Agnes Johnson Jèdàlįmą (1943 – 2021)
Agnes Johnson was born at Thè K’u (Salmon Patch) to parents Jessie Allen and Sam Johnson Sr. Agnes was the fifth in a family of ten children. She went to the Lower Post residential school when she was 7 or 8 and stayed to maybe grade 9 or 10. She and others came home to Burwash for about a month every year. The children were not fed well, and never with traditional food. They were punished if they spoke their own language, so she had to relearn her culture after she was finished school. She worked at the Burwash Lodge as a chambermaid and then, in the early 1970s, went for two years to the Vocational School in Whitehorse to study life skills and human development. Agnes worked for the Kluane Tribal Council from 1972 to 1998. She worked in health, education, social assistance and as drug and alcohol addiction worker. When Joe Joe Johnson was chief, Agnes worked with him to improve the social assistance program. Agnes was chief from 1989 to 1991 and served on the Council for three terms: 1981-83, 1985-89, and 1993-96. In the 1990s she was involved in land claims and represented Kluane First Nation on many committees. She was the First Nations representative on the Yukon Government Advisory Council on Indian Child Welfare. Agnes raised seven children and felt lucky to have many grandchildren.1)