Wendell White's research into Nahanni history began as a classroom social studies project while he was teaching in the village of Nahanni Butte from 1978 to 1980. The project intended to provide the students with knowledge of their Dene traditions and culture. Village elders were recorded telling their stories and answering questions in the classroom. Recordings were also made of interviews outside the classroom. Mr. White collected other materials such as interviews with Euro-Canadian inhabitants of Nahanni, concerning their relation to the local Indigenous population. The intention was to turn the completed project over to the Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Education, but this was not pursued due to the size and the cost of the project. In 1984, Wendell White approached Parks Canada with the material. The result was "The Birth of Nahanni--"Nahande Beguli: A local History of the People of Nahanni Butte" by Wendell White, published by Environment Canada, Parks, Ottawa, 1984.
Edward Whittaker (born ca. 1893), was educated in Ottawa. He married Bertha Winnifred Robertson on August 16, 1916. Between 1917 and 1921, Whittaker travelled in the Peace River region and in the Northwest Territories, as a geologist for the federal government. He died on September 24, 1924 as the result of a fall.
Paul Williamson was a Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) employee who transferred from Portage La Loche, Saskatchewan to Yellowknife. He remained in Yellowknife from 1939 until 1940.
Leonard Willing worked as an assayer at Negus Mine from 1938 to 1952.
David Scott Wilson was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia in 1912. He was the principal of the Federal Day School in Coppermine (Kugluktuk) from September 1954 to June 1956. He also taught in Frobisher Bay (Iqaluit) from September 1956 to June 1957. He died in Halifax, Nova Scotia on October 29, 1990.
Harold S. Wilson, along with party members Kenneth McIntyre (Ken) Dewar, J.B. (Barney) Muirhead, and John Thomson explored the region which includes the Thelon and Hanbury rivers as a member of the Nipissing Mining Co. Ltd. exploration team sent north in the early summer of 1928. The Nipissing Mining Co. Ltd. would later conduct geological exploration in the Rankin Inlet area (1936-1939) but had no part in the mine which was built in the 1950s. Wilson and party's journey is known for the discovery of the bodies of John Hornby, Edgar Christian, and Harold Adlard, who had starved to death in the spring of 1927. They also discovered Hornby's handwritten note in a cairn at the site of his log cabin. The following year, 1929, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police returned to the cabin, as is written in the Winnipeg Free Press article from that summer.
Raymond and Mildred Wood were amateur botanists interested in photographing and collecting flowers indigenous to the Arctic. They made four trips to the north between 1956 and 1959 the first being to Churchill, Manitoba. They also visited Baker Lake, Coppermine and Herschel Island, Yukon. They left Edmonton in June 24, 1959 and after spending several days at the school residence in Aklavik, arrived at Herschel Island on July 2, 1959. During their stay, they lived with the officers stationed at the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) detachment. They left Herschel Island on July 17, 1959. The purpose of the trip was to photograph and collect flowers that grew on the island.
Didi was born Mary Madeleine Skublics March 29, 1914 in Czechoslovakia, the eldest daughter of Mr and Mrs Jan Skublics from Vesels. Educated in Lausanne, Vienna, and Dresden, Didi married Canadian William (Billy) Yule Stuart, a family friend, from Winnipeg, Manitoba. They had a daughter Jean in 1939, who lived with Didi's parents during WWII. Didi helped open the "Canada House" Royal Canadian Air Forces leave center in Cairo in the spring of 1943, and managed it until February 1945. Billy Stuart died in action on June 9, 1943. In 1945 Didi met Jake Woolgar at the Canada House while he was on leave.
Didi came to Winnipeg in the spring of 1945 to visit Billy Stuart's friends and family, and it was there that Jake Woolgar met her again and proposed to her. They moved to Yellowknife and were married the same day, August 10, 1945. Didi became quite active in the arts and handicrafts community in Yellowknife, and was once president of the Yellowknife Guild of Crafts.
