Michele LeTourneau
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Jan 24/00) - The new NWT mace unveiled Jan. 14 in the legislative assembly in Yellowknife has several distinguishing features, but one in particular that makes it unique worldwide.

Contained within the mace's shaft are pebbles collected from the western territory's 33 communities. The sound of the pebbles when moved represents the united voices of the people.

The words "One land, many voices," engraved on a band of silver beneath the three-dimensional snowflake crown on the mace, is translated into the 10 official NWT languages.

A silver cross-piece in the centre of the crown symbolizes a teepee. An ulu, a house and one of the first diamonds from the Ekati mine rests at the pinnacle.

Northern scenes, carved out of stromatolite from the east arm of Great Slave Lake, are carved in the head of the mace. Beadwork, in the Delta braid, and quillwork, by Rosie Firth and Sarah Hardisty, adorn the top and bottom of the shaft.

The white-marble base depicts the Mackenzie region, and 33 communities are again represented with 33 gold nuggets set in a circle. The mace even bears a similarity to the previous one in that the shaft resembles a narwhal tusk.

The carvers -- Bill Nasogaluak (Inuvialuit), Dolphus Cadieux (Dene), and metal artist Allyson Simmie -- who designed the new mace talked to News/North about their work. Simmie was interviewed before the unveiling of the mace and Cadieux and Nasogaluak after. Sarah Hardisty and Rosie Firth, the two elders responsible for the quillwork and beadwork, as well as Simmie's dad, Drew Simmie, who travelled from Ottawa to attend the unveiling, also talked about the mace.

Allyson Simmie: I'm pretty nervous. It's a pretty big deal. It certainly feels that way anyway. My dad's here with me and I said to him this morning (the day before the unveiling), "You know what? Now, I'm rattled."

Sarah Hardisty (translated by her daughter): Because it's going to be representing the North and it's going to be in the legislative assembly, I thought it was very important. So I feel good to have contributed the work I have done. I am very happy about that.

Simmie: The driving force behind it for me is that, since I've been coming to the North, I've really personally gotten so much from the people that I saw this as an opportunity to give something back. It's very personal. That's what's driving it, more than the historical aspect.

Rosie Firth: I am very pleased to be honoured to do the beadwork, the Delta braid, because some day down the road my grandchildren will say, long after I'm gone, they'll say, "My grandmother did this work."

Bill Nasogaluak: To me, it's being involved in something very historical, that's the most rewarding. It's bigger than us as individuals. As far as I can see, it's the last mace for this western territory. And we've designed it to be functional, as opposed to the previous one, which lasted two years. We're hoping it will be functional for years to come.

Dolphus Cadieux: Working under a deadline...the pressure of that. There's no way out. Even up to the last day, there was at times, a lot of pressure in different areas. For instance, the marble pieces. At one point there were pieces of marble that was cut, but when we got them cut, they were broken. So we couldn't use them. There was a lot of things like that that happened. (Usually, a carver will work around such accidental breakage.)

Nasogaluak: The biggest challenge for me was to reach to the deepest part of you to be creative within those strict parameters (shape and size) that were given to us. Another big challenge was the weight restriction, it had to be under 35 pounds. It was one of our biggest concerns.

Simmie: I would like people to be proud of it, to call it their own.

Cadieux: I was kind of gauging the public (at the unveiling) and trying to see their response. I think a lot of people were really pleased. There's a lot of imagery in there that involves all the Northwest Territories.

Simmie: Depending on who you ask, the orb represents different things. To me, it's the midnight sun. To Bill, it's the world. To Dolphus, it's something else.

Drew Simmie: Everybody in the family is pretty proud of this lady. Occasionally, this kind of stuff comes up and you can really see the kind of work that she does. It's super. Really super. There's a tremendous amount of hard work and talent that goes into these kinds of endeavours. I've seen what the three of them went through these last six months.

Simmie: We were coming right down to the wire. I went over to help those guys with the base, it was all together and we were looking at it...and I said, "Despite all the stress and everything we've been through on this project, we really seemed to be able to pull it together as a team." I was amazed. Because, of course, we are totally different, we work differently; different styles and strengths and weaknesses. It wasn't always easy.

Cadieux: The completion of the project...it still hasn't really hit me. Now, you go back and reflect on it. I learned a lot of new skills, like in metalwork. That interests me. I've gained a lot of knowledge and a lot of respect for people in that industry. I'm thinking, now, of incorporating metals, especially jewels, into my sculptures.

Nasogaluak: It's still very new to me, in the sense that it's too immediate. If there's a final feeling it's that it really is out of our hands. It's on to our lives again. It was a long, hard road and now we let it go.