Billy Peter Johnnie, Gozéga (1930 – 2002)
Billy Johnnie was born in the Carmacks area, the youngest of thirteen children born to Lucy Isaac and Little Peter Johnnie. The family moved to [Tr’ochëk] looking for employment in Dawson and Billy worked at Ken Garvice’s store in Dawson and then was a deckhand on the Yukon River steamers. The family moved back to Carmacks in the early 1940s where Billy met his future wife Violet. They were married in 1957 and together raised eleven children.1)
In Carmacks, Billy worked for the Yukon Coal Company and Keno Hill Mines coal mine for twenty-two years. When Anvil Mines took over the coal mine, he continued to work there until the underground mine caught fire in 1978. The family then moved to Faro where Billy worked for Anvil Mines until the mine shut down in 1982. He received a certificate for days worked without a lost time accident and an award for not missing a day of work in twenty-five years.2)
After retirement, Billy worked on various projects including the cleanup and restoration of burial sites at Big Salmon and Little Salmon villages, and Tatchun and Frenchman lakes. He also spent many summers cleaning up abandoned telegraph wire along the Yukon River from Big Salmon to Minto.3)
Billy and his family moved to their fish camp at Little Salmon Village every summer where children and grandchildren were taught the heritage and culture of the area. In 2001, he ran a training camp for First Nation adults who missed an opportunity to experience a fish camp. He and Violet worked with a Japanese film company producing an educational video on First Nation traditional lifestyle. Billy served as Elder Councillor for the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nation for the eight years before his passing and the depth of his knowledge and wisdom is sorely missed.4)