Paul Bickford
Northern News Services

Fort Smith (Sep 23/02) - Jacques van Pelt is a colourful character.

The 69-year-old has lived in the NWT for over 40 years, and in that time, he's had several careers -- teacher, local government organizer and eco-touring guide and outfitter.

Jacques van Pelt of Fort Smith is well-known for his work to help protect the pelicans of the Slave River. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

In Fort Smith -- where he has lived since 1961 in an octagon house in the side of Axehandle Hill -- he is famed for his work to preserve the pelicans of the Slave River, resulting in the affectionate nickname Jacques van Pelican.

News/North: How did you become involved in preserving pelicans on the Slave River?

Jacques van Pelt: In 1974, I had already had 10 years of observation on a private basis and seen the colony was really low in numbers and very low in production. In 1974, we had something like 27 nests and 21 chicks. Previous numbers from 1905-1907 showed there were hundreds of them. There were overflights at dangerously low levels causing disturbances and there was abuse. ... The numbers were going down and they were at the low end. So I went to the Alberta government, the Canadian Wildlife Service and the local town hall, and asked if we could do a study on the threshold level for disturbance so that the pelicans wouldn't abandon their chicks.

N/N: You've been involved in the preservation of the pelicans ever since?

JvP: For 28 years. This is not me alone. There are numerous people doing the photography work and aerial surveys, and biologists who will jump on a plane free of charge.

N/N: Have the pelican numbers gone up over the years?

JvP: Oh, yes. To a maximum three years ago of 700 nests and 98 per cent production. We were close to 680-690 chicks.

N/N: What are the numbers this year?

JvP: For the last two years, while the number of nests remained high at approximately 600-700, the numbers of chicks produced have gone down to 18 and 20 per cent production in 2000 and 2001. This year, we are back to about 18 per cent production. There is a big drop from very high levels.

N/N: What is the reason for the decrease?

JvP: Last year, it was a high-water situation maybe. That meant less chance for feeding purposes. But this year there is no particular high water. They may well be into a cycle.

N/N: What is so special and appealing about pelicans for you?

JvP: This is a bird with a 32-million-year ancestry that has come this far north, the furthest north in the world. They teach us many lessons of cooperation raising their offspring. And there's their attraction to a magnificent, private site and their closeness to Fort Smith. They're also so trusting. And magnificent in their air aerobatics.

N/N: What initially attracted you to the rapids of the Slave River?

JvP: The beauty of them was only seen by a very fortunate few aboriginal people and Euro explorers, up until 1940 during World War Two when people started to use the big cart trails to bypass the Slave River rapids. Only very few people had seen them, and there are 200 islands and only very particular channels to get through.

N/N: How did you come to live in the NWT?

JvP: In the late '50s, I was hired by Indian and Northern Affairs right out of McGill University as a community teacher. ... I came to Fort Simpson and Nahanni and Jean Marie River area as a community teacher.

N/N: When you moved to Fort Smith and worked for the territorial government, what did that involve?

JvP: I was hired on contract to go from community to community and work with local people who had some form of local government already -- a chief, a Mountie, the teacher and the priest or the minister, mostly priests or brothers, to help them through a community recreation program and building of community halls. It involved community sovereignty to form, in the long run, local governments.

N/N: How long did you do that?

JvP: Ten years. I went around with a buffalo coat and a packsack on my back. I would make contact with local volunteers who would ask me to come in and say what the government could do and what the local people could do on a 50/50 cost-sharing basis... This was a catalyst of community sovereignty. It was shared it terms of finances, but the decisions were made locally. The emphasis was on community leadership preparation for social and local government affairs.

N/N: What was the area you covered?

JvP: In the beginning, it was the Northwest Territories and the Yukon together. At least one visit per year, 50 settlements, four big towns. I have been everywhere.

N/N: What did you do after leaving the territorial government in the mid-1970s?

JvP: I was self-employed. Parks Canada wanted me to do some guiding. I ran a conservation camp for two years in the park. I started a little company called Sub-Arctic Wildlife Adventures, and worked as an eco-touring guide... Then I started to look at the river.

The moment I hit Fort Smith in the early '60s, I was in there with my little kayak. ... I went down these channels and concentrated very much on the Rapids of the Drowned, between the islands, because that's where the pelicans were feeding.

N/N: When and why did you come to Canada from Holland?

JvP: In 1954 with $10 in my pocket at Halifax, and I made my way across Canada on an immigrant train to Terrace, B.C. ... Holland was 10 million people in a country the size of between here and Hay River. You could drive through it in two-and-a-half hours. So for many reasons, I wanted to leave Holland.... I set off on my dream to go to Canada.

N/N: Is there a particular European attraction to Northern Canada?

JvP: Europe is a pressure cooker. One is so restricted by social dimensions, regulations and restrictions. You can build such and such, and you marry in such and such a circle.

There's pressure galore that I wanted to get out from under. There's also cutthroat competition there. The Dutch are very competitive... I got into Northern Canada where you can put up a little shack of your own and have an outhouse or pee somewhere in the bush. That was the thing to do. The freedom to be without destroying others... You could determine yourself how you would like to live. There was freedom.