner, some say is the best chicken adobo in the city.

Pati: Ooh!

Jennifer: Oh, my gosh.

Pati: This is spectacular.

Jennifer: Mm-hmm.

Pati, voice-over: In the early 1900s, Filipinos, dubbed Alaskeros, worked side by side with Alaska Natives in the salmon canneries, forging deep bonds through shared struggles.

Today, people like Jennifer Quinto, who have mixed Filipino and Indigenous roots, carry that legacy, weaving two histories into one complex story.

Jennifer: All of our family dinners almost always featured adobo.

I mean, it's just-- it's so embedded in our community and within families, too.

Pati, voice-over: Jennifer was born to an Alaska Native mother and then adopted by a mixed Filipino and white family, giving her a multi-layered view into Alaska's intricate history.

Jennifer: My father was born in the 1940s, and so just prior to that, my--my grandfather had immigrated into the country.

Pati: Mm-hmm.

And at the time, there was such intense segregation.

So it was the Alaska Natives and the Filipinos that were separated from the white community?

Yeah, and so the miscegenation laws illegalized interracial marriages with white people.

My father became a part of this first micro-generation of Tlingit Filipinos.

Pati, voice-over: As Filipinos endured systemic racism, Natives were being forcibly assimilated into white culture through a brutal system of boarding schools and a weaponized adoption process that would often take Native children from their parents without due process and place them in non-Native homes.

Native people were not even considered citizens, and they had enforced these laws that in order to be, uh, recognized as a U.S. citizen, you actually had to put in an effort to denounce your Native identity.

You talk a lot about the intergenerational trauma but also about the intergenerational knowledge.

Oh, yeah.

This is the part where I get emotional because it's like-- it touches into, like, so many different areas.

Um, so being that I was adopted, I didn't know who my birth family was for a very long time.

We only figured that out in the last few years.

During that time, I was raised as my adoptive family, so Tlingit, Filipino, Norwegian, German.

Does that feel very Juneau, Alaskan?

Jennifer: I--I feel... Like, what did you feel like growing up?

For a very long time, I felt like I was living a borrowed identity.

I--it felt like wearing somebody else's world and life.

I have to acknowledge that my adoption--ha ha--was even surrounded by its own layers of privilege.

There wasn't even a law in place to protect me and--and ensure that I was placed with a Native family, but because of the work that my--my mom was already engaged in and my father's position in the community, they had immediate access to people who could advocate for that.

For the children who weren't placed in homes with Native families, that was almost-- It was one of the hardest things to see.

They struggled so much with the guilt, with the shame.

They didn't know how to connect with their families.

They didn't know how to connect with their birth families, um, and there was a lot of anger that I felt coming from them.

Um, some of it was from... the anger of being left.

Some of it was from the anger of being with people that they felt didn't understand them.

I think the guilt and shame kind of, like, ate away at them, and so there is some of them I don't even know where they are to this day, and then others, um, I know did not live past their 20s, and I think it's just that whole fragility of--of not being able to be confident of "I know who I am."

And they're asphyxiated in a mold.

Jennifer: Yeah.

Pati: Where they don't belong.

Yeah.

So where do we go from here?

Where is Juneau?

Where is Alaska today?

There's--there's been so much time to learn about these things, um, and it's not just about acknowledging them.

It's about putting things into action.

As I tell my kids, they're Mexican, American, Jewish, this crazy world, they have so many sources to draw from, but you're responsible to each part of your identity, and it must weigh heavy on you at times... Jennifer: Yeah.

Pati: as it does on all, eh, but one way to heal may be to eat our foods.

Yeah.

Ha ha ha!

And pass on the recipes.

Yeah, yeah.

Pati, voice-over: So many of us seem to have this deep ache to understand better who we are, where we belong, and to pass on to the next generation a more sturdy sense of home.

The stories of Alaska's Indigenous and minority communities are etched into the land and painted on the walls.

In downtown Juneau, a-60 foot mural of Native rights champion Elizabeth Peratrovich greets visitors stepping off the cruise ships, a tribute by Tlingit and Filipino artist Crystal Worl.

Crystal: Elizabeth Peratrovich.

she's a Tlingit woman, and back in the 1940s, she helped pass the first anti-discrimination law in Alaska and one of the first in the United States, uh, so she really advocated for it and stood up for it in--in rooms full of powerful white older men, and she's this Indigenous woman that became this icon for our people.

I want to tell our story.

I want to see our people telling our story and doing our art and thriving.

Pati: And you're doing it.

Crystal: Yeah, yeah.

Pati: You're making it happen.

