Holy man of the North

A devout Oblate missionary, Fr. Jean Denis served the NWT for 55 years

Fr. Jean Denis

By RAMON GONZALEZ
WCR Staff Writer
St. Albert

Father Jean Denis will be remembered as a holy man who served the people of the North and his Church with loyalty and integrity.

Denis, who served as an Oblate missionary in the Northwest Territories for 55 years, died March 11 at Foyer Grandin. He was 94.

"The people of the North saw him as a man who had a lot of wisdom," recalled Father Camille Piche, a former northern missionary who is now the Oblates provincial administrator.

Unquestionable faith

"He was a man of unquestionable faith; very loyal to the Church. He truly believed in what he was doing."

Born in France in 1912, Denis joined the Oblates in 1930 and was ordained a priest in 1937. He came to Canada the following year and was almost immediately assigned to Fort Smith.

He spent the next 55 years serving in the North, from 1938 until his retirement in 1993.

"He became a missionary in 1938 and never looked back," Piche said. "He carried on - his strong faith always guiding him."

During his years in the North, Denis witnessed tremendous modernization and growth of the settlements.

However, traditional values and Mass celebrations remained simple and unaltered.

"When I first arrived in Deline (Fort Franklin), there were maybe 300 people. There might have been 700 when I left," he recalled in a late 2003 WCR interview.

"Practically everybody came to celebrate Christmas. The Mass and all of the songs were the same.

"We would sing the songs in the Rabbitskin dialect. I remember the small children being clothed in rabbit parkas."

Raymond Taniton, who was grand chief of Deline from 1991 to 1995, said the priest was highly respected in the North because he took the time to know the people.

"Father Denis lifted up our spirits," he said.

When Denis left the North in 1995 to retire at Foyer Lacombe, the native people gave him a new set of drums as a sign of appreciation and would visit him often, bringing him all types of gifts.

"He was very beloved, very appreciated," Piche said. "They loved him because he spoke their language, he shared their lives, he baptized their babies, he taught them catechism, prepared them for Confirmation, blessed their weddings and buried their dead.

"He was there always for them."

In late 1998, after five years of retirement, Denis volunteered to return to the North when he learned there would not be a priest present for Christmas.

He celebrated Christmas services at Norman Wells and Tulita that year.

"He was a holy man, always ready to serve the people even if that caused him some inconvenience," noted Father André Brault, a northern missionary living at Foyer Lacombe since his retirement two years ago.

"As a priest, he lived fully the rule of the Oblates."

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