DNA test introduces Tuktoyaktuk, N.W.T., man to half-cousin and part of his family history

CBC News

· Posted: Apr 05, 2025 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 10 minutes ago

A antheral from Tuktoyaktuk says it means a batch to person recovered a half-cousin helium didn't cognize helium had — and to larn much astir his household past — after submitting a DNA trial to an ancestry website. 

The trial results archetypal told Mervin Chicksi astir distant 4th and 5th cousins. 

It wasn't what he'd been hoping for. 

"I wanted to find retired if my dada had immoderate brothers and sisters, and I wanted idiosyncratic person to scope retired to me," helium said. 

Little did helium recognize Brenda Schofield, successful Edmonton, would aboriginal bash a DNA trial arsenic good — trying to fig retired the aforesaid thing: if her dada had immoderate much brothers and sisters. In the outpouring of 2023 Chicksi and Schofield would portion unneurotic they had the aforesaid grandfather. Their fathers were half-siblings, which meant they were half-cousins. 

The brace met for the archetypal clip astatine the Inuvik airdrome erstwhile Schofield traveled northbound for a sojourn that summer.

"The archetypal clip I met her successful the airport, erstwhile I hugged her, it was similar idiosyncratic I've known for a agelong clip but conscionable ne'er saw. That's however overmuch we connected," said Chicksi. 

Schofield visited for a 2nd clip to astonishment Chicksi for his day successful precocious March, and the brace of them spoke to Wanda McLeod, the big of CBC's Northwind, astir however they recovered each other. 

Schofield said she'd ever wanted to spell to Tuktoyaktuk, truthful the realization she had household determination was breathtaking and that archetypal week-long sojourn was "fulfilling a beingness dream." 

"When I left, I decidedly near a portion of my bosom present successful Tuk and was anxious to travel backmost again," she said. 

Learning his grandfather's story

Discovering Schofield has helped Chicksi code immoderate questions astir his family's history. 

"My ma was the 1 that told maine that my dad's dada was a achromatic antheral and helium was with the RCMP," helium said. Chicksi has a photograph of his grandparents unneurotic successful his home, but the mates divided up — and helium didn't cognize his grandfather's name. 

"Every erstwhile and awhile I'd look astatine it and wondering 'what was his name' and 'did helium person immoderate different kids?" 

Schofield enactment a sanction to that antheral successful the photograph — William Sharples Carter — and shared immoderate of his communicative with her new-found relative. Notably, she said, he'd been called successful to assistance successful the manhunt for the Mad Trapper, besides known arsenic Albert Johnson, aft Johnson killed an RCMP officer. 

Schofield said that communicative is simply a portion of her family's story, and that's wherefore she and Chicksi headed to Aklavik, stopped by the RCMP detachment and visited Johnson's grave.

She said it was "really benignant of neat" to locomotion there, successful her grandfather's footsteps.

"To beryllium capable to travel up present and beryllium astir places that were important in, not lone successful his beingness but successful history, Canadian history, was precise breathtaking for maine and I inactive get affectional astir it." 

Chicksi has headed southbound to sojourn his extended household surviving there, and Schofield says she hopes to travel backmost to the North erstwhile a year. Her adjacent visit, she said, mightiness beryllium successful the autumn of 2026 oregon 2027.  

"I consciousness similar my beingness is implicit now," she said. "I ne'er knew my beingness was incomplete, but my beingness is … decidedly implicit with my Arctic family."