Yukon who is who

Charlie Isaac (1912 – 1975)

Charlie Isaac was born in Moosehide to parents Chief Isaac and Eliza Harper Isaac. Isaac became a wage earner while still in his teens to support his mother and young brothers and sisters.¹⁾ Charlie succeeded his father as hereditary chief of the Hän-speaking people after his father died in 1932. In 1941, he handed over his role as chief to a council of elders and he and George Walters went to Vancouver to enlist for service in the Second World War.²⁾

Charlie was stationed at the old Vancouver Hotel barracks in April 1942 after graduating in motor mechanics at the Vancouver Trade School. He met some other Yukon soldiers enjoying the sunshine in front of the hotel: Sapper Charlie Ross, privates George Maddocks, Henry Siemers, Axel Nordling, Ian Aldcroft, Otto Nordling, Alan Gould, and corporals Tommy Rodgers and Dan Olds. Isaac was placed with an artillery regiment on Vancouver Island and he took a signalling course in Victoria. He didn’t like the noisy guns so he transferred to the Royal Canadian Ordinance Corps in 1942 and went back east. He was sent overseas after training and served as an ammunition bearer in England, France, Holland and Italy. His medals include the 39-42 Star, Italy Star, France and German Star, Defence Medal, and the Volunteer Service medal and clasp.³⁾

After the war, Isaac returned to Dawson and carried on as chief. He worked with government to try and improve the conditions of his people. During his leadership, the people at Moosehide were moved into town and supplied with modern homes, electricity and running water. Charlie preferred Moosehide and moved back to the old village with his older brother Frank. Charlie had a sharp sense of humour and often told government officials that the government had taken his land, and he went to war to save it for them. He suffered from malaria and serious arthritis and finally moved to the George Derby Veterans Centre in Burnaby where he passed away suddenly at the age of sixty-three. Charlie Isaac is buried in the cemetery above Dawson. ⁴⁾