Pati, voice-over: Crystal and her brother Rico founded Trickster Company in 2012, a design studio where Native culture is reimagined through a modern lens with fine art, skateboards, and even airplanes.

Those basketballs are stunningly beautiful.

I'd be worried about giving it to any of my sons to dribble, but I know that you mean for art to be used.

Crystal: When you walk downtown Juneau, you'll see a lot of gift shops that are not Native-owned.

A lot of our designs were taken and then replicated overseas from Bali and China and then imported and sold here for, like, two bucks.

My brother Rico and I saw this as a challenge, especially as artists trying to make a living.

We wanted to be able to create innovative Indigenous graphic design that would be applied to anything and everything that could be used in the modern world.

It's a really sweet era to be Indigenous and be creative because not only can you make a living doing it, the world is embracing it for the first time.

Pati, voice-over: Crystal's younger brother Kyle is also fiercely championing his Indigenous heritage.

Kyle is a decorated Arctic athlete, carrying on an ancient Indigenous sport rooted in Alaska's hunting traditions.

With over 100 medals, a feature in "Men's Health," and competitions worldwide, he's taking these games global.

Pati: What does it take to get the Arctic sports in the Olympics?

It has to be done in 75 countries, on 4 continents, but we are played on 3 continents so far, so...

So you have 3 out of 4.

Yeah, 3 out of the 4 continents.

And how many countries out of the 75?

Ooh.

I don't know.

Maybe 5 or 6 countries.

Pati, voice-over: Arctic Sports are a collection of intense games like track and field, each linked to survival and hunting skills, testing agility, strength, and endurance.

Today, Kyle competes on a gym floor, but his ancestors were competing against the elements for survival.

Kyle: The bearded seal can be over 700 pounds, so that's what they were training for is to pull in that seal.

Ready, pull!

[Athletes grunting] Leif would be a person to bring with you seal hunting.

Pati: Bravo.

Ohh.

The games here are an example of a way to connect our urban youth to their culture.

Pati, voice-over: The sport is what helped Kyle reclaim his Native heritage as a teen.

I didn't have a lot of confidence.

I--I made the assumption that, um, I would be no good at them without even trying, but I'm really thankful I did because from the very first practice I attended, I fell in love with the sport.

I felt a sense of belonging that I never fe--felt anywhere else.

Pati, voice-over: Now he's coaching these kids to help them build pride in their identity.

Kyle: That makes a good seal.

Keep going, Nate.

Pati: That was crazy.

It's my favorite one.

Is it?

He's got much larger calluses than I do.

I'm trying to get to his level.

Kyle: I learned that actually it's pretty cool to be Alaska Native.

We have an amazing history.

We're a very innovative and adaptive people.

Uh, we have these really cool, unique games, and that made me want to learn more about my culture.

Kyle: Hup!

Go!

Pati: This looks like a crazy sport.

So many people have to do it!

Yeah, it's so much fun.

As you learn the sport, you learn about the people of the North.

Indigenous people exist.

We're here.

We have our own culture.

We have our own language.

And you can enrich the world.

Kyle: Yeah.

Pati, voice-over: For Kyle and Crystal, the best way to enrich the world is by sharing their craft and traditions with curious outsiders like me.

Crystal: These are herring.

Ohh!

Oh.

This is herring?

Yeah, so they're hand-painted acrylic sheet, and then I laser cut them with my design, and I hope that you enjoy wearing them and eating their eggs this evening.

What do you think?

Crystal: Very nice.

[Sizzling, clatter] Crystal: Put this seal oil in here for dipping.

[Indistinct chatter] Pati: You have to hurry up because Kyle is eating all my food.

[Sizzling] Crystal: So this is the seal meat.

Pati: OK.

Crystal: This is the dried salmon.

Pati: Mm-hmm.

Crystal: This is the herring eggs on the branch.

And this just on its own?

Kyle: Yeah.

You can eat it on your own, or you could dip it in, uh, seal oil.

Mmm.

Mmm!

I love this so much.

The texture is incredibly irresistible.

It's like slightly chewy, a little cushiony.

Crystal: We call these our Easter eggs because they lay their eggs during Eastertime.

Mm-hmm.

Mm-hmm.

And then we go we lay out branches for them to lay their eggs on.

It's a time to come together with family and clan members and feed each other and eat herring eggs with each other, and then everyone's sitting at the table, crunching and munching.

[Crunching] Crystal: Ha ha ha!

Pati: Ha ha ha!

Kyle: Imagine a whole room of a hundred people eating this.

Crystal: Yeah.

Pati: Ha ha ha!

That's what we do at our, like, gatherings.

Pati: Crunching.

Ha ha ha!

Some people are just laughing all the time.

Crystal: Mm-hmm.

