Catholic Vancouver October 12, 2023
Archbishop Duke’s lasting impact on First Nations
By Paul Schratz
The death of Archbishop Adam Exner last month allowed a moment to reflect on his legacy of working with First Nations communities and the respect he had for Indigenous people throughout his episcopal career.
Archdiocese of Vancouver archivist Jennifer Sargent brought to our attention another bishop who had made First Nations relationships a priority: Archbishop William Mark Duke, who served as Vancouver’s fourth Archbishop from 1931 to 1964.
Archbishop Duke showed a particular respect for Aboriginal Catholics as he travelled to their communities, including difficult-to-access places such as the Church of the Holy Cross at Skookumchuk (Skatin).
That respect was communicated to the larger Catholic community, and in 1938, he blessed a cross at the Eayem reserve cemetery near Yale. The cross bore the inscription: “Erected by the Stallo Indians to the memory of many hundreds of our forefathers buried here. This is one of six ancient cemeteries within five miles of fishing grounds which we inherited from our ancestors. R.I.P.”
The Aug. 20, 1938, B.C. Catholic reported “Indian memorial is blessed by Archbishop” in “the presence of a large gathering of Indians ... as well as many of their neighbouring friends.”
Archbishop Duke “commended the Indian people who had erected this beautiful cross in memory of their dead and as a monument to their fishing grounds.”
After the Second World War, Archbishop Duke contributed to Aboriginal education by supporting the Anahim band’s wish to develop on-reserve day schools at a time when most local Oblate administrators wanted to focus efforts on the Cariboo residential school.
In her 2008 history of the Archdiocese of Vancouver Traditions of Faith and Service, historian Jacqueline Gresko recounted how Archbishop Duke would take snapshots with his personal camera while travelling around the province.
“These photographs corroborate written accounts of his episcopacy, but also indicate what his visits meant to Aboriginal and rural communities, particularly those in isolated areas,” Gresko wrote, suggesting that the photos would be a useful subject for future academic and historical study.
Archbishop Duke’s lifelong ambition was to establish an order of Indigenous nuns, and in 1961 he reached out to Indigenous Catholics to encourage them to consider vocations to the religious life. “Undoubtedly God will invite some boys and girls to give their lives to His service and His Divine Mission of saving souls,” he said in a homily at Holy Rosary Cathedral after touring missions in B.C.’s Interior.
In a farewell address at Queen Elizabeth Auditorium in 1964 he paid the following tribute:
“From our earliest days in B.C. I realize the debt the Church in this province owes to the Indian people. The missionaries came here so many years ago; they were received by the Indian people who learned their hymns and said their prayers and eventually requested baptism and received the Sacraments of the Church. They helped the missionaries and took them among their people, making necessary contacts so that, in turn, other tribes of the Indian people would embrace the faith of our divine Saviour.
“Later on, when the missionaries built the Churches and the schools, the Indians helped them and furnished them and brought their children to the baptismal font and sent them to the schools, so it truly can be said in this province, the foundation stones of the church are to be found in the faith of the early missionaries and the Indian people.”
Archbishop Duke died in 1971 at the age of 91. Among the dignitaries attending his funeral were band chiefs from Sechelt, Hope, and Cortes Island.
In his eulogy, Archbishop James Carney remarked, “He loved the Indian people genuinely in the days before it was the fashionable thing to express concern for minority groups.”