The Dogrib Birchbark Canoe Project, begun in the spring of 1996, was a collaborative effort to build a birchbark canoe in the style of the traditional Tlicho (Dogrib) canoes. The Canoe Project was an extension of a larger effort to complete heritage resource inventories for two Tlicho traditional canoe routes. During the course of the trail inventories, the remains of 30 birchbark canoes were located and recorded, providing an indication of the important role the birchbark canoe played in traversing the Tlicho region. Stakeholders in the project included the Dogrib Treaty 11 Council, the Dogrib Divisional Board of Education, the elders of Gameti (Rae Lakes) and Behchoko (Rae), the Rae/Edzo Friendship Centre and the Archaeology Section of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre. The canoe's design was based on a similar birchbark canoe built by Chief Jimmy Bruneau in the late 1960's. All efforts were made to document the process involved, whether on video, audiocassette or on paper. The project involved six elders (Joe and Julie Mackenzie, Paul and Elizabeth Rabesca, Nick and Annie Black) from Behchoko (Rae). Six students from Chief Jimmy Bruneau School in Behchoko (Edzo) participated as well. Tom Andrews, Subarctic Archaeologist at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, coordinated the project from Yellowknife. Don Gardner, a professional canoe builder from Calgary assisted with the project. With the help of the "Canada-Northwest Territories Co-operation Agreement for Aboriginal and Official Languages Program" administered by Parks Canada, broadcast-quality videocassettes of the first feature-length birchbark canoe production were completed in early 1997.
Peter Lockhart Gordon and his brother, Hugh Donald Lockhart Gordon travelled down the Nahanni in the summer of 1961 by canoe. Hugh drowned while on the trip.
A.K. "Lex" Miller was born in northern Alberta and grew up in Edmonton. After graduating from high school, he joined the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), in order to earn money for university. He was hired by the Mackenzie River Transport Company, a division of the HBC, and worked as a checker and stenographer during the summers of 1940 to 1942. Following World War II, he returned to Edmonton to become a Chartered Accountant. Among his clients were the towns of Hay River and Fort Smith. In 1987, Miller was the spokesperson for the One Canada Party, a Conservative fringe group of the 1970s.
Otto Lahser was one of a party that traveled from Detroit Michigan to Athabasca (Alberta) and built the boat "Enterprise." From there, the group journeyed down the Athabasca and Slave Rivers to Great Slave Lake and then down the Mackenzie River to the Peel River. It was at the Peel River that the group sold the "Enterprise" and then split up. Some members attempted to travel south by dog sled while others crossed the Richardson Mountains to LaPerre's House and Fort Yukon.
John Davids was born in Stornoway, Saskatchewan on July 23 1915; he was the eldest of seven children. His father was employed by the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) as a maintenance man and tracklayer. Early in John's life, CPR transferred the Davids family to Hartney, Manitoba. In 1931, John developed an interest in constructing airplanes when he assisted Maurice Fry with the construction of Peintenpol CF-ARH. Later they constructed a Monocoupe. Although he enjoyed building airplanes and barnstorming, financial considerations required he take a job with Continental Auto Supply. During his employ with Continental he moved from Brandon to Regina and finally to Edmonton as Branch Manager. In World War II, he joined the Royal Canadian Air Force where he served as a staff pilot and later as a conversion instructor. Soon after the war, John Davids began flying with Associated Airways Ltd., which later became Pacific Western Airlines. While working with Associated Airways, he met and married Coral Enzenauer. He was eventually promoted to the position of Chief Pilot of PWA's Northern Division, VFR Department. With a keen interest in the history of aviation, he researched and taped interviews for the Canadian Bush Pilot Flying Story Project. He was Secretary-Treasurer for the Edmonton Quarter Century Aviation Club (EQCAC) for many years and later became the Club's President. An avid writer and photographer, he published the EQCAC Newsletter for many years and compiled a collection of over 20,000 photographs including 10,000 slides and a few hundred feet of movies.
