John Curran
Northern News Services
Published Monday, December 17, 2007

HOLMAN - For the first time in years, there's a resident priest at the Anglican Church of the Resurrection in Ulukhaktok.

Rev. Georgina Baldwin was ordained during a recent ceremony in Inuvik at the Church of the Ascension and her mother still can hardly believe it's true.

"It was really good," said Elizabeth Greenland, Baldwin's 87-year-old mother. "I was so happy I cried - and I never cry."

"It was quite the epic event for us," said Very Rev. David Parsons, dean of the Mackenzie Delta and priest of Church of the Ascension in Inuvik. "The last time we had a Gwich'in person in the NWT ordained as a priest was Rev. James Sittichinili in 1960."

Baldwin is the first Gwich'in woman in the NWT to reach that level in the church, said Right Rev. Larry Robertson, assistant bishop of the Anglican Diocese of the Arctic, who presided over the ceremony.

The only other Gwich'in woman previously ordained was Ellen Bruce in the Yukon, but she didn't go through the three years of study Baldwin did. He said she attended the Arthur Turner Training School in Pangnirtung.

"She's the first non-Inuit to go there," he added.

Greenland said she was shocked when her daughter completed the training.

"I didn't expect her to stay," she said. "But she made it."

Baldwin's path to the priesthood was not an easy one. She first had to overcome a long battle with alcoholism.

"When I was living in Inuvik there were times I had to carry her home," said Robertson. "Otherwise she would have died in the snow - God saved her life."

Her mother is very proud of her daughter's accomplishment and laughs when she remembers praying that one of her sons would become a minister.

"I have nine children ... I never thought it would be Georgina who ended up being a priest," she said. "I was so happy when God helped her wake up."

The bishop explained that, as a priest, Baldwin is now able to bless the wine and bread for communion in Ulukhaktok, where she previously served as a church deacon.

"In practical terms, that means we won't have to fly in the consecrated wine and bread to the community anymore," he said.

Baldwin, who grew up in Inuvik and now has three grown children, was unavailable for comment prior to press time. She was making her way back to the Victoria Island community and dealing with the fact that her house had frozen while she was away for the ceremony.