The artist won the hearts and confidence of the Indigenous people living at Eskimo Point in the Northwest Territories (now Arviat, Nunavut). In the mid-1900s, Winifred Petchey Marsh recorded the activities, the landscapes and daily lives in watercolours. Living in the North with her pastor husband for over 40 years, the family home transformed into a community hub. Petchey Marsh paintings depicted Indigenous culture before their northern ways were lost to modern society. Read More

In a recent Whig-Standard editorial, I was intrigued by Doug Cuthand’s opening commentary on the carbon tax debate. He wrote: “Future generations will look at the carbon tax opposition and ask, “What were they thinking? Why did they protest one of the most cost-effective methods of lowering carbon dioxide in the atmosphere?” The fact that he called out those politicians who axe the facts and have only a short-term view is worthy, but it is not what piqued my interest. Rather, it was the way his remarks reflected what Pope Francis expressed in his recent apostolic exhortation, Laudate Deum. In the same way Cuthand expressed his alarm about the short-term view politicians are taking on the climate crisis, the pope expressed his disappointment with the inadequate response to his 2015 environmental encyclical, even though “the world in which we live is collapsing and may be nearing the breaking point.” (Laudate Deum, 2) Read More

“Easy” has never described a nurse’s job. As science and technology progresses, the ability to care for complex patients has improved. Nursing duties in the late 1800s were more about housekeeping and less about patient care. Removing the coal scuttle from the hands of trained nurses, nursing superintendent Nora Livingston at Montreal General Hospital (MGH) transformed nursing from drudgery into a respected career. Read More