True North Rising, Whit Fraser
True North Rising, Whit Fraser
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True North Rising
My fifty-year journey with the Inuit and Dene leaders who transformed Canada's North

Author: Whit Fraser

Narrator: Whit Fraser

Unabridged: 10 hr 14 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 01/31/2023


Synopsis

NATIONAL BESTSELLER
In this captivating memoir, Whit Fraser weaves scenes from more than fifty years of reporting and living in the North with fascinating portraits of the Dene and Inuit activists who successfully overturned the colonial order and politically reshaped Canada—including his wife, Mary Simon, Canada's first Indigenous governor general.

"This is a huge embrace of a book, irresistible on every level. . . . I couldn't put it down." —Elizabeth Hay, Scotiabank Giller prize-winning author of Late Nights on Air

In True North Rising, Whit Fraser delivers a smart, touching and astute living history of five decades that transformed the North, a span he witnessed first as a longtime CBC reporter and then through his friendships and his work with Dene and Inuit activists and leaders. Whit had a front-row seat at the MacKenzie Valley Pipeline inquiry, the constitutional conferences and the land-claims negotiations that successfully reshaped the North; he's also travelled to every village and town from Labrador to Alaska. His vivid portraits of groundbreakers such as Abe Okpik, Jose Kusugak, Stephen Kakfwi, Marie Wilson, John Amagoalik, Tagak Curley, and his own wife, Mary Simon, bring home their truly historic achievements, but they also give us a privileged glimpse of who they are, and who Whit Fraser is. He may have begun as a know-nothing reporter from the south, but he soon fell in love with the North, and his memoir is a testament to more than fifty years of commitment to its people.

About The Author

WHIT FRASER went north to Frobisher Bay (now Iqaluit, Nunavut) in 1967 to work for CBC's Northern Service. Since then he’s travelled to every community in Canada's three northern territories. For CBC he covered the historic events that shaped today's North, including the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry, the negotiations that enshrined Indigenous rights in the Canadian constitution, and the progress of land claims, from the initial demands of Dene and Inuit leaders through to the ceremony that inaugurated the new territory of Nunavut in 1999, which he co-hosted on the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation. Moving south for a stretch, Fraser became the prime-time anchor for CBC Newsworld when it debuted in 1989. After he left broadcast journalism, Whit also served as the first chairman of the Canadian Polar Commission and as the executive director of the national Inuit organization, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. He is married to Canada's first Indigenous governor general, Mary Simon. His memoir, True North Rising, won the NWT Northwords Book Prize in 2019. Nunavut's paper of record, Nunatsiaq News, called it a "must-read for anyone interested in northern Canada."


Reviews

Goodreads review by Sadie on February 20, 2025

This was great .. i learned and lot. great audio book bc whit has a fantastic voice......more

Goodreads review by Susan on January 06, 2025

Much more than a memoir, here Whit Fraser chronicles the 50-year struggle of the people of the North to assert their rights, their land claims, and ultimately their sovereignty, a struggle led by some amazingly talented and articulate young Inuit. Fraser chronicles the lives of these leaders and his......more

Goodreads review by John on June 14, 2023

This memoir by Whit Fraser describes his experience working in The North, and the folks he encountered while doing that. It is a love letter to The North and a very satisfying read. I highly recommend it.......more

Goodreads review by Anne on April 16, 2023

I really enjoyed listening to this book. The narration is calming, and the content is interesting. It was like sitting with an elder and listening to his stories from a life well lived. I learned a lot through it, about the far north, and politics related to it. I’m glad I picked up this book!......more

Goodreads review by Lindsay on May 07, 2023

I can’t say enough about this book, it was inspiring, educational, thought provoking, sad, happy, historical, funny - it elicited the whole range of human emotions. Such a great read about events and people from Canada’s north, highly highly recommend.......more


Quotes

“Totally absorbing. . . . True North Rising is by far the best book I’ve read about the peoples of the North and the steady drumbeat of their demand for autonomy. Fraser’s love and admiration for the various characters shines through the writing.” —Charlotte Gray, author of Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons