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Horace Herbert (Mac) Smee was born on April 22, 1922 in Edmonton, Alberta. He married Joan Eilleen Smee (also of Edmonton) in Fairview, Alberta. They had two sons, Barry Smee and Martin Smee.

In 1941, he began working for the Northern Transportation Company as a chief steward and was sent to the Northwest Territories. His first job was to paint the S.S. "Mackenzie River" in Fort Smith, which he then rode up the Mackenzie River as far as the Mackenzie Delta. On his return to Fort Smith, he was transferred to the S.S. "Distributor" and made two trips on this vessel. The first trip he acted as steward to Margaret White. After his service with the Northern Transportation Company, he returned to Edmonton and joined the Air Force, which he left in 1943.

The Smees moved to Prince George, British Columbia, where Mac Smee operated two independent theatres, before moving to Vancouver in 1947. In Vancouver, Smee managed movie theatres including the Strand, Orpheum, Victoria Road Theatre, and the Regent. He served as the Secretary of the Famous Players Theatre Managers Association of BC.

Around 1954, the Smees moved back to Edmonton. Mac Smee joined the Hudson Bay Company, where he worked until retiring in 1982. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Mac, Joan and Martin Smee operated a family business, The Plate Connection, an award-winning collectors’ plate and doll supplier.

Smee died on August 6th, 1995 in Edmonton.

Walter Slipchenko was born in Winnipeg in 1934 to Ivan and Olga Slipchenko. After being raised in Winnipeg, he furthered his education at the Canadian Military College at Royal Roads, Victoria, British Columbia and Royal Military College, Kingston, Ontario, becoming an officer in the Royal Canadian Engineers. He later left the military, completing a Masters of Arts at the University of Manitoba in 1966. He then joined the federal civil service, being employed by the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development (DIAND) from 1966 to 1988, in their Northern Coordination Research Group and Northern Science Research Group. In 1971, Walter was part of the Jean Chretien (Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development) delegation to the USSR. Several agreements came out of this visit and succeeding visits, while Walter was secretary and coordinator of the Canada-USSR Arctic Sciences Programme. Finally, Walter founded the Circumpolar Affairs Division of DIAND, becoming its Chief. From the mid-1970s to mid-1980s, Walter also lectured at Carleton University in the Geography Department, held positions on several advisory boards, and researched the socio-economic and technical development of the northern USSR. From 1988 to 1992, Walter served in the GNWT as Director of Circumpolar Affairs. While he was in this role, the GNWT signed two international agreements of note: “A Programme of Cooperation” with the Home Rule Government of Greenland and a “Memorandum of Understanding” with the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia) in support of a joint venture to build a $26 million village. In 1991, Walter was honoured for his work, receiving the Gold Medal Award from the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada. Walter also assisted in the creation of the Canadian office of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference, brought indigenous Russian participation in the Arctic Winter Games, and aided in the institution of several cooperative arrangements between circumpolar countries. From 1992 to 2000, Walter worked as a consultant, becoming involved with the establishment of the Arctic Council, the Northern Management Project for the Government of Sakha (Yakutia) and the Institution Building for Northern Russian Indigenous Peoples’ Project. In 1997-98, he was Executive Director of the Arctic Council Secretariat and in 1998-99, chaired the Advisory Committee on the Humanitarian Assistance Project to Northern Russia, Phase I. Walter was married to Olga Sheremeta and the couple had one son, Andrew. Walter Slipchenko passed away in July 2016, at the age of 82.

Ben (Bent Gestur) Sivertz was born in Victoria, B.C. in 1905 to Christian and Eliborg Samuelsdottir, both Icelanders. During his childhood, he spent a great deal of time at sea. He graduated from the University of British Columbia after which he taught at schools on Vancouver Island and in Vancouver. During World War II, he joined the Royal Canadian Navy and was appointed as officer in charge of the Navigation School. In 1945 he was awarded the Order of the British Empire (Military). Following the war he moved to Ottawa as a foreign service officer with the Department of External Affairs. In 1950, he was transferred to the Department of Resources and Development (later Northern Affairs and National Development). In 1954, he was appointed chief of the new Arctic Division. He succeeded F.J.G. Cunningham as Director of the Northern Administration Branch in 1957 and became Commissioner of the Northwest Territories on July 10, 1963; a post he held until 1967. He retired to Victoria, British Columbia.

