These buildings are a significant record of early Anglican missionary and church incorporation into the Vuntut Gwitchin culture, and the continued importance of the church to the community of Old Crow. In 1926, as more people based their seasonal livelihood from Old Crow, the Archdeacon McDonald Memorial Church was built to serve the growing community. St. Luke’s was built to replace it in 1959 and served as a place of worship until 2012.

These churches were primary gathering places for social and religious events in Old Crow over the years. Prominent Gwich’in catechists, deacons, and ministers, including Julius Kendi, Joe Kyikavichik, and Ellen Bruce travelled far across the Gwich’in territory to minister to remote communities and camps. When in Old Crow they based their work from these churches. The churches also provided space for the Women’s Auxiliary, formed in 1929 by Persis Kendi. The Vuntut Gwitchin women were a social force within both the life of the church and as leaders in the community.

Archdeacon McDonald Memorial Church is named for Archdeacon Robert McDonald who ministered in northern Canada between 1871-1905, and was appointed Archdeacon of the Mackenzie Diocese in 1875. With the help of Gwich’in people, he and his wife Julia Kutag translated religious materials into Gwich’in dialects. This work increased Gwich’in participation in church activities across their traditional territory and established a literate tradition for the Gwich’in that continues today.

Archdeacon McDonald Memorial Church and St. Luke’s Church are excellent examples of northern church construction in the Yukon. Locally built largely with local materials, sometimes salvaged from other buildings, both churches are built in a functional vernacular log style, indicative of the limited building resources available in the remote Yukon community. Community members collected the logs used for the buildings, built the churches, and maintained them over the years. This is particularly evident by the various construction techniques used in the earlier Archdeacon McDonald Memorial Church. The later constructed St. Luke’s was built using piece sur piece construction—likely the last to employ this method in the Yukon. St. Luke’s comparatively larger massing and complex construction techniques reflect changing settlement patterns with the establishment of Old Crow as many Gwich’in took up permanent residence in the community.

Together the churches provide evidence of the growth and establishment of the Anglican Church within the Vuntut Gwitchin Traditional Territory, and are a testament to the complex legacy of Anglican missionary and church in the Yukon.

Additional Information

Record created for Yukon Register of Historic Places. See individual records.

Character Defining Elements

• Materials and craftsmanship of both St. Luke’s and AMMC reflects functional vernacular northern construction techniques, particularly the use of local materials and hewn log construction.

• The AMMCs relatively small size, steep gable roof, and two-part construction consisting of a nave and (chancel) addition, constructed with different style and techniques, including:

- Nave primarily constructed using squared logs and lapped square notches;

- Bottom logs of nave constructed with round logs and saddle notches;

- Chancel addition constructed of round logs with bark left on and V style notching;

- Oakum chinking with mud daubing on both the navel and chancel

- Past evidence of a bell tower constructed and later removed

• Saint Luke’s comparatively larger massing, piece sur piece construction and increasingly complex building techniques, including:

- a bell tower with a metal clad steeple;

- exterior trim;

- distinctive fenestration including 6/6 windows, stained-glass inserts, triangular trim over the nave windows, and transom window above the door to the nave;

- two volume interior space created by the narthex and nave;

- panel and batten interior wall finishing;

• The relationship between the historic place and its broader setting, particularly the orientation of the churches facing and overlooking the Porcupine River, including unobstructed views both to and from the river.

• The churches siting on their original locations, and their close spatial and visual relationship to each other, central to the community and easy to access from all parts of town.

• The evidence of historic and continued use and reuse of the buildings by the people of Old Crow and the Anglican Church for community, social and religious purposes.

Cultural History

Gwich’in Anglican Catechist, John Tizya, had a seasonal hunting and fishing camp on the Porcupine River at the confluence of the Old Crow River. By 1904, other people also began to spend time here. Reverend Totty, who was at the mission at Rampart House in 1918, recommended that a mission be established in Old Crow as many local people were using the site. The first mission buildings were cabins that served as both church and residence until the Archdeacon McDonald Memorial Church was built in 1926. The roof and flooring for the new building may have been salvaged from St. Luke’s Church, in Rampart House.

The community continued to grow and outgrew the church, which may also had structural problems. The new St. Luke’s was built in 1959. While Reverend Hamilton arranged for windows and some hardware and lumber, mostly local materials were used that were collected by the village inhabitants. It is interesting to note that Christ Church Cathedral in Whitehorse, a thoroughly modern, architect-designed, brick and glass building was erected just one year later; a sharp contrast to the rustic building put up in this remote community.

Of great importance to the life of the Anglican Church in Old Crow were the native catechists who, for most of the church’s existence, were the people who carried the word on the land and also held services in the community.

