Author, geographer, woodlot steward
This is my uncle Joey Jacobson’s grave in Lichtenvoorde General Cemetery in the Netherlands. The photo was sent to me by a man I know only because he read my book, Joey Jacobson’s War, a few years ago, and who went out of his way last week to visit Joey’s grave. I was deeply moved that he…
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Canadians are now confronted with an existential crisis. We are faced not only with economic hardship but with fundamental threats to our sovereignty and as importantly, with profound moral challenges. How we will bear and endure harsh measures against us if they come to pass, and what are we willing to do to resist? And…
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Sachs Harbour NWT, winter 1967 The Canadian North was the focus of my working life for fifty years. In 1962 I was hired by the Department of Northern Affairs as a field assistant on a resource survey on the Western Arctic coast, and for several summers afterwards continued as assistant and then director. I also…
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Huron County is the land of corn, soy, and wheat. If city folk wonder where their food staples come from, this is the place. The land here is bountiful, productive, and readily cultivated. It’s as good as it gets in Canada. Drop a nine-furrow plow in the dark soil and you could go for miles without…
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Eighty-two years ago today, on 30 March 1942, Britain launched a desperate attempt. to destroy Nazi Germany’s largest battleship, the Tirpitz. The Allies’ fortunes were at a low ebb at that point in the war, and the Tirpitz, anchored near Trondheim, Norway, posed an immediate threat to Murmansk-bound convoys carrying aid to Soviet Russia. The…
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FIFTY YEARS AGO ON THIS DAY – 21 March 2024 Fifty years ago today the Government of Canada established the Mackenzie Valley Pipeline Inquiry. Its purpose was to hold hearings and report on the social, environmental and economic impact of the proposed Mackenzie Valley Gas Pipeline, and to recommend terms and conditions that should govern…
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My publisher, Pen & Sword Books, have recently released the cover design for my new book, now titled Battle of Britain Spitfire Ace. Read all about it here.
One of the consequences of Covid has been rediscovering the joys of snowshoeing. While isolated on a hundred acres of bush in eastern Ontario, with three kilometers of trails, there was never a boring day in winter, whatever the weather. And so it continues. While snowshoeing I read the news: what animals are moving about…
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When I lived in a small community in the Western Arctic in the 1960s, I heard speculation, in hushed tones, of children buried in the mission school yard in Aklavik. I did not discount what I was being told, but as a young man from a relatively privileged and untroubled background, I was mystified about…
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William Henry Nelson, DFC – A Canadian in the Royal Air Force Like many young Canadians in the 1930s, William Henry Nelson wanted to fly. Unlike all but a few, he fulfilled his ambition beyond imagining, becoming a decorated Royal Air Force bomber pilot early in the Second World War, then becoming an ace…
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