Moon of Wintertime: Missionaries and the Indians of Canada in Encounter since 1534

G.A. Rawlyk is a history professor at Queen’s University and the
author of Champions of the Truth: Fundamentalism, Modernism, and the
Maritime Baptists.

This is a general survey of the impact of Christian missionaries upon Canadian Indians during the period after 1534. When he began writing this book, Dr. Grant thought that he would merely “analyze the terms of the Indian-Christian encounter in Canada while depending on others to supply the narrative thread of its story.” But he soon found that he would have to provide the “narrative thread” himself since so little historical “spadework” had already been done. Moon of Wintertime is therefore largely a descriptive narrative with a little analysis added — especially in the latter chapters of the volume.

Grant begins with the work of the early Roman Catholic missionaries and in the process covers well-plowed research ground. His chapters on Protestant missionary work in the Prairies, present-day British Columbia, and Ontario are quite well done. A sense of pessimism, however, seems to permeate the book — a pessimism based upon what Grant refers to as a “growing gap between expectation and fulfillment.”

There are some marvellous illustrations. This book should be required reading for any person interested in the Christian missionary experience in Canada. Grant’s study is solidly researched, clearly written, and at times provocative.