Former Fort McPherson, N.W.T., principal returns to coach basketball

A former Fort Mcpherson, N.W.T., educator's love of the North recently brought him back to the community to run a basketball camp for youth.

Bill Warren who currently lives in Ontario was the principal at Chief Julius school in Fort McPherson, N.W.T., in the 1980s.

Over the past 30 years he's made two other trips back to the community to run the camps.

"When I was in Fort McPherson, there were good students there," recalled Warren.

"The sincerity of the kids, and the friendships that were formed. Some of them still call my house sometimes, and I treasure that."

'I had to have a decent gym'

After attending Brandon University in Manitoba and getting his education degree, Warren took a job teaching in Northern Alberta and then got the opportunity to move to the North.

"One of my conditions was I had to have a gym in the community. Whatever community I went to, I had to have a decent gym," he said.

Warren has spent more than 40 years working in gyms and classrooms, but he remembers Fort McPherson as one of his favourite places.

"When you come back here, you are treated the same as you were when you were here,"he said.

"You can't do that in the south. When you leave a place it's really difficult to go back."

A 'joy' to visit

Warren describes every visit as a joy, and said he loves working with the children of students he once taught.

He said he'd come back to work in the North in a heartbeat, but he's now a farmer and jokes that his cows wouldn't have anywhere to graze.

As for the community, he's happy to report that many of the students he taught went on to make good lives for themselves and are doing service work helping others.

"That's important; it's something they can pass on to their kids."