1950 - SUMMER WITH THE CREE INDIANS - PART 1

The summer of 1950 turned out to be an unusual two months.

Marion’s good friend from Kitchener, Mary Augustine (Eventually she married Jim Ham, President of the University of Toronto), announced that she was heading for Germany to attend a week-long conference in Germany for young people and hoped that Marion would join her for a 5 -6 week trip.

The girls flew out of the old Malton Airport via TransCanada Air on their way to New York. There, they stayed with friends. They were scheduled to travel to Europe by ship but the boat was condemned by the New York Harbour Authority! The U.S. Navy rescued them by providing an old rusty ship called the, "Marine Tiger".

Immediately upon their arrival in Rotterdam, they flew to London where they stayed in the YWCA residence.  There they "did" the city, the London School of Economics and then the city of Oxford. Then, it was on to Germany - Gottingen and Munich. There they visited Dachau and actually stoody in the gas chambers - an unforgettable experience!

Their stay in France where they stayed in a work camp was marred by a serious illness, probably due to the lack of cleanliness. Hot water was available for only 2 hours each week on Thursday afternoons.

 

The "tour" was over and the two girls moved on to several other cities including Amsterdam where they accidentally met Mary’s uncle, A.R. Kaufman from Kitchener* who said they really had to go to Stockholm and Copenhagen which they did - thanks to financial aid supplied by Mr. Kaufman!. They flew home stopping in Iceland for refuelling.*
A. R. Kaufman

Meanwhile, Doug made a major decision. Following an impassioned talk regarding the impoverished condition of Cree Indians in the north by Bishop Robert Renison* at Huron College, he resigned from the C.O.T.C. and volunteered to teach school and provide church services at a small Indian village in the far north. One could barely find Osnaburgh House on a map of northern Ontario as it was only accessible by pontoon aircraft but the cause was noble.

Bishop Renison

Doug set off by train from Toronto stopping eventually in Hornpayne where he stayed overnight in a hotel.

The flight next day took him to Central Patricia on Pickle Lake. Central Patricia was a popular gold mining centre and was one of several mining companies in the village. There were very few permanent residents as most people flew in or out to attend to mining business.

At any rate, Doug wasn’t going to leave Central Patricia for three weeks as there was no way to get to Osnaburgh House on the back woods road. Doug spent his time enjoying the primitive neighbourhood and playing  piano for a small band in the rec hall each evening. One evening, he tried to break up a fight between a husband and wife only to discover nasty situations like that should be avoided at all costs!

However, it turned out that several employees of a hydro company were about to head south and would take Doug with them to their destination of, “Rat Rapids” which was across the lake from Osnaburgh House.  A motorized canoe ride across the lake took him to the land of the Crees and his home for the  summer.

Hudson Bay Post
Osnaburgh House