Norman Lubbock (Robbie) Robinson was born on July 18, 1890 in County Wicklow Ireland. He spent over two years with the Northwest Mounted Police prior to World War I, and then five years in the army; first with the 19th Alberta Dragoons and then with the British Army in 1915. After returning to Edmonton in 1919, he worked as an Inspector with the Soldiers Settlement Board before traveling to the Northwest Territories where he spent five years working as a trapper, guide and purser aboard the steamer "Mackenzie River." In 1925, he returned to Edmonton with the intention to rejoin the Northwest Mounted Police, however, due to poor eyesight he was denied a position. He moved to British Columbia where he married in November 1928 and operated a timber business near Kamloops. During the Depression, he accepted a position as a Game Warden with the British Columbia Provincial Game Department. He held this position until 1938 and worked in Kamloops, Quesnel and Lillooet, British Columbia. In 1938, Robinson and his wife moved to Ireland for two years where he worked for the Turf Development Board on Clonsast Bog in Leix, Ireland. They returned to Canada in 1940. At the time of his May 1952 death in Calgary at age 61, he was an employment claims officer for the Unemployment Insurance Commission.
George Hunter was born in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1921. In 1937 at the age of 16, he bought his first camera to record his trip to London, England for the coronation of King George VI. He began selling his first photographs the next year. From 1945-1950 he worked for the National Film Board's Still Division. In 1950, he went into business for himself, buying a Piper Clipper airplane for aerial photographs. He promoted himself as a corporate, industrial and aerial photographer.
George Hunter's work in the north consisted of primarily mining industry photography during the 1950s. During this time he also gained an international reputation, carrying out assignments for Time, Fortune and National Geographic magazines. In 1977 he was one of the first photographers elected to the Royal Canadian Acadamy of Arts. His images have been used by companies around the world, as well as Canada Post for images on stamps, and the Bank of Canada, which used his images of salmon seiners on the $5 bill and oil refineries on the $10 bill for the 1972-1988 banknote series. His more recent work has focused on travel photography and fine art photography. In 2005 the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Center hosted an exhibit of his work entitled "Not only gold: 1950s mining in the NWT", by the NWT Mining Heritage Society, funded in part by the Department of Industry, Tourism and Investment.
George Hunter passed away in Mississauga, Ontario on April 10, 2013.
Alexander Philip (Pi) John Kennedy was born in Fort Smith on December 9, 1926, the first son of Philip Kennedy and Leoni Mercredi. In 1932 his mother died of tuberculosis at the age of 23. Pi went to residential school in Fort Resolution for two years, but his father took him out in 1934 to help trap. In 1936 his father built a cabin near Nataway Lake. Around that time, at the age of ten, Pi started driving a dog team, which would start a lifelong dedication to mushing. In 1944 Pi's father died of tuberculosis.
Throughout his life Pi generally trapped through the winter and spring on his trapline (sometimes partnering with someone else for the spring hunt) and got various seasonal summer work around Fort Smith. This included jobs such as crushing rock, digging and setting power poles, putting in the Fort Smith water system, working for Forestry, or in construction. In years where the trapping was good he did not need to take summer work.
Pi started taking photographs in earnest in the 1960s, and he also documented his life on Super8 film. Not only did he document aspects of life as a trapper and dog musher, but he also documented the community of Fort Smith, parades, fastball tournaments, special events and his extended family. His keen interest in radio, baseball, animals and dog mushing is documented as well. Pi notably trapped exclusively with a dog team until 1986. Even after buying a snow machine he continued to use dogs in the bush.
In 2010 at the age of 84, Pi suffered a stroke out on the trapline. After this, he moved himself and his dogs to Fort Smith permanently. Multiple books have been published about his life, including a series of children’s books in Cree published by the Northwest Territory Métis Nation in the 2000s, and a biography published with Patti-Kay Hamilton in 2023, launched on his 97th birthday.
The Department of Infrastructure was established April 1, 2017 with the amalgamation of the Department of Public Works and Services and the Department of Transportation. Infrastructure is responsible for strategic planning of public transportation infrastructure (including roads, bridges, ferries, and airports) and energy production and distribution systems; the disposal of surplus government property and goods; environmental impact assessment/regulatory review and approval; information management and technology; Marine Transportation Services; mechanical/electrical regulatory services; motor and vehicle services; planning, design, construction, acquisition, operation and maintenance of public buildings and transportation infrastructure and systems; energy conservation and efficiency programs; property management; and remediation of public infrastructure.