Described as an "artist, craftsman and sophisticate", Didi was well known for her drawings and paintings of northern flora. She had exhibitions in Ottawa and New York, and had two paintings presented to the Duke of Edinburgh.
Didi died June 9, 2002.
Sources (in Vertical File): "The vivid world of Didy Woolgar." Imperial Oil Review, Vol. 44, No. 5, October 1960, p 37.
"The lady of the soapstone." Family Herald and Weekly Star, November 25, 1954, p 42, 45.
"From Cairo to Yellowknife." Mayfair, November 1945, p 82, 83, 108.
John Raymond (Jake) Woolgar was born January 28, 1913, in Gregg, Manitoba. The son of James Linnet Woolgar and Winifred Mary Woolgar (née Boston), Jake spent many years as a pilot and prospector and worked across Canada, particularly in the north and west. He lived on Latham Island in Yellowknife for 28 years.
Jake spent his childhood in several towns in Manitoba. In the early 1930s, he prospected in Alberta, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan. In the late 1930s, Jake learned to fly and went north to prospect around the Yellowknife area and on the barrens using his bush pilot skills. Jake married Mildred Lillian McEwing on February 10, 1937, but they were divorced on March 26, 1938.
Jake volunteered for the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) in June 1940 and became a flying instructor due to his experience. Disappointed and wanting to serve in combat, Jake pushed for an overseas posting; he was sent to India in 1942, then to Sicily. Jake began the war as a Flying Officer (FO) and was promoted to the rank of Flight Lieutenant. He was discharged to the Reserve list in June 1945.
Jake met Didi Stuart, born Mary Madeleine Skublics, while on leave in Cairo in 1945. Jake proposed to Didi when he met her again in Winnipeg, and they were married in Yellowknife on August 10, 1945. Jean Stuart, Didi’s daughter from her first marriage, came to live with her mother and Jake in Yellowknife in 1950, at the age of 11. Jake and Didi were divorced on November 8, 1967.
After the war, Jake worked at a variety of jobs, including recruiting for the Canadian Rangers, working for Sovereign Yellowknife Mines Ltd., and surveying locations for the DEW line from Labrador to Iqaluit, as well as prospecting in various locations. He also owned and managed two companies, Broncho Petroleums Ltd. and Woolgar Mining Services Ltd., and held stock in several other companies in the mining industry. Later in life, Jake developed medical problems which forced him to give up his pilot’s licence and took a government job as a corrections officer with the Yellowknife Correctional Institute.
Jake married Barbara Jean (Bonnie) Hunt (née Kinnaird) on September 23, 1976, in Edmonton, and moved to the city. They separated in November 1979 and Jake returned to Yellowknife. Jake and Bonnie were divorced on May 7, 1985.
Jake died on September 30, 1989. He is buried in the Veteran’s Block of Lakeview Cemetery in Yellowknife.
Noel Wright, CB, OBE, was born December 24, 1890, in England. He entered the Royal Navy in 1908 as an assistant clerk, serving on battleships such as the "Hindustan" and "Collingwood" early in his career. Wright served at the Battle of Jutland in 1916. After World War I, Wright served in Hong Kong, China, on the South African Cape, and in the Aegean and Mediterranean seas, primarily as secretary to senior officers. Wright also spent time at the Admiralty Headquarters, Naval Intelligence Division, and in the late 1930s assisted with the evacuation of refugees escaping Spain. During World War II, Wright was a supply officer to fleets in the Mediterranean and Middle East. Wright retired from the Royal Navy in 1945 as a Rear Admiral.
Wright married Phoebe Gandon in 1921 and they had two children, a son and a daughter.
Following his retirement, Wright further explored his personal interest in the maritime explorations of the north, and particularly in Sir John Franklin's story, eventually writing two books about Sir John Franklin: New light on Franklin (1949) and Quest for Franklin (1959).
Noel Wright died April 18, 1975 in England.
