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Authority record
Webster, Geddes
Person

Geddes Murray Webster moved to Yellowknife in 1946, where he began working as a mining consultant. In 1947, he was appointed as a Mining Recorder and then as an Assistant Mining Inspector for the Department of Northern Affairs and Natural Resources. During his employment with the Federal government, he was responsible for monitoring approximately 320 mining companies and syndicates that were actively engaged in exploration and development in the Northwest Territories. During his career, he was also a member of the Ontario Securities Commission and a partner of Wisener and Partners. Geddes later established his own company, Geddes Resources Limited, which was based in Toronto. Geddes' other interests included woodworking and writing. He published a book in 2007, entitled "The Prospectors' Pick: The People of the Yellowknife Gold Boom 1936-1951".

Geddes was married to Ruth and had three children. He passed away November 10, 2012, in his 95th year.

Watts, Milton
Person

Milton Watts worked for the federal Department of Transport from 1950 to 1987. His early career included postings in Smith River, BC; Cambridge Bay; Medicine Hat; and Edmonton. He was Officer in Charge of the aeradio station in Norman Wells from August 1958 to May 1959. In 1959 he was promoted to Regional Office Radio Technician, a job which included maintenance, installation, and construction of radio systems in a variety of locations, including a number of former Royal Canadian Corps of Signals stations which had been handed over to the Department of Transport. Later, Mr. Watts coordinated the installation of electronic systems in the new Calgary airport terminal, and eventually ended his career as the Regional Supervisor of Technical Administration and Construction.

Watt, Erik
Person · 1927-2003

Erik Watt was born in Edmonton, Alberta, on March 4, 1927. He first came to the Northwest Territories in 1943, when he traveled the Mackenzie River. He returned to the north in 1956 as a reporter for the Edmonton Journal. When he left the Edmonton Journal in 1959, he was hired by the Winnipeg Free Press and continued to work in the north as a northern reporter until 1962. During his years as a journalist in the north, he had the opportunity to visit many communities in the Northwest Territories and in northern Alberta, Manitoba, and Quebec. He made a photographic record of his travels through the north. His work as a journalist took him to small communities in the eastern arctic such as Cape Dorset, developing communities in the west such as Inuvik, and gave him access to Distant Early Warning (DEW) line sites across the north. Erik Watt moved to Yellowknife in 1976 and was the editor of the Yellowknifer (1976-1978), the regional manager and director for Indian and Northern Affairs Canada (1978-1983), and the founding editor of Up Here magazine (1984-1985). Between 1985 and 1998, he was self-employed as a public relations and media consultant with his company, Erik Watt and Associates. Erik Watt died November 10, 2003.

Vittrekwa, Enna
Person · January 22, 1950 -

Enna Rose Vittrekwa is a Gwich'in language expert. She was born to William and Mary Vittrekwa in Fort McPherson on January 22, 1950. Enna was employed as an interpreter-translator for the Government of the NWT, Department of Culture and Communications from 1982-1990. She provided translation and interpretation to the GNWT and the public, and worked on Dene language standardization. She has also worked for CKLB Radio in Yellowknife, the Gwich'in Language Centre in Fort McPherson, as well as a language instructor in high schools in Whitehorse.

Vaudrack, Paul
Person · 1890-1975

Paul Vaudrack, AKA Voudrach or Vaudrak, (1890-1975) was born Paul Voedjin Tchiatsell in March 1890 at Tsiigehtchic [Arctic Red River]. His father was Simon Voedzjin (1851-1895) and his mother was Noelia Thell’ya (1862-1901). Paul had three sisters and one brother.

At the time of his father’s death in 1895, Paul and his family lived with a group of people who lived on the land. Until his mother’s death six years later, the family travelled with this group of people between Dawson, Yukon and Arctic Red River, N.W.T. In 1903, Paul met the priest at Arctic Red River who recommended that Paul, his younger sister and brother go to the Mission in Fort Providence. At Fort Providence, Paul went to school and worked for the Mission for three years. He learned primarily French and later English at school. In 1906, Bishop Breynat asked Paul to move to Fort Resolution with him where Paul worked at the Mission sawmill for two years. Paul left Fort Resolution at age 18 to live on the land, and went back to the mountains to hunt for big game with a group of people.

