William Fraser (bishop of Arichat)

William Fraser (1778 or 1779 Glen Cannich, Inverness-shire, Scotland – October 4, 1851 Antigonish, Nova Scotia, Canada) was a Canadian Roman Catholic priest and the first Bishop of Halifax in Nova Scotia from 1842 until the splitting of the diocese into two dioceses effective September 22, 1844, when William Walsh took formal possession of the Diocese of Halifax. Bishop Fraser, however, remains a celebrated figure in the Canadian Gaelic Bardic poetry composed in his Diocese and is still remembered as a legendary strongman in both his native district of Scotland and in Nova Scotia. In both countries, many tales have been collected of his exploits.