Yukon Elder chronicles life in tiny community

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She's the "sweetie" of the Yukon, and a walkin' encyclopedia of information about the traditional lifestyles of her Gwich'in First Nation people.

More importantly, for 31 years Edith Josie has shared her knowledge by being a regular correspondent for the Whitehorse Star newspaper. Seventy-two year old Josie, a Vuntut Gwich'in Indian from Old Crow, the most northerly point of human settlement in the Yukon, has been writing her column Here Are The News since late 1962.

Select pieces of her work were published as "The Best of Edith Josie," in both 1963 and 1964, and re-published in '77. The writings have also been translated into Finnish, Italian, German, and Spanish.

In 1965, Life Magazine ran a four-page spread on this living legend who continues to crank out stories of life in the northern Yukon. Two years later, she was awarded the Canada Centennial Medal for her "contribution to the nation."

Josie writes like she talks, and that is precisely what gives her work so much spice. That, coupled with her subject matter. Her recall is extraordinary and she writes largely of the people, the land, the climate, survival by hunting, fishing and trapping, who goes in and out of the community and when, etc.

The column is like one long diary which, in reality, is very much a running history of life and culture in Old Crow. Her memorandums are a fine tribute to her perceptive eye, sharp wit, keen mind, and great sense of humor.

Josie only has a Grade 6 education and is not well versed in English grammar. Still, readers love and long for her material, and when anyone in Whitehorse hears that she is making an appearance around town or elsewhere, they flock to see and listen to this grand little lady.

Josie loves telling about her upbringing. Her folks were originally from Fort McPherson. They moved to Eagle, Alaska, which is where Josie was born. There she was raised in a one-room log house with no power and no running water, only a wood stove for heat and cooking, and kerosene lamps for lighting.

Then the family moved to Old Crows in the fall of 1940. They've been there ever since. It was always a good area for caribou and other wildlife with which families were able to sustain themselves. Today though, according to Josie, so many of the people are getting away from hunting, trapping and fishing for their livelihood. Old Crow with a tiny population of just 200 or so, can't boast of many physical structures. It does, nonetheless, have a school, co-op store (no Hudson's Bay, believe it or not!), a health clinic and an RCMP station.

At one time, there was a Catholic church. That was in the 1960s, but it closed down in 1969 "because nobody is Catholic, and nobody goes to their church," Josie explained. Thus, the co-op store and St. Luke's Anglican church have maintained a monopoly on local business from the residents of Old Crow.

The preservation and use of their language and culture are of deep concern to Josie. To help retain the language, the school hired two local people, Evelyn Charlie and Annie Lord. One of the main contributors to the loss of culture and language is the television, charges Josie.

"They just watch the television, they have video tapes...just sit there day and night, and hardly anybody out fishing or trapping," she complains.

Josie had four brothers. Three are already gone from this life. The last one, Albert Pual, she didn't meet until last summer down in Washington. They had not seen each other in 43 years. Josie says he refused to consider a move to Old Crow because, "it's too cold there." As for their family name of Paul, Josie says they lost it when they moved to Old Crow. That's when the Mounties gave them the last name of Josie.

Josie got her start in writing for the Star in late 1962 after she was approached by Reverend James Simon and his wife, Sarah. They'd been asked by the Star's editor, Harry Boyle, to see if they could locate someone to serve as their Old Crow correspondent. One reasn the Simons went to Edith Josie was because she was a single parent with no man to help her and her two children.

Today, Josie is still plugging away at her writing. Then she ships the stories down to the Whitehorse Star for publication so the readers can enjoy still more of her northern stories. Thanks to Josie and the Star, people everywhere are all the richer because of the culture and lifestyle that are woven into the many, many stories of that "sweetie," Edith Josie.

Jan. 19. - Not many fur this winter. Some boys killed few mink and martin, just enough to buy grub for their selves. Some of the boys had no dog, but they cut wood for sale, so they could buy grub and tobacco.