Yukon who is who

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John Tizya (d. 1928?)
	
John Tizya was born In the Arctic Red River country. He was a catechist trained by Archdeacon Robert McDonald at Fort McPherson. Rev. McDonald stayed with this family at Fort McPherson in the summer and travelled all over to the different places the Hudson Bay Co. Company had posts along the Porcupine River and at LaPierre House. John Tizya travelled all over this country winter and summer.((Vuntut Gwich’in First Nation & Shirleen Smith, //People of the Lakes: Stories of Our Van Tat Gwich’in Elders.// University of Alberta Press, 2009: 142.))

John was a lay minister at Fort McPherson between 1901 and 1905 when the family moved to the mouth of the Old Crow River. They were the first to build there and the family spent the first winter alone.((Moses Tizya interviewed in the "Oral History in the Porcupine-Peel Landscape.", Porcupine-Peel Landscape: Traditional Values Study compiled by Colin Beairsto, April 1995.)) This was a place people passed by on their way from Crow Flats to Rampart House. John Tizya was following the direction of Reverend McDonald who thought he should have a permanent location because it was becoming too difficult for him to travel with his large family. Tizya and his son built a house where another one was already located and he held services there. This was the start of the Old Crow community.((Neil McDonald in Vuntut Gwich’in First Nation & Shirleen Smith, //People of the Lakes: Stories of Our Van Tat Gwich’in Elders.// University of Alberta Press, 2009: 146.)) 
The first people to live in Old Crow moved there in 1905 and the first trader was there in 1911. Reverend Totty reported that John Tizya was holding church services in his house in the summer of 1918.((Colin Beairsto, "Making Camp: Rampart House on the Porcupine River." Prepared for Yukon Historic Sites, March 1997: 141, 159, 197.)) In 1920, Archdeacon Haldenby referred to Tizya as the Native Catechist at Old Crow.((Manuscript "Summery of the Anglican Church in Yukon" by Archdeacon Allan Haldenby of Dawson in 1957 and updated by Lee Sax and Bishop Ronald Ferris in 1991.)) It is not clear if he was remunerated for his service over the years. 
	
John Tizya was a respected elder, educator, trapper, catechist, and hunter. The John Tizya Centre, located in Old Crow, is a multiuse facility with an exhibit space and the capacity for multi-media presentations and workshops.((Vuntut National Park, “John Tizya Centre.” 2018 website: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/yt/vuntut/visit/serv/tizya))