In 1922, the Royal Commission on Reindeer and Musk-ox recommended the establishment of experimental reindeer herds in selected regions in Canada's north. Following the submission of this report, the federal government made arrangements to purchase a herd of reindeer from Alaska and on March 6, 1935, control of the herd was transferred to the Canadian government. In 1932, the federal government established an Inter-departmental Committee on Reindeer Policy to assist in the administration of reindeer herding activities. In 1933, this committee was renamed the Inter-departmental Reindeer Committee. The Committee consisted of representatives from a number of federal agencies, including the Northwest Territories Council, the National Museum, the Dominion Lands Administration, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), the Department of Indian Affairs, the National Parks Branch and the Department of Agriculture as well as various expert guests.

Dr. Norman Simmons was born in 1934 in the present Republic of the Philippines. He lived there until World War II, when he, his mother and brother moved to California. His father spent the war years in Japanese internment camps in the Philippines. The family reunited in the Philippines after the war, and Norman continued his schooling there until graduation from high school in 1952. He obtained his Bachelor of Arts degree in Business Administration in California. After graduation in 1956, he served in the U. S. Army Ordinance Corps in the Republic of Korea. He spent much of his time there touring the country with the Army’s blessing shooting Korean archery in local, regional, and national competitions. In 1958, he returned to California and married Hilah Lende, whom he had met two years earlier. He then obtained his MSc degree in wildlife biology at Colorado State University. In 1961, he began working for the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service as manager of the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge in southwestern Arizona. There he conducted his PhD field research on desert bighorn sheep with the University of Arizona. He obtained his Doctorate in 1969. By then, he and his family, increased by children Deborah and David, were living in Fort Smith, Northwest Territories. He had responded to an advertisement in a professional journal offering travel and wilderness adventure. He worked for the Canadian Wildlife Service in the Mackenzie Mountains, conducting research on Dall’s sheep and woodland caribou with Mountain Dene people, and designing a sport hunting management program for these species for the Northwest Territories (NWT) Wildlife Service. He also advised the NWT Wildlife Service on management of muskoxen on Banks Island. In 1975, he and his family moved to Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, where he accepted the position of Director of the NWT Wildlife Service. The Canadian Permanent Committee on Geographical Names often used Simmons as a contact to determine local place names in the Mackenzie Mountains. In 1982, Simmons, then Assistant Deputy Minister of the NWT Department of Renewable Resources, left with his family, now increased by two more children, Daniel and Sarah, to move to a ranch he had purchased in 1975 west of Pincher Creek, southwest Alberta. Simmons raised internationally-certified organic beef cattle as a founding member of Producers of the Diamond Willow Range. He was also a founding member of the Alberta Land Trust Society and the Waterton Biosphere Reserve. As a volunteer he worked with indigenous peoples in Bolivia, Taiwan, Tibet and Panama. He brought his family to Peru for two years, establishing a research program at the University of La Molina. He returned to Peru regularly every year to continue his work with conservation education for about 25 years. Norm Simmons passed away May 24, 2016.

John W. Goodall, born September 1890 in England, immigrated to Fort Simpson in 1927. He worked in agriculture raising potatoes and livestock commercially and fulfilled the role of postmaster for the community until 1954, when he became an elected member of the NWT Council for Fort Simpson until 1967. During this time, Goodall played a pivotal role in the activities of the council, including the construction of the residentail school and hostel in Fort Simpson. After retiring from politics in 1967, he was awarded a Medal of Service from the Order of Canada. He continued to play an active role in Fort Simpson, sitting on the Fort Simpson Local Advisory Committee until his death on September 12, 1971.

Echo Lidster was born in 1916 in Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1942, she graduated from the University of British Columbia with a B.A. in Agriculture. From 1942 until 1957, she worked for the federal Department of Agriculture in British Columbia. In 1957, she attended Cornell University and obtained an M.A. in Community Education and Sociology. She was awarded a Ph.D. in Adult Education in 1963. In August 1967, the Federal Government, with funding from Canada Mortgage and Housing (CMHC), appointed Miss Lidster as their Housing Education Officer for the Western Arctic. Her duties entailed locating and training indigenous northerners to deliver federally designed programmes to people in the communities. These programmes related to the building of southern-style housing in the north, the upkeep and maintenance of the housing and domestic programmes designed to improve health and personal hygiene. From 1967 until 1970, Miss Lidster lived in Hay River. In 1970, she was promoted and given responsibility for delivering the Housing Education Programme throughout the Northwest Territories. In 1971, the grant from CMHC ran out; Miss Lidster was appointed Supervisor of Adult Education Programmes in the Northwest Territories and was given the responsibility for developing Adult Education Programmes in the north. Her duties entailed establishing community colleges, developing adult literacy programmes and hiring instructors to teach in the communities. She wrote a number of reports on adult education in the north and published a report "Some Aspects of Community Adult Education 1967-1985." In 1975, Miss Lidster left the north for an extended vacation. In 1976, she returned to Hay River where she worked as an Adult Educator until 1980. While living in Hay River, she was very active in community activities and helped establish the first community radio station there. In 1980, she moved to Whitehorse, Yukon Territory where she worked as an Adult Educator until 1981, at which point she retired and moved to Vancouver.