Kyle: Yeah.

I haven't tried the seal meat either.

Mmm.

I think it's similar to deer because it's very gamey... Pati: Mm-hmm.

but it's very like... tastes like the ocean.

Pati, voice-over: Crystal's strength and creativity shine through her art, and when tradition calls, she's just as ready to trade her brush for a rifle.

Uh, I'll show you the seal hide.

Yeah!

It's just hanging right here.

Pati: Yeah.

Is this the one you hunted?

Mm-hmm.

This is my first one.

So tell me about the experience.

The week before I went out, I had a dream.

I was hunting it, and it came up to me, and its head popped out, and I looked at it, and I couldn't-- I couldn't shoot it because it looked like a little puppy dog, and then I woke up worried that I wouldn't be able to hunt seal, but when I went out there with my uncle, I was able to do it because I reminded myself that this is for my family, this is for feeding our community, and I will ensure that none of it is wasted.

Pati, voice-over: While many Alaskans trace their roots back thousands of years, others are newcomers or seasonal residents like my pilot for today's flight over the breathtaking 1,500 square miles of Juneau's ice fields.

This is glacier country.

Pati, on radio: It feels absolutely magical already.

We haven't even taken off.

Jon: Heh heh.

You just wait.

Ha ha ha!

Pati, voice-over: Pilot Jon Herek, my captain for today's short voyage to the Taku River, is a veteran with 25 years of experience.

Jon, I cannot believe what I'm seeing.

I feel like I'm in Narnia right now.

Jon: Heh heh heh.

Pati: Ha ha ha!

Jon: You really feel, like, the lifeblood of what helps make Alaska move.

You know, I've flown out medical supplies to places that that otherwise wouldn't have gotten them for--for weeks.

Pati, voice-over: The season lasts just the summer, and then Jon touches down back home to reunite with his wife.

It's been really tough because she stays back in Michigan, and, uh--and I stay here.

It's a--it's a difficult transition from when I know that it's the last time that I'm gonna fly that plane for the summer.

Pati: OK. That was the smoothest landing ever.

Jon: Heh heh heh.

Pati: Ha ha ha!

Pati, voice-over: We're just 30 miles from Juneau but truly in the heart of Alaska's wilderness.

Surrounded by national forest, the Taku Glacier Lodge sits right here on the banks of the Taku River.

In the early 1920s, it was a hunting and fishing lodge but is now visited by people from all over the world and owned by Mike Ward and his family.

Mike: This is it.

Pati: Oh, wow!

This is, uh, fresh Taku River coho.

Um, yeah.

It, uh-- this was caught yesterday.

Pati, voice-over: In 1993, Mike's dad sold the plane company we used to get here and purchased the lodge.

Mike was only 6.

Imagine having this as your playground.

but the idyllic isolation comes with its own considerations.

Pati: Is there any sense of feeling vulnerable?

Like, if there's bad weather, you may not get the customers.

If there's bad weather, you may not get the milk.

Mike: Yeah.

Yeah, 100%.

A big part of, uh, being in Alaska is being as prepared as you possibly can, being careful, knowing your limits when you're not in reach of any type of help.

It's rowdy out here in the wintertime.

You are--it is desolate.

Ha ha ha!

You are--And it is cold.

If you make a mistake, you fall through the ice or something and it's 10 below and it's blowing 50 degrees, you have a few minutes to get yourself together and find some heat before you're not around anymore.

You just have to be aware of that all the time, and, um, I think it's something that you just get, like, you know, used to.

[Kids giggling] Mike: People are like, "Oh, my God!

"You let your kids play outside, and there's bears around?"

I was like... 3 or 4 guests who were here, like, "Who's watching this child?"

And they start wondering, like, what's going on?

And all of a sudden people are babysitting our kids and we're, like, "He's fine.

"He's in his front yard.

It's all right," you know?

So I think that there are so few places like this left in the world that, uh, are, like, truly, like, unbelievable, you know, and my intention is to keep it that way.

Pati, voice-over: But looking out at the glacier in front of us, it's clear nothing ever truly stays the same.

It seems you have a front-row seat to climate change.

Mike: Yeah.

Pati: What does that look like?

I mean, the glaciers are-- they're absolutely shrinking.

You can tell by looking at them that there is no longer glacier where it has pulled away, um, from--from the mountainside there.

You know, the trees have yet to grow back in.

Over the life of the lodge, this glacier has shown up and now is going to go away.

Pati: Oh, wow.

Mike: And there used to be an--an unbelievably stunning waterfall right in the middle of that valley that I think we're probably gonna see again Mike: in another 30 years.

Pati: Oh, wow!

