Last November, Fort McPherson lost five residents to overdose. Nine months later, one family reflects on the loss of a loved one, sobriety, grief, and finding a way forward.
Cheyenne Skye Koe Alexie is remembered by her family as funny, caring, and joyful – as someone who lit up every room she entered.
“She’d be laughing and talking with everybody. That was Cheyenne,” Roberta Alexie told Cabin Radio.
“She just put her own stuff aside and made the next person feel so loved and cared for. She was like that with all the Elders.”
Time spent with Cheyenne was filled with laughter, jokes and talking, Roberta said. Roberta and Cheyenne shared a close relationship throughout her life. The two were pregnant together and their sons are now three months apart.
Born on June 28, 1990, Cheyenne was 33 when she passed.
Roberta was Cheyenne’s auntie. Over the years, the two became close as sisters.
“To watch her grow up is something else and to be beside her every step of the way up until she passed on,” Roberta said. “She was just somebody so special and unique to us.”
Born and raised in Fort McPherson, Cheyenne moved to Whitehorse 10 years ago with her son, Tucker. When Covid hit, travel restrictions kept Cheyenne from visiting family back home. It was during this time that Roberta believes life changed for Cheyenne.
In January 2021, Cheyenne and her friend narrowly survived a house fire lit by an ex-boyfriend, according to Roberta. Injuries from the fire put her in the hospital for eight months. She suffered serious burns and smoke inhalation.
“The fire was the beginning of the end for her,” said Roberta. “After that fire she was never the same.”
Two years after the fire, Cheyenne returned to Fort McPherson. Although they didn’t discuss it directly, Roberta says Cheyenne was coping with the trauma and stress of the fire, and the lasting impact it had on her life.
“She showed up one day and my dad was just shocked. She was standing right there,” Roberta said, describing the reunion between Robert Alexie and his granddaughter when Cheyenne returned to Fort McPherson.
“He thanked God for her. He thanked God that she was still alive with us at that time — she wasn’t the same up until she passed on.”
‘Sobriety isn’t easy’
Cheyenne’s grandparents, Robert and Dorothy, raised her from the age of two. Cheyenne was a great help to them all her life. They grieve her loss silently while raising Tucker in the same home she grew up in, years ago.
“I had just seen her once. Then, the next day, she just passed away. Oh boy, that was hard on me,” Robert told Cabin Radio.
“A lot of people are affected. My granddaughter was killed on that damn overdose and her son comes to stay here with me.”
Robert says the world looked very different when he was a child almost a century ago. He grew up on the land and raised his kids there, too.
As an adult, Robert says he began to drink. In 1990, he had an epiphany that led him to sobriety. He wrote down his thoughts and hung them on a wall in his home, as a reminder to stay sober.
“What a beautiful world I’m living in today. Why do I have to feel like this? The whole thing is my fault. Lord, help me so I don’t feel like this anymore,” the quote reads.
Robert encourages his children and grandchildren to stay away from alcohol and drugs.
“I just told them, don’t touch that damn drinking no more – no more of that business,” Robert said. “What we need is peace and quiet and keep away from booze.”
When Cheyenne passed, Roberta sat down with her parents and told them what happened. “She died from a drug overdose,” Roberta told them. Cheyenne was one of five Fort McPherson residents lost in the space of just three weeks.
Roberta has been sober for more than 20 years. Her grief is a reminder that sobriety is a lifelong process and, like grief, will have gentler and tougher days ahead.
“Sobriety isn’t easy. It’s an everyday thing,” said Roberta. “It’s been a struggle, but I’m glad I’m where I am now … I’m finally at peace in my life.”
Roberta was raised on the land by her parents until she had to leave to attend residential school in Inuvik more than 30 years ago.
“Those were the first years that I was away from my parents,” said Roberta. “It was kind-of traumatic for me because I’d never been away from them before.”
After completing residential school, Roberta says her own life went “downhill.”
“I started drinking and then it was just a constant for me every day for six years,” she recalled. “I ended up in the hospital a few times because of that.”
The impacts of residential school are felt throughout Fort McPherson, according to Trina Nerysoo, a resident and former band manager. During her time as band manager, Nerysoo says she heard first-hand stories of abuse as she helped residents file Indian Day School applications.
“We get this bad rap that we’re not important, that we don’t count. Again, that comes from residential school,” Nerysoo said.
“With residential school, when you’re ripped out of your home at four years old and you don’t have the love of your mother and your father on a daily basis, things are lost.”
By the time Roberta turned 25, she says she’d had enough of drinking. She’s been sober ever since.
“The first two years was the toughest time of my life. I was in severe depression and no matter how bad I felt, I never drank,” she said. “I reached out to counselling. Counselling was a saviour in my life … because it just makes me think differently.”
Reaching out and asking for help was crucial for Roberta’s recovery. It was hard at first, but Roberta says it gets easier with time.
“At the time I felt that I was the only one in this whole wide world that felt the way I did,” said Roberta.
“Just knowing that the next person is dealing probably worse than I did was important for me. I felt like I’m not the only one, and if there’s other people out there then there’s hope for a better future.”
Wellness Week
Fort McPherson will host its first Wellness Week this summer, with the date expected to be confirmed soon. The goal is for residents to simply have fun together.
“We decided to have a Wellness Week that’s geared toward positive stuff,” said Wanda Pascal, coordinator for the event. “Just have a good time for the community.”
Beginning with a feast, residents are invited to participate in activities throughout the week like meals, music, dancing, sports, storytelling, sewing, carving, lectures, workshops and counselling.
Pascal is still looking for volunteers and funding to support the event. More money will allow Pascal to bring in additional speakers to support residents struggling with mental health.
“Our goal is to send a message out there to not only the youth but to the adults and the Elders,” said Pascal. “Somebody might get a spark from one of these speakers, change their ways.”
“Part of that is teaching, giving people the skills,” said Nerysoo, who is also involved in organizing Wellness Week. “There are lots of people who are so knowledgeable, not only in doing stuff but of the olden ways.”
Elders will have the opportunity to share knowledge at the event, Nerysoo says.
For Roberta, mental health is nurtured daily with physical activity like badminton and gardening. She calls growing food an “indescribable feeling.”
Today, Roberta says she has greater confidence in her life, which helped her to find her calling.
“My life just did a 360. My kids are happy, they’re growing, I’m happy in my job and life is just calm,” she said. “I think the best thing is to get out there and ask questions, shy or not, and that’ll take you far.”
Roberta couldn’t have imagined where sobriety would lead her when she first began the work, 23 years ago. She says when she got sober, she did it for her family.
“That’s why I made myself better – I didn’t want them to see me like that,” she said.
“When I got sober I thought: Ok, I’m going to be a better person. In being a better person, I could be a better auntie and sister to these kids.”
Grief has been a strong force in the community in recent years. In her grief, Roberta can’t help but laugh when she remembers Cheyenne. These are memories she will hold dear.
“She was just one of a kind. I’ll probably never have another Cheyenne in my life as long as I live,” she said.
“I’m so blessed to have known her.”
