|
Island Memorial Patrol 2004 |
|
The Patrol - In the front L-R - Cst. Bryon Lasson, Elder Stephen Frost Sr., and Danny Kassi.
In the back L-R - Kibbe Tetlichi, Cpl. Kim MacKellar, and Dennis Frost Sr.
An expedition team of six participants, including RCMP officers Corporal Kim MacKellar, Constable Bryan Lasson and Special Constable Danny Kassi along with Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation representatives, Elder Stephen Frost Sr., Dennis Frost Sr., and representing the youth, Kibbe Tetlichi. All six participants will be trekking 600 kilometers on snowmobile from Old Crow RCMP Detachment to Herschel Island Detachment area.
Herschel Island is in the Detachment area of Old Crow RCMP and, although not regularly patrolled, there are two grave sites which require yearly maintenance.
Vuntut Gwitchin Elder Andrew Tizya, will escort the party out of Old Crow for the first few Kilometers by dog team. Andrew took part in the last dog-team patrol 35 years ago in 1969.
The expedition will commence from Old Crow, head north through the Old Crow Flats to Timber River, northeast to Babbage River and straight out to the Coast where they will continue to Herschel Island. The four to five days return trip will go through Old Crow Flats and the Vuntut and Ivvavik National Parks.
When on Herschel Island, the patrol team will visit a former Northwest Mounted Police (NWMP) Detachment and pay their respects to two NWMP graves. Sergeant Eardley Aubyn Selig and Constable Alexander Lamont both perished in the line of duty while stationed at Herschel Island. Members of the Old Crow Detachment plan to return in the summer to repair the grave sites and the surrounding fences which need maintenance due to weather exposure over the past several years.
RCMP northern patrols by dog-team were very common in the Yukon and were replaced with airplanes and snowmobiles. The RCMP formally recognized the end of an era with the last patrol by dog-team, from Old Crow to Fort McPherson in 1969.
Marked in red, Old Crow to Herschel Island Route
Map updated daily with patrol progress. Please check back.
VGFN IS department employee Tammy Josie traveled a ways into Crow Flats with the patrol on Sunday to photograph the start of the expedition.