Nap Norbert was born in Tsiigehtchic (Arctic Red River) on January 29, 1917. His parents were Manual and Caroline Norbert. Nap had two sisters, Agnes and Mary Anne, and one brother Harry. Nap's mother, Caroline married Louis Cardinal after Manual Norbert died. Caroline and Louis had four children, Sonny, Billy, Alma and Rose Cardinal. Nap's stepfather, Louis Cardinal had six children with his first wife Catherine Firth: Agnes (Cardinal) Blake of Fort McPherson, Ethel Cardinal, Violet (Cardinal) Jerome of Inuvik, Rudolph, Alice Margaret and adopted son John. Nap attended school in Fort Providence for approximately five years, returning home to Tsiigehtchic in 1929. He married Mary Norman in 1940 and they had seven children: Henry, Caroline, Bertha, Agnes, Archie, Lucy and Annie Rose. After Mary Norbert died, Nap married Annie (Moses) Niditchie of Tsiigehtchic in 1952. Annie and Nap had three children: James, Lawrence and Dennis. Nap Norbert spent approximately 15 years working on boats operating on the Mackenzie River. During this period, he spent some time working on the "Pelican Rapids", a Hudson's Bay Company boat. During the winter, Nap earned a living as a hunter and trapper. Nap Norbert passed away in 200[3?].
Carlton R. Appleby was a deckhand on the riverboat the 'Beaver Lake' during the summer of 1946. He traveled along the Athabasca and Slave Rivers for the summer and then boarded the 'Dease Lake' on September 1, 1946 and traveled to Fort Rae. During his time in the north, he also worked on the Yellowknife Hotel. He now resides in California.
Construction of the Mackenzie Highway system began in 1946. Work on the highway from the Alberta boundary to Hay River was completed in 1948.
Henry "Hank" Koenen owned and operated Koenen's Air Service Ltd. from about 1949 to 1975. In 1960, there was a suggestion that he was considering selling Koenen's Air Service to Ken Stockall (one of his pilots), but the deal didn't go ahead. Another opportunity for sale arose in 1961, but again, the deal did not go ahead.
Koenen's Air Service provided charter services to places all over the Northwest Territories and a few outside, including Fort Simpson, Lac La Martre (Whati), Snowdrift (Lutselk'e), Fort Reliance, Fort Rae (Behchoko), Fort Norman (Tulita), Fort Good Hope, Fort Resolution , Trout Lake, Fort Providence, Thelon River, Rocher River, Fort Liard, Nahanni Butte, Fort Smith, Fort Franklin (Deline), Norman Wells, Jean Marie River, Pine Point, Coppermine (Kugluktuk), Athabasca, Lake Athabasca, Uranium City,and many small lakes, islands, and camps. Several planes were used by the business over the years, including CF-MFY Champion, CF-IYU Cessna, CF-HCQ Stinson, CF-HBL Cessna, and CF-EPP Cessna, among others. Several pilots, besides Hank Koenen, flew for Koenen's Air Service throughout its history, including: Bud Morceau, D. McKay, Keith Silvester, Ernie Boffa, Maurice Lynn, T. McCluny, Wolfgang Poepperl, Jim McAvoy, Ken Stockall, Kenneth Gordon Hornby, some of whom went on to found their own charter services.
Hank Koenen stops appearing the in Yellowknife telephone directory in 1963, although he reputedly remained in Yellowknife until the mid-1970s. Koenen's Air Service disappears from the directory in 1963, but reappears in 1964. Hank Koenen retired to Edmonton, selling Koenen's Air Service to Trevor Burroughs in the 1970s.
Trevor Burroughs appears to have operated Koenen's Air Service Limited in Yellowknife until about 1985, although it remained a federal corporation until 1995, when it was dissolved for non-compliance.
Curtis Leroy Merrill was born in St. Thomas, Ontario, on April 20, 1917. He graduated from the University of Western Ontario with a Bachelor of Arts in Geology, and was a pilot for the Royal Canadian Air Force during World War II. Merrill took part in two Canadian Expeditions to the Arctic Islands, and was a member of the 1949 Foxe Basin Expedition.
