Behchoko is by far the larger community – close to 2,000 people. Fort Providence has about 700, and Wekweeti (a fly-in community) has 160. Here are some of my own thoughts on ministry to indigenous people here in the north.

At first my biggest challenge was getting used to being isolated. Behchoko is 100 km. west of Yellowknife, the biggest settlement in the Northwest Territories. The next parish down the road was Fort Providence, 200 km. from Behchoko. Between the two there is no settlement, not even one house. Just trees, rocks and water. Mick and I would get together once a month for a day to keep up our community spirit.

Fr. Mick Fleming, C.Ss.R.

Fr. Bill Bernard, C.Ss.R.

Indigenous people across Canada are often poor. They suffer from bad health. Their level of formal education is often low. They are still struggling with the lingering after-effects of residential schools –as children many did not experience normal family life, and so did not know how to raise their own children well. Unhappy childhoods spilled over into attempts to find happiness in alcohol and drug addictions.

In spite of all this, I was surprised to see how deep the faith most of these indigenous people is. They understand that the Creator is great and they are small. These people are prayerful in a deep way. You often see people (especially elders) sitting alone on benches by the riverside for long stretches. That’s contemplation: they see God in nature in a way very different from European ways. Not only that: miraculously (in my opinion) the teachings of the early Catholic missionaries caught their imagination. In spite of all their problems with the Church from the residential schools, many still feel at home in the Catholic faith community. The Sunday congregation at Our Lady of Providence Mission is about 40 regular attenders – 20 or so on any given Sunday. But about 80% of the people here call themselves Catholic. The picture is the same over most of the North.

To my mind, the biggest pastoral challenge is deepening the people’s understanding of their Catholic faith. Their situation is much like that of the people living in the surroundings of Scala in St. Alphonsus' time. They had Catholic traditions, but lacked a grasp of how to live out their relationship with God.

In the last years, our people here have had little instruction in the faith.  This means returning to basics. It has meant simplifying the message in ways I have never had to do before, and being very patient. And it requires me to be sensitive to their spiritual traditions and understandings.

The simple fact of having a priest living with them has had a big impact. It is a reminder that the Church (and God) have not abandoned them. It’s a privilege and a joy to work among them.