Mike W. Bryant
Northern News Services

Yellowknife ( Jun 12/00) - Family and friends speak highly of a man and spiritual leader who has dedicated 50 years of his life to the North.

And when Rev. John Sperry, now retired Anglican bishop for the Arctic Diocese, is honoured June 28, it will be for more than just long service.

It will be a tribute to a man noted for his integrity, dedication and devotion.

Sperry will be honoured at a commemoration ceremony at the legislative assembly in Yellowknife.

Among those paying tribute to Sperry will be Speaker of the House Tony Whitford. Whitford will read passages from the diary Sperry starting keeping when he arrived in Kugluktuk (Coppermine) June 28, 1950.

"1:27 a.m. -- In brilliant sunshine, I reached and landed at Coppermine. Had a splendid welcome ..." an awed Sperry wrote upon reaching the Arctic Coast.

They are words that indicate how Sperry opened his heart to the North, a quality well remembered by friends and long-time colleagues.

"I found him to be a man of immense integrity, devotion and faith, and, best of all, with a nice touch of humour," said long-time friend and colleague, Arch Deacon Turq McCollum, who first met Sperry in Kugluktuk in 1957.

"In my latter days, serving under him as an arch deacon, the Bishop and I had many happy trips up and down the Mackenzie River. He is a great servant of the flock that was his ministry."

Dedicated minister

Glen Warner, who was a member of the RCMP when he met Sperry in an airplane over Lady Franklin Point (Victoria Island) in 1962, remembers a flock devoted to their minister and Sperry dedicated to them.

"He used to come up to Bathurst Inlet by dog team in the winter, because his flock was there and all the people there, especially the older ones, remember him and love him," Warner said.

"He has done so much good for those people, because his ability as a minister is coupled with a profound ability as a counsellor and one who would help in any situation."

His daughter, Angela Friesen, says that her father never tolerated condescension -- by himself or from anyone else.

"Dad never treated himself in a hierarchial position in the parish," Friesen said.

"He lived and breathed with the people. Dad told me when I was a teenager, that the most important thing was people. He wouldn't tolerate condescension.

"When the speed boats came to Coppermine, my dad said 'no, we weren't going to get one.' We were to stay with the old mission boat because dad said we were to go slowly, and enjoy and appreciate the land."

Bishop since 1974

Sperry was elected bishop of the Arctic Diocese (an area that encompassed all of present day NWT, Nunavut and Northern Quebec) in 1974, and held the position until retiring in late 1990.

When reached for an interview, Sperry spoke very little of himself. Instead, he talked about the myriad of changes the North has faced since his arrival 50 years ago.

"During the last 50 years in the North, the changes have been phenomenal, particularly for the people living on the arctic coast," Sperry said.

Sperry cited three factors that contributed to the drastic changes the North faced after 1950: Starvation in the Keewatin, which forced the federal government to finally pay attention to the disparity of Inuit peoples at the time; the construction of the DEW Line, which opened the door to southern cultural influences; and increased pressure from animal rights groups, which he says has destroyed the seal hunt and made Northern peoples more dependent on social assistance.

When asked why the people of NWT feel compelled to honour him after a half century in the North, Sperry said it was probably because some people have long memories.

"Today, old people who have excellent memories will speak of those early days," Sperry said.

"Particularly, in times of an epidemic, where my wife and I joined the few other whites to help the people who were 100 per cent laid low with illness.

"One of my own jobs in that setting was to be an interpreter for a doctor and to handle the 'bedpan brigade' for a school room full of patients. People do not forget that kind of service."