Yellowknife as bonsai heaven Dr. Ian Gilchrist is a bit like the many and varied bonsai trees he shuttles from one place to another in and around his Yellowknife home, seeking the optimal conditions for their well-being. At 78, the retired territorial chief medical health officer was born in Nova Scotia and spent much of
Three years ago, the goats came to town. They arrived on a tractor-trailer from Alberta, along with a wood crate, a bunch of hay bales and a couple of gunny sacks of oats. Annie, the nanny, and Cleo, her kid, settled in nicely, capturing the city’s public imagination from their fenced-in yard in downtown Yellowknife.
Dry cold or not, you’d think after nearly a quarter century of Yellowknife winters I should have a pretty good idea of what to expect; that I’ve accepted, if not embraced, that the tiniest wind at -30 will feel like a machete ripping apart my forehead, or that darkness – with its daytime ally greyness
On EDGE: Opinion Samantha Merritt I have lived in Yellowknife for nearly 23 years. When I first arrived, a young teen from small-town farming Ontario, Yellowknife seemed a big city. But not home. I was from Ontario. I would go back there in a year…in two years….after four years, I did go back. I left
As of April first, a legal contract with Canada expands the Government of the Northwest Territories’ authority and its bureaucracy to manage public land, water and resources. It’s called devolution, and it’s no joke. More revenue from resources such as mining, oil and gas will stay in the NWT instead of flowing directly to Ottawa.
The artist as a child A place to let my imagination run wild How I Got Here Terry Pamplin I did not want to be born. I was content to remain awash in the comfort of my mother’s belly. I was three weeks late according to my mother’s doctor, Doctor Odd, but the world’s timetables
How pointing a lens at something changes it When you measure something, you change it. The cruder the instrument you use to measure, the more you change the thing you’re measuring. Think of a tire pressure gauge. When you stick the gauge on the valve, it hisses and lets some air out. By trying to
(Yeah, see you around) Old Town Versifier: Anthony Foliot She’s thinking about leaving, but she’s not sure what she’ll do, perhaps the daily grind has got her down. She’s thinking ‘bout leaving, and she sure is feeling blue, and wonders if it’s time to leave this town. So I told her that it’s crazy and
EDGEitorial In a move worthy of a dictatorship in some distant banana republic, the Northwest Territories unelected premier, cabinet, and a handful of MLAs in what passes for the official opposition in the territory’s sorry pantomime of consensus governance have voted to extend their term in office, likely until sometime in 2016. The gang of
The game’s changed a bit from this time, when kids grabbed their sticks – sometimes carved from a crooked willow branch – and boots and anything handy for goalposts. Traffic always gave us the right of way, and if we didn’t have pucks or balls, there was always a good supply of frozen dog turds
by Brad Heath The North grasps a different hold on each of us; some stay briefly and others for a lifetime. Then there are people such as science fiction author Hayden Trenholm who physically move away, but leave their creative spirit forever linked. The former Yellowknifer is a self-described jack-of-all-trades: publisher, editor, playwright, novelist, writing
Unconditional love is hard to find; yet it’s the one thing we need most of all. It gets lost in our everyday lives as we worry more about creating an impression and making money than being kind, and loving the people around us. We don’t realize how self-centered we’ve become or what’s missing until it’s
YK Painter Jennifer Walden connects the world with the wild Jennifer Walden, the 38-year-old, Toronto-born painter who has made Yellowknife home since 2002, is on a roll. Together with her two young children, she spent the winter in Florence, Italy studying figure and fresco painting while her largest exhibition, “The Land at the End of
While living in Montreal I worked on a series of portraits of people involved in urban agriculture initiatives. I was inspired by the creative ways in which these people were educating others, growing food and challenging the current model of large-scale agriculture. They were all passionate about their work and willing to spend time with
Dook’s Look Back Nineteen-seventy was a big year for Yellowknife. The Royal Family was coming to help us celebrate the centenary of the Northwest Territories. The Royal Family! Or at least most of them – the Queen, her husband Prince Phillip; jug-eared, but interestingly single heir to the throne Charles, and his teenage sister Anne,