Jacques van 'Pelican' Pelt remembered as community-driven man who loved children and the river

He was a teacher, an outdoor outfitter, an environmentalist and a man who loved the North.

Jacques van Pelt was a force who helped launch Shirley and Sharon Firth's cross-country skiing career, helped save the Slave River from hydroelectric development, drove a swimming pool barge up the Mackenzie River to teach children in communities how to swim, became a caretaker for North America's northernmost pelican population and inspired a generation of children in Fort Smith, N.W.T.

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He died Wednesday evening at age 85.

"He was very open and loving and compassionate," said his daughter, Karla Williamson. "He cared a lot for the North."

Van Pelt first moved to the North in 1959. He spent a brief amount of time in Fort Simpson, N.W.T., where he made his mark with a swimming pool barge.

Dismayed by the large number of drownings in the North, van Pelt decided to transport a swimming pool by barge to communities along the Mackenzie River and teach youth how to swim.

He moved to Fort Smith in 1964 and promptly fell in love with the Slave River. It was there he discovered a colony of white pelicans on the river. He was contracted in the mid-1970s to monitor the population.

"Once that contract was over he, for the next 30, 40 years, would go every year [to monitor the pelican numbers]," said Williamson.

This is how he earned his nickname — Jacques van Pelican Pelt.

Kid City and TEST

He was passionate about pelicans and he was passionate about children. He ran a summer camp in Fort Smith called Kid City, where children would use hammers, saws and nails to build their own forts and other structures.

Williamson said many people in the community have great memories of Kid City — in fact, there are people for whom Kid City influenced their career paths.

"One of them played doctors … and became a doctor as an adult," she said. "Or a nurse, they played a nurse and became a nurse as an adult. RCMP? Someone played the policeman and said, 'We became a policeman.'"

Ski champion Sharon Firth remembers van Pelt's dedication to youth — he was one of the architects of the famous TEST ski program that trained Firth and her twin sister, Shirley.

I think he really believed in us young up-and-coming athletes.- Sharon Firth, Olympic skiier

"I think he really believed in us young up-and-coming athletes because we never quit," she said.

"That's what he was looking for, people like us who showed up every day. Doesn't matter if it was raining or the sun was shining or a blizzard. We showed up."

And, of course, there was his relationship with the Slave River.

N.W.T. elder Francois Paulette was friends with van Pelt over the years, and vividly remembers working with him to save the Slave from hydroelectric development.

In the 1970s, the government of Alberta wanted to build a hydro dam along the river. Van Pelt, Paulette, and others formed the Slave River Coalition, which helped Indigenous people in the area stop the development.

"He would tell me, 'You know, Francois, your treaties are really strong and that's what's going to stop the river from being developed," said Paulette.

Van Pelt touched the lives of many people across the Northwest Territories through his non-stop community work, but his daughter, Karla, cherishes a quiet moment they had when she was just a teen.

"I remember walking the dog behind our house … and we'd hold hands," she said.

"I remember someone in high school saying, 'Oh, you're holding hands with your dad,' but I liked that. He was just very physical, didn't mind hugging people."

Van Pelt is survived by his four daughters and his wife, Ruth.

With files from Emily Blake and Lawrence Nayally