Longtime northern bishop Chris Williams dies at 89

Retired Bishop John Christopher Richard Williams died in Yellowknife on May 16, six days short of his 90^th birthday.

Born in Cheshire, England, Williams first travelled north as an Anglican missionary, according to an obituary by the McKenna Funeral Home.

He then became a priest in Salluit (then called Sugluk), in Nunavik. People came to know him as Supuuktutilik, the man with a pipe, as he ministered parishes in Nunavik, Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.

In 1976, Larry Robertson flew with his wife to his first posting in Cambridge Bay. At 6 a.m., they got to the mission house, where the lights were unexpectedly on.

Robertson, who would later become Bishop of Yukon, says Williams’s warm personality and dry sense of humour was why the two became life-long friends.

“This guy gets up, he opens the door, he’s got a pipe in his mouth, and he says in his nice Welsh accent, ‘You must be the Robertsons. Welcome to your home.’ That was Bishop Chris,” Robertson said in an interview.

Williams was archdeacon when he and Robertson met. He then went on to serve the Diocese of the Arctic in Kinngait, Baker Lake, Yellowknife and Iqaluit, where he was senior priest at St. Jude’s Anglican Cathedral and participated in Queen Elizabeth II’s Golden Jubilee visit.

In August 2002 Williams retired after 42 years in the ministry, including 15 as bishop of the Arctic.

“He was able to learn, he was able to adapt,” Robertson said. “He met his wife in Arctic Quebec. She was a nurse, and they just made it home. Their kids all grew up in the North.”

Williams also helped Inuit translate the Old Testament into Inuktitut syllabics, Robertson said.

“He was bilingual,” Robertson said. “I struggled with the language, but Chris was always encouraging. He said, ‘You just keep at it, you’re going to get better.’”

Alexander Pryor is the current bishop of the Diocese of the Arctic in Yellowknife. He said he knew Williams well, as he remained active with the church in Yellowknife in his retirement.

“He came to serve in the North at a very interesting time,” Pryor said.  “He was the last of our bishops to do a significant amount of travel by dog team.”

Williams oversaw the co-ordination of 16 Indigenous priests and the consecration of Paul Idlout as the first Inuk suffragan bishop. He was succeeded as bishop of the Arctic by Andrew Atagotaaluk, who became Canada’s first Inuk diocesan bishop.

“Bishop Chris was my mentor in my early years of my ministry,” Atagotaaluk wrote in an emailed statement. “We will miss him greatly, but the fruits of his ministry will continue to flourish.”

Robertson, who is recovering from bronchitis, says he regrets having to miss Williams’s funeral, but that he is pleased the service will be in the North.

“I don’t know much about Chris outside of his Arctic experience, because to me that’s where he always has been. And that’s where he belongs,” he said.

A funeral service is planned for May 23 at Holy Trinity Anglican Church in Yellowknife.