I have vivid memories from my school years in Ireland of our
geography teacher Mr. Crowe's stories about travelling across
Canada. He always appeared to drift into some kind of rapture as
he described the experience. His eyes revealed how much he
enjoyed and missed the vastness of the Prairies with their
rolling, wind-blown wheat fields that went on forever. His
descriptions of the crystal-clear rivers, enormous forests,
cloudless skies, and sweet air conjured up images that were as
sharp as if it he'd had a projector in the classroom. He often
referred to how clean the country was. Ireland in those days was
not very clean. I vowed to some day confirm his claims in
person. Not that I doubted Mr. Crowe. He seemed to be in touch
with the world, our link to places we had only read about. But
since coming to Canada, I've seen a different picture — at least
in Northern Alberta. In my capacity as a family physician, I
began making regular visits from Fort McMurray to Fort Chipewyan
in the early 2000s. This First Na