NORTH STAR

Firth’s inspirational biography of Jean-Marie Mouchet recounts a priest finding his destiny in the Canadian frontier.

Born in a French village in 1917, Mouchet loved fishing, hunting, and especially skiing. After a dangerous stint as a Maquis member during World War II, he was sent to the perfect location: the Canadian wilderness, starting with Lower Post in British Columbia 1946. But it was at his next post, in Telegraph Creek, where he discovered what he believed to be his mission—to bring skiing to Indigenous people—that reflected both his good intentions and ethnocentrism: “A healthy, land-based European discipline that might keep the people in touch with their traditional values and enable them to adapt, in their way, to Euro-Canadian society.” He also brought cross-country skiing to future assignments in Old Crow, Inuvik, and Whitehorse. He was ahead of his time with his training techniques, and the Indigenous skiers he trained dominated North American competitions in the 1970s and ’80s. But times changed, and his Territorial Experimental Ski Training program fell out of favor. Ski officials used his system but focused on competition rather than life lessons, straying from Mouchet’s original intent “to provide a generation of children with the motivation and confidence to meet the challenge of a changing world.” Funding and volunteers dried up as Mouchet’s triumphs were forgotten, and the elderly priest became even more uncompromising. But his philosophy lived on as his students became coaches, government officials, and business leaders working with the next generation. Firth deserves much credit for his nuanced portrait of an obscure historic figure. Firth made clear in his introduction how many people wanted to contribute their memories of Mouchet to this well-researched volume. In fact, its main flaw is that there are so many voices, it’s easy to lose track of who’s who. Mouchet, while a colonial figure, was more interested in improving people’s lives than in converting them to Catholicism, frustrating his faraway superiors. Despite his sometimes-prickly side, the priest remains a sympathetic character. Firth encapsulates that drive in this often dense work.

Richly captures the fascinating life of a caring, innovative man.