Virginia Smarch, Gadzoosdaa (b. 1914)
Virginia Smarch was of Tlingit and Scot heritage, born and raised at Teslin Lake.1) She was the first teacher of the Tlingit language in the Teslin school. Over the years, she generously translated at meetings and spoke at gatherings of young people. She was a superb teller of legends with appropriate lessons and insights that applied to present-day conditions. The Gadzoosdaa Student Residence for high school students in Whitehorse was named in her honour.2) In 1981, Virginia’s fish camp on the Teslin was the subject of a CBC television show. George Henry of CYI (now Council of Yukon First Nations) took a crew to the fish camp in the summer of 1980 to film the unique method of salmon fishing called drifting. The fishermen used two boats with a net stretched between them. They drifted downstream about one-quarter of a mile and trapped the king salmon swimming upstream. Virginia Smarch ran the camp for forty-years. She learned the skill from George Henry’s grandparents, Kate and Joe Henry of Johnson’s Crossing. They started using the drifting process in the 1920s. The film shows Virginia’s skill in preparing and smoking the fish.3)
Virginia watched the Alaska Highway being built through her land. Her husband was not allowed to hunt or trap without a license and her children were leaving the bush way of life and this all started with the construction of the highway.4) Artist Ed Smarch may have left the bush way of life, but he remembers and strongly believes his mother’s lessons on taking care of the land and the water.5)
The Council of Yukon First Nations’ Virginia Smarch Health Award is given at the Yukon First Nations Graduation to a student who shows academic achievement in Math 12 and Science 12.