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Create AccountSir James Hector, geologist, naturalist (b at Edinburgh, Scot 16 Mar 1834; d at Wellington, NZ 5 Nov 1907). As surgeon and geologist to the PALLISER EXPEDITION (1857-60), Hector explored the country from the Red River settlement
Francis Bain, geologist, ornithologist, botanist, author, artist (b at Charlottetown 25 Feb 1842; d at York Point, PEI 23 Nov 1894). Bain, a self-educated farmer, was an authority on Prince Edward Island rocks, FOSSILS and natural history.
Sven Börje Johansson, CM, choreographer, reindeer specialist (born in Säffle, Värmland, Sweden on 29 August 1924; died 17 October 2018 in Victoria, BC). Johansson participated in the Canadian Reindeer Project, the Geological Survey of Canada and founded the non-profit Discovery Dance Society.
Louis-Edmond Hamelin, OC, GOQ, geographer (born 21 March 1923 in Saint-Didace, QC; died 11 February 2020 in Quebec City, QC).
Mountenay William Du Val, (b at Île Bonaventure, Qué 30 Jan 1883; d at Mont-Joli, Qué 22 Feb 1960) and Matilda Clara Du Val, née Mauger (b at Île Bonaventure, Qué 4 Oct 1884; d at Montréal 13 Dec 1954). The Du Vals were both of Channel Island and Irish background and were raised at ILE BONAVENTURE.
Frederick Ernest Joseph (F. E. J.) Fry, aquatic ecologist (born 17 April 1908 in Woking, United Kingdom; died 22 May 1989).
His first attempt, in 1578, was frustrated by poor organization, desertion and storms.
In 1882 Macoun was appointed to the GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA as Dominion botanist and began a study of the range and distribution of Canada's flora, adding fauna when he became survey naturalist and assistant director in 1887.
Graeme Gibson, CM, writer, cultural activist, teacher (born 9 August 1934 in London, ON; died 18 September 2019 in London, England). Graeme Gibson was a noted Canadian author and conservationist. His novels Five Legs (1969), Communion (1971), Perpetual Motion (1982) and Gentleman Death (1993) were widely acclaimed. He also published the environmentally conscious The Bedside Book of Birds (2005) and The Bedside Book of Beasts (2009). A committed bird watcher, he helped found the Pelee Island Bird Observatory. He was also instrumental in forming the Writers’ Union of Canada, the Book and Periodical Development Council and the Writers’ Trust of Canada. He was a former president of PEN Canada and the longtime partner of Margaret Atwood.
Friedrich Karl von Bruemmer, CM, RCA, photographer, writer, researcher (born 26 June 1929 in Riga, Latvia; died 17 December 2013 in Montreal, QC). Latvian Canadian wildlife photographer Fred Bruemmer spent much of his professional career in the Arctic. He was famous for photographing the flora and fauna of the North and the lifestyle of the Inuit. Bruemmer was a prolific writer and researcher who wrote more than 1,000 articles and 27 books. His extensive work in the circumpolar world reached an international audience. He was described in a 1980 Maclean’s article as “one of the least-known world-famous men in Canada.” He was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1983.
In 1969 MacInnis developed an underwater contained environment in Georgian Bay and then designed a transparent non-corrodible undersea refuge.
Almost as soon as the man known as GREY OWL died in a Prince Albert, Sask., hospital on April 13, 1938, his many secrets began to emerge into the open air.
Ferdinand Alphonse Fortunat Larose, agronomist (born 1 April 1888 in Sarsfield, Ontario; died 29 January 1955 in Montreal, Quebec). Throughout his career, Ferdinand Larose focused on agriculture in the United Counties of Prescott and Russel in Eastern Ontario. He is best known for having created the vast Larose Forest in a part of the counties which had become arid after intensive deforestation in the 19th century. The agronomist was also a leader for Franco-Ontarian cultivators. He chaired several cultivator associations and promoted agricultural training for Franco-Ontarians.
Eenoolooapik, also known as Bobbie, Inuk traveller, guide (born circa 1820 in Qimisuk [or Qimmiqsut], Cumberland Sound, NT; died in 1847 in Cumberland Sound, NU). Eenoolooapik provided British whaling captain William Penny with a map of Cumberland Sound that led to the rediscovery of that area 255 years after English explorer John Davis first saw it. The geographic information Eenoolooapik provided to whalers led to years of permanent whaling camps in Cumberland Sound.
Erik the Red (Eiríkr rauða in Old Norse and Eiríkur rauði in modern Icelandic, a.k.a. Erik Thorvaldsson), colonizer, explorer, chief (born in the Jæren district in Norway; died c. 1000 CE at Brattahlid, Greenland). An Icelandic settler of modest means who was exiled for his involvement in a violent dispute, Erik the Red rose in status as he explored Greenland and founded the first Norse settlement there. One of his sons, Leif Eriksson, led some of the first European explorations of the east coast of North America, including regions that are now part of Arctic and Atlantic Canada.
William Edwin Ricker, OC, FRSC, fishery and aquatic biologist (born 11 August 1908 in Waterdown, ON; died 8 September 2001 in Nanaimo, BC). Ricker was widely recognized as Canada's foremost fishery scientist.
Archibald Stansfeld Belaney, alias Grey Owl, writer, conservationist (born 18 September 1888 in Hastings, England; died 13 April 1938 in Prince Albert, SK). Grey Owl was a well-known conservationist and writer in the 1930s.
In his final stretch, the world’s most famous environmentalist is beset by doubts and doubters, at home and abroad.
Leif Eriksson (Old Norse Leifr Eiríksson, a.k.a. Leifr hinn heppni, Leif the Lucky), explorer, chieftain (born in the 970s CE in Iceland; died between 1018 and 1025 in Greenland). Leif Eriksson was the first European to explore the east coast of North America, including areas that are now part of Arctic and Atlantic Canada. Upon the death of his father, Erik the Red, Leif became paramount chieftain of the Norse colony in Greenland. The two main sources on him are The Saga of the Greenlanders and The Saga of Erik the Red. There are also references to him in The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason and The Saga of St. Olaf.
