Published in Oblate Spirit: View Now
Far from the temperate rainforests of Vancouver Island where I now live, 31 miles north of the Arctic Circle, nestled on the shores of a large lake, lies a tiny community where the people still live close to the land, hunting and trapping as they have for thousands of years.
Colville Lake is home to the Hareskin Dene people who left Fort Good Hope because they wanted to return to their traditional lifestyle. A few families in Fort Good Hope felt that civilization – especially alcohol and processed food – was not good for them. Instead, they wanted a more natural lifestyle, where they could reconnect with the rhythms of the seasons. Caribou were plentiful, and Colville Lake was alive with fish.
When I arrived in Colville Lake in 1971, the children had never seen a white woman, and no one spoke English except the priest, Bernard Brown, OMI. By that time, Fr. Brown was already a legend in the Northwest Territories where he had lived and worked for more than 50 years. In 1962, following the wishes of the people and his superiors, he had established a mission at Colville Lake. On the shore of the lake, he built a beautiful log church, Our Lady of the Snows. I was eager to support his efforts and to learn about the Dene people.
When I was a little girl, I wanted to help others. I believed in social justice. The idea of working with underprivileged children was enormously appealing. Working to make the world a better place, learning different languages, feeding hungry children, understanding diverse cultures … these are the values that drove me. But the usual teenage temptations got in the way, and I did not dedicate my life to the convent. Visiting a missionary for a summer seemed like a fair trade-off.
I had met Father Brown two years earlier, on one of his rare trips south to visit his family in Rochester, New York. On the way to New York, he stayed with my family in Edmonton for a few days, regaling us with stories of the Arctic. In addition to being an OMI missionary, Father Brown was a true renaissance man – a photographer, an artist, a pilot, a writer, a carpenter and a true outdoorsman, with his own dogsled team and fascinating tales to tell. In addition to his religious duties, he performed routine medical work such as delivering babies, sewing up axe cuts and pulling teeth. He was a fire warden, dogcatcher, storekeeper, postmaster and newspaper editor.
Father Brown’s stories inspired me. I wanted to see the land for myself, befriend the people and do whatever was in my power to help improve living conditions in that tiny village. I don’t think I ever properly thanked Father Brown for providing me with an unforgettable experience in an Arctic summer. Thanks to him, I fell in love with the land and the people.
There will always be a special place in my heart for the people of Colville Lake. By the time I arrived in Colville Lake, Bernard Will Brown had already made his life-changing decision to leave the priesthood and marry a woman from Tuktoyaktuk. He and Margaret established the Colville Lake Lodge, a hunting and fishing resort that entertained European royalty, politicians, movie stars and just plain rich folk. He had a museum and art gallery on site where he sold his paintings. His books include Arctic Journal, Arctic Journal II, Free Spirits, and End-of-Earth People: The Arctic Sahtu Dene. Father Brown died at his home in Colville Lake on July 11, 2014, at the age of 94. Although he was known as Bern Will Brown for the last 44 years of his life, I will forever remember him as Father Brown.
