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Charlotte Babicki, daughter of Joseph Anthony (JA) Babicki (1917-1997) and Phyllis Jean Lieurance (1921-2022), was born in Pratt, Kansas in 1946. Joseph was the son of Polish immigrants and grew up in Cleveland, Ohio. Phyllis’ family arrived in the United States in the 1600s and 1700s, mostly from England. Both Phyllis and Charlotte grew up in Topeka, Kansas. Charlotte attended Central Park Grade School, Crane Junior High School, and Topeka High School, where she was Yearbook editor.

Charlotte attended university at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts from 1964-1968, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Political Science. She got a job at John Hancock Insurance as a trainee computer programmer (1968), then moved to a technical writing job at the Charles Stark Draper Lab (MIT) where she wrote user manuals for astronauts (1968-70). From 1970-72 she did technical writing at a division of Wang Laboratories.

Charlotte moved to Canada in 1972. After 5 months in Toronto, she found a job in Yellowknife with the Government of the Northwest Territories. Charlotte worked for the GNWT for 35 years (1973-2008). She held the same position number throughout, although her job title started as Manuals Writer and ended as Policy Advisor and she shifted divisions from Systems and Computer Services to Records Management and finally Finance and Administration. While working for the GNWT, Charlotte was member of Local 1, Union of Northern Workers and served as Chief Shop Steward and on the executive until 1991.

Charlotte attended the 1990 Literacy Conference as the Union representative, then volunteered for the Literacy Council organizing committee and wrote the by-laws. She served as the Yellowknife Regional Representative for several years, which included trips to Inuvik, Cambridge Bay, and Fort Smith for conferences. She helped to organize an annual NWT-wide writing contest, sorting the entries and editing 10 issues of Northern Writes. She also put together the 1992 publication called I Remember, which contained short memories of learning to read.

Charlotte attended an adult education class in Mysteries which broadened her appreciation of mystery authors. She also took several introductory courses in Tłı̨chǫ, where she learned to read, write, and speak a little, leading to the creation of some Tłı̨chǫ learning materials.

Charlotte also has an interest in quilting. She started in 1967 and learned from books and family examples. She joined the Yellowknife Guild in 2008 and served as a board member for a few years, during which time she wrote the newsletter, managed the guild’s library, and re-wrote the bylaws in plain language.

Charlotte wrote several publications in the course of her employment with the GNWT, including Project Information Books (NWT Alcohol and Drug Offices, 1984), Turning Work into Words: How to Write a Government Manual (GNWT Government Services, 1987), and Plain Words & Sentences (GNWT Public Works and Services, 2002). Since her retirement, she has written several genealogy booklets including Una’s Wedding, 24 November 1886 (2010), Letters from Marsha, 1968-1979 (2015), and From Allen to Wyandotte: My Kansas County Project (2021).

Claire Barnabe was born on November 13, 1940 in Eastview (now Vanier), Ontario. She attended Our Lady of the Presentation in Overbrook for elementary school and Eastview High School in Vanier for secondary school. Claire was a member of the religious order of Holy Cross for four years. She attended Ottawa Teachers' College and obtained a permanent Ontario Teachers' Certificate. She taught at an elementary school in Alexandria, Ontario, Iona Academy in St. Raphael’s West, Ontario, for the Catholic School Board in Montreal, and for the Separate School Board in Ottawa before moving north.

In 1965, she accepted a teaching position at Fort Franklin (now Deline), where she worked until 1967. During her time in Deline, she was also Secretary of the Community Club. In 1968, after spending a year in the south and touring Europe, Claire returned to the north to work as a teacher in Fort Providence. She was also President of the Community Club there and Chairman of the NWT Centennial Planning Committee for Fort Providence.

In 1969, she left her teaching position in Fort Providence and moved to Norman Wells where she worked at the Mackenzie Mountain Lodge. She moved back to Fort Providence later that year to work for Alex Arychuk, also in the hotel business. In the 1970 Territorial election, she ran as a candidate for the Lower Mackenzie riding. Following her defeat in the election, she applied to work as a Settlement Manager.

In May 1971, she accepted the position of settlement manager in Port Burwell on Killinek Island, where she remained until May 1973. After a very brief time as Settlement Manager at Large for the Baffin Region, she became the Settlement Manager at Repulse Bay (now Naujaat, Nunavut). Also in 1973, she was appointed to be a member of the NWT Historical Advisory Board. In 1974, Claire returned to Norman Wells as Settlement Manager there. She ran in the 1975 Territorial election and the 1976 by-election for the riding of Mackenzie Great Bear, but was defeated both times.

