Edward Elijah Smith, Tambey (1912 - 991)
Elijah Smith was born into the Crow clan at Hutshi Village, Hutshi Lake to parents Annie Ned and Paddy Smith. He was called Ed before the Second World War.1) When he was young, he spent some time in residential school and hunted and trapped with his father and grandfather.2) He worked as a guide for various outfitters from 1928 to 1966, and he ran a guiding school for First Nation students.3)
Smith lost his First Nation status when he enlisted to fight in the Second World War.4) During the war he was asked to use his middle name Elijah to distinguish himself from all the other ‘Eds’ in the Canadian Army. He served six years as an equipment operator bulldozing roads into new areas in Normandy and Dieppe. He was a decorated soldier, wounded in France.5) On his return, he found his people affected by alcohol, flu epidemics, looting of trapline cabins, and religion. He felt that the Yukon Indian Advancement Association (1958-63) and the Klondike Indian Association (1966-67) had not worked.6) Although he had not agreed to run, in 1967/68 Smith was the third elected chief of the Whitehorse Indian Band.7)
The function of a Band Council in those days was to pass the occasional resolution prepared by the Indian agent. Elijah started working with John P. Hoyt because he didn't want to work through the Indian agent. Hoyt suggested that Ed use the more charismatic name Elijah as he was on a mission to improve the lot of his people. Elijah spent the first part of his term talking employees into hiring First Nation employee and then talking citizens into applying for the jobs.8) In October 1968, he was chief spokesman at a three-day meeting chaired by Hon. Jean Chrétien to discuss the Indian Act, and he made a strong plea for a land claim settlement.9)
In January 1968, Elijah resigned as chief and went to work at Faro. The following spring he was nominated as a Yukon Delegate to the National Liberal Leadership Convention. He and ten other Yukon delegates travelled to Ottawa. He was the sole First Nation person among the 3,000 delegates when Pierre Trudeau was voted in as leader. Elijah remained with Anvil Mining until the Indian Act hearings in October.10)
In October 1968, there was a three-day hearing in Whitehorse with the Minister of Northern Affairs, Jean Chretien, and Elijah Smith was chosen to present a paper prepared by the Whitehorse Indian Band Council. He suggested that revisions to the Indian Act was not wanted but instead a Land Claim was needed. No one but Elijah understood what this meant. Travelling with Chretien was the chief of the newly formed Indian Brotherhood, Walter Dieter. The Yukon Indian chiefs met the next day and under Walter's guidance, the Yukon Native Brotherhood was formed with Elijah Smith as the acting chief. Elijah travelled around the Yukon talking to the chiefs. A meeting to adopt a constitution and register as a Society was held at the Skookum Jim Hall during Rendezvous in February 1969 when everyone was in Whitehorse. Elijah was elected chief of the Yukon Native Brotherhood (YNB) at that meeting. He wanted the Yukon organization to match the Alaska Native Brotherhood in name.11)
In June 1969, DIAND issued a white paper to dissolve the department and transfer responsibilities to the provinces. Elijah found some funds to support the organization and he and Hoyt travelled to Ottawa every two month to attend National Indian Brotherhood meetings and talk to politicians and bureaucrats. In September 1970, Elijah received a Cultural Grant and started Yukon Indian Days where hundreds of Whitehorse residents visited the Whitehorse Indian Village for the first time.12)
The Yukon Native Brotherhood became the political voice for the Yukon Indian bands. Elijah travelled constantly. In late 1970, the organization received core funding and Hoyt officially went on Elijah's payroll. By 1971, Elijah had located Administrative, Recreation and Library funds for the bands and they opened offices throughout the Yukon, He hired Wally Firth from Fort McPherson as a Community Development Worker. A plane donated to the National Indian-Eskimo Association, Wally's former employer, was assigned to the Yukon and Wally flew Elijah and Ron Chambers around the Yukon to meetings. He looked to Alaska and decided that Yukon needed a comprehensive settlement, not just another treaty. He wanted land and money for his people in order to build an economic base and live their own way. He saw ownership of the cash box as the route and declined to talk to the press saying they would not listen until there was money in the bank. He appeared before several meetings of the House of Commons Standing Committee and talked about a comprehensive land claim.13)
In 1972, Elijah received funding to prepare a statement of grievances and the paper “Together Today for our children Tomorrow” was presented to Trudeau in 1973. Trudeau was impressed by the stand that Indians should decide who was and was not Indian. The Yukon Association of Non-Status Indians (YANSI) objected to being left out of the process. The two groups joined to create the Council of Yukon Indians (CYI) in October 1973. In June 1973, Trudeau appointed the federal negotiating team, and it was five months before the first meeting. The Yukon joined the negotiating talks in 1978. Elijah relinquished his leadership of YNB and CYI.14)
In 1977, Smith became the regional director general of the department of Indian and Native Affairs’ Indian-Eskimo program. He studied other nations’ land claims and travelled to New Zealand to celebrate the Maori land claim settlement.15) In June 1980, YANSI and CYI were united as CYI and Elijah became an advisor. In 1987, Elijah ran as a Liberal in the riding of Tatchun but lost to NDP Chief Danny Joe.16)
In 1976, Elijah Smith was awarded the Order of Canada for helping to unite Yukon First Nation people. In 1977, he was appointed the Yukon Regional Director-General for DIAND. In 1987, he received the Commissioner's Public Service Award. In 1991, he was awarded a Honorary Doctor of Civil Law degree from the University of British Columbia in recognition of his years of leadership and vision. Elijah Smith died in a highway traffic accident on his way to a meeting in Ross River. Three buildings in Whitehorse are named for him: Elijah Smith Elementary School, Elijah Smith federal building, and the Salvation Army Elijah Smith Lodge.17)
The Elijah Smith Building in Whitehorse was dedicated on 3 March 1993. Elijah had a vision of a proud Yukon First Nation people who honoured their traditional cultural ways of life and enjoyed a special relationship with the land. He was a mentor who encouraged First Nation youth people to stay in school. Many of those students would eventually play instrumental roles in land claims and self-government negotiations. He encouraged First Nations people to chase their dreams and to stand up and fight for their beliefs and traditions. He spent years dedicated to the preservation of native language and culture.18) Elijah Smith was a forthright, plain spoken man of wisdom and dedication. He had a lifelong passion for horses and had an acknowledged skill as a big game guide. He was a trusted advisor, mentor and role model; a modest person everyone could approach for counsel and guidance. He remained a man of complete integrity. He was an ardent advocate for traditional potlatches, some of which would not have happened without his help. He was devoted family man and very affectionate to his twenty-six grandchildren.19) NDP leader Audrey McLaughlin called him a great man who could unite others on the strength of his vision.20)
The presentation of Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow in 1973 started a twenty-year negotiation between Indigenous groups, and the federal and territorial governments. An agreement in principal was reached in 1989 when the framework agreement was signed. In 1993, the negotiators signed the Umbrella Final Agreement and individual First Nations started negotiating their individual final agreements.21)