Arthurson was Cree and a residential school survivor and served in ordained ministry for more than 50 years. He was never interested in retirement but rather saw himself as Christ’s faithful soldier and servant to life’s end.”Born in Norway House, Man. The national Indigenous archbishop linked Arthurson’s complex personality to the historical context of the Anglican church and surviving the residential school system. He is a product of the early residential school and especially the early church, which did not have very much understanding of Indigenous people and Indigenous ministries. As the first Indigenous bishop in Canada, Arthurson “was continually under pressure to champion various and often conflicting ideological agendas, both aboriginal and non-aboriginal,” Burton said.