She took leave from the GNWT in 1976 to work on a Master’s degree in Public Administration at Carleton University, Ottawa. In 1978, she joined Bud Drury’s office as a policy analyst. She ran again in the 1979 Territorial election for the riding of Yellowknife Centre and was again defeated. Claire remained in the north for many more years, before retiring to the south.

Josephine Castonguay was born in 1879 in a small rural community on Quebec's South Shore in the Kamouraska region, Sainte-Helene. She attended convent school, l'Academie des soeurs du Bon-Pasteur, in Riviere-du-Loup, then know as Fraserville. She became a teacher and spent nearly two decades in Canada's North teaching. She ventured to the North in approximately 1920 and left in the late 1930s. After leaving the North, she moved to Ottawa and then worked in Quebec City for the government until her retirement when she moved back to her hometown. Josephine Castonguay died on December 30, 1966 at the age of 87.

Initially, William Hoare left Ottawa for Herschel Island to act for the Anglican Church as a missionary. He returned after five years and married Catherine Cowan, who had been training to be a nurse in Ottawa. In 1920 they traveled to Aklavik, where they were to establish an Anglican mission. The couple remained in the north until 1931, with William Hoare eventually working for the Government of the Northwest Territories and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (R.C.M.P.) until 1931, when they returned to Ottawa.

Miriam Leith was employed as Supervisor of Home Management Programs in the Keewatin between 1960s-1970s. In the 1960s, she worked for the federal government delivering home economic courses in the eastern arctic. In 1967, she was hired by the Northern Administration Branch to work in their Adult Education Housing Education Program. Following the construction of new houses, Miriam Leith worked in Iqaluit (Frobisher Bay) assisting the local Inuit to learn new home making skills such as house cleaning, cooking with electric appliances, and sewing skills. She also counselled them on dietary needs and how to shop for food.

Ms. Leith died in [1974-1975].

Paul Lloyd was born in England on July 28, 1886, and came to Canada in 1906. He homesteaded near Vermilion, Alberta until 1929 when he became a homestead inspector, tax collector, and assessor for Provincial Municipal Affairs in Edmonton. Upon receiving a request for a 'loan' of an assessor, Mr. Lloyd travelled to the Northwest Territories in 1949, to assess property in Yellowknife.

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.

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.

The Department of the Territorial Secretary was created in 1967. It was responsible for general administrative services in the newly established Government of the Northwest Territories. It was also responsible for the administration of variety of ordinances and the Territorial Public Library Services. The department was divided into five divisions: Administrative Services Division; Labour Division; Public Library Services; Administration of Ordinances Division; and Health Services Division.

Among the duties handled by the Administrative Services Division were: the administration of the Central Registry Filing system, mail room services, stenographic services, allocation of office space; provision of equipment and furnishings communication services including telephone and telex; and printing services. The Department of the Territorial Secretary published the Territorial Gazette and all manuals related to all departments of the government.

The Labour Division administered various ordinances relevant to employee-employer relationships. Its responsibilities included maintaining liaisons with employers, employee groups and individual employees in the administration of Labour Standards and Workers Compensation. Other aspects of labour relations and safe working conditions included: Boilers and Pressure Vessels, Employment Agencies, Fair Employment Practices, Fair Wages and Conditions of Employment, Wage Recovery and Elevator and Fixed Conveyances. Because of some of these ordinances, the division worked with the federal government on mine safety, arranged contract inspectors for boilers, pressure vessels, elevators and fixed conveyances and compiled statistics for the federal government.

Territorial Public Library Services were headquartered in Hay River in the Centennial Memorial Library. Library Services supported the efforts of member libraries located in many communities including Cambridge Bay, Fort Smith, Yellowknife, Fort Simpson, Iqaluit (Frobisher Bay), Holman Island, Rankin Inlet, Inuvik, Pine Point, Fort McPherson, Tuktoyaktuk Coral Harbour and Deline (Fort Franklin). Services were also provided directly to those residents whose communities did not yet have libraries. A children's library program was promoted by community libraries and headquarters.

The Administration of Ordinances Division was responsible for administering various major and minor ordinances. The major ordinances consisted of: Motor Vehicles; Public Service Vehicles; Companies; Societies; Co-operative Associations; Vital Statistics; and Change of Names. Other ordinances administered by the division included: Billiard Rooms and Bowling Alleys, Business License; Consumer Protection; Coroners; Credit Union; Dental Profession, Dog; Evidence; Herd and Fencing; Hotel Keepers; Insane Persons; Insurance; Justice of the Peace; Legal Profession; Marriage; Medical Profession; Motion Picture; NWT Public Service Association; Optometry; Pesticides; Petroleum Products; Pharmacy; Presumption of Death; Scientists and Explorers; Veterinary Profession; Cornea Transplant; Curfew; Fur Export; Game; Human Tissue; Jury; Lord's Day; Public Health; Teacher's Association. In conjunction with the Vital Statistics Ordinance, certain functions relating to maintenance of Indian Band records, preparation for treaty payments and liaison with the federal Department of Indian Affairs were required. Project Surname, a project directly connected to Vital Statistics work, sought to have all Inuit register surnames. The eventual aim was to eliminate the use of the "Eskimo disc system."

