'It's a huge deal': HGTV reality show features new Fort Simpson teepee

A reality TV show is in Fort Simpson, N.W.T., this week, rebuilding a massive structure that had a long history in the community.

B.C.'s Pioneer Log Homes, the company featured on HGTV's Timber Kings, is erecting a new teepee that is nearly 17 metres tall.

The 12 cedar logs are replacing a teepee that the community put up in 1984 to welcome Pope John Paul II, which was taken down this year because it was unstable.

"We're just around the same size, honouring the previous version, just trying to recreate it so it's gonna last longer, it's gonna look a little nicer," said Kele Antoine, acting chief for the Liidlii Kue First Nation.

Thousands gathered at the teepee in 1984 to welcome the Pope, but fog foiled his trip. The Pope was diverted to Yellowknife but promised to return — which he did, in 1987.

"Ultimately what we wanted was just something to kind of renew that energy and the spirit that happened nearly 30 years ago," he said.

Same design with a twist — literally

Construction of the new teepee is "going great," Antoine told CBC as chainsaws buzzed in the background.

"We're repeating the same sort of design with a twist… Quite literally at the top where the logs join up, we have them spiraling kind of in the direction that the sun goes."

Antoine said there's also a buzz in town, calling it "pure excitement" as people come by to check out the Pioneer crew doing their work.

"It's a huge deal, we actually had some tourists passing through now that couldn't believe that Pioneer Log Homes and Timber Kings' crew was here in Liidlii Kue Fort Simpson."

Antoine says they went with cedar logs in order to address issues with the previous structure. He says cedar is naturally mould, bug, and weather resistant.

"We sought out the professionals that deal with cedar logs and Pioneer is the best."

The structure will be completed in stages. The outer structure should be complete this weekend, at which time Antoine said they'll have a community feast to celebrate.

But he says the project has already "reinvigorated" the community.

"You know, that sense of pride when we do a large project like this, it really ties a community together. Not just the community of Liidlii Kue Fort Simpson, but the whole Northwest Territories."