NEIL GOWER, KC, loves the North, the area around Great Slave Lake, and old tugboats. He holds a BA in history and an LL.B from the University of Alberta. Gower has worked extensively in the North, beginning with four summers working for Northern Transportation Co. Ltd., and then practising law (primarily as a legal aid defense lawyer) in Hay River (1975-1977) and for business clients throughout the NWT thereafter.
A strong supporter of northern business and Indigenous learning, Gower is a fifth-generation western Canadian whose greatgreat-grandfather came to Pile o'Bones Creek (now Regina, SK), in 1882. Gower's family has been involved in and focused on the history of the great northwest ever since.
Gower's love of northern history and admiration for Gordon Gill's initiative and dedication fueled his desire to tell this unique story. Gill's life of struggle and success, opportunities seized and lost, and continuous adaptation mirror the tremendous changes in Canada's North over the last half of the Twentieth Century. Gower reveals the remarkable "life and times" of a pioneering Métis entrepreneur against the backdrop of significant historical transitions in Northern development, lifestyles, marine transportation, mining, and petroleum exploration.
Now retired, Gower is a writer living in Edmonton, AB. He was the lawyer for and a long-time friend of Gordon Gill, Métis shipbuilder.
