EDITH JOSIE

Edith Josie’s parents were from Fort McPherson and moved to Eagle, Alaska in the days when no one travelling on the land noticed the Alaska/Yukon border. Edith and her four brothers were born in Eagle and the family moved to Old Crow in the early 1940s when Edith was 19. She remembers the community as extremely remote and isolated.

In 1962, Edith started writing for the Whitehorse Star and her “Here are the News” column was so popular that it ran for 30 years and newspapers in Edmonton and Toronto picked it up. Her articles have been translated into German, Italian, Spanish, and Finnish and published in a book with the same name as her column.

Edith documented the changes occurring in the north during her lifetime and helped to keep the history and culture of her people alive for future generations. She received the Canadian Centennial Award in 1967, was awarded the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012. Edith was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 1995 for her contributions to her community and the nation.