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Bill Stowell completed his BSF in Forest Management in 1977. Bill Stowell has had an active forestry career with companies across British Columbia. Between 1981 and 1986, Bill worked as Woodlands Manager for Babine Forest Products Ltd. in Burns Lake, BC. His following employment in 1991-1994 was with Weyerhaeuser Canada Ltd. as a Log Trader in Merritt and Princeton, BC. He moved on to become a Log Trader with Tolko Industries Ltd. for the period 1994-2010. From 2010 onwards, Bill worked as a Fibre Manager for Fusion Fibre Ltd. in Merritt, BC. Bill Stowell also worked as Forestry Manager for Upper Nicola Band between 2014 and 2018.

Bob Stowell was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1922 and grew up in St. Paul, Minnesota. He served in the United States Marine Corps from 1942-1945. He started working for the Weyerhaeuser Lumber Company in 1947. In 1952, Bob Stowell and colleagues purchased a sawmill site at Tye, B.C. on the east side of Kootenay Lake. After the sawmill burned down, Bob Stowell worked for the Potlach Forest Sawmill in Lewiston, Idaho piling lumber. His following employers were the Weyerhaeuser sales department in Cleveland, Ohio and a logging company in Columbia Falls, Montana. Then he was hired by The Pas Lumber Company Ltd. in Minneapolis, Minnesota to work in their sales department. This job led to the opportunity to move to Prince George, B.C. in 1965 to manage forestry and logging at The Pas Lumber Co. (B.C.) Ltd. in Prince George. Bob Stowell worked for The Pas Lumber Co. (B.C.) Ltd. in Prince George from 1965 until his retirement in 1991.

Emil Bronlund (1896-1988) was born in Norway and obtained a Bachelor of Science in mining and metallurgical engineering from the University of Oslo before immigrating to Canada in 1920. Initially he was an engineer for a coal mine near Hinton, Alberta and at the Ingenika Mine in northern BC. In 1927 Consolidated Mining and Smelting (later Cominco and Teck Resources) hired Bronlund to be in charge of their mining exploration in northern BC, a position he held for almost 25 years. Most of his work was in the Omineca district north of Fort St. James.

In an obituary for Bronlund, the Northern Miner, a trade journal, commented that "Bronlund was a member of Cominco's flying corps of prospectors which did much to open up the north in the 1930s." The journal also noted that "several properties in the Omineca district now under development are his original finds." In 1931 Cominco provided Bronlund with an airplane, CF-AAM, for his exploration, along with a mechanic, pilot and a geologist. Cominco bought this plane new in 1929 and had it custom furnished. Bronlund and his crew spent time with surveyor Frank Swannell and his crew at Thutade Lake at the beginning of the 1931 field season, and also at the end of the season.

During World War II, Bronlund was Consolidated’s manager for the Pinchi Lake mercury mine northwest of Fort St. James. It was the largest producer of mercury in the country at that time.

Bronlund Peak and Bronlund Creek in northern BC are named for him. CF-AAM is in the Western Canada Aviation Museum in Winnipeg.

Tommy Tompkins was a former RCMP officer who was best known for his television and film work in the northern Canadian wilderness. He appeared regularly on CBC Television, including the show "This Land" and had his own CBC television show, "Tommy Tompkins' Wildlife Country" which are available through the National Film Board.

“Tommy Tompkins’ Wildlife Country” was a short series of 13 half hour programs, featuring Tommy Tompkins, outdoorsman and environmentalist, which aired at various times on the CBC from January to December 1971 and then repeated from February 1972 to June 1974. “Wildlife Country” chronicled animal life in remote regions of British Columbia and the Yukon, and also documented Tompkins' own methods of survival and travel through the wilderness during the spring and summer seasons when he lived in the bush alone, travelling without a film crew and often acting as his own wildlife cinematographer for the series. This series was the spin-off of a successful television special called “Tommy Tompkins: Bushman” which aired on the CBC in 1970. The executive producer for Tommy Tompkins' Wildlife Country was Ray Hazzan and the producer Denis Hargrave.

In later years, Tompkins gave lecture tours for B.C. Hydro, Fletcher Challenge, and Alcan, where he showed his films. He travelled with his pet wolf, Nehani. Through his celebrity Tompkins gained sponsorship from McMillan Bloedel which allowed him to take his films, lectures, and conservation message to school children all over the Province of BC. It is estimated that some years he was able to speak to over 100,000 children. In 1974 Tommy Tompkins was named a Member of the Order of Canada for his work in focusing awareness on the natural environment.

Tommy Tompkins died in 1988 at the age of 68.

Torajiro Sasaki was born on January 8, 1914 in Mieken, Japan. He came to Canada in 1931 and lived in Vancouver, working in a greenhouse operation in Steveston, BC.

After Canada's declaration of war on Japan on 8 December 1941, the Canadian federal Government forcibly removed nearly 22,000 persons of Japanese ancestry starting in 1942. About 14,000 of those forcibly removed people were interned in isolated and declining former mining towns and hastily created camps in the West Kootenay and Boundary regions of the province. As the Internment camps were made ready, Japanese Canadians were moved to these camps through the summer and fall of 1942.

