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Wilfrid 'Wop' Reid May (1896-1952) was born at Carberry, Manitoba, March 20, 1896. He was the son of Alexander E. May of Wellington County, Ontario and Elizabeth Reid of Teswater, Ontario. He was educated in public schools in Edmonton and attended Western Canada College in Calgary and Alberta College in Edmonton. He was married in November 1924 to Violet A. Bode and they had one son, Denny.

'Wop' May learned to fly in the Royal Flying Corps during World War I. He gained notoreity because he was the unintentional decoy in the last flight of Baron von Richtofen, famed World War I flying ace. May, on his first R.F.C. combat flight was being chased by the "Red Baron" when Captain Roy Brown noticed the action. Richtofen was brought down by Captain Brown and died in that 1918 crash. Throughout his career with the R.F.C, May brought down 13 enemy planes. After returning to Canada, he organized Edmonton's first airline, May Airplanes Ltd. He travelled extensively in the Northwest Territories and is remembered as a famous bush pilot involved with many mercy flights, including a flight into a small community near Fort Vermillion in 1928 to deliver diptheria serum. He made the first ever scheduled mail flight from Edmonton to Aklavik and in 1932, he flew the plane that guided Royal Canadian Mounted Police Officers in their chase of Albert Johnson, known as the "Mad Trapper of Rat River." He was awarded the McKee Trophy for his contributions to aviation and he was also awarded the O.B.E. (Order of the British Empire). In 1936, he was given an executive post by Canadian Airlines Ltd., which was later absorbed by Canadian Pacific Airlines. He filled various posts in Edmonton and eventually transferred to Calgary. In 1943, he organized a first-aid parachute crew, a plan he had been considering for years while becoming convinced that pilots who crashed in remote areas might survive if given treatment early enough.

'Wop' May died in January 1952 of a heart attack he suffered while climbing a trail to the Tinapanogos Cave National Monument in Provo, Utah.

The photographs were taken by Vincent McCaffrey. Originally from Cobalt, Ontario, Mr. McCaffrey lived in the Yellowknife region from 1955-1969 and was employed as a foreman at Discovery Mine. He was also active in local politics and a member of the NWT Liberal Party.

F.A. (Frank) McCall was born in Edmonton, Alberta on June 7, 1920. He attended public school in Edmonton and high school at Alberta College, where his father was principal. McCall began working at the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company Ltd. (Con Mine) in Yellowknife between 1940-41, before enlisting in the military in 1941. In 1945, Frank McCall married Grace Howells in Banff, Alberta, upon his return from service with the RCAF in Britain. The couple had one daughter, Keltie, and two sons, Laurents and Owen. Returning to the North to work for the Federal Government, McCall held the position of game warden for Fort Chipewyan, Alberta and Wood Buffalo National Park. Frank McCall became Chief Game Warden at Aklavik (1948-1952), Chief Warden and Administrator at Fort Smith (1953-1957), Regional Administrator (including Mining Recorder and Land Agent) at Yellowknife (1957-1961), and Mining Recorder and Land Agent at Whitehorse (1961-1965). In 1966, Frank McCall took a position with the Federal Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in Ottawa. The McCall family then returned to Yellowknife in 1967, where Frank McCall held the Regional Administrator position until 1970. Frank McCall moved to Ottawa in 1971 and continued to work for the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development until his retirement in 1977.

Tom and Elizabeth McCallum (nee McCoubrey) operated the Yellowknife Lumber Company Ltd. sawmill, located near Fort Resolution, during the late 1930s and 1940s.

John Turquand (Turq) McCollum was born May 12, 1923, in Toronto, Ontario. In 1953, he married Joan (nee Watson), and they had four children: Peter, Jenny, Kathy, and Maggie.

From 1954-1963, the McCollums lived in Fort Smith, where John was an Anglican minister of the Diocese of the Arctic. In 1963, the family moved to Beaverlodge, Alberta, where they lived until 1970. In 1970, the McCollums returned to the north and lived in Hay River. In 1975, John McCollum became Archdeacon of the Diocese of the Arctic. The McCollums continued to live in Hay River until their retirement to Calgary, Alberta, in 1988.

John McCollum died June 14, 2020, in Calgary, Alberta. He was buried with his wife Joan in Hay River.

William (Bill) L. McDonald (1893-1971) was a geologist and prospector. Born in Lacombe, Alberta and raised in Edmonton, he attended the University of Alberta and studied mining engineering and geology. This career took him to Hay River and Windy Point with the Imperial Oil Company as early as 1920. He began working for the Consolidated Mining & Smelting Company in 1925. In 1958, he reported on the Mar Mineral Claims at Marian Lake. In the course of his prospecting and geological activities, he developed a strong interest in rare books about the history of the area and became an amateur naturalist.

