Johnnie E. Smith, Kashgêk’ (1922 - 2010)
Johnnie Smith was born near the Marsh Lake dam to parents Kitty Smith and Chief Billy Smith. His great uncle was Skookum Jim and his uncle was Dawson Charlie. His father's country was the Wheaton River area where he and his family ran a trapline.1) The family moved to Teslin and just after the Alaska Highway was constructed, they hunted around Teslin and Wolf Lake and fished at Marsh Lake. Johnnie Smith was a well-known storyteller. He and his wife Annie had ten children.2)
Smith lived in many parts of the Yukon and never attended school. He met his wife Annie Fred in the 1940s. They lived in the Robinson area and in Whitehorse when the children were at school. They moved their tent frame from Black Street to the Old Village in 1950. They moved into housing there in 1956 and later lived in the New Village in McIntyre.3)
Johnnie Smith was elected chief of the Whitehorse Indian Band from 1969 to 1973, from 1981 to 1985, and from 1985 to 1988. The councillors from 1969 to 1973 were: Ronald Bill, Freddy Jackson, Irene McIntosh, Roy H. Sam, and Sweeny Scurvey. Annie Burns, Richard Peters and Andrew Joe were mid-term replacements. The councillors from 1981 to 1985 were: Howard MacIntosh, Michael Smith, Wayne Jim, Mary Jane Jim, Dianne Smith, and Jackie Kodwat. Annie Burns was a mid-term replacement. The councillors from 1985 to 1988 were: Larry Bill, Ronald Bill, Howard McIntosh, Roy H. Sam, Sophie Smarch, and Shirley Smith.4) In 1969, Chief Smith sat on a committee to create a new village as the Old Village was in the path of the sewage outfall from the Takhini subdivision above it.5)
Johnnie Smith was a member of the delegation that went to Ottawa with Elijah Smith in 1973 to present Together Today for our Children Tomorrow. He sat with the chiefs and strategists that worked with the Council of Yukon Indians during the land claim negotiations. He and his wife were dedicated to passing on their culture and traditions. They participated in culture camps and set up a tent in the McIntyre Village so Elders could share stories, crafts, and skills. Smith wrote a song that celebrated his people’s return to the Yukon River, and it was played during the opening of the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre in 2012.6)