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ENTERPRISE - Enterprise is hoping that sometime in the near future it will join Vegreville, Alta., in being famous for a unique roadside attraction.

Vegreville has its giant Easter egg, while Enterprise is hoping to erect a large statue of a trapper.

Enterprise sculptor Dolphus Cadieux, left, displays his trapper statue made of traps to Premier Floyd Roland. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

The three-metre statue, the work of Enterprise artist Dolphus Cadieux, is already partially completed and sitting in his yard.

"Hopefully, we can find a home for this guy," Cadieux said.

The sculpture's most unique feature is it is made entirely of old leg-hold traps.

At an Aug. 19 public meeting, Mayor Allan Flamand asked Premier Floyd Roland for financial assistance to undertake the project.

Flamand said the statue would make the community special.

"It would be a good thing for Enterprise and probably for the Northwest Territories," he said.

After the meeting, Roland and members of his delegation were taken to see the statue, and the reaction was overwhelmingly positive.

"I think that's an excellent piece of work," Roland said.

The premier said the statue is appropriate considering the history of the North and how it developed.

"That's the place we've come from."

Roland noted communities in southern Canada often have huge statues.

"I've often thought why not try something in the North," he said.

As for financial support for the project, Roland said the government would work with the community to try to access funding, although he noted it would be a challenge for the government in the existing tight fiscal situation. However, he said the government might be able to help the community access corporate backing.

Cadieux has not worked on the sculpture for six years. Back then he spent nine months getting it to the point it is now.

"I've got another five or six months on it," he said, noting most of the remaining work involves the trapper's facial features.

Cadieux said, if the sculpture is erected along Highway 1, it would stop some curious travellers who may then use services in Enterprise, such as restaurants and service stations.

"It would be beneficial to the community," he said.

Cadieux obtained the traps from the then Department of Resources, Wildlife and Economic Development, which was doing a trap exchange program. The department was planning to bury them.

The artist disassembled and sandblasted the traps - about 1,000 of them - before using them in the creation.

No final arrangement has yet been reached between Cadieux and the Hamlet of Enterprise on buying the statue once it is completed.

The artist said he has no idea how much he would charge for the work.

Cadieux was one of three artists who helped design the mace for the NWT legislative assembly.