SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - He has delivered food and hot chocolate to homeless on the street, taught youth in the classroom and on a humanitarian trip to Africa, been a marriage counsellor, and a presence in the Catholic Church.

Brian Carter: A deacon at St. Patrick's Parish, is heading back to his home of Winnipeg after spending nine years in the community.

On the last day of March, Brian Carter, district chaplain for Yellowknife Catholic Schools and the deacon for St. Patrick's Parish is driving the long journey back to his original home of Winnipeg with his wife and granddaughter.

Alex Debogorski said Carter's presence in Yellowknife will be sorely missed.

"He helped with the parish and families. He helped the children and the priests who came through ... He's a friend of mine. He's a good man," said Debogorski.

Carter was ordained as a permanent deacon at Holy Redeemer Parish in Winnipeg in 1998 and will be returning to join a team of five deacons at the parish in April.

"It's all come full-circle," he said.

Carter came to Yellowknife almost nine years ago, originally as vice-president of a national security company and deacon for St. Patrick's Parish. Later he started a security company of his own and then took up the full-time position of chaplain for the Catholic school system in 2004.

"That, I really enjoyed, working with the teachers, the students especially. My background in the church was primarily doing adult education so this was a big change for me," said Carter.

He was a religious resource for teachers, offering presentations to classes and facilitating about 40 retreats per year focusing on issues such as racism, bullying and drugs.

Carter also headed a humanitarian mission to Tanzania for 15 Yellowknife youths last summer to build an irrigation system and help out at an AIDS orphanage and leper colony.

"They came back having a totally different perspective on life. With kids today, you just want to teach them about religion and it doesn't sink in. What they really enjoyed was having the faith in action," he said.

Carter and his wife did their bit to help on the streets of Yellowknife as well, bringing food to those without homes.

"One of the things we used to do is make them sandwiches and hot chocolate and take them out on the street and give it out to the kids who hadn't eaten all day. The kids I knew didn't want to be preached to, I was just a person to talk to, instead of looking the other way," he said.

Carter, although slowing down a bit, will still be busy at the parish, with family and friends and heading back to school himself.

"I'm going back to university in September to take up a clinic pastoral education course, which I need to work in the federal justice system as a chaplain or in the hospital system," he said.

The 60-year-old is on the board of directors for the NWT Council of Persons with Disabilities and the Council of Canadians with Disabilities.

Carter said the main reason for his departure from the North is due to his health. He has suffered two heart attacks and underwent open-heart surgery in the past year and feels it's time to slow down.

"I've still got children and grandchildren, they need me. My wife needs me," he said.

Carter has travelled to pretty much every community in the NWT and Nunavut, yet Yellowknife has a special place in his heart, with its tapestry of individuals from all over the world.

"Yellowknife is a unique place where everyone's from everywhere else. That's what I like about the closeness of people here and the friendliness ... Everybody becomes family," he said.

"It's exciting but there is a hint of sadness. We're going to miss it here but we'll be back."

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.