On September 29, 1958 the Yellowknife Vocational Training and High School (also known as the Yellowknife Composite High School) was officially opened. In was operated under the auspices of the federal Department of Native Affairs and National Resources, which was responsible for education in the Northwest Territories. The school's first principal was Jack Black and the first Vice Principal was Dave Wattie. There were approximately 200 students in attendance, Dene and Inuit students from communities across the Northwest Territories, as well as local Yellowknife students. The school offered three basic programs: Matriculation, Vocational and Opportunity (or upgrading) classes. Due to public dissatisfaction regarding the school's unwieldy name, a contest was held in 1959 to select a new name for the school and 'Sir John Franklin High School' was the winning entry. With the transfer of responsibility for education to the Government of the Northwest Territories in 1967, the name was amended to Sir John Franklin Territorial High School, although this addition has since been dropped. The school underwent a large renovation and upgrade in 2000, marked by a grand opening celebration on November 9th of that year.

The provision of western education in Inuvik began immediately during the community’s construction, with a temporary Federal school in 1956. Several of the attending children came from Aklavik, from where community government officials were strongly encouraging families to relocate. In 1959 a large new regional school opened, officially named Sir Alexander Mackenzie School (SAMS) in 1961. This school housed all grades until Samuel Hearne Secondary School was built in 1966. By that time SAMS had 38 classrooms and capacity for 890 students from grades 1 to 12.

In 1969 all educational facilities in Inuvik were transferred to the Government of the Northwest Territories, who assumed responsibilities for education from the federal government. The Beaufort-Delta Divisional Education Council was established in 1989 to administer regional schools.

In addition to residents of the town of Inuvik, the student body at SAMS for much of its history also included residential school students brought from communities across the Beaufort Delta region and the Arctic to stay at the two major Federal hostels, Stringer Hall (which closed in 1975) and Grollier Hall (which closed in 1996).

SAMS continued to operate as an elementary school until 2012, when it was replaced by the new East Three Elementary School. The SAMS building was demolished in May 2014.

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.

Hilah Lende Simmons was born in 1935. She married Norm Simmons in 1958, and they eventually had four children. The family lived in Fort Smith from 1966 to 1975 and in Yellowknife from 1975 to 1982. During this time they frequently visited the Mackenzie Mountains, where Norm studied Dall's sheep and woodland caribou as part of his work for the wildlife service. Hilah co-authored a report on vascular plants of the Mackenzie Mountains barrens, which was published in 1982. In that same year the family moved to a ranch near Pincher Creek, Alberta to raise organic beef cattle.

Ryan Alfred Silke was born October 20th 1982, at Yellowknife, N.W.T., the son of Alf and Sarah Silke. Alf Silke worked at Con Mine as a geologist between 1978 and 2003. In 1998, Ryan began extensive research on the history of mining in the Yellowknife area and the N.W.T. In 1999, Ryan designed a webpage which was sought after by the Federal Government's DIAND Geology Department and later published as a written report. In 2000, Ryan was awarded the City of Yellowknife Heritage Award for this work. While finishing high school, Ryan began working with what would become the NWT Mining Heritage Group to help promote the preservation of mining artifacts from Giant Mine. He has also worked at BHP Billiton's Ekati diamond mine. Ryan has continued to research and collect data while documenting old camps and mine sites, in the aim to help the Heritage Society achieve its goal of a Mining Museum for the NWT. He studied at Augustana University College in Camrose, Alberta, studying history and geography. Currently Ryan Silke works in the Collections section at the Prince of Wales Northern Hertiage Centre.