Pati: So what's the food that you guys make here?

Mike: Um, so yeah, we, um, you know, everything that we do is, like, fresh baked from scratch absolutely no exceptions.

Always, always, We get the best salmon that we can.

I'd say 70 or 80% of the time we're able to get our fish right out of the river here.

We barbecue that on locally harvested alder wood outside, put a little baste on there, some brown sugar, butter, white wine and lemon juice.

Sold.

Woman: So you want some lodge food?

Pati, voice-over: Joining us for lunch are Mike's wife Jessalyn, his mom Michelle Ward, and Holly Johnson, who manages the airline that brought me here.

Pati: Mmm!

Michelle: The, uh, coleslaw was my dad's recipe.

He was a cook all over Alaska.

Pati: OK, so you grew up with a dad for a cook?

Pati: Your husband was a pilot.

Michelle: Mm-hmm.

And you also work with planes?

I was a flight attendant for 47 years.

Holly: And my husband, he grew up flying this river with his dad.

It's just generations of--of flying.

It's just such a part of what we do.

So tell me, how was that growing up with parents that were such entrepreneurs and hard workers and in the airline system?

Mike: Yeah, I--I think for me, you know, I--I made a decision that I wanted to be at the lodge in, like--as my first job, like, as soon as I could, like, legally work here.

I was, like, "I want to be the dishwasher.

"I want to be the dishwasher.

"I don't want to be the kid that, like, "has to do trail walks on the side, but I want an actual role at the lodge," you know.

Sometimes it's not always easy, but when it's good, it's good.

Jessalyn: We were out here in February.

Mike: Yeah, we've been stuck out here.

And we had the two older ones, our third wasn't born yet, but we were stuck here for 5 days, and we had to make diapers, an-- The last two days, we were using paper towels and duct tape for diapers, you know.

[Laughter] Pati: My question is, how did you call your wife to come here?

Because you're from Fairbanks, right?

Jessalyn: I am, yes.

Pati: Yeah.

Jessalyn: We had sled dogs growing up.

Um, my dad was a musher, and so I was kind of used to this lifestyle, I guess, in a--in a way, and I was--just had a big sense of I wanted to go adventure.

Pati, voice-over: Mike and his family are part of a long line of adventurous caretakers, but only one is now in Alaska's Women's Hall of Fame-- Mary Joyce.

In the winter of 1935, more than 20 years before Alaska became a state, Mary embarked on a 1,000-mile dogsled trek from Juneau to Fairbanks to promote Alaska as a tourist destination, and her bravery captivated the nation.

I'm no Mary Joyce, but I'm channeling her adventurous spirit as I trek a few hours north across the U.S.-Canada border to Juneau's sister city and the wild capital of the Yukon Territory in Canada, Whitehorse.

I'm very familiar with the long, bustling U.S.-Mexico border, where one crossing means an instant shift in sights, sounds, and smells.

Teeming with millions of people crossing each year, it's the busiest and one of the most patrolled borders in the world, and though the official languages of each country, English and Spanish, are radically different and clash, they also mesh into a unique Spanglish universe... but on this side of Canada, near one of the two U.S.-Canada borders, where English is the primary of the country's two official languages, English and French, the transition feels almost seamless, leaving just one vast, wild landscape stretching between both countries.

Whereas the U.S.-Mexico border seems to have an almost daily appearance in the U.S. news cycles, this remote, mostly silent, and largely undefended U.S.-Canadian border rarely grabs a headline, yet in my mind, this adds a layer of mystery and arouses my curiosity.

To help introduce Whitehorse, I've called in the Fiddleheads, a talented group of young musicians keeping the city's rich fiddling traditions alive.

This is a tune called "Mountain Canary," and it was played in the gold rush by a guy called 3-tune Eddie Draper because he only ever played 3 tunes.

1, 2, 3, 4.

Pati, voice-over: Nearly 90% of Canada is wilderness, and the Yukon feels like a lot of it.

Whitehorse is a tiny urban hub cradled by 186,000 square miles of mountains and boreal forests, a land of gold rush lore and modern artistry, where resilience shapes life, the girls' hockey teams of Juneau and Whitehorse battle on the ice regularly, and since summer feels like winter, flannel is always in fashion.

[Song ends] [Cheering and applause] Pati, voice-over: Visiting a local market is such a fun and revealing way to get to know a new city.

Yeah, you never see it.

You never see it.

Pati, voice-over: Miche Genest is an author and chef known for cooking with wild foods.

She's picking up a few ingredients for dinner.

Miche: You never get it this fresh.

Miche: Thank you so much, Sarah.

Sarah: Thank you, Miche.

Sarah: Good to see you.

