Yellowknife post office mural depicts history of mail delivery by dog teams

A new mural featuring a dogsled is shining light on the history of mail service in the Northwest Territories, and increasing visibility of Indigenous peoples in downtown Yellowknife.

The mural, on the side of the the city's post office building, features a young Indigenous man driving a dogsled team, and carrying mail.

Tch artist James Wedzin designed the piece in consultation with elders, who told him about the later Michel Paper, aYellowknives Dene member who used to do deliveries in the territory.

"They told me imagine him like how he delivered mail but when he was younger though," Wedzin told CBC News.

The post office building was constructed in 1965, and Canada Post has been a tenant ever since. In 2009 it was jointly purchased by adeveoper and Denendeh Investments Limited Partnership, an investment holding company.

According to the owners, the mural comes as part of an initiative to increase the visibility of Indigenous peoples in the city's downtown core, and specifically the Yellowknives Dene First Nation.

"They were looking for something for all natives to relate to," Wedzin said of the initiative and his design choice.

For Wedzin, it's an honour to have been chosen for this project.

"I always wondered [about] some of the artists, their work that is shown on some of the town and I was wondering when my art is going to be showing up there and [then] I got this opportunity to show my work," he said.

Other components of the mural include a band of traditional Dene flowerspainted to look like beadwork,and the iconic Delta braid.

A press statement from the owners says that the building will be named Akaitcho Post at the recommendation of Chief Fred Sangris, and that a naming ceremony is tentatively scheduled for Sept. 17.