'I've carved for a saint'
Sonny MacDonald of Fort Smith talks about what led to NWT Order win
John McFadden
Northern News Services
Monday, November 30, 2015
THEBACHA/FORT SMITH
Not too many Northern residents, if any, have carved a chair for a saint, but Order of the NWT recipient Sonny MacDonald has.
The 76-year-old artist from Fort Smith was one of the first six NWT residents who received the honour at a ceremony at the legislative assembly on Oct. 7.
"The pope (John Paul II) is now a saint. I carved for him. I carved a chair in 1987 when he came to Fort Simpson. He sat on the chair for 22 minutes. It took me over 100 hours to make," MacDonald said.
"I wouldn't let them take the chair with him. I found out they wanted to, so I wrote a letter to the papal committee and said because of the historic occasion I'd be very happy if they left it behind. It's in Fort Simpson at the town hall I believe. It sat in the legislative assembly for two years."
MacDonald has also carved for the late former prime minister Pierre Trudeau as well as Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip. He said he has a photo of himself with the Queen in Yellowknife with all the security detail around them.
"I spoke to her for about three minutes," MacDonald recalled.
He wanted all the hard working artists in the NWT to understand he accepted the award on their behalf as well as his own.
"To the young and upcoming artists, the established artists and the craftspeople from this beautiful NWT - this award is also for you - but I am the keeper," MacDonald said.
"From the deepest recesses of my heart, a special thank you to the Government of the NWT for making this very prestigious award a reality."
MacDonald said he spent 10 years of the board of the NWT Arts Council and 17 years with the Mackenzie River Basin board and thinks that commitment was also part of the reason that he was granted the honour. He grew up with George Tuccaro, the commissioner of the NWT, in Fort Chipewyan.
"Who would have thought that two little aboriginals from Fort Chip, playing in a big sandbox, would have gone on to become the commissioner of the NWT and an Order of the NWT recipient," he said.
MacDonald said if anything of greater importance can come out of his order, we wants it to be that politicians and others realize how important the arts are to the territory.
"The arts in the territories is a resource. No ifs ands or buts. I firmly believe the territorial government has to commit to spend or give a little more money to the NWT arts and programs," he said.
"In Whitehorse, in the Yukon, they have millions for their arts and crafts. What the hell do we get?" he asked.
According to figures provided by the Department of Education Culture and Employment, spending on arts in the NWT is roughly one-third of what is spent on the arts in the Yukon.
