Clair and Clara Schnupp

 2009 Seminary Alumni of the Year

Clair & Clara Schnupp

Clair Schnupp 1991 MA

Clara Schnupp 1991 BA, 1993 MA

This year Clair and Clara Schnupp celebrate a number of 50s. Fifty years of marriage, of ministry, and of flying. Clair and Clara began their ministry as teachers in Northern Ontario, where together they founded Northern Youth Programs in 1967.

NYP began as a camp and educational ministry. Over the years it has become a family-oriented ministry. It still includes Beaver Lake Camp, which provides a Christian camp experience for children and youth. The camp has also become a counselling centre. A number of Providence graduates serve with the mission. NYP also involves a publication ministry; Today’s Native Father, has a circulation of about 16,000. Clair and Clara have conducted workshops on family life in many parts of the world including Greenland, but mostly among Cree, Ojibway, and Inuit peoples in Canada. The ministry of NYP also includes an urban youth outreach in Thunder Bay and various prison outreaches.

Clair has logged over 12,000 hours flying mainly in the arctic. He has written two books, Heart for the North, the story of NYP; and Flying Canada, celebrating fifty years of flying.

Clair received the MA in Counselling from Providence Theological Seminary in 1991. He earned the Doctor of Philosophy from Oxford Graduate School in Dayton, Tennessee, graduating in1995. Clara earned the BA from Providence College 1991 and the MA from Providence Seminary in1993.

Through NYP Clair and Clara serve as adjunct instructors for Providence Seminary, which offers a Diploma in Counselling to Aboriginal leaders. Through this diploma program over 150 church leaders have been trained to give encouragement counselling to those in need. This program has been offered 18 times. There are ten courses in each program. Clair and Clara have written a 100-page manual for each course. The manuals have been translated into Inuktytuk for people in Greenland.

The Schnupp’s ministry has multiplied over the years as a number of new ministries have grown out of NYP. They have the great joy of watching people to whom they have ministered now ministering to others. Clara participates as a workshop leader on the same issues as Clair. Their co-teaching and co-counselling leave an impact wherever they serve.

Clair and Clara have five daughters and twenty-six grand children. Two of their children are Seminary graduates.

We need your nomination for Alumni of the Year

We need your nominations for a Providence College or Seminary graduate that has shown commitment to God through the years in the way they have lived their lives and has made a significant contribution to church and society through their profession and/or as a volunteer.Please send your nomination and a short ministry description to:

Sue Screpnek
c/o Providence College and Theological Seminary
10 College Crescent
Otterburne, Manitoba R0A 1G0

You can also send an email to Sue Screpnek