Nicholas (Nick) George Sibbeston was born in Fort Simpson on November 21, 1943. After receiving his Bachelor of Arts from the University of Alberta in Edmonton, he returned to Fort Simpson as the hamlet secretary-manager. From 1970-1974, he was a member of the Northwest Territories Legislative Assembly after which he attended law school at the University of Alberta. He completed his degree in 1975 becoming the first northern lawyer born in the Northwest Territories. Nick Sibbeston was re-elected to the Legislative Assembly in 1979 and he served in a number of portfolios including Government Leader (1985-1987), Minister of Economic Development and Tourism, Culture and Communications (1986-1987), Aboriginal Rights and Constitutional Development (1984-1987), Intergovernmental Affairs (1985-1987), Local Government (1984-1985) and the Northwest Territories Science Institute (1987-1988). He was also chairman of the Western Constitutional Forum, the group negotiating for the new western territory to be created upon the division of the Northwest Territories in 1999. He resigned from the Legislative Assembly in 1991 in order to continue his law practice.

Between 1973 and 1980, David Sherstone was employed by Environment Canada to study river ice break-up on the Mackenzie and Liard rivers. Much of the work was connected to the scientific studies supporting th initial Mackenzie River Pipeline Project. To conduct his duties, he travelled extensively to northern communities including Yellowknife, Fort Simpson, Fort Liard, Fort Good Hope, Fort Wrigley, Inuvik and Frobisher Bay [Iqaluit]. He also worked in conjuction with the Hay River emergency committee to deal with spring break-up and flooding. Part of this work was to develop an electronic ice depth monitoring guage which did not require ice drilling and allowed rapid reading. While doing this work Sherstone documented his travels with photography, and took pictures of communities, unique buildlings and landmarks, transport vehicles, and natural phenomena related to his career.

Merle Shaw was born in Calgary, Alberta on June 19th, 1921. After graduating from Western Canada High School, she began training as a nurse at Calgary General Hospitcal from [approx.] 1940-1943. Following graduation, she obtained a job at the Toronto General Hospital, where she worked until 1946. In 1947 she moved up to Yellowknife where she obtained a job as a nurse at the Red Cross Hospital (now Stanton Hospital). Throughout her time in Yellowknife, Merle established relationships with other nurses and families in Yellowknife as well as the surrounding mining communities. She returned to Calgary in 1949, where she married Ed Featherstone. She died on December 6th, 2001.

Tom Shandel was born and raised in Winnipeg, Canada. He completed high school in Burnaby, British Columbia, and has a BA in Theatre from the University of British Columbia (1962) and a Diploma in Communications from Stanford University (1966).

He is the president of Getaway Films Inc., and a producer, director and writer. He has been producing film and television documentary and drama since 1969 for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Global, CityTV, TVOntario, Bravo!, VisionTV and BC’s Knowledge Network, as well as public broadcasters in Alberta and Saskatchewan, for PBS in the United States and BBC & Channel 4 in England.

Getaway Film Inc. was incorporated in British Columbia in 1985 to produce socio-political and cultural documentaries for the educational market worldwide. “I, Emile Petitot/Moi, Emile Petitot” is one of its many productions. Http://www.shandel.ca lists his full biography and film resume.

David Harry Searle was born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1936. He moved to Yellowknife in 1946 where his father worked for Con Mine. Searle was educated in the Yellowknife public school system. During his high school years, he worked summer jobs at Con Mine.

Searle attended the University of Alberta and earned degrees in history and law (1961). As a young man, joined the Canadian Officers Training Corps and served in the Royal Canadian Army reserve as a military policeman.

David Searle returned to Yellowknife and, in 1963, co-founded the law firm de Weerdt Searle with Mark de Weerdt. Searle was the founding President of the Law Society of the Northwest Territories in 1978. He practiced law in the NWT until 1981.

While practicing law, Searle was also involved in politics in the NWT. First elected to the Northwest Territories Council in 1967 in the riding of Mackenzie North, Searle was elected again in 1970 and 1975 for the riding of Yellowknife South. From 1975 to 1979, he served at the Speaker of the House, and as such was the first Speaker of the Legislative Assembly. Searle ran for federal politics in 1979 but narrowly lost.