Miche: Take care.

Sarah: You, too.

Miche: OK. Pati, voice-over: The Fireweed market is the go-to spot for Yukon-grown root vegetables that thrive in the cold and often grow extra large thanks to the long summer sunlight.

Pati: Tell me about the community market.

It's local farmers and food trucks.

Pati, voice-over: Potatoes are one crop that do well in Whitehorse's unforgiving climate, and that's why Carl Burgess got into the chip business.

Woman: Can I get you some chips?

Yes, yes, yes.

Carl: They're all 100% Yukon potatoes and 100% extra virgin Yukon canola oil.

Pati: Mmm!

Mm-hmm!

So are potatoes one of the main crops in the Yukon, you would say?

it's one of the ones that are reliably the most successful, and because it requires minimal processing.

You put them in a bag and take them to the store.

So what brings people to Yukon and to Whitehorse?

What do you think?

Yukon's about the same size as Spain, and there's 45,000 people that live here.

Mm-hmm.

So you like space for yourself?

Yeah, I like being in the backcountry... Pati: Yeah.

Carl: but it's also, you know, everything calms down a little bit, smiles get a little bigger.

Pati: Aw!

People talk a little longer, and at -40, people thin out, and you can sit by the wood stove and enjoy the winter.

Carl: Ha ha ha!

Beautiful.

Carl: Or enjoy the heat somewhere else.

Pati: Just now I'm noticing the river is so beautiful.

The river's right there.

Yeah.

Pati, voice-over: The Yukon River cuts through downtown, shaping Whitehorse history, powering the gold rush, and connecting remote communities.

Pati: What brought you to Whitehorse and the Yukon?

I came for, um, a summer to visit my sister.

I was in between things in my life in Toronto, and I fell in love with the river and the mountains and the people, and I decided not to leave.

One of the first things that I noticed when I got here was the community of women who were really self-reliant, and many of them were living in the bush, and, um, built their own places, built their own cabins, and this was back in in the nineties.

That self-reliant spirit is really kind of demonstrated now in-- in women who are starting their own businesses.

Pati, voice-over: One of those women is a friend of Miche, Roxy, who runs a wilderness lodge not far from here.

Best of all, the drive takes me along one of the most stunning portions of the Pan-American Highway... Whoa!

Pati, voice-over: the legendary Alaska Highway.

Built in 1942 by over 10,000 U.S. soldiers, including many Black troops serving in segregated regiments, this 1,300-mile wartime lifeline connected Alaska to the Lower 48 in just 8 months, carving through raw, perilous wilderness.

In Whitehorse, old army barracks have been repurposed into housing... and in Haines Junction, one of the most iconic relics, a military Quonset hut, now serves as a church.

What began as a wartime necessity has transformed into a gateway for adventure, especially with Roxy.

nestled next to Kluane National Park, near the tallest peak in Canada, Mount Logan, Roxy's lodge is like heaven if your goal is to not be reachable.

Pati: Crazy, crazy, crazy.

Pati, voice-over: Her biggest joy is leading mountaineering expeditions.

Roxy: OK. Do you need my hand?

Pati: All the time.

Ha ha ha!

Roxy: Ha ha ha!

Pati, voice-over: But today, we're on an expedition to help Miche find the last of her ingredients for tonight's meal, juniper and cranberries.

Pati: Are these the-- the juniper berry bushes?

Pati: These ones?

Miche: Uh, yes.

Pati: So they're just all over the place.

Pati, voice-over: Miche's husband Hector and their dog Skilo are joining, as well.

Pati: Oh, look!

Miche: What did you see?

Pati: I mean, they're beautiful.

Miche: Yeah, yeah.

Good work.

Pati: Should I pick them?

Miche: Yeah.

Pati: What brought you to the Yukon?

Roxy: I used to own a--a sled dog tour company in southern British Columbia.

Ah.

And where we lived, there was lots of snow.

Uh-huh.

It was not a good place for dog sledding, and my dream at the time was to climb Mount Logan.

Uh-huh.

And I said to my husband at the time, "Why don't we go to the Yukon?"

Pati: Uh-huh.

And so we packed up the 50 dogs and the kid, the 4 year-old-kid, and moved to the Yukon and a--and a cabin.

Roxy: When I arrived here... Pati: Uh-huh.

I felt I was home.

Pati: You like a little bit of beauty.

Just--just--just a little bit.

Some then.

Pati: So you moved here from Toronto.

Miche: I moved here from Toronto.

Yeah.

Pati: What were you looking for, and what did you find?

Miche: I was looking really for a place to belong.

That's what I was looking for.

Pati: Aw.

Miche: And fell in love with it and decided not to go home.

