Arctic Journal

From mushing dog-teams 70 miles in 40-below blizzards, to helping unionize a mine, Brown has had a career like few Roman Catholic priests. Fifty years ago, Brown began to record his exploits in the Far North: his gripping Arctic Journal is the result. Inspired by tales told him by a pioneer, young Brown longed to discover the beauty and mystery of Canada's Far North. He duly joined the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, an order of missionary priests at work in the Arctic. Brown's first challenge was to learn French (the language of his Oblate colleagues) as well as the language of the Hareskin Indians. He then mastered fishing and hunting, learned to breed and drive dog teams, build igloos and make snowshoes. To his priestly duties were added those of medic - delivering babies and pulling teeth. Arctic Journal is bursting with remarkable tales - some comic, some tragic - of a way of life that existed nowhere else on earth, and that has now disappeared forever.