Torajiro Sasaki was one of those affected. On 7 February 1942, when he was detained and his property confiscated, his only possession of note (according to the British Columbia Police) was his Kodak camera. Torajiro was initially sent to Lempriere Camp and later to Red Pass internment camps, likely to work on the Yellowhead-Blue River Highway Project. The Yellowhead-Blue River Highway Project was a project of the Surveys and Engineering Branch of the federal Department of Mines and Resources. It ran from 1942 to 1944 and "employed" Japanese-Canadian males 18-60+ (mostly Japanese nationals) whether physically fit or not, originally living in West Coast of British Columbia. The project area spanned from the BC interior into the province of Alberta: Lucerne, Geikie, Yellowhead, Rainbow, Fitzwilliam, Grantbrook, Red Pass, Tete Jaune, Albreda, Blackspur, Gosnell, Lempriere, Pyramid, Thunder River, Red Sands, and Blue River.

When the war came to an end and the internment camps were dismantled, Torajiro Sasaki moved to Giscome, BC for work. At that time, there was a high demand for manpower at the many sawmills along the Upper Fraser River. As a single man, Sasaki was lodged in the bunkhouses and worked at Eagle Lake Sawmills. Torajiro's Kodak camera, which was held by the BC Provincial Police until his release, was finally returned to him in Giscome via a parcel shipment in 1946.

Sasaki and his family later lived on an acreage outside of Giscome. Torajiro Sasaki was a hobbyist photographer, filmmaker, and gardener.

Barry McKinnon was born in 1944 in Calgary, Alberta. He studied at Mount Royal College for two years and in 1965 he attended Sir George Williams University in Montreal. He studied poetry with Irving Layton and received a BA in English and Psychology in 1967. He graduated with an MA degree in Creative Writing from the University of British Columbia in 1969, and in the same year became an English instructor at the College of New Caledonia in Prince George, BC until his retirement in 2005. He received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree in 2006 from the University of Northern British Columbia, the highest award presented by the university in recognition of outstanding public service of national significance. Barry has been widely published and extensively involved in the Prince George and British Columbia literary community, both as a writer and as a publisher, editor, and designer, and has achieved national recognition. The Caledonia Writing Series and Gorse Press contain 125 titles. These include Victoria Walker’s Suitcase, winner of the BC Book Award, and George Bowering’s Quarters, winner of the bp Nichol Award. In 1981 Gorse Press won the Malahat Review Award for excellence in letterpress and broadside design. He has authored 15 books of poetry and numerous journal and anthology publications. In 1981, his work "The The" was short-listed for the Governor General’s Award for Poetry and "Pulplog" won the Dorothy Livesay Prize (BC Book Awards) for 1991. He won the bp Nichol Chapbook Award for "Arrythmia" in 1994, and for "Bolivia/Peru" in 2004. He has also organized more than 100 readings in Prince George, attracting the likes of Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, and former Prince George writer Brian Fawcett. Over the course of nearly four decades, Barry has inspired generations of northern writers and added his own poetic voice to the nation’s literary culture.

Audrey Ruth Smedley L’Heureux (1925-2013) was a Northern BC author, journalist, and newspaper editor. She was born Audrey Ruth Spencer in Vanderhoof B.C. on August 10,1925 to parents Marion Lucy Auld Graham Spencer and Ernie (Bert) Spencer. Audrey had two siblings, Pat and Jim Spencer, and a pet moose named Pinto.

Audrey served during World War II as a commercial radio wireless operator. She married her first husband, Jack Smedley, and they had three children: Albert, Georgina, and Teddy. They lived on Smedley Farm, approximately two miles south of Vanderhoof, which later became the headquarters for Custom Products and Timber Limited. In 1957, the Smedley's sold the farm and divorced.

With more personal time, Audrey decided to pursue her love of research and decided to start the Nechako Chronicles newspaper in 1964. Although she sold the newspaper in 1971, Audrey had found her passion for journalism. Audrey later applied for the editor position at The Interior News and worked there from 1974 to 1975. Later, Audrey became the editor for the Ingot, the Alcan newsletter. During her time at the Ingot, Audrey met and married Edmond “Ed” Joseph L’Heureux (1917-2001) on August 12, 1976. Audrey left the Ingot in 1976 and pursued her passion for researching northern British Columbia history. Audrey published “Northern BC In Retrospect " in 1979, “From Trail to Rail: Surveys & Gold, 1862 to 1904” in 1987, and “Trail to Rail: Settlement Begins, 1905-1914” in 1989. Audrey also created another volume of “Trail to Rail”; however, it was never published.

L’Heureux became a pillar in her community, winning several awards such as the 125th Anniversary Commemorative Medal of Canadian Confederation in 1993, Community Booster of the Year from Vanderhoof Chamber of Commerce in 1998, appointment to the Senior’s Advisory Council of B.C. in 1997, and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002. Audrey was also a member of the Nechako Valley Historical Society, the Senior Citizen’s Counsel, and a member of the Elder Citizens Recreation Association (ECRA).

Audrey Ruth Smedley L’Heureux died on February 12, 2013.