So I got a job in a restaurant, met beautiful women who taught me how to do this.

Pati: Mm-hmm.

They taught me how to forage.

They just taught me to be comfortable in the wilderness, and it was great, and then we all cooked together.

They were so generous.

You think it's that possibility of something new that drives people to come to Yukon?

Yeah.

Something that they haven't done before.

[Pati laughing] Pati, voice-over: Foraging is a lot of work, but it's all gonna pay off in Roxy's kitchen, where I get to taste the magic of the Yukon, crafted by the skilled hands of two women who truly know how to work the land.

On the menu, local cheeses paired with chutney made using our freshly picked cranberries, smoked salmon, oatcakes, and a sage aioli finished with wild juniper.

Just take a big chunk of salmon.

Pati: OK. Miche: There you go.

Smoked salmon from the Taku River.

Ah!

That's where we were!

You were on the-- Oh, of course you were.

Oh, so this is salmon from the river.

Miche: From the Taku River Tlingit First Nation.

Pati: Uh-huh.

Miche: They're actually a--a BC First Nation, but they ship a lot of their sockeye to Whitehorse.

So in Juneau and in Whitehorse, we're eating the same salmon.

In Juneau, we're eating the same salmon.

Yeah.

So the sister cities share... Miche: Yes.

Pati: these bites.

Cheers to the sister cities.

Mmm.

Pati: Mmm.

Miche: Pretty good, eh?

Mmm!

Mm-hmm.

Pati: Mmm!

Miche: Mmm!

Pati: Ha ha ha!

Pati, voice-over: Miche's salmon sets a high bar, but back in Whitehorse Klondike Rib and Salmon is a worthy contender.

The restaurant is an institution here.

[Indistinct chatter] Tucked in a building from 1902, the oldest in town, they've been serving ribs and salmon since the nineties with a side of Yukon nostalgia.

[Sizzling] Gina: Wow!

Pati: Oh, my gosh!

Thank you.

Pati, voice-over: Gina Nagano is a serial entrepreneur dedicated to healing generational trauma through business.

I am a Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation.

I am from Dawson City and born and raised in Dawson City, and my mother's 100% First Nation.

She's from, um, the Han people, and Han means people of the river, and on my dad's side, he's Japanese.

Pati: Oh, Wow!

Gina: So-- which is interesting that we're actually doing this is because my grandfather, um, ran a caf called G.N.

Caf for George Nagano Caf, so he--they always provided for the community around food.

Pati: We're gonna to share, OK?

Gina: OK. Because I want to try that, too.

Gina: Yeah.

Pati: You want to try this, too?

Is that salmon?

This is salmon.

I think this is the house special, which is, like, salmon and ribs.

Pati, voice-over: Business wasn't her first career.

She was inspired to change paths after 21 years with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, where she witnessed a daily compounded effects of colonization on First Nations people.

Gina: I--I look back, and I go, "I did it."

You know what I did?

I did a great job of putting more of our people into the jail systems, into the justice systems, and, you know, it's like this--this--this isn't very proactive.

It's enforcement.

People look at it from a lens of what's wrong with the community?

Exactly.

You nailed it.

"What's wrong with those people?

"Can't they get a job, you know, "Can't they keep a job?

You know, can't you do some education?

"Can't they get it together after we've made them "move a thousand times, and we've took "their children and put them-- "separated them from their families?

Like, why are these people drinking alcohol?"

Exactly.

Do you feel that there are certain challenges today, um, with the North American First Nations communities or Indigenous communities to regain some of what historically has been broken?

Absolutely.

I think you just touched the heart--ha ha ha-- of everything that I do.

It's like a continuous tear of the fabric of the community.

I've seen the colonial impact that has happened to our Indigenous people here in Canada.

You know, when growing up, um, First Nations myself, I didn't know a lot of what happened to our--our own people through all the historical impacts and--and then-- and Canadian policy.

You were working within a system that now you see was disconnected from your roots?

Absolutely.

Yeah.

It was disconnected from the roots, disconnected from, I think, you know, the-- the real heart and soul of the work I really wanted to do in our communities.

Pati, voice-over: So she ditched the badge but not the mission by starting a nonprofit program that trains tribe members to patrol the community and handle safety concerns using the tribe's traditional ways.

Here I come this way.

We've got our eyes open all the time between the two of us.

Gina: We had two matriarchal sisters that applied, and they're 60-plus... Pati: Uh-huh.

Gina: and they wanted to apply because they cared for their community.

They both got in, and they became not--you know, named by their community the Deadly Aunties.

[Heavy metal music playing] Gina: And it wasn't in a bad way.

