Author, geographer, woodlot steward
As the 80th anniversary of the end of the Second World War draws to a close, we might reflect on the sacrifice that Canadians made in those years. The Reichswald Forest Cemetery in Germany provides a stark reminder. There in the quiet serenity of a hardwood forest lie the remains of 7692 British Commonwealth servicemen killed in northwestern Germany. Over…
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William Henry Nelson, decorated bomber pilot and the only Canadian Spitfire Ace in the Battle of Britain, was shot down 85 years ago today. His airplane crashed in the sea in the English Channel, and neither he nor it were ever found. He was, as has been written, a man of many talents. Few men flew as…
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The Battle of Britain began 85 years ago today. Over 100 Canadians took part, flying in Royal Air Force uniform. One of them was William Henry Nelson of Montreal. Willie Nelson had a passion to fly. Unable to afford flying lessons, he decided in 1936, at the age of nineteen, to go to England to…
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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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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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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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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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Went to the service in Canterbury Cathedral this morning, as we do each year. The impact of this astonishing space, and what goes on in it between 11 and 12 on Remembrance Sunday, does not diminish on me over time. “A British Subject I was born,” with all the good and the not so good…
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