The Diocese of the Arctic was formed in 1933 and incorporated in 1961. The territory of the diocese spans the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and Nunavik (Northern Quebec). Originally the See city was in Aklavik with All Saints as the Pro-Cathedral, but in 1972 the See city became Frobisher Bay (Iqaluit), because the Mackenzie River area had become its own Episcopal District. St. Jude's Cathedral was built in Iqaluit especially to be the Cathedral for the Diocese of the Arctic. The diocese ministers primarily among Inuit people, but has also included First Nations and Caucasians in its mission stations. From the earliest days the missionaries in the Arctic were involved in translation, medical services and education.
The Diocese of the Arctic has had five diocesan bishops - Archibald Lang Fleming (1933-1949), Donald Ben Marsh (1950-1973), John Reginald Sperry (1974-1990), John Christopher Richard Williams (1991-2002 ), Andrew Philip Atagotaaluk (2002-2012), David Parsons (2012- ).
Suffragan Bishops were introduced in 1963 with Henry George Cook (1963-1966). Since then others have followed - James Charles MacLeod Clarke (1979-1986), J.C.R. Williams (1987-1990), Terrence Owen Buckle (1993-1995), Paul Oodleteta Idlout (1996-2004), Andrew Philip Atagotaaluk (1999-2002), Larry David Robertson (1999-2010), and Benjamin Tatigat Arreak (2002-2010), Darren McCartney (2012-2019), Joey Royal, (2019- ), Annie Ittoshat (2019- ), Lucy Netser (2019- ).
The diocese was formed from the northern portions of four diocese - Yukon (formerly Selkirk), Keewatin, Moosonee, and Mackenzie River. In 1955 the diocese was expanded to include the Mackenzie River area, until 1966 when it was transferred to the spiritual jurisdiction of the diocese of Athabasca. In 1971 the Mackenzie River area became the Episcopal District of the Mackenzie with the Rt. Rev. Henry Cook as Bishop. The district rejoined the diocese of the Arctic in 1974.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of records created or accumulated by the Diocese of the Arctic. The records cover missionary work in the Arctic and include missions that were originally administered by the dioceses of the Yukon (formerly Selkirk), Keewatin, Moosonee, and Mackenzie River (1884-1970).
The fonds is arranged in series which include:
Administration records, bishops records, parish records, translation records, hospital records, financial records, audio-visual records, graphic records, cartographic records, printed material, and collected material from various Arctic missionaries.
The bishops' records include clergy files, women workers, catechists and lay workers, mission station files, diocesan files, pastoral letters, executive committee files, Arthur Turner Training School and catechist schools files.
Isaac O. Stringer (1866-1934) received a B.A., 1891 from University College, Toronto, and B.D. from Wycliffe College in 1892. He was ordained deacon in 1892, priest in 1893 and then stationed at Fort McPherson in Peel River from 1892-1897 as a Church Missionary Society (C.M.S.) missionary. In the summer of 1895, Stringer took a leave of absence for a year, returning to Ontario for deputation work and to marry Sarah Ann Alexander (Sadie), March 10, 1896.
After graduation from high school, Sadie studied shorthand and later worked as a secretary in New York City. She received a diploma in nursing from Grace Hospital in Toronto and studied at the Toronto Anglican Women's Training School.
After spending a year together at Fort McPherson, the Stringers moved to Herschel Island in the Arctic Ocean and lived there among the Inuit from 1897-1901. Suffering acutely from eyestrain, Stringer took his family back to Ontario in the fall of 1901. In 1903, Bishop Bompas of the Diocese of Selkirk called him to serve as a C.C.C.S. (Colonial and Continental Church Society) missionary at Whitehorse, Yukon. Eventually, Stringer became Bompas' successor in the Diocese which changed its name to Yukon, Dec. 17, 1907, serving until 1931 when he became Archbishop of Rupert's Land. He died suddenly on Oct. 30, 1934 at Winnipeg.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of correspondence, manuscript books, sermons, photographs, scrapbooks and miscellaneous manuscript and printed items accumulated by the Stringers during the latter part of the nineteenth century into the mid-fifties.
The fonds is arranged in the following series:
Series I. Isaac O. Stringer, 1884-1961
Series II. Sarah Ann Stringer, 1896-1954
Series III. Collected materials, 1872-1967
Series IV. Photographs, 1872-1934
Series V. Scrapbooks
Series VI. Printed Items, 1901-1962
File consists of a typed letter to Michael Peers Abp and Primate of the Anglican Church of Canada regarding Digi'ta, an indigenous approach to responding to shame of Residential Schools.
Sylvia Brown is an Associate Professor in the Department of English at the University of Alberta.
Scope and Content
Fonds consists of one article in typescript 26 p. in length entitled, The Pilgrim's Progress among aboriginal Canadians: Missionary translations of Bunyan into Cree and Inuktitut. The article was prepared by Dr. Sylvia Brown (Inuktitut) and Arlette Zinck, The King's University College. File also contains an offprint copy of the article printed in 1650-1850 : Ideas, Aesthetics, and Inquiries in the Early Modern Era, 13 (2006), 201-223.