Alfred Charlie (b. 1923)
Alfred Charlie was born in Fort McPherson, NWT to parents Peter and Mary Charlie. Alfred`s father`s parents were Charlie and Ellen Tetlichi and his mother`s parents were Charlie and Emma Netro. Alfred married Helen Netro Charlie and together they had seven children including two that they adopted.1)
When Charlie was young his family made sleds. They used to travel through northern NWT, Yukon, and Alaska. Charlie was in Dawson in 1930 when there was no school, nurse, or government to bother people. First Nation people lived off the land and could set traps wherever they liked. Old Crow people were getting an education around that time, but Charlie never had the opportunity.2)
Charlie remembers living at Johnson Creek, using wooden boats in the summer and dog teams in the winter. They purchased clothing in Old Crow and Rampart House from Jim Jackson and Harry Healy. In 1957, Erik Nielsen was the first government representative to visit Old Crow. He worked hard to get a school and a nursing station in the community. Old Crow saw little benefit from the government until Erik Nielsen was elected. He started people voting.3)
In the 1960s and early 1970s, Alfred Charlie worked on the MV Brainstorm for Benny Warnsby and Mike Stutter, bringing supplies from Dawson to Old Crow.4) When Old Crow got an airport, Charlie Abel Chitze was chief and Alfred Charlie was working as the school janitor. People didn’t have a choice in elections for band chief and council as no one was clamouring for the jobs – a person was nominated and then just started work. Alfred Charlie went to try and vote, and the school principal told him he was chief. Charlie was worried because he had no education, but he worked with Nielsen on getting the airport construction started in three years. Charlie told Nielsen that he wanted the local people trained in heavy equipment, electrical, and everything they would need. The men went out in January, came back in June, and they started to build in 1970. At the same time, he asked for better housing and they built eleven houses the first year. The well was set up for water, and Yukon Electric provided power to the community. The school was growing, and there was a nurse and a teacher. The plane used to come in every week or two, and now it came in every day and sometimes twice a day.5)