DENINU KUIE/FORT RESOLUTION
For more than four decades, Angus and Dorothy Beaulieu have owned and operated the only motel in Fort Resolution.

Angus and Dorothy Beaulieu stand in front of the only motel in Fort Resolution on a winter day. - Paul Bickford/NNSL photo

Their four-room Beaulieu's Motel opened in October of 1969.

Before that, Angus Beaulieu said visitors to Fort Resolution, mainly government employees, would have almost no place to stay.

"Maybe an empty government house," he recalled, or, if it was in the summer, they might stay in housing usually occupied by teachers.

So Beaulieu decided to build the small motel.

"I thought I'd just try it. Nobody else was into it," he said, adding he intended that, if someone else decided to get into the motel business in Fort Resolution, he would get out.

However, that never happened, and the only other accommodation in the community is a bed and breakfast.

Beaulieu's Motel was built with no government assistance.

"I cut logs myself and hauled it in, and got it squared three sides," Beaulieu recalled, noting the logs were squared by a sawmill that was operating in the community at the time.

The building was erected by Beaulieu with some help from the late Marcel Norn.

"From there on, I did most of it myself, the inside," Beaulieu said, recalling that included the plumbing and electrical work.

That was despite having been told by government officials that they wouldn't approve the motel unless he got a licensed electrician and plumber to do the work.

"I didn't have the money, so I just went ahead and done it," Beaulieu said. "They inspected it later. It passed 100 per cent and then opened up in 1969."

As he built the motel, he was continuing with his janitorial and maintenance work for government buildings, such as the school and the RCMP detachment. He began that work in 1960 and filled both roles for about 20 years until a person was hired for maintenance.

In all, he worked for the government for 34 years - starting as a janitor at Peter Pond School and ending at Deninu School - and retired about 20 years ago.

For more than 40 years, Beaulieu - a well-known fiddler - has also travelled to various communities to perform with The Native Cousins, a group he formed.

Despite being busy with his regular work and his music, he still found time to build the motel, he recalled. "I don't know how I made time to do it."

Beaulieu and his wife both run the motel and keep the four rooms, which all have kitchenettes, clean and operational.

"I don't mind it," said Dorothy Beaulieu.

"I like to keep busy."

Before retiring in 2002, she taught kindergarten for 26 years at Deninu School and was also its Chipewyan language instructor.

Her role at Beaulieu's Motel includes taking the bookings and doing the paperwork.

Angus, who is 79, said he likes to stay busy rather than do nothing, adding he also still hunts and fishes.

Sometimes the couple hires a part-time worker to operate the motel.

"When we leave town, we have somebody running it for us," Angus Beaulieu said. "So we never shut it down."

Beaulieu said the motel generated a bit of money some years, especially in the summers when there were a lot of people coming to the community.

"At first, there was not much money in it, but we just kept on," he said. "Some years we paid out of our pocket to heat it and we never shut it down."

There has been interest in buying the motel expressed by a number of people, Beaulieu noted.

"But I keep on saying, ' I'll think about it'."

Over the years, a wide variety of guests have stayed at Beaulieu's Motel - government officials, nurses, loggers, consultants, doctors, tourists and others.

"We met a lot of friends through it," said Angus.

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