Many thanks to Gordon Gill! Gordon had purchased the wonderful painting by @LauraHarrisStudio that graces, no, IS the cover of A Métis Man's Dream; From Traplines to Tugboats in Canada's North.

Gordon and I had negotiated a bit about who was going to purchase the art work, "It's Like Searching For Gold" (so appropriate for a book about Gordon and the north!) but he insisted. I was happy he liked the painting and the cover and glad he appreciated the evocative painting Laura did. It is a great piece.

Imagine my surprise and appreciation when Gordon gifted it to me for Christmas!

Thank you Gordon for this and much else!

Neil

Friends from the north were in touch saying that Cabin Radio (the most listened to radio station in Yellowknife, they say) published the results of an interview they conducted with me last week about Gordon Gill and A Métis Man's Dream; From Traplines to Tugboats in Canada's North. This is my Christmas Present! There is a written version at Cabin Radio and the audio too, I presume, on the radio. Read the article here: A Métis Man’s Dream documents a lost age of NWT transportation

Jill Morse, whose dad I knew pretty well in the 70s, at the Hay River visitor centre also asked me to send more books as they have already gone through 2 cartons (48 books) in their shop. Anyone driving to Hay River in the next while who would like to deliver another carton?

Merry Spirit of Christmas everyone. Happy Holidays.
Neil.

​A big shout-out to all who have supported sales of "A Métis Man's Dream".  Thanks to you, we have been able to donate close to $9000 in sales proceeds to the three charities Gordon and I selected, the Hay River Métis Governing Council, United for Literacy (formerly Frontier College) and the Edmonton Community Foundation (specifically to provide funds for a Métis student (or students) for continuing education in the trades.

United For Literacy (formerly Frontier College) is pleased to be named one of three beneficiaries of the sale proceeds of A Métis Man's Dream, From Traplines to Tugboats in Canada's North, written by United for Literacy board member, Neil Gower KC. Neil is the secretary to the board, a member of the Executive Committee and until recently chair of the Governance Committee. Neil's donation is to honour his subject Gordon Gill, and Gordon's father, Clarence Gill. This biography/oral history tells of the life and times of Gordon Gill, Métis shipbuilder and entrepreneur, from a childhood of poverty through exploration, marine transport, shipbuilding, and the ownership of a major crane company in the Alberta oilsands, against a backdrop of the opening of the Canadian north over the last fifty plus years. Clarence moved to northern Alberta from drought ridden Saskatchewan in the 1930s, and worked with Gordon's maternal grandfather, Noel L'Hirondelle, on his original trapline. That country was largely bush, populated by Indigenous people and newcomers in those days, most without basic reading and writing skills. Clarence spent countless hours helping people with their mail, and 'official' business, helping them read what came in and writing letters and other communiques that needed to go out. These covered a variety of communications; family, government officials, land titles, military claims, sending furs to market, and whatever else the early peoples, pioneers and immigrants needed. It is to recognize this early work, much like that performed by early Labourer-Teachers with Frontier College now United for Literacy, in rail, lumber and mining camps, that this donation is made. Congratulations on the book and thank you Neil! #Literacy #UnitedForLiteracy #BookRelease