Julius Kendi:

Julius Kendi was born in the Peel River country. A dedicated church worker, he was ordained as a catechist by Bishop Stringer in 1910. Kendi was sent to many communities in the Yukon. He was instrumental in helping to establish the Na-Cho Nyak Dun community at Mayo in 1916. His wife Persis organized the first Women’s Auxiliary there. In 1918, Julius was ordained as Deacon at Moosehide near Dawson City. From there he was sent to the head of the Peel River. Over the years, he was regularly reassigned but was in Old Crow from 1929–41. At that time, Persis Kendi began the Women’s Auxiliary with 35 members in a village of 200 people. The Kendis returned to Old Crow briefly in 1946. Julius Kendi passed away in Dawson City in 1948.

Amos Njootli:

Amos Njootli was ordained in 1911 as a deacon by Bishop Stringer. His first posting was as full-time minister at Rampart House in 1911. He arrived at the onset of a suspected smallpox epidemic and was put into quarantine on a nearby island where he set up a big tent for holding services. Reverend Njootli was well liked, spoke Gwich'in, and spent winters out on the land, holding church services for his travelling congregation. He died at Rampart House in 1923.

Fhullana Joseph Kikavichik:

Joe Kikavichik, or Joe K, epitomized the importance of the First Nations catechists in the work of the Anglican Church in the North. As Reverend Kenah Exham said of him: 'Missionaries have come and gone in Old Crow, but Joseph Kikavichik has carried on this important ministry through it all, for 50 years.'

When Joe K. was a boy, he assisted his father John Kikavichik who was also a catechist. Together they travelled to the scattered camps of the Gwich'in to hold services and minister to their spiritual needs. One of Joe’s jobs was to go from tent to tent gathering up people for the services. He eventually bought his own Bible, Prayer Book, and Hymnal in the Takudh language. In recognition of his dedication and outstanding qualities, in 1918, Bishop Stringer asked Joe to carry on the services in Old Crow. It was a duty he performed for over 50 years.

Joe also ministered to the family needs of his community as chief and taught his own children to read Takudh. One of his children, Ellen Bruce, carried on his work after he died in 1972.

Ellen Bruce:

Ellen Bruce was the daughter of Joe Kikavichik, a catechist. She was born at Rampart House in 1911 and moved from camp to camp with her family. While her father ministered to the spiritual needs of the Vuntut Gwitchin while following the seasonal round of hunting and fishing. Her father taught her to read and conduct church services from an early age. When the family moved to Old Crow, Ellen became more deeply involved in the Church through the Women’s Auxiliary established by Persis Kendi. She moved permanently to Old Crow in 1949 and dedicated more time to the Church. After her father died in 1972, she assumed many of his responsibilities. In the early 1980s, she was licensed as a lay reader along with Edith Josie, Charlie Peter Charlie, and Effie Linklater. Ellen was ordained as deacon in 1984 and, with the encouragement of Bishop Ferris, was ordained priest in 1987. She became the first First Nations woman in the North ordained in the Anglican Church.

In 1986 she received an honorary Doctor of Divinity from St. Stephen’s College (University of Alberta) and, in 1990, Ellen was awarded the Order of Canada. The citation read: 'The spiritual leader of Old Crow and the North's first native woman to be ordained an Anglican minister, she has sustained and promoted the cultural integrity of the Vuntut Gwitchin for over 50 years, helping them adapt from camp life to community life.'

She was a strong and holy woman who had a powerful impact on Indigenous people and non-indigenous alike. Ellen Bruce died in 2010 at the age of 98.

Effie Linklater:

Effie Linklater was the granddaughter of Robert McDonald. She knew from the time she was a young girl attending St. Paul’s Anglican Hostel in Dawson City that she wanted to dedicate her life to the church. She was called back to Old Crow, however, to follow a traditional life, and she married and raised a family. Through this time, she was faithful to the church and active in the Women’s Auxiliary. In 1989, she was ordained as a deacon and led services in the Old Log Church (St. Simon’s) in Whitehorse.

Edith Josie:

She was born in Eagle, Alaska and moved to Old Crow in 1940 at the age of 16. Edith Josie gained renown for her weekly newspaper column in the Whitehorse Star, "Here Are the News" in which she painted pictures of life in Old Crow in her own voice. A devout churchgoer, she became a lay reader. In 1995, she received the Order of Canada and, in 2000, the National Aboriginal Achievement Award for her writing and contributions to Gwich'in culture. Edith passed away in 2010.[46]

Citations:

46: Old Log Church exhibit, The Exham Years: Catechists, https://www.exhamexhibit.com/the-catechists, research by Rob Ingram, Midnight Arts.