Neil Gower loves the North, the area around Great Slave Lake, and old tugboats.  He holds a B.A. in history and an LL.B. from the UofA.  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 to 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.  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 of Gordon Gill's initiative and dedication fueled his desire to tell a unique story of "A Metis Man's Dream..."     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 Twentieth Century.  Gower reveals the remarkable "life and times" of a pioneering metis entrepreneur against a backdrop of significant historical transitiions in Northern development, lifestyles, marine transportation, mining, and petroleum exploration.

Now retired Gower is a writer living in Edmonton.  He was a lawyer and long time friend of Gordon Gill, metis shipbuilder.