It was a--it was a good way because as matriarchal-- we're from a society that's very matriarchal, and you got matriarchal aunties that come in because colonization brought patriarchal.

Pati: Right.

Gina: Right?

So now we--we're getting our matriarchal side back, and what the Aunties have is their traditional knowledge, their traditional ways.

They got the [speaks Indigenous language] That is their traditional justice system.

So give me an example for what a Deadly Auntie would do.

So say, the Deadly Aunties would go out and patrol.

Margaret: Just try to observe, uh, anything out of--out of the ordinary.

Gina: And they would patrol around the community, and if there's kids that are out late at night and they go, "OK," you know, Johnny or Sally, "it's time for you to go home because Grandma "knows you're supposed to be there.

You know, you've got 10 minutes to get home, right?"

And of course, the kids are going, "Oh, my God.

"They're my aunties.

I got to get home."

You know, they know what's going on in their community all the time.

Pati, voice-over: The results speak for themselves.

Gina: So we drop the number of calls... Pati: Less than half.

Gina: by 40% or more.

Wow!

So what it told me was that what we're dealing with isn't a police matter so as to say, right?

They're social matters.

If I embed safety to this community, the community heals as a whole, and they're now coming over to become... Pati: To topple that-- Gina: Indigenous economic sovereignty that's sustainable.

I'm helping you bring these two together here.

Gina: Yeah.

Pati: So like... Yeah.

So that shift happens here, in the healing begins, and they become the wealthiest community, and that's what I work towards, and that's the bigger picture.

Everything you're doing is aspirational.

Pati, voice-over: Gina's work honors ancient roots as a path to healing, while Anick Fernandez explores the concept of roots in her art as a way to build connections.

Like me, Anick hails from Mexico City, but her roots now span continents, settling in the Yukon two years ago to embrace a simpler life.

Anick: When you have lived in very populated cities... Mm-hmm.

and you find this silence, this solitude, not loneliness, but solitude, and you like that, this is the place to be.

And you lived in Mexico City Pati: and Madrid... Anick: Mexico City and Madrid.

which is, like, insanely busy and loud and hectic.

Pati: I know you do a lot of work that has to do with roots, right?

Yes, that's my actual subject.

Pati: Is it roots of people?

Is it roots of nature?

Is it... Anick: It's more like a parallel between vegetation roots and human roots.

They hold together forests and families, so no matter where you are in the world, roots will connect.

Pati, voice-over: Anick works in mixed media, blending natural materials and prints into layered pieces that tell stories of migration, connection, and resilience.

Anick: You know, I feel like I have been taking small pieces, colors of the people I meet in different places, different cultures, and somehow at some point, they become part of you.

So when people ask me, "Anick where are you from?"

I always say, "I was born in Mexico, but I am from everywhere."

Pati, voice-over: Now I can see the beauty of having roots in multiple places, but moving to the U.S. gave me a deeper respect for what it truly takes to make a home in a new land.

Pati: I mean, I've always felt very rooted to Mexico, but I felt the painful uprooting of being nostalgic and missing my country, and by that time, my mom realized that maybe her little daughter wouldn't come back-- because I'm the youngest of 4-- and she called me, and she said, "Pati, if you end up not coming back to Mexico, you know what you will have become," and she said, "You will become an expatriada.

"Like, you will have no roots.

Your roots will be just floating around."

After all these years, you know, I've realized that there is no contradiction in having roots in different places.

Exactly.

And I think you-- when you realize that about yourself, you're much more understanding about others.

Whether you like it or not, you are linked to people everywhere, not just your family.

I think if they were more conscious about this fact that we are all connected... Pati: Mm-hmm.

Anick: humanity would change maybe a little bit.

Yes.

There'd be more understanding, Pati: or people would be... Anick: Absolutely.

Pati: kinder.

Anick: Yes, yeah.

Pati, voice-over: Anick's art invites quiet reflection.

Luann Baker-Johnson's art demands participation.

Pati: Luann, this is the very first time that I'm in a glassblowing studio, and it's the very first time that I'm gonna try my hand at it, so I'm super excited.

Pati, voice-over: In 2015, Luann and her husband Mel built Lumel Studios on the banks of the Yukon River.

Now, with the opening of their daughter's restaurant, Gather, in the same building, it's truly a full family business.

We made glasses for--for Gather Caf.

I think it helps complete it if you're drinking out of something beautiful and your food itself is art.

Pati, voice-over: Gather's most popular dish is a fish taco filled with Arctic char, a fish that thrives in the freshwaters of the subarctic Yukon, a mix between salmon and trout.

OK, I'm gonna take a bite.

I'm, like, dying right now.

Mmm.

This is incredible.

