Episcopal Press and News

Canadian Anglicans Elect Inuit Bishop to Serve Arctic Region

Episcopal News Service. June 25, 2002 [2002-161-3]

Canadian Anglicans have elected the first Inuk to serve as a diocesan bishop. In September the Rev. Andrew Atagotaaluk will become bishop of the Arctic, a vast territory of 3.9 million square kilometers, reaching from Labrador in the east to the Yukon border in western Canada, accounting for almost 40 percent of the nation. Yet the region has a population of only 53,000, including 18,000 Anglicans.

Isolation is a major cause of 'burn-out' of clergy who serve the sparsely populated region. 'They need someone to talk to who would understand the kind of pressures they experience,' said Atagotaaluk. Transportation around the diocese is also a problem since few roads link settlements. Travel between parishes is almost exclusively by air, an expensive option for the diocese, one subject to the vagaries of the weather.

Another challenge facing the diocese is a severe shortage of clergy. 'We need clergy badly,' said Atagotaaluk, who served as suffragan bishop in Nunavik, the Inuit part of northern Quebec. 'We rely heavily on trained catechists and lay leaders to keep our parishes going.' Appeals to other parts of the church for clergy to come north have received little response.

He said that the region has experienced rapid change since the exploration for oil and minerals began in the 1960s. The social fabric was disrupted, unemployment and suicide rates are considerably higher than the rest of Canada. Many young people are addicted to drugs and alcohol and the Inuit are 'in danger of losing their language and culture,' he said.

The Canadian Bible Society has recently completed a translation of the bible into Inuktutut, an Inuit language, a project that took 24 years. The Inuit speak several dialogues at home and in their communities and the language is used in primary schools.