An Alberta filmmaker who wants to dig up Albert Johnson from his Aklavik grave says the exhumation is key to the science documentary her company wants to produce.

Myth Merchant Films wants to take DNA samples from the Mad Trapper's corpse to determine his true identity, Carrie Gour told CBC News.

Aklavik, N.W.T.

Without the tenacious trapper's body, there will be no documentary, Gour said.

The obscure trapper, who lived on the Rat River in the Mackenzie Delta area, rose to notoriety 75 years ago when he killed a policeman who came to his cabin making inquiries and then led police on a five-week manhunt through the Arctic wilderness before he was shot and killed.

Yukon author Dick North, who has spent years researching the trapper, tried to have his body exhumed 15 years ago but the community was against it.

Gour hopes the community may feel differently today and is offering to give it something in return for its support.

"We will take our cue from the community — whether they want that money to be assigned to a scholarship fund, maybe it's a town beautification project which includes beautifying the graveyard, or maybe it's a Mad Trapper interpretive centre and any unused footage of elders telling their story," she said.

The project needs the approval of the Northwest Territories' chief medical officer, who, in turn, requires the consent of the local aboriginal band and the Aklavik municipal government.

Fort McPherson resident Herbert Firth says his community should also have a say because the Mad Trapper's cabin was closer to his community.

Firth says he's curious to know more about the mysterious trapper.

The mayor of Aklavik is meeting with his council Monday to discuss the idea.

Dick North's book, The Mad Trapper of Rat River, concludes the man buried as Albert Johnson was an American named Johnny Johnson who had had several run-ins with the law before heading north to the backwoods of Canada.