David Searle was the first President of Scouts Canada in the NWT and played a large role in the scouting community in the north. Searle also served on a number of other boards during his time in the north.

David Searle and his family moved to Vancouver in 1981, where Searle continued to practice law until his retirement in 2006. He was an adjunct professor at the University of British Columbia (Faculty of Law) from 1991 to 2004. In the 1990s, Searle also played a role in the corporate world, where he served as a lawyer during the development of diamond mines in the NWT.

In 2000, Searle was awarded the Order of Canada for his roles in government, law, and with Scouts Canada during his time in the north.

David Searle married Dorelle Edna Parsons and they had two children, Marc and Kristi. Following Dorelle’s death in 1994, Searle married Celia Stock in 2000.

David Searle died March 1, 2021, aged 84, in Saanich, British Columbia.

The Science Institute of the Northwest Territories (SINT) was established April 1, 1985 by the NWT Legislative Assembly as a non-profit corporation operating at arm’s-length from the GNWT. SINT was headed by an Executive Director, reporting to a Chairman and Board of Directors. The Board consisted of seven to thirteen members, 50 percent of whom had to be NWT residents.

SINT grew out of the Science Advisory Board, which had filled the need to provide advice to the Legislative Assembly on scientific, engineering, and technology matters from 1976 to 1984. By the time the Science Institute Act was passed in May 1984, the desire for a Science Institute was already well-established, being discussed previously in the Legislature and by the federal Department of Indian and Northern Affairs.

SINT was established “to foster science in the Northwest Territories, to increase public awareness of scientific activities and ensure northern participation in scientific and technological research, programs and activities.” SINT aimed to assist the scientific community, identify, coordinate and conduct research, provide advice, and license scientific research under the NWT Scientists Act. The first meeting of the SINT Board took place in August 1985 under Chairman Dr. James M. Harrison, a former member of the Science Advisory Board. Robert R. (Bob) Janes was appointed to the position of Executive Director later that year and began work in March 1986. Harrison was succeeded as Board Chairman by John H. Parker, former NWT Commissioner in March 1989. Janes was succeeded as Executive Director by J. D. (Doug) Heyland in August 1989.

Activities of SINT included: advising Legislative Assembly, licensing scientific research, publishing papers and a newsletter, training, conducting research and studies, engaging in liason and committee work, encouraging science fairs and creating resources, running cross-cultural science camps, teaching and participating in workshops and seminars, writing newspaper and radio scripts on northern science topics, delivering the National Research Council’s Industrial Research Assistance Programme (starting in 1989), and directing the Technology Development Program (starting 1990) to seek technologies which could be adapted for use in the NWT. In 1988, the Northern Scientific Resource Centres of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, located in Inuvik, Igloolik (Iglulik), and Iqaluit, were transferred to SINT, which continued to operate them to provide logistical support to scientists in the field.

In June 1992, the Government Leader announced decentralization of some government areas, including the Science Institute, to various communities outside Yellowknife. Options were proposed and debated by the SINT Board and NWT government. In March 1993, direction was given by the Minister Responsible for SINT to examine the relationship between SINT, Arctic College, and the Department of Education to see how relations could be strengthened. The amalgamation of SINT and Arctic College began to be discussed. At the end of May 1993, the Minister announced that Arctic College and the Science Institute would be integrated. Executive Director Heyland was requested to retire early and Mark Cleveland, president of Arctic College, was appointed in his place. Steve Richards became the new Chairperson of Board when John Parker’s term ended in April 1993.

After the division of the Territories into NWT and Nunavut in 1999 and the resulting division of Arctic College, SINT devolved into the Nunavut Research Institute at Nunavut Arctic College and Aurora Research Institute at Aurora College.

Peter Schwerdt was a prospector in the Yellowknife, Great Slave Lake Region from 1937 to 1941. In 1941, while working with his brother Chuck, they collected an estimated $50,000 in gold in about four months in the Indian Lake area.