Dorothy Smith
Dorothy Smith was born at Pelly Banks and is a member of the Wolf Clan. Her family lived there until the trading post closed in 1946. After that, she travelled in the bush with her family in the Pelly Lake region doing hunting, fishing, and gathering activities. Dorothy’s sister Grace was taken away by plane to residential school in 1949, and Dorothy was gathered up the next year. They and other Kaska children were taken to the Whitehorse Indian Baptist Mission School. Dorothy found a cousin at the school and secretly practiced speaking Kaska by re-telling legends.1)
Dorothy became an outspoken social and political activist. She is often called on to translate complicated documents from English into Kaska. She works hard to improve the condition of her people by revitalizing the Kaska culture by doing the things the Kaska have always done and by using of the language. Her cultural foundation has made her one of the community’s important teachers.2) She has served on housing committees, the children’s act review, and with the Yukon Women’s Association. She has been a chief of the Ross River Dene and in 2017 was serving as a councilor. Dorothy Smith was presented with the Women in Leadership Award at the annual Assembly of First Nations Leadership Awards event in March 2021.3)