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Cyril Nordheimer Kenny "Nordie" Kirk was born September 16, 1911 in Toronto, Ontario. Having joined the RCMP in 1934, Nordie Kirk was Sub-Inspector (1943) and Inspector (1944) aboard the Hudson Bay Company supply ship the R.M.S. "Nascopie" on its annual resupply trips in the Eastern Arctic. Inspector Kirk's responsibilities included inspecting northern RCMP detachments and their personnel, and acting as Coroner in criminal investigations in the Eastern Arctic. Communities visited during these times included Churchill, Southampton Island, Chesterfield Inlet, Lake Harbour, Pangnirtung, Clyde River, Pond Inlet, Arctic Bay and Fort Ross.

In May 1945 Nordie married Leona Esima Marie Shank-Boileau (b. September 23, 1917, Cache Bay, ON) in Ottawa Ontario. In June 1945 they traveled the Mackenzie river aboard the S.S. Distributor to Aklavik, where Nordie Kirk became the Officer in Charge of the RCMP Sub-Division there from July 1945 to July 1948.

As Officer in Charge, OC Kirk carried out patrols in Aklavik, Arctic Red River (now Tsiigehtchic), Fort McPherson, Tuktoyaktuk, Herchel Island, and Old Crow. Many duties were performed on behalf of other federal government departments such as registrar of vital statistics, mining recorder, customs collector and distribution of government allowances. Besides conducting investigations and reports, detachment duties such as hauling ice for water, splitting wood for stoves, fishing for dog food, painting buildings, and maintaining boats and motors occupied Nordie's time. Leona, as the wife of an RCMP officer, met and entertained a wide variety of people from all walks of life. Visiting the Anglican Mission, Signals Corp. gatherings and parties at Peffer’s Store/Restaurant were social highlights in Aklavik.In July 1946, Leona's sister Cpl. (Canadian Women’s Army Corp.) Yvette Boileau (now Park) visited them for a month. In 1947 Leona was flown to Ottawa via Norman Wells, Edmonton, and Toronto for the birth of their child Brian in Ottawa, ON.

In July 1948 Nordie was posted to the RCMP Sub-Division in Dauphin, MB, and the family moved from Aklavik, ending their time in the North. C.N.K. "Nordie" Kirk continued a successful career in the RCMP, achieving the rank of Assistant Commissioner. He retired from the RCMP in 1969 with 35 years maximum service, and had a second career for ten years in the Federal civil service. He died on May 26, 1981 in Ottawa. Leona Kirk remained active in several service and recreation clubs in the Ottawa region, including the Ottawa Ladies Curling Club, the Eastern Ontario Ladies Curling Association, the RCMP Veterans Association and the Ottawa Hunt and Golf Club until her death in Ottawa on June 29, 2006.

Alfred Klaus worked for Con Mine in Yellowknife from July 1941-July 1942, then left to join the Armed Forces.

Robert (Bob) C. Knights was an officer in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Force. He was stationed at Inuvik (1956), Tsiigehtchic (Arctic Red River) (1956-1957), Sachs Harbour (1957-1959), Inuvik (1960-1962), Arviat (Eskimo Point) (1963), and Rankin Inlet, (1964).

"Knowing the Land" was a public forum on aboriginal environmental management held at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre on November 20, 1987. The forum was co-sponsored by the Dene Cultural Institute, Department of Renewable Resources, Northern Heritage Society, Northwest Territories Science Institute, Dene Nation, and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre.

John Armour Knox was born on April 13, 1885 in Ireland to John Leon Knox and Julia Knox (nee Ellis). He moved to the Northwest Territories and became a trapper in the Fort Resolution region in the 1920s and 1930s. In 1929, he was appointed Game Officer of Fort Smith. He died in December 1976.

Henry Martin (Hank) Koenen was born July 27, 1905 and grew up on a farm near Millet, Alberta (SE 14-48-24 W4). He was one of eight children (Agnes, Kate, Henry, Frances, John, Edward, William, and Charles) born to Herman and Anna Koenen. After leaving the farm, Hank owned a taxi business in Edmonton. He learned to fly in 1934 and obtained his Senior Commercial Pilot's Licence in 1935 and his "M" Engineer's Licence in 1936. At some point in the 1930s, Hank worked for Peace River Airways and for Canadian Pacific Airlines in Yellowknife during the early 1940s. During World War II, Hank trained pilots in Manitoba and ferried planes across the Atlantic Ocean from the Bahamas to North Africa, serving from 1940-1945 and attaining the rank of "Captain".

