Volunteering Opportunity is Available Now!

Want to volunteer or be Employed at the Arctic Chalet?  We are currently looking for some help in April,  May and June.    Let us know if you would like to volunteer in exchange for housing and groceries and some northern experiences.

We have positions available for healthy, PHYSICALLY FIT workers who are interested in tourism and who are passionate about dogs; people who would enjoy living and working with us in the Arctic for short or long term.  We can give you an extraordinary experience in an isolated Arctic setting!

VOLUNTEER/EMPLOYMENT

Benefits
To live and work in the Arctic is a wonderful adventure and for many has been an experience of a lifetime.  Staff will have the chance to attend cultural community events and participate in some of our adventure tours and may  also have the opportunity to  travel to other Arctic communities via the famous ice roads or by air in the summer.  Staff can enjoy campfires together, canoeing, skiing and skijoring and hiking right from the property.  We live in a land where nature is King. 

Our employees/volunteers will have the opportunity to learn some skills that are unique to cold northern climates such as learning to drive snowmobiles, to walk on snowshoes and to drive ATV 4-wheelers in summer with huskies pulling them.  They also get lots of experience driving dog teams in winter.  As owners of the business we also try to include our staff in some of our own family activities and adventures.  We enjoy having pot luck meals together and campfire outings, hiking and other activities.  

The Dogs & Kennel Work
Our White Huskies are a unique white, blue-eyed Arctic husky breed bred from the Alaskan Malamute and Siberian Husky strain and are beautiful, intelligent, strong and have wonderful, loving dispositions. There are 26 adults and one is pregnant!  So we are looking forward to a new litter of pups in early May.   These dogs are very well socialized and interact beautifully with people.   Staff will also help raise and take care of our puppies.  The experience to be gained here working  with our huskies is amazing!   

Our dogs live in a new kennel complex that makes working there very efficient.  Staff share the responsibility of taking care of our own huskies and visiting dogs on a daily basis.   We also take on boarding dogs for people in the community.  Kennel duties include feeding, watering, cleaning pens and shoveling snow.  Staff will help with exercising and training the dogs individually and in teams.  We try to run our dogs on a daily basis with one or two rest days in between. Our staff help prepare guests for their tour and provide support during the tours.  

Non-dog related work is required for all, including volunteers, for up to  4 hours a day.  Employees are committed to a  longer time period than our short-term  Volunteers which stay 6-12 weeks only, and will carry more responsibility.

Room and Board, Salary & WIFI
We will provide free housing to our volunteers, usually in a private room with heat and electricity but no running water.  Rent will be deducted from employee wages.     With accommodations you get towels, bedding & all utilities included. Volunteers are allowed to choose their own groceries at the store.  Groceries will be charged on the company account.   All staff cook for themselves in a shared kitchen stocked with dishes and cookware.  The food allowance that is included for short-term volunteers without salary is $100 per week.   Employees pay for their own food from their salaries.   Although isolated from town & off the grid, our staff  have access to electricity and high-speed wireless internet and a free laundry facility.  Here we truck in our own water and pay to have the sewage trucked out, so we will expect you to conserve water as much as possible.   

Requirements

First and foremost, you must be able to relate well to animals, dogs in particular, and you must be passionate about wanting to work with our huskies.  Secondly, because we live in a natural environment close to nature and mostly serve a conservative clientele, we will be choosing  staff who love the out-of-doors and have a neat, healthy, natural-looking physical appearance.  Employees should practice good hygiene and be clean, neat and tidy, non-smoking, non-drinking (yes, no alcohol use at all) and be drug-free (this includes the use of Cannabis).  Men will keep their hair and beards short and neatly trimmed, and men and women should not sport nose rings or have other obvious body piercings.  So sorry, to those who may  feel offended by this policy.  We are ultra conservative in this area.  A staff contract/agreement that covers these principles must be signed before starting work. 

Our volunteers should be mature,  ambitious and teachable, good team players, have a friendly personality and radiate  a positive attitude.  Flexibility with work and schedules is a must.  We run a split schedule between yard work, cleaning guest rooms, doing other misc. jobs and working at the dog kennels.  Volunteers do not come here just to play and work with the dogs although that is the most fun part.  Be prepared to do some serious cleaning and other work as well. You will meet and serve many wonderful people from all over the world.

Although our property is only a couple of kilometers from the town of Inuvik, our staff will not spend their free time in town.  Our property is where you live, work and relax.  We have complementary canoes, a lake right behind the cabins and the river close by  as well as nice walking trails.  You can go fishing right here in the evenings or on your day off regular work.  (If you want to socialize and make friends in town, get a job in town instead!)  The advantages of living and working at the Arctic Chalet far outweigh the disadvantages of living in town away from this beautiful property.  If you want to come here to experience  adventure and life  in the Arctic surrounded by many beautiful white huskies and the beauties of nature, then this is where you will  be happy.

So...If you are a hard worker and don't mind doing a variety of menial tasks and if you can relate well to animals, dogs in particular, this northern experience  and work opportunity may be perfect for you.  You will for sure  be rewarded for your efforts!

Transportation:  You will get the best prices with Air North out of Whitehorse Yukon, Edmonton Alberta or Vancouver British Columbia and some other places they fly to.  Air North bases out of the Yukon in Whitehorse so you will most likely overnight there on your way north.  Go to their web site:  www.flyairnorth.com.  You can ask us about travel benefits.

APPLICATION:
Please email us some recent photos of yourself along with a resume and a letter of introduction telling about yourself and what practical skills and experience you may also have.

Sample of Work Schedules
Volunteers’ Daily Schedule (Sunday through Friday)
Saturday is a day off except for feeding dogs at noon.

Summer Schedule       
8 am      Quick scoop of the pens & prepare  the dogs for morning exercise
8:30 am     Run the dogs  hitched to  the Four Wheeler ATVs 

9:30 am     HAVE A GOOD BREAKFAST!
10:30 am      Report to the office for our staff meeting 

11 am      Misc. yard work or housekeeping and other cleaning duties etc.
3 pm         Lunch (about 1 hour)  Depends on work projects
4 pm         Finish work projects followed by work at the kennels and feeding the dogs their dinner.

Winter Schedule
8 am    Be at the kennels to clean and give dogs their morning soup and  shovel snow  where needed.

GET A GOOD  BREAKFAST after kennel work and snow shoveling.
10:30 am  Staff meeting and get started with work projects for the day
3 pm     LUNCH
4 pm     Kennel work & feeding

*Dog sled tours are booked on demand, usually at 11 am , 1 pm or occasionally at 4 pm

*Staff dog sledding runs for fun may be scheduled sometimes for 4pm followed by a later feeding.

Note:  These times are a guideline and may vary a little from day to day .  Some days there is less work and some days there could be more.  Please be prepared to be flexibe.