An Arctic Adventure, part documentary and part drama
Author Bill Webb traveled extensively in Canada’s North from 1963 to 1996 as a member of a team of Ice Service Specialists with the federal government. This team observed and forecasted Arctic ice patterns to assist shipping in Canada’s North, however the work often overlapped into search and rescue operations. Bill’s career began on icebreakers but quickly migrated to the airplane as the advantages of this mode of transport developed .
His book is an interesting story of Arctic adventure interwoven with descriptions of many of the colourful characters that crossed his path. He also chronicles as a first-hand observer, the many and rapid changes that the North and its people have experienced during this period. Bill’s ice patrols took him from Greenland and Newfoundland to Alaska and from Nunavut to the North WestTerritories where he learned to “expect the unexpected.” While spending time examining weather, sea ice patterns and bergs in the waterways of the North, Bill also came to understand and appreciate the Inuit: their ways and traditions. His diary style of writing touches on concerns regarding global warming, industrial development, pollution. Canada’s sovereignty over the North and the vulnerability of the wildlife and people.
Since retiring in 1996 , Bill has settled somewhat reluctantly below the tree line in Ottawa and is adjusting to city life . He has fond memories of the Arctic as a “spiritual, sacred and magical place.” After so many seasons on The Barrens, each spring he often wishes he were once again packing his bags to head north.
The experience of a young adult trying to figure out what they want to do for employment or education can be overwhelming. My book will give them insight to what it means to be a carpenter. And the progress unions have made in discrimination.
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This book has been eight years in the making. It is mostly a jumble of thoughts written down in old spiral notebooks and hidden in the bottom drawer underneath various manuals for software packages and hardware long since turned obsolete.
My memories as an immigrant professional woman in Ottawa, Canada 47 years ago. A new life after having survived the liberal war of a new country Bangladesh on December 16, 1971.
