Aklavik (Jan 22/07) - An Inuvik man has come forward as a relative of Const. Edward Millen, the RCMP officer shot and killed by the Mad Trapper in 1932.

Mike Millen, who is originally from Tillsonburg, Ont., said he often heard the Trapper's story as a child from his grandmother.

Inuvik's Mike Millen is named after his great uncle Const. Edgar Millen. Const. Millen was killed by the Mad Trapper in 1931, but is not named on Aklavik's commemorative plaque. - Philippe Morin/NNSL photo

Now that a Discovery Channel-style documentary is being planned around the Trapper, Millen said he can't help but wonder if the guy is being too glorified.

While the Trapper might be a tenacious folk hero to some, Millen said, there are also accounts that he was a paranoid recluse who sabotaged people's traps. "I want to know what they're doing, what kind of slant they're going to put on the Mad Trapper," he said.

"I think it's important that they not just glorify the Trapper, but remember everything that happened around that."

One point Millen raised is that Aklavik's commemorative plaque does not name RCMP officers.

If a new museum or interpretive site is built, as has been discussed by filmmakers, he said this should be changed.

"The officers should be named also, and given just as much due," he said.

And while he is a little bit perplexed at the idea of digging up the Trapper for a DNA test, he said he'd like to attend the exhumation when it happens.

It would be a once-in-a-lifetime chance, he said, to see the mysterious man who killed his grandfather's brother, 74 years ago.