John "Jock" Murray McMeekan was born on January 3, 1903 in London, England and raised in Scotland. He studied romance languages and geology at London University for two years before immigrating to Canada. Between the years 1925 and 1935, he traveled across Canada writing and editing for various newspapers and prospecting for mining operations. In 1935, he arrived in Yellowknife and was employed by Burwash Yellowknife Mines to do prospecting, geological work and mapping. In 1940, Jock McMeekan started publishing the "Yellowknife Blade" which he published sporadically until 1953. In 1953, he moved to Uranium City in Saskatchewan and began publishing the "Uranium Era", which ran until 1960. He restarted the "Yellowknife Blade" in 1960, but stopped publishing it when he became associated with the "Mackenzie Press" in Hay River in 1962. He remained with the "Mackenzie Press" for only a short period and in 1963, he began publishing "The Hay River Optimist", which ran until his death on September 16, 1963. Jock's interest in prospecting and the mining industry is reflected in a number of his activities including his help in establishing the Prospectors Association and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation radio series "The Prospector Speaks" which aired between 1960 and 1962.

Mildred Itasca Hall was born in Iowa on October 23, 1899 and emigrated with her family to Olds, Alberta. She studied at the University of Alberta and became a schoolteacher. She moved to Yellowknife in 1938, and became the first public school teacher in the Northwest Territories. She married Jock McMeekan in 1941 and worked with him in the printing and publishing of the "Yellowknife Blade". She and Jock were devoted naturalists and loved to explore the land around Yellowknife. Mildred was intent on using whatever nature provided, picking berries and preserving food in the root cellar for the winter. Mildred also worked to publish her husband's works after his death, but died May 4, 1974 in Victoria B.C. before the project was completed. A former employee Gladys McCurdy Gould completed Mildred's work and published "Jock McMeekan's Yellowknife Blade" in 1984.

In 1948, Jock and Mildred accepted responsibility for raising Mildred's five-year-old niece, Hélène. Hélène (previously Giles, Henderson) Acikahte currently lives in Edmonton.

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.

Heather Metcalfe was born on August 9, 1978 in Portage La Prairie. In 1995, she was a grade eleven student at a high school in Yellowknife. During the summer of 1995, Metcalfe attended a science camp sponsored by the Department of Renewable Resources. The camp had 11 students and 3 instructors. Candidates for the camp were selected because of marks and teacher recommendations. The purpose of the camp was to introduce students to biological, earth and social sciences. All students were required to complete one project for a Career and Technology credit. Working under the supervision of Tom Andrews, a sub arctic archaeologist for the Culture and Heritage Division of the Government of the Northwest Territories, Metcalfe successfully completed a project to record Dogrib traditional place names.

In 1972, a representative of the Metis Association of the NWT spent several weeks at the Public Archives of Canada looking for documentation related to Indigenous land claims. The results of this research were kept at the Association's headquarters in Yellowknife and proved helpful when inquiries were made about Metis history. A secondary result of this research was the acknowledgement that other vital documents were likely to be available in other archival repositories across Canada. In 1975, the Metis Association of the NWT, with the help of funding from a variety of sources, began the Metis History Project. This project assembled a collection of photocopies, printed books, photographs and oral history recordings related to the history of the Metis in the Northwest Territories. At the 1988 Annual General Assembly delegates approved the creation of the Metis Heritage Association as a cultural arm with charitable organization status. In 1992, the Metis Heritage Association carried out a further series of interviews with elders. The interviews were to form the basis of a book on Metis history in the NWT. In 2001 the Metis Nation and Metis Heritage Association ceased operations and their remaining materials were donated to the NWT Archives.

At the founding conference of the Native Council of Canada in March, 1972, sixteen Metis from the Northwest Territories established a steering committee with the aim of forming a Metis interest group in the Northwest Territories. The Metis Association of the Northwest Territories headquarters was established in Hay River in April, 1972. The Association's membership at that time numbered 7700. After a period of financial instability, the Metis Association moved to Yellowknife in late-1973 better able to meet its administrative and program requirements established at the first annual General Assembly held earlier that year. The original focus of the Association was on self-help programs at the community level, as well as the development of leadership among northern Metis. After the move to Yellowknife, the focus shifted to establishing Metis title to land and resources, gradually aligning themselves with the Indian Brotherhood of the NWT. Programs run by the Association helped to repair homes in the Western Arctic, raise awareness of drug and alcohol issues in the communities, and as part of its cultural program, produce a history of the Metis entitled "Our Metis Heritage" in 1976. At this time, the Metis Association also managed the health claims of its members. Although not negotiating land claims directly, the Metis Association provided administrative support to the Indian Brotherhood of the NWT and some of its members sat on the Joint Dene Land Claims Negotiating Committee alongside the Indian Brotherhood (later called the Dene Nation). In 1988, the Metis Heritage Association was formed from the existing Metis Association, handling cultural affairs of the Metis of the NWT. The Metis Association of the NWT changed its name to the Metis Nation in the early 1990s. The Metis Nation closed its Yellowknife head office in the summer of 2001.