The fish is so light.

It's got that meaty, delicious, buttery flavor that a salmon does.

Mmm!

Pati, voice-over: OK. Now I can concentrate on my vase... or is it "vahs"?

It could be a vase.

It could be a "vahs."

You don't know how it's gonna end.

I love accents.

I'll take a "vahs" or a vase.

Wow!

Look!

That is so stunning!

Luann: Yeah.

And pull back.

Take this and dip it in that water bucket.

Pat: Oh, my God!

Luann: Ha ha!

Pati, voice-over: What began as a personal project for Luann has grown into a vibrant cornerstone of the Whitehorse community.

You're helping me so much, and I'm so grateful.

No.

I'm talking you through it.

No, I love it.

I love it!

I love it!

It's very much a place for the people of Whitehorse, and they've embraced it, and it would never survive like this without the goodwill of everybody because they see it as theirs.

You know, it's really a gift to the community.

Pati, voice-over: Hilary Crawford moved from Australia and helps with Lumel's community programming.

Luann's true talent is creating a world where anyone, first timers... Luann: you're cradling it as if it's a newborn chickadee.

Oh, wow.

So roll, roll, roll, roll, roll.

Pati, voice-over: or seasoned masters can not only learn the craft but also feel the transformative power of glass.

She's something of a community lighthouse, keeping the doors open to anyone in need of a safe space.

Pati, behind you is a very important man.

Stewart, are you sticking around?

Hola, Stewart!

Pati, voice-over: 6 years ago, she was on her way to the studio on a frigid night when she spotted Stewart on the road in need of warmth.

She brought him inside, furnaces blazing, and they've been friends ever since.

Stewart: When I met Luann, she picked me up in wintertime, and she just gave me some hearts, and I said, "What are these for?"

"I don't know.

Just make people happy."

Pati, voice-over: Now she keeps a jar of glass hearts ready for him whenever he's inspired to share some joy.

Stewart: Pick a color?

Man: Oh, sweet!

Yes.

Of course.

Uh...thank you.

Stewart: You're very welcome.

Luann: People do contact us after.

They will say, "I thought he was going to ask for money, "and he gave me a heart instead, and it was at a moment when I really needed this heart."

Woman: Thank you.

Stewart: Take care.

Stewart has this-- this sense about him, and he will look for people that he feels need the heart.

It makes me feel happy because it makes them happy.

Stewart: Ha ha ha!

Pati, voice-over: The studio has become a sanctuary for every phase of life from moments of joy to deep grief, especially for Luann herself.

Pati: When you're at this moment, what are you feeling?

Yeah.

Totally focused.

Pati, uh, our story is that I became a glassblower when one of my kids died from leukemia.

A year after her death, I went to art school, but glass was my focus, and so this takes me away from everything, and these moments with you are purely joyous, and that's why we teach, and that's why I'm a glassblower.

Thank you.

Thank you for letting me be in here.

Hugging over 2,100 degrees.

I know.

This is very intense.

Luann: It become the in-between space for families that have lost a 21-year-old, families that have lost a 97-year-old, families whose dog just died.

It's OK to cry and cry and cry, and then something happens, and you're laughing the next moment.

Pati: Luann, Why did you decide to do glassblowing?

Was there something more powerful?

Well, you experienced it.

Like, there's a struggle on the bench.

It is 2,100 degrees.

You're feeling that heat.

You're trying to convince it to follow your will, and that struggle-- I really, really needed that struggle as a grieving mom, and together that was stepping towards into healing.

And out of that process, you're coming out with something truly beautiful.

Yeah.

Pati, voice-over: beautiful and unbreakable.

Watch this.

Ready?

[Bang bang] Pati: Whoa!

Luann: So also know-- That is insane!

How are they so resilient?

Glass is so much stronger than you think.

Pati, voice-over: As I traveled from Juneau to Whitehorse, sister cities sitting across a vast international border in this remote area of the wild Northwest, both Alaskans and Yukoners shared with me their deep struggles, their resilient spirits, and their incredibly generous hearts.

In a land where survival has always depended on community, I found that the toughest places often shaped the kindest people.

Next time on "Pati Jinich Explores PanAmericana," I head to Alberta, Canada... Oh my gosh, this is so much fun!

Pati, voice-over: where Old West traditions collide with vibrant immigrant cultures.

From ranch life with a Hollywood legend... Now I want to go act in a Western.

Pati, voice-over: to a butter chicken odyssey... Mmm.

Mm-hmm!

That's real butter chicken.

Pati, voice-over: and the warrior women reclaiming their heritage.

[Singing in Indigenous language] Pati, voice-over: It's time to grab our boots and hit the trail.