Ida Calmegane, Kaax’ahshee, La.oos (b. 1928)
Ida Calmegane was born at Little Atlin Lake to Angela and George Sidney. Ida’s maternal grandparents lived in Carcross and her mother’s father was raised in the Carcross area. Her maternal grandmother was born at Log Cabin and her mother was born at Dyea. They were at Dyea because both grandparents packed loads over the Chilkoot Pass for the stampeders. They received fifty cents a trip. Ida’s grandmother’s mother looked after the children while her grandparent packed. Her grandmother would hike from Dyea to Lindeman and back again in one day in order to be with the children at night. The women would carry fifty pound packs of drygoods and the men carried more. Ida’s father was born at the mouth of the Taku River when the Juneau people were putting up salmon. Ida is considered a Tagish person, from her mother’s side – a Deisheetaan (Crow) of the Beaver Clan. Her father is Yanyeidi, a Wolf from the Eagle Clan, and his people used the Killer Whale emblem as well.1) Ida's grandmother Maria John and Daisy Smith made a bush camp away from the main camp for the traditional birth of the children. Ida was named La.oos (busy mother) Kaax' anshee (a man's song). She was raised traditionally through trapping, hunting, fishing, and gathering from the land.2)
Ida attended the Chooutla Residential School in the 1940s but was able to travel home on the weekends and preserve her Tlingit language.3) She was walking near the train station when she saw the first train pull through full of soldiers. Day after day there were soldiers going to Whitehorse and soon they were coming into Carcross as well. Carcross was a supply station for people working on the road from Carcross to Teslin. Before the army came, there were only three vehicles in Carcross. They were owned by Ida’s father, Johnny Johns, and George Simmons.4)
Ida was fourteen in 1942 and she attended the local mission school until it burned down in 1940, and then classes were scattered among a number of buildings in Carcross. She remembers that two soldiers were discovered to be making regular overnight visits to the girls’ dormitory and this is confirmed by police reports at the time. The school closed in 1942 and didn’t re-open until after the soldiers left in 1944. Ida did not return to school but instead studied at home and learned sewing and other skills from her mother. She babysat for families of the Standard Oil employees who were working on the Canol pipeline.5)
Ida worked at the Caribou Hotel after the soldiers left. She went to work in 1947, being too young before that. Things changed after everyone got cars. Before that, people had dog teams and went to Whitehorse a couple of times of year but with a car you could go every day.6)
Ida married Douglas Low (Tahltan and Naanya.aayi ancestry) in 1947 and they raised five children. She volunteered on the Indian Advancement Organization Board (one of their projects was the building of the Skookum Jim Friendship Centre) and the Anglican Church Women's Association. In 1962, the Low family began a big game and outfitting business, and Ida kept the books and did administration. In 1975, Ida became a certified nursing assistant employed at the Whitehorse General Hospital. In 1989, she certified as a Community Health Worker and a year later as a certified counsellor graduating from the Niche Institute on Traditional Alcohol and Drug Treatment. Ida returned to Carcross in 1989 to care for her mother and to work for the Carcross/Tagish First Nation as the community health representative. She expanded her knowledge of traditional medicines and became recognized as a leader in their use.7)
After she remarried, Ida and Henry Calmegane lived quietly in Tagish where they cared for a large garden. In 1993, Ida received the Joe Sylvester Award, the Contribution to Health Award and an award from the Yukon Women's Directorate for her contributions as a woman in traditional healing and research. Ida was appointed to the Whitehorse General Hospital Board (1997-2007) and was a consultant for the First Nations Longitudinal Regional Health Survey (2005-2009). In 2010, she was invited to teach surgeon/physician students about cultural medicine in London. England. Ida was on the Board of the Skookum Jim Friendship Centre and a member of the Yukon Government curriculum working group. She holds an Aboriginal teaching degree from Yukon College and is a member of the National Aboriginal Diabetes Association of Canada. Ida enjoys teaching culture and language and she worked in the schools, the Carcross day care, women's groups, children's summer camps, and the Whitehorse Correctional Centre. She is the Deisheetaan matriarch for Yukon and south-east Alaska. Ida Calmegane was awarded the 2010 Yukon Historical and Museums Association (YHMA) Volunteer of the Year Award.8)