Paul married Magdeleine Kotchile (? – 1932?) in Fort Good Hope. They had three children, one of whom died in infancy. Paul Vaudrack died at the Inuvik hospital on August 21, 1975.

Paul was a storyteller, recounting and recording many traditional Gwich’in, Slavey and Athapaskan stories. He recorded stories with researchers Hiroko Sue and Janice (Hurlbert) March in 1961, which were published by Ronald Cohen and Helgi Osterreich in 1967 in the National Museum of Canada’s Contributions to Ethnology V: Bulletin 204. As well, he recorded stories through the 1960s with Father Rene Fumoleau.

van't Hoff, Robert
Person

Robert van't Hoff was born on September 21, 1923 in Calgary, Alberta. He received his undergraduate degree in Education and a Masters degree in Education from the University of Alberta. He came north in August 1946 with the Royal Canadian Signals Corps where he worked as a Signalman with the Northwest Territories and Yukon Radio System. While in the north, he lived in the communities of Port Radium, Norman Wells and Yellowknife. He left the north in May 1948 and pursued careers as a civil servant, teacher, accountant, insurance agent and commissionaire. He retired in Edmonton where he lives with his wife of 46 years.

Usher, Peter
Person · 1941-

Peter Usher was born in Montreal on 18 December 1941. He studied geography and political science at McGill University, earning his B.A. in 1962 and his M.A. in 1965. He earned his Ph.D. in geography from the University of British Columbia in 1970.

Usher lived and worked in the Western Arctic between 1962 and 1976, where he was involved with community economic development, the Inuvialuit land claim, and the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry. He was a member of the Northern Science Research Group of the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in Ottawa from 1967 to 1973. Following that, he worked for the Committee for Original People’s Entitlement (COPE) for four years. He established P.J. Usher Consulting Services in 1977, an independent consultancy based in Ottawa with a broad client base.

From 1991 to 1997, he was Director of Research at Inuit Tapirisat of Canada [Inuit Tapiirit Kanatami] in Ottawa. In 1997, he was appointed a member of the Joint Environmental Assessment Panel to review the Voisey’s Bay Mine-Mill Project in Labrador, where he remained until 1999. He was then appointed by the Government of the Northwest Territories to chair the Wildlife Management Advisory Council from 1997 to 2000.

Dr. Usher is a leading authority on social impact assessment, renewable resource use and management, the economics of subsistence-based communities, and Indigenous land rights, and has provided expert research, advice, and testimony on these subjects. He has been a visiting professor at multiple Canadian universities.

Union of Northern Workers
Corporate body

With the adoption of Yellowknife as the capital for the Northwest Territories in 1967, a Territorial Civil Service was established. Commissioner Stuart Hodgson and Assistant Commissioner John Parker were responsible for settling labour disputes and addressing employee concerns. Due to their frequent trips to Ottawa, disputes were not settled in a timely manner. Consequently, a number of territorial civil servants decided to organize a union. Keith McGinnis and Harold Franklin, both of whom worked for Corrections, launched a campaign to have a northern union created. Between 1968 and 1969, they began the distribution of union cards to civil servants throughout the Northwest Territories. In 1969, the head of the Public Service Alliance of Canada met with Commissioner Stuart Hodgson to discuss the formation of a northern union. With the consent of Commissioner Hodgson, a founding convention was held in Yellowknife in 1970. At that time, an executive was appointed: Keith McGinnis became the first president, Harold Franklin the first Vice-President and Marge Porter was elected as the first Secretary-Treasurer. After the convention, amendments were made to the Public Service Ordinance. The ordinance empowered the Commissioner of the Northwest Territories to establish and regulate a bargaining association for territorial civil servants, to establish the Northwest Territories Public Service Association (NWTPSA) and to recognize the association as the only bargaining agent for territorial employees. In 1988, the name of the union was officially changed to the Union of Northern Workers.