After the war, Hank returned to Yellowknife, operating his Koenen's Air Service Ltd. from about 1949 to 1975. As of 1949, he was employed as a spare pilot for Associated Airways Limited (operating Charter Airways Limited). 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.

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. Hank passed away December 19, 1985, at the age of 80. He had a wife and one daughter. In 2015, the City of Yellowknife named a park for Hank Koenen, on Wiley Road, near where Koenen Air Service had a float plane base.

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.

Tom Kovacs worked for Parks Canada from 1969 to 1997. In 1971 Kovacs work on a project in Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories resulted in the establishment of the Pingo National Landmark as part of the Inuvialuit Final Agreement in 1984. As project manager of North of 60 Task Force and the head for establishing and selecting new parks in the north, Kovacs worked on creating new park initiatives until 1985. In August 1973 he conducted a Parks Canada survey of the Mackenzie River to examine the river's possibility of playing a role in future Parks Canada programs. Kovacs began the Mackenzie River survey in Fort Simpson, NT. There, he visited prospector Albert Faille and photographed him in Faille's cabin. Kovac's account of his trip to Fort Simpson along with one of his photographs of Faille and a poem he had written of Faille was published in Conservation Canada, Vol 1., No. 2 issue in 1974.

Gus Kraus was born in Chicago, Illinois, USA on October 28, 1898. In 1916 at the age of 18 he left Chicago and headed north to Alberta with his brother Joe to homestead in the Peace River area. After about ten years Gus travelled further north to the Northwest Territories, where he prospected and trapped in the Nahanni region beginning around 1934.

Mary Kraus (nee Denya) was born in 1912 near Fort Liard. Orphaned at the age of two, she was raised by family for several years until she went to a convent [Fort Simpson or Fort Providence?] for six years. In her earlier years she primarily lived on the land with her family in the Nahanni region. She was fluent in English, French and South Slavey.

Mary and Gus met when a forest fire in the Nahanni region in the summer of 1942 destroyed much of Gus' belongings, while they were able to save Mary's goods on an island on the Liard River. They formed a partnership and were married, eventually adopting a son, Mickey. They resided at Gus' lease at the Liard Hot Springs (now named the Kraus Hot Springs) in winter, where they trapped, and Nahanni Butte where in the summers they cooked for oil exploration crews. Their hospitality was well-known, and they received many visitors, including Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. When the Nahanni National Park was created in 1971, the Krauses resettled at Little Doctor Lake, where they continued to receive many of the tourists and visitors who came to the region until they resettled closer to Nahanni Butte in 1989.

Gus Kraus died at the Fort Simpson hospital on December 1, 1992. Mary Kraus died in Fort Simpson in November 2007.

Alvin Jack La Flair was born in Ogdensberg, New York on June 14, 1891. He left home in 1906 and found work in Wyoming on sheep and cattle ranches. In 1910, after a trip south to the Panama Canal and back to Ogdensberg, he began to gather horses in Montana and in 1914, he drove his small herd of horses to Alberta and then continued to move North. In the Spring of 1915, Jack and a business partner named Maloote arrived at Fort Smith where they were warned by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to turn back as they had not brought the required year's worth of supplies. Disregarding this warning, LaFlair and his partner continued to paddle up the Liard River and spent that winter trapping and hunting on the South Nahanni. Maloote left the North in the Spring of 1916, however, Jack stayed in the area and eventually reported that he had stayed in the North to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. They allowed him to remain in Canada and La Flair became a licenced independent trader in the region. His original store was at the foot of the Splits; he later moved, building a trading post and house on the west side of the Liard just north of the mouth of the South Nahanni. Jack may have been the first trader at this location. To avoid confusion with the North Nahanni, he coined the area "Nahanni Butte". Jack La Flair remained in the area as a permanent resident, trapping and providing for the region as an independent trader until he suffered a heart attack and died while chopping wood on October 17, 1950 and was buried near his cabin. Jack was survived by his common-law wife, Emmerance Paquette and his son Alvin Paquette. His trading post was taken over by Gus Kraus, who ran it until May 1951. Emmerance left the area after Jack's death.

