GROUARD, APOSTOLIC VICARIATE OF. - The mission is located in the southwestern part of the Great Canadian North. Its evangelization began through hunters who, speaking of God to the natives and marrying Indian women, taught them and their children the prayers and the principal truths of the faith. After 1818 the territory was visited by several secular priests, and in 1841 the Oblates of Mary Immaculate arrived. The zeal of these missionaries succeeded in winning several tribes to Catholicism. New stations were founded along the great river route leading toward the Arctic Ocean, and numerous temporary chapels were built. On April 8, 1862, Pius IX detached from the diocese of St. Boniface de la Rivière Rouge (today Manitoba) the regions of Athabasca and Mackenzie in order to erect them into an apostolic vicariate entrusted to the Oblates of Mary Immaculate; on July 30, 1901, it was divided into the vicariates of Athabasca and Mackenzie. On March 15, 1927, a part of the territory of Athabasca was united to Mackenzie, and the regions of Great Slave Lake and Yukon were erected into the vicariate of G.
This locality originated from the St. Bernard station (June 15, 1882), where Indians and métis gathered, and took its name from the apostolic vicar Msgr. E. Grouard while he was still alive. He was a great benefactor of civilization. Born on February 2, 1840, at Brulon, scarcely a priest (May 4, 1862), he set out with Fr. E. Petitot for the Canadian West. On November 21, 1863, he became an Oblate of Mary Immaculate, and the following year he began his ministry, which he later recounted in his Souvenirs de mes soixante ans d'apostolat dans l'Atabaska-Mackenzie (Lyons 1923). On October 18, 1890, he was promoted apostolic vicar of Athabasca-Mackenzie; he died on March 7, 1931.
The mission of G. has an area of 224,596 sq. km. (equal to that of England and Scotland together). The territory consists of a vast plain broken only by a few hills and by the Saw-ridge mountain chain; it is covered by great forests and by prairies cultivated with oats, barley, fodder, potatoes and legumes, which reach perfect maturity despite the harshness of the climate. The thermometer drops to 40 and 50 degrees below zero: the winter is long and harsh, and the waterways remain frozen until the beginning of May. Summer is limited to the months of July and August. The means of communication are fairly well developed. Sleighs are still in use in the mission stations of Vermillon and Wabaska; in the other areas they are replaced by horse-drawn carriages and automobiles. The inhabitants number 60,000, for the most part whites of English and French origin; the natives amount to a few thousand and have very primitive customs. From the annual report of 1949 the following statistical data are available: Catholics 20,714, of whom 18,760 of the Latin rite and 1,954 of the Greek rite; schismatics 2,262; Jews 28; Protestants 29,580; atheists 1,137. There are 8 secular priests, 57 Oblates of Mary Immaculate and 4 Redemptorists; 25 brothers; 208 sisters; 21 catechists; 100 teachers. Quasi-parishes 25; primary stations 24, secondary 118. Schools: elementary 31 with 2,372 children; middle 30 with 682 pupils; higher 15 with 254 pupils; hospitals 5 with 173 beds; pharmacies 6 with 7,226 annual consultations; orphanages 4 with 236 children. Three periodicals are printed there with a total of about a thousand copies. There are also several charitable associations and associations of Catholic Action.