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magazine / jf08
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January/February 2008 issue |
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EXPEDITIONS
In Farley’s footsteps
An invitation from
author Farley Mowat
to visit his Cape
Breton farm set Karsten
Heuer, Leanne Allison, their
two-year-old son Zev and
their dog, Willow, on a fivemonth
cross-country literary
journey. Instead of hopping
on a plane, they paddled,
walked and sailed 5,000 kilometres
through territory that
has served as the settings for
Mowat’s books.
Last May, they launched
their canoe in the Bow River,
two blocks from their home
in Canmore, Alta., and paddled
across the Prairies, then
north to Hudson Bay and
the community of Arviat,
Nunavut. They crossed
Eastern Canada by train and
sailboat before landing on
the northern coast of Cape
Breton Island.
Why embark on such an odyssey? “We really wanted to
pay a fitting tribute to a man who has written more than
40 books that have shaped so many people’s visions of Canada,” says Heuer, a biologist
and park warden who has undertaken some epic expeditions with Allison, a filmmaker. In
2003, the couple followed the Porcupine caribou herd’s migration on foot across the
Yukon and Alaska (see “Being caribou,”
March/April 2006). Their quest to meet Mowat received an expeditions grant from The Royal Canadian
Geographical Society.
The young family had an unnerving encounter with a polar bear and endured a gutwrenching
three-day sail to Newfoundland. But “the most memorable part of the trip,”
says Allison, “was arriving at Hudson Bay.” At the mouth of the Churchill River, they
watched beluga whales swim playfully around their canoe.
While canoeing with a toddler was at times demanding and worrisome, Heuer and
Allison say that Zev adapted remarkably well. Alone in the wilderness for long stretches,
“we were forced to bond,” says Heuer, “in a way that most families don’t have the
opportunity to do.”
— Monique Roy-Sole
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AWARDS
Esteemed volunteers
Geography professors Stuart Semple and Brian Osborne, who have dedicated
decades to The Royal Canadian Geographical Society, received the Camsell
Medal in November for outstanding service.
Semple of Malagash, N.S.,
teaches at Mount Allison University. In 1993, he helped
found the Canadian Council
for Geographic Education to promote and improve the teaching of geography in
Canada. He was also instrumental in creating the
Geography Challenge in
1994. Since then, about 2.5 million students have participated in the competition.
Historical geographer Brian Osborne, an adjunct professor
emeritus at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., served the RCGS for 20 years, on the
Board of Governors and most RCGS committees, including
Research & Grants, Awards and Canadian Geographic’s
Editorial Advisory Committee.
GEO-LITERACY
He has our vote
What do geographers and politicians have in common? A lot, says Robert Twerdoclib, an
Alberta teacher and town councillor and the winner of the Canadian Council for Geographic Education’s 2007
Geographic
Literacy Award.
“A sense of place is so important,” says Twerdoclib.
“As a councillor, you’re looking at human interactions and opportunities in the places
that we live. It’s truly geography in action.”
For more than 20 years, “Mr. Geography,” as he’s affectionately called by his
peers, has worked tirelessly to advance geographical studies in the Alberta curriculum,
which does not offer a dedicated course in the subject.
Twerdoclib, who teaches grade-nine social studies in Spruce Grove, says his most rewarding experiences have
come from his students.
“Sometimes we take trips to the Rocky Mountains, and for some of them, it’s their
first visit,” he says. “They stand in awe of the things I’ve tried to describe in the
classroom.”
— Geoff Dembicki
ATLAS ONLINE
Canada up close
Grade 11 students Derek Ho and John Yao test their geography
skills and a new mapping tool
during the launch of the 2007
edition of The Canadian Atlas
Online in November in Toronto. The mapping feature
allows users to zoom in on Canadian destinations at
street level. The atlas also includes new sections on climate change and the rivers of Canada.
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Pin on a mission
Astronaut Steve MacLean
(LEFT) presents RCGS President Gisèle Jacob with the Society pin he took on the space shuttle Atlantis in
2006. The pin orbited the Earth 186 times and travelled 7.84 million kilometres, says
MacLean, who was guest speaker at the annual RCGS College of Fellows dinner in
November. He will share stories of his mission with the public during the Society’s
Speaker Series in April. |
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EVENTS
High flyers
Guests at The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s annual College of Fellows dinner in November
must have felt as if they were soaring. Not only were the dining tables surrounded by 75 aircraft at the Canada
Aviation Museum in Ottawa, but astronaut Steve MacLean also transported the audience into space with photos, videos
and details of his second spacewalk, in 2006. The event
honoured Massey, Gold and
Camsell medallists and raised
money for the RCGS.
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