Father Felicien (Felix) Labat OMI was born May 25, 1928 to Angele (nee Kerautret) and Jean-Pierre Labat near Leon, in the Brittany region of France. He had one brother, Derrien, and three sisters: Catherine, two Marguerites and Louise. He came to the Northwest Territories in 1953, being posted to Deline in 1954-1961 and Tulita in 1961-1966. Other communities Father Labat was stationed at included Fort Smith, Norman Wells (as pastor), Fort Good Hope, and Hay River. His final position was as Chaplain at the Stanton Regional Hospital, Yellowknife. After 57 years as a missionary in the NWT, Father Labat retired to Foyer Lacombe in St. Albert, Alberta. He died April 12, 2018 at the age of 89.

Charles LaBine was born in 1888 at Westmeath, a small community in the Ottawa Valley near Pembroke, Ontario. Charles was the elder brother of Gilbert LaBine. After working for several years in the silver mines of northern Ontario, Charles and Gilbert LaBine began prospecting for themselves. They founded Eldorado Gold Mines Ltd. in the 1920s following the discovery of gold in Manitoba. Charles LaBine was responsible for managing the financial aspects of the mining operation. Though Eldorado Gold didn’t succeed as hoped, it provided the LaBine brothers with the finances needed mto conduct further prospecting activities.

Investigating the mining potential around Great Bear Lake that had been documented by James McIntosh Bell of the Geological Survey of Canada, the LaBine brothers began prospecting along the shores of Great Bear Lake. In the spring of 1930, Gilbert LaBine discovered a deposit of pitchblende, another name for uranium ore. The discovery was made on the shore of Echo Bay. The development of a viable mining operation faced significant financing and logistical challenges, as the mine was more than 2000 km from the nearest railway. Although Charles was not with Gilbert when the pitchblende was found, it was his job to follow up and solve the financing and logistical problems of moving equipment to the mine site and the ore south for processing. In order to finance the development, the LaBines mined the silver that lay in the same area of Great Bear Lake.

The operation began as a radium mine in 1932, extracting radium from pitchblende. Mined materials were shipped by barge and air plane to Fort McMurray, Alberta, then by train to a radium refinery in Port Hope, Ontario. The company secured a contract with the United States military early in 1942. The Eldorado Mine at Port Radium was transferred to the Canadian Government in 1944 and renamed Eldorado Mining and Refining Limited. Uranium ore from the mine was used in the atomic bomb developments of 1945.

In the 1950s, uranium was discovered along the shores of Lake Athabasca. There the Labine brothers founded Gunnar Mines, the first Canadian producer of uranium that returned a profit to its shareholders. Gilbert was president and Charles the vice-president of Gunnar. Charles retired from the management in 1955.
The contribution of the LaBine brothers to the advancement of medical science as a result of their work was recognized at home and abroad. The brothers received the Curie medal from the governing body of the International Union Against Cancer. The citation accompanying the medal to Charles LaBine said that the Pierre and Marie Curie medal, which had been struck in 1938 on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the discovery of radium, was conferred upon him “for the distinguished services that you have rendered to science and to humanity.” Charles LaBine died in 1969 at the age of 81.

The Lac La Martre Community Education Committee is a local, elected body in Wha Ti that determines school policies and directions in relation to the community on matters not directly affected by the Education Act. At the time of this project, the members of the committee were Menton Mantla (Chairman), Jimmy Rabesca, Johnny Nitsiza, Alphonse Simpson, Joe Zoe Fish, and Dora Mantla (Secretary/Treasurer).

The Lac La Martre Community Education Committee is a local, elected body in Wha Ti that determines school policies and directions in relation to the community on matters not directly affected by the Education Act. At the time of this project, the members of the committee were Menton Mantla (Chairman), Jimmy Rabesca, Johnny Nitsiza, Alphonse Simpson, Joe Zoe Fish, and Dora Mantla (Secretary/Treasurer).

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.

Knut H. Lang was born on July 21, 1895 in Silkeborg, Jutland, Denmark. He worked his way to Canada via land-clearing in England and as a farm labourer in New Zealand. In 1928, he came to the north by cutting timber for a ship's fuel as it travelled down the Mackenzie River. He eventually settled in Aklavik where he operated a small trading post and also worked as an independent trapper. He was elected to the Northwest Territories Council in August 1957 to represent the Mackenzie Delta and remained a member until the last session which closed in November 1963. He died on April 13, 1964 after a long illness.