Daniel MacIsaac
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 16/99) - Stanley and Ruth Kozak's visit to the legislature was the result of an accident -- a happy accident as it turned out.

The couple, from St. Catherines, Ont., had driven their massive motorhome all the way across the country and pulled into Yellowknife on Tuesday morning. On the look-out for the visitors centre, Stanley said they spotted a domed building through the trees.

"We walked over and the security guard told us it was the legislature and that a tour was just starting," he said.

The couple said they didn't regret the mixup and they opted for the tour. In their 60s they are, after all, experienced travellers who've explored most of North America's highways and byways. If anything, the Kozaks said the bumpy road to Yellowknife only served to make the legislature look that much more intriguing.

"It's a wonder how a building like this could rise from the wilderness," said Stanley.

But the real treasures of the legislature -- and there are a lot of them -- are found within the building and are revealed daily by guide Erin McDonald.

The University of Alberta student explained that the building itself was designed by local architect Gino Pin in co-operation with Ferguson Simek Clark and was completed at a cost of $25 million. It houses an impressive array of artwork -- including the soon-to-be retired territorial mace, sculptures, paintings by Nunavut artists and 10 oil works of Yellowknife by the Group of Seven's A.Y. Jackson.

McDonald told the tour that part of the collection includes gifts presented by the provinces and Yukon when the legislature opened in 1993. These include the wooden NWT coat of arms given by Alberta, a soapstone sculpture from Quebec and a clock from British Columbia.

But Kozak said he was more interested in his own provinces's contribution -- a multi-layered forestscape hanging outside the second-floor Committee Room.

"You kinda got it hid over by itself there," he laughed, adding, "I'd better go see where my money's gone."

While the building may not have had time to acquire much history, the designers' attention to detail is impressive. McDonald pointed out the compass-shaped light fixture in the Caucus Room, "designed to guide the members," and glass panels in the assembly gallery that reflect subtle shades of colour and represent the changing seasons around the North.

Despite rustic touches like sealskin leather couches and a stuffed falcon, McDonald said she's never heard of an animal-loving tourist crying foul.

Indeed, Helen and Ken Lister from Ottawa were amazed by the different themes represented in the building's art offerings.

"Hunting is a way of life up here," said Helen, gazing over the gallery railing at a massive polar bear rug on the assembly floor. "Aboriginals are responsible hunters and that tradition can't be taken away from them."

Gerry Watson from Bridgetown, N.S., and Ariane Lunardi from Sechelt, B.C., were part of the Trees Canada ambassadors group touring the legislature on Tuesday -- and added their youthful perspective to the tour.

They both contrasted the look of the modern NWT assembly to the more traditional, staid legislatures in Halifax and Victoria.

"I guess it's appropriate that Yellowknife has a modern building," said Lunardi, 17. "The Northwest Territories is a newer place with a newer government."