Ellen Bruce (1911 - 2010)

Ellen Bruce was born on an island near Rampart House to Joseph and Katherine Kyikavichik. She grew up living a traditional life on the land.¹⁾ Her father taught her how to read Tukudh [Gwich’in], the language of Archdeacon MacDonald’s bible, and conduct a church service. Anglican minister Julius Kendi and his wife arrived in Old Crow in 1928 and Bruce joined the Women’s Auxiliary. When Bruce moved to Old Crow in 1949, she became more involved in the church. Her father died in 1972, and she began to take on more church-related responsibilities. Ellen Bruce, Edith Josie, Effie Linklater, and Charlie Peter Charlie were licensed as lay readers in the early 1980s. Rev. Ellen Bruce was ordained a deacon in 1984 and became an ordained priest in 1987. She received an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree from St. Stephen’s College in Edmonton in 1986. She was well respected in her community, visited with everyone she saw, and held services in English and Gwich’in.²⁾

Rev. Dr. Ellen Bruce became a Member of the Order of Canada in 1990. Her citation reads: “The spiritual leader of Old Crow and the North's first native woman to be ordained an Anglican minister, she has sustained and promoted the cultural integrity of the Vuntut Gwitchin for over fifty years, helping them adapt from camp life to community life. She was a strong and holy woman who has a powerful impact on natives and non-natives alike.”³⁾ Ellen married Robert Bruce Sr. They had three children and adopted four.⁴⁾