From Sled to Satellite: My Years with the Grenfell Mission

R. Gordon Moyles is professor emeritus of English at the University of
Alberta, co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities: British
Views of Canada, 1880–1914, and author of The Salvation Army and the
Public.

It would take many books to chronicle adequately the medical heroism and social achievements of the Grenfell Mission in its many years of service to the people of northern Newfoundland and Labrador since its establishment in 1892. Wilfred Grenfell himself would, of course, occupy several volumes of those books, but there were many dedicated colleagues who worked with and succeeded him whose exploits were as important and interesting. Thankfully, one of those, Dr. Gordon Thomas, who gave 33 years to the Mission and became its director, has offered us his recollections of those years, providing insights into the arduous routine of a Mission doctor and director, glimpses of the lifestyles of his patients, comments on his indispensable associates, and a view of the politics surrounding the Mission’s absorption into the Newfoundland health services programme.

From Sled to Satellite is a fascinating book — superbly written, witty, and honest. By 1946, when Thomas began his career as a Mission doctor, Wilfred Grenfell had been dead almost ten years, and the amazing financial support generated by his powerful appeal to the outside world was waning. This, along with Newfoundland’s entry into Confederation, meant that the Mission’s affiliations must change, and it is this fact that dominates Thomas’s tenure as director and constitutes the thesis of this book. But never lost sight of are the people for whom the Mission came into existence. Neglected by the Newfoundland government, these fishermen and their families depended always for medical care and often for food as well on the Grenfell Mission. They are a kind and thankful people — willing to give what they have as well — and Dr. Thomas’s love for them, so often put into practice at dangerous moments, is manifest in everything he does. Such humanitarianism is worthy of being praised.