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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.

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.

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.

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.

"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.

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).

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

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.

Eric Kettlewell was born on November 2, 1910. He married Evelyn before spending time in northern Alberta and the Northwest Territories between 1945 and 1947. Eric may have been a professional photographer. Eric and Evelyn compiled a booklet about Yellowknife that was published during their time in the north. Upon their return to southern Canada, Eric worked as a bartender in Toronto, Ontario. Evelyn died in December 1970. Eric then married Lorraine Murphy. Eric died in Toronto on July 1, 1984.

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.

Born in 1940 in Acme, Alberta, Terry Keim was hired by Transport Canada as a Radio Operator. He began work in Fort Simpson, and after a year there he was transferred to Inuvik. He remained in Inuvik between 1962-1967 and documented his experience there on film.

Born in the 1850s in Bristol, England, Henry (Harry) William Jones went to sea as a boy, traveling to India and the Pacific. In 1898 Henry traveled to the Canadian north with a group of Englishmen for the Yukon gold rush, reaching Fort Smith before the death of the leader broke up the party. He remained in the Northwest Territories and worked intermittently for the Hudson’s Bay Company as a cook between 1898-1906. In Fort Simpson in February 1906 he retired from the HBC, was engaged to work for the St. Peter's Mission in Hay River, and in October 1906 he married Charlotte Sarcelle, a Dene woman from Fort Liard. They had five children: Edward Gabriel, Dora Virginia, Alfred, Henry and Frederick. The family seems to have lived in Hay River for years, but by 1921 had moved to Fort Resolution. An avid photographer, Jones also collected specimens and data along the Mackenzie Valley and adjacent Arctic coast, possibly for the Smithsonian and American Museum. In Fort Resolution, his last place of residence, he operated a machine shop and also did photography developing and printing. Henry Jones died of cancer in 1935.

Ernest Milton Johnston (“Milt”) was born January 27, 1905 as Ejnar Frans Jonsson to parents Alida Kristina Jacobson and Jon Olaf Jonsson. He was one of six children, with three brothers and two sisters. The family resided in Hamra, Sweden until 1908, when they immigrated to Canada and homesteaded south of Parkside, Saskatchewan. His mother Alida passed away there in 1911. The following year, his father, Jon Jonsson, was naturalized as a British subject along with his children.

Milt Johnston began working for the Consolidated Mining & Smithing Company of Canada, Limited (CM&S) around 1928. That year, he witnessed the testing of the Ford Trimotor aircraft at Reindeer Lake, Saskatchewan, where CM&S had a number of exploration sites. By 1936, he was in the Yellowknife area, where he staked a series of claims over the following years for CM&S.

He married Dorothea (Dorothy) Enders on February 24, 1941 in Edmonton. In 1942 and 1943, Johnston moved to Trail, B.C. to cover for CM&S workers who were deployed in the war. They left Trail around March 1943.

He entered into another prospecting agreement with CM&S around the same time, but by 1945 he had entered into prospecting agreements with Gateway Gold, which took him to Horseshoe Bend, Iowa from fall of 1946 to early 1947. By May of 1947, he was again back in Yellowknife, where he would remain until the early 1950s. From there, he worked in Alberta and B.C., prospecting gold and uranium, as well as working as a carpenter.

Johnston died on June 10, 1959.

Sven Borje Johansson was born in Saffle Sweden on August 29,1924. He served in the neutral Swedish army in WWII. After the war he moved to Lappland in northern Sweden, spending 12 years working with Laplanders managing reindeer herds. During that time he married and had a daughter.

In 1962, he immigrated with his family to Canada and worked from 1963 to 1968 as the manager of the Reindeer Station, for the Canadian Reindeer Project. His wife and daughter returned to Sweden and they divorced. In December 1967 he remarried to Norma Buchanan. They built a cabin named Arctic Mountain House to serve as a big game hunting lodge, and Johansson earned a pilot's license. Between 1967 and 1972, he spent summers chartering out his boat "North Star" for work in the Beaufort area and winters trapping near Arctic Red River. He also worked for the Geological Survey of Canada to study the Polar Continental Shelf.

In 1973 the family sailed from Inuvik bound for Vancouver. A year later, delayed by weather they arrived. In 1982 Johansson outfitted the cutter Belvedere for John Bockstoce for northern expeditions. In 1988 after several attempts Sven captained the Belvedere as the first private yacht to complete the Northwest Passage from west to east.

Sven Johansson was also an accomplished choreographer and theatrical inventor. He incorporated the Discovery Dance Society in Victoria in 1989 and won several awards nationally and internationally. Sven Johansson was invested as a member of the Order of Canada in 1994 and the Queen's Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. He died in Victoria on October 17, 2019.

James Jerome was born on July 31, 1949 in Aklavik. He grew up on the east channel of the Mackenzie River at a camp known as Big Rock. His father, Joe Bernard, was a Special Constable with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), as well as a trapper and chief of the Gwichya Gwich'in of Arctic Red River (Tsiigehtchic). His mother was Celina (Coyen) Jerome. James was the youngest of four brothers and two half-sisters. After spending a number of years on the land with his parents, he attended Grollier Hall residential school in Inuvik. Both of his parents died before he completed high school. After graduating from high school, he trained to be a welder and after receiving his certificate, traveled across Canada. Later he returned to the north and began pursuing artistic endeavours. He had received his first camera from his mother when he was twelve years old. Upon his return to the Mackenzie Delta he began traveling on the land and photographing families at fishing camps. During this time he became concerned that Gwich'in culture would disappear as the elders died. He worked for the Native Press newspaper as a photographer for eight months beginning in 1977, and later as a freelance photographer including remote area work, studio, and aerial photography. He used darkrooms at the Science Institute in Inuvik as well as the Native Press offices in Yellowknife for his work. At the time of his death, he was working on a book about Dene elders of the Mackenzie Valley entitled 'Portraits and History of the Dene Elders', which was to include his photographs and stories recounted to him by the elders. James Jerome died in a house fire in Inuvik on November 17, 1979.