The Yellowknife Roman Catholic Separate School District No. 2, which was responsible for St. Patrick's High School, was formed in 1951.
The Yellowknife Centennial Committee was formed on October 8, 1964 to coordinate the community's plans to celebrate the Centennial of Canada's Confederation in 1967. In 1964, the Federal Government provided $3.3 million to the provinces and territories to fund a programme of celebration events for 1967. Each community within the Northwest Territories was allocated $2.00 per resident to organize cultural and social events. The Committee was formally disbanded in 1968.
In 1947, a group of business owners joined and formed an association that was incorporated with the territorial government as the Yellowknife Board of Trade. The main purpose of the Board of Trade was to lobby various levels of government to ensure that laws governing businesses locally, regionally, territorially and nationally were fair and equitable. Throughout the years, the association grew to become more involved with the community in general. An excerpt from its original constitution states that the Board was organized "for the purpose of advancing the commercial, mining, industrial and civic interests of the town of Yellowknife and vicinity. This Board of Trade in its activities shall be non-partisan, non-sectional and non-sectarian and shall take no part or lend its influence to the election of any candidate for federal, provincial, county or municipal office. The membership of the Board of Trade shall be composed of men of good standing interested in commercial, mining, industrial and civic progress of the community served by this organization."
In an effort to embrace all sectors of business, the Board of Trade became the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce in 1973. The Chamber is a non-profit, voluntary organization made up of businesses, organizations and individuals who are dedicated to the prosperity of Yellowknife. The Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce counts among its members many businesses in Yellowknife, ranging from home offices and independent professionals to Yellowknife's largest corporations, including mines and major transportation companies. The mission of the Yellowknife Chamber of Commerce is to provide leadership to the business community and to promote growth and diversification of trade and commerce. This in turn will support the economic, civic and social welfare of Yellowknife. The Chamber endeavors to improve economic development through the provision of services and support to members. It is the goal of the Chamber to promote beneficial commerce within Yellowknife and between businesses in Yellowknife and other parts of the Northwest Territories and Canada. The Chamber offers training and seminars for entrepreneurs and staff, in all areas of quality service and business management. The Chamber operates on a yearly budget of approximately $275,000 dollars per year. Sources of funding include membership fees, private sector donations, service fees, retail revenues and training contacts. This organization receives no core funding or government grants.
In 1939, the first provisional school board in Yellowknife was elected. On October 1, 1939, District No. 1 was formally established under Section 33 of the School Ordinance, Northwest Territories. In 1977, Section 24 of the Education Act allowed for the continuing operation of the Yellowknife Education District, which was to include Yellowknife Education District No., 1 and the Separate School District No. 2.
The Yellowknife Film Society is a member of the Canadian Federation of Film Societies, which represents more than 100 film societies across Canada. It was the first film society in the Northwest Territories and was incorporated under the NWT Societies Act in 1973. A volunteer executive chooses and schedules films in the fall to be shown throughout the winter to members and guests.
Yellowknife Health and Social Services Authority (YHSSA) was created in 1997, partially from the disbandment of the Mackenzie Regional Health Services. The scope of the authority has expanded since its creation and includes responsibility for the delivery of services to Dettah, Fort Resolution, Lutsel K'e, Ndilo and Yellowknife. YHSSA is responsible for the deilvery of a full range of health and social services programs. It works cooperatively with the other regional health authorities across the Northwest Territories. It maintains a close working relationship with Stanton Territorial Health Authority and the Dept. of Health and Social Services.
The operations of the YHSSA are overseen by a Board of Directors. Members of the Board are appointed by the Minister of Health and Social Services. The day-to-day operations are managed by a Chief Executive Officer.
In August 2016 health and social services authorities across the territory were unified under the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority (NTHSS), and the YHSSA was renamed the Northwest Territories Health and Social Services Authority, Yellowknife Region (NTHSSA-YK).