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magazine / ja03
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July/August 2003 issue |
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THE INSIDE STORY
The people's geographer
Since boyhood, Cole Harris has been fascinated by history's
imprint on the landscape. It started on his grandfather's farm
in British Columbia's Kootenay region, a "node of European
settlement" in a vast land. His interest in the relationship
between people and place was rekindled during a sojourn at the Université
de Montpellier in southern France in 1959, where he spent his spare
hours cycling through the countryside. "The medieval past was
everywhere. There were traces of the Roman world and a few traces
of the Greeks and the Moors," says the 67-year-old professor
emeritus of geography at the University of British Columbia. "All
of this was written on the landscape, and it was just enticing for
a young man from Western Canada."
Today, Harris is one of Canada's leading historical geographers.
His contributions to the field have been honoured with the 2003
Massey
Medal for outstanding achievement in Canadian geography.
Established by Governor General Vincent Massey in 1959, the award
is administered by The
Royal Canadian Geographical Society.
Harris has published seminal works on the seigneurial system in
New France, Canada before Confederation and relations between First
Nations and European immigrants. His role as editor of the first
volume of the Historical Atlas of Canada earned him recognition
beyond academic circles. The innovative atlas, published in 1987
after eight years of consuming work, deals with the lives and economies
of ordinary folk, from prehistoric times to 1800.
"Among
geographers, he is one of our leading academics," says Brian
Osborne, a geography professor at Queen's University in Kingston,
Ont., who has known Harris since 1967. "But he also deals in
thoughts and issues that make him a public intellectual, with ideas
that transcend the ivory tower and relate to society at large."
While geography opens a window on the past, it also helps to shed
light on the present. Harris's studies have touched on crucial
Canadian issues, such as the evolution of our national identity
and the rights of First Nations. "I have spent most of my life
exploring the past geographies of Canada with a view to understanding
some of our current conundrums," says Harris. "In some
ways, this country is not comprehensible other than through a geographical
perspective."
— Monique Roy-Sole
top
Online champ
With a click of a mouse, Ethan Macaulay
won The Great
Canadian Geography Challenge, scoring an impressive
60 correct answers out of 67 questions.
"I'm pretty excited," says Macaulay, 13. "The
hardest question was about which desert in China has an underground
lake. I guessed [Takla Makan Desert], and I was right."
The eighth-grader from Bedford, N.S., won a $3,000 scholarship
and will represent Canada at the National Geographic World Championship
in Tampa, Fla., in July. Macaulay will be joined by last year's
first- and second-place winners, Jacob Cosman of Kamloops, B.C.,
and Denny Fyck of Kitchener, Ont.
Thirty-five students from across the country competed in the national
final on May 24. For the first time in its nine-year run, the Challenge
was held online, with participants answering multiple-choice questions
from the comfort of their school. The questions covered everything
from Colombia's abundant emerald mines to raging wildfires
in Australia.
The Geography Challenge is The
Royal Canadian Geographical Society's
most far-reaching event, this year drawing more than 150,000 students
from 967 schools.
— Michael Bhardwaj
Trip tips
If you're still wondering about how to spend
your summer vacation, switch on the radio for the latest buzz on
the Canadian travel scene. "CG Traveller" has hit the
airwaves on the CHUM Radio Network with brief spots about small-town
getaways, wilderness hot spots, quirky festivals and other activities
from around the country.
— Michael Bhardwaj
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Aquatic refuge
Véronique Bussières has undertaken a singular conservation
challenge for her master's thesis: to develop a concept for
one of the country's first community-based marine and terrestrial
protected areas with the Cree village of Wemindji in northern Quebec.
The area would encompass the rivière du Vieux Comptoir, its
watershed, its estuary and an offshore zone along James Bay. Residents
want a more formal role in managing and protecting resources, such
as waterfowl and fish, that are critical to their economy.
"It's a unique concept because we normally create either
a terrestrial or a marine park," says Bussières, 25,
who is studying public policy and public administration at Concordia
University in Montréal. "The Cree see the land and sea
as continuous and integrated '-scapes.'"
Bussières has been awarded the $5,000 Maxwell
Studentship in Human Geography from the Society. This summer, she is interviewing
Wemindji residents about their ideas for a conservation plan.
CG strikes gold
Canadian Geographic received two gold awards and six honourable mentions
at the 26th annual National Magazine Awards in May. The magazine
won in the Editorial Package category for its special issue on food
(Jan/Feb 2002) and writer David Lees took the top prize in Science
and Technology for "Coral Champions" (May/June
2002).
Lees also won an honourable mention for the same article at the
Science in Society Journalism Awards from the Canadian Science Writers'
Association.
At the Canadian Society of Magazine Editors awards in June, Canadian
Geographic received an honourable mention for Best Magazine
of the Year for magazines with a circulation of more than 150,000
in 2002.
In April, CG captured third prize in the magazine category at the
2002 Northern Lights Awards for "Changing Courses" (Sept/Oct
2002), a look at the new Northwest Territories by long-time contributor
Ed Struzik. The cover of the same issue was also a finalist in the
2003 Canadian Newsstand Awards category for magazines with a circulation
of more than 200,000.
Canadian Geographic also received two Circulation Management
Association of Canada Awards for Circulation Excellence for promotional
efforts in 2002. top
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