In 1952, Merrill began working for the Defense Research Board. In 1954, he was seconded to the Department of Northern Affairs and National Resources to head a survey team which was sent to the Mackenzie Delta to find a location suitable for a new town site to replace Aklavik. The survey crew commenced work in March 1954 and focused their efforts upon three possible locations, the Husky site located at Husky Channel, East 3 and East 4. East 3, which was renamed Inuvik in 1957, was eventually chosen as the location of the new town site. Merrill led the project until 1956 when he was appointed District Administrator of the Mackenzie District and was transferred to Fort Smith. Merrill was transferred to Ottawa in 1963.
Curtis married Mary and they had six children: David, Bill, Robert (Bob), Greg, and Janice. After being transferred to Ottawa, the family lived near Wakefield, Quebec, and then along the Gatineau River. Curtis Merrill retired from the federal government in the late 1970s. In the mid to late 1990s, Curtis and Mary moved to Deep River, Ontario. Curtis Merrill died on September 22, 2010.
Captain Lewis Royal Morton was born on January 18, 1883 in the County of Morton, Ontario. He joined the Northern Transportation Company (NTCL) in 1907. He served as port skipper for the NTCL and was skipper on the "Radium King," "Radium Queen" and for the Hudson's Bay Company boat the "Mackenzie River." His service with the Northern Transportation Company was broken only by a four-year service as a Lance Corporal in the Royal Engineers during World War I. Over the years he worked for the Hudson's Bay Company, Northern Transportation Company Ltd. and the McGinnis Fish Company. He assisted in the building of many barges and boats, such as the "Porphyry," "George Askew" and "The Great Bear." He also assisted in the designs for the "Radium Gilbert" and the "Yellowknife." He traveled virtually every mile of waterway in the northwest, from the lower Peace River to the Mackenzie Delta. Captain Morton died in Surrey, British Columbia in 1980.
John J Lengyel was born on September 13, 1911, in Naugatuck, Connecticut, to James Lengyel and Bertha Lengyel (nee Horvath). In 1913, the family moved to Lethbridge, Alberta. Lengyel had five sisters and six brothers: Bertha, Margaret, Anne (Annie), Katie, Helen, Jim, Joe, George, Bill, Chester, and Andrew (Andy).
In 1938, Lengyel moved to Edmonton, Alberta, and married Ellen Martin. They had two children: Joan (b. 1942) and J. George Lengyel (1943-1960).
Lengyel was a “Jack of all trades” and worked many different jobs over the years, including as a butcher, roofer, and siding installer.
In the mid- to late 1940s, Lengyel worked as a fisherman for the first commercial fishery on Great Slave Lake. During the same period, Lengyel and some friends, including his brother Chester, “wanted a challenge” and they built the tugboat ‘Thunder River’ in Edmonton, then travelled north on the boat. Lengyel worked on the boat transporting items salvaged from the Canol Project, likely in the summer of 1949.
In 1951, John J Lengyel and his family moved to Stavely, Alberta, and settled on a farm East of Stavely.
John J Lengyel died June 11, 1976.
John Phillip Matta was born in 1928 in Vancouver, British Columbia, the eldest of four children. His father worked in the mining industry and thus moved the family to mine sites in British Columbia and Quebec while John grew up. He graduated from high school in 1946, and worked in mines until 1953 when he chose to join the Royal Canadian Air Force. He spent 10 years in the RCAF as a photographer with photo intelligence. After leaving the Air Force he worked as a production manager for a photo finishing company until his retirement in 1991. He has lived in Calgary since 1954.
Francis (Frank) Leo Buckley was born on November 9, 1893 in Seattle, Washington. In the summer of 1938, Frank and his wife Viola, daughter Patricia (Patsy) and son Harold (Timmy) moved from Peace River, Alberta to Yellowknife. Mr. Buckley made the journey by transporting two scows loaded with gasoline belonging to Peace River Airways, traveling down Peace River and Slave River, and finally crossing Great Slave Lake. During this trip the scows also brought up a cow and two horses (Prince and Pal), the first horses to arrive in Yellowknife. Between 1938-1940, Mr. Buckley worked hauling wood on land and freighting lumber across Great Slave Lake from the saw mill near Hay River owned by M. MacDonald and Bobbie Porritt. In 1942, Mr. Buckley returned with his family to his wife's hometown of Wetaskiwin, Alberta. Mr. Buckley continued to do occasional freighting work in the north until 1950.