The FTF (Franco-Tenois Federation) is in charge of linguistic rights for francophones. Radio Taïga (CIVR) and L’Aquilon newspaper cover broadcasting the news in French. Also, some schools offer education in French only, while others have French immersion programs.
In the NWT, there is a project of building a pipeline along the Mackenzie River that would spread from the river delta that flows in the Arctic Ocean to the North of Alberta. This project would ensure the prosperity of four aboriginal nations affected by this plan: presently, two nations approve the project and two others are rejecting it… déjà vu!
If an agreement is reached between the natives, the pipeline project would allow the construction of a road network that would link 35 NWT villages. Indeed, north of the 60th parallel, roads are just about non-existent, except for highway 1 and 3, the connections between 40,000 inhabitants of small communities are insured by boats, planes, helicopters and snowmobiles.
The area has enormous financial assets: diamonds, lead and zinc which brings me to souvenirs of my father-in-law.
Pine Point Mine
Orphaned of his father at 6 years old, at the beginning of the twenties, the mother of my father-in-law Leonard had to scatter most of her five children among relatives. My father-in-law ended up in Toronto, uprooted to say the least. His aunt, Mabel (Jenner) Reed, the sister of his deceased father took charge of him. Her husband, Jack Reid was a mining engineer. Aunt Mabel, who didn’t have any children of her own, took good care of Leonard and gave him a lot of affection. She taught him how to play the piano; he attended the best schools… while Jack Reid, her mining engineer husband, travelled all over the world, looking for precious metals.
One fine day, at the end of the twenties, Honest Jack Reed, that was the moniker given to him in by the mining industry, took his luggage (pack sacks) to Pine Point, near Fort Resolution, one of the oldest communities in Western NWT, located on Slave River Delta, which is still today one of the biggest open pit mines in the world. Honest Jack was responsible for the first major pre-mining works on the lead and zinc deposit discovered in 1895.
My father-in-law passed away in August 2002. I remember him as a good-looking man, he was quiet and discreet. I was very fond of him.
I also have nice souvenirs of his stay with Aunt Mabel. Among them, a lovely bronze cigar box that belonged to his uncle Jack Reid, the mining engineer who set the foundations of Pine Point Mine, the absent husband of Aunt Mabel.
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