The Health Services Division was formed after the federal government transferred the administration of the Territorial Health Insurance Ordinance to the Government of the Northwest Territories. The division maintained a close liaison with hospitals in the Northwest Territories and throughout Canada. Included among this division's responsibilities were: payment of accounts, review of budgets, determination of eligibility, and the accumulation of necessary statistics.

The Department of the Territorial Secretary was headed up by H.E. Cross, the Territorial Secretary, until 1971 when it was disbanded and its responsibilities were distributed to other departments, including the Department of Administration and the Department of Public Services.

Ferdinand Regier is an architect (OAA) who lived in Yellowknife from 1996 to 2000. During his time in the city, he worked on projects throughout the NWT. Mr. Regier currently works for the Government of Canada.

Norman Lubbock (Robbie) Robinson was born on July 18, 1890 in County Wicklow Ireland. He spent over two years with the Northwest Mounted Police prior to World War I, and then five years in the army; first with the 19th Alberta Dragoons and then with the British Army in 1915. After returning to Edmonton in 1919, he worked as an Inspector with the Soldiers Settlement Board before traveling to the Northwest Territories where he spent five years working as a trapper, guide and purser aboard the steamer "Mackenzie River." In 1925, he returned to Edmonton with the intention to rejoin the Northwest Mounted Police, however, due to poor eyesight he was denied a position. He moved to British Columbia where he married in November 1928 and operated a timber business near Kamloops. During the Depression, he accepted a position as a Game Warden with the British Columbia Provincial Game Department. He held this position until 1938 and worked in Kamloops, Quesnel and Lillooet, British Columbia. In 1938, Robinson and his wife moved to Ireland for two years where he worked for the Turf Development Board on Clonsast Bog in Leix, Ireland. They returned to Canada in 1940. At the time of his May 1952 death in Calgary at age 61, he was an employment claims officer for the Unemployment Insurance Commission.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Paul Emile Trudel was born July 24, 1892. He came to Fort Smith from Ottawa sometime in 1921. He had been in government since 1911, with the Department of the Interior, and had taken part in World War I. Around 1925 he was handling the accounting and bookkeeping out of the Fort Smith office. His immediate chief was J.A. McDougal, District Agent. The office staff also included Gerry Murphy and later, Mr. N.W."Wilf" Champagne. At that time, the Director, NWT and Yukon Branch, Department of the Interior, was O.S. Finnie. From 1931 to 1933 Paul Trudel acted as assistant to the Mining Recorder and Agent of Dominion Lands and Crown Timber. In 1934 he was transferred to Cameron Bay. By April 1935, according to a letter to his brother, Trudel states that the office is not very busy and that he may be returning to Fort Smith. By 1936 he had returned to Fort Smith as Assistant Mining Recorder to Division Head Austin L. Cumming; Dr. James Urquhart was the Acting District Agent. Increased activity and gold discoveries in the Great Slave Lake area created speculation that an office would open at Yellowknife. In December 1939 he received a letter from Roy Gibson, Deputy Commissioner, Department of Mines and Resources, informing him that he and Lloyd Bonnyman were to assist Mr. Gibben in opening up a Yellowknife office in the summer of 1940. He moved to Yellowknife in July 1940 working as the Acting Mining Recorder. In November 1940 Paul Trudel married Dorris Jansen, formerly of Minneapolis, Minnesota. After a period of courtship by mail, she flew to Yellowknife with the wedding cake. Dorris and Paul Trudel had two children, Karen and Suzanne. Paul Trudel was officially appointed as Acting Mining Recorder, Agent Dominion Lands and Crown Timber Agent as well as Inspector of Yellowknife Liquor Store in September 1942. The duties of staking and recording of mineral claims, issuing certificates of work abstracts and recording of transfers increased rapidly in the next two years. In October 1944, due to health problems, he and his family left Yellowknife and returned to Ottawa where he continued to work for the Department of Mines and Resources. Fred Fraser replaced him in Yellowknife that year. On April 16, 1948, Paul Trudel was appointed Mining Recorder of the Arctic and Hudson Bay Mining District of the Northwest Territories. He held the position until his death in 1952 after over 40 years of public service.