Howard Foot, the youngest of the four sons of Claude Foot, was born in 1939. He was raised and educated in Prince George.

Howard's father Claude arrived in Prince George in 1906. He worked for the Hudson Bay Company and came from Quesnel by a scow that was pulled up river by Indigenous people; the trip took 17 days. Claude Foot later worked for the provincial government for 33 years and married Kate Renwick.

After high school, Howard Foot went into the entertainment promotion business. He started out with the blessing of the Prince George city council with a program called Teen Town. The idea was to involve teenagers in community events. Howard Foot was contacted by a U.S. promoter and promoted entertainment concerts all around B.C. for rock and roll stars like Gene Vincent, Buddy Knox and Eddie Cochran. He also promoted car shows, boxing matches, teen dances and an aquatic show at the old outdoor pool on Watrous Street.

Howard Foot married Trudi Nelson in 1963 and had two children, Reg and Renee. Trudi passed away in 1994.

Howard worked in advertising at CKPG for eight years (one year in radio and seven years in television). He then spent 20 years working for Ron East at radio station CJCI. During that time a workmate introduced him to Jeannette DeWalt; they married in 1996.

Good Morning Prince George was a daily coffee shop newspaper that Howard bought and ran for five years.

Howard started the Nukko Lake Water Ski School in 1979. He is credited with being the first promoter of water skiing in Prince George. After 35 years, Howard left the school to his son Reg and nephew Brian to run. Howard skied competitively and won numerous medals at the Kelowna Regatta, the B.C. Provincials and the B.C. Summer Games. He was one of the first people inducted into the Prince George Sports Hall of Fame, in the sport building classification, for his contribution to the sport of water skiing both provincially and for Prince George.

Howard served on the Forest Expo board for nearly 10 years and served on the Sports Hall of Fame selection committee for many years. He also served on the board of the North Central Seniors Association.

John Kent Sedgwick was born in Weston, Ontario on March 13th, 1941. In 1964 he graduated from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario, with a Bachelor of Arts in Geography. During this time, he also wrote an undergraduate thesis titled “Effects of Land Use on Night Temperatures in London, Ontario.” In 1966 he graduated with his M.A. in Geography from McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. His M.A. thesis was titled “Geomorphology and Mass Budget of Peyto Glacier, Alberta.”

Kent Sedgwick came to Prince George in 1970 and held a position as a Geography Instructor at the College of New Caledonia. He was also a frequent guest lecturer for history courses at the University of Northern British Columbia, and later, from 2003 until 2009, an adjunct professor at UNBC for geography. His expertise was in physical geography, particularly glaciation, hydrology, weather and climate, and alpine studies, and historical geography as well as cartography. He also taught courses on wildland recreation. After teaching at CNC for nearly a decade, in 1983 he became a Senior Urban Planner for the City of Prince George. In his professional relationship with the University of Northern British Columbia, he also contributed to research on the Upper Fraser as part of the UNBC-led Upper Fraser Historical Geography Project between 1999 and 2002.

Alongside his professional work, Kent Sedgwick was extensively involved in the community. During his teaching career he conducted more than 50 field trips for students and other professionals, including the Federation of BC Writers (2000); the Western Division of the Canadian Association of Geographers (2003); and the BC Heritage Federation (2003). He was also the treasurer and later the president of the Alexander Mackenzie Voyageur Route Association. Sedgwick also worked directly with the Huble Homestead / Giscome Portage Historical Society. Significantly, Sedgwick worked with the Huble Society, June Chamberland and Curle Witte to transcribe and edit the 1909-1919 diaries of Albert Huble.

He was a Member and Chairmen of the Heritage Advisory Committee for the City of Prince George from 1978 until 1983, and then was the secretary to the committee while employed in the Planning Division from 1983 until 2006. Through the Heritage Advisory Committee, he aided in many projects to protect and acknowledge local history and heritage. These projects included an inventory of heritage buildings in Prince George; research on the origins and desecration of the L’heidli T’enneh cemetery at Fort George Park; confirmation for rezoning various lots in Prince George; and developing tours of downtown Prince George. Kent Sedgwick also aided the Prince George Retired Teachers Association with conducting research on previous and current schools within Prince George and region.

Kent Sedgwick was well-known for his enthusiasm and passion in local history and for conducting meticulous research on the history of Prince George and the Central Interior. He had also compiled and edited works of local history, both on his own and aiding others in their writing. His own written works were recognized with the Jeanne Clarke Memorial Local History award in 1991 for his extensive efforts to preserve Prince George’s history. He received the same award for his book Giscome Chronicle: The Rise and Demise of a Sawmill Community in Central British Columbia (2008). Some of Sedgwick’s other published works include Lheidli T’enneh Cemetery, Prince George: A documented history (2012); Hotels, Hoteliers and Liquor Stores : The story behind a Prince George heritage building (2011); Monumental Transformation: The story of Prince George’s national historic monument (2009); Pan Am and All That: World War II aviation in Prince George, British Columbia (2008); and Reflections on Architects and Architecture in Prince George 1950-2000: An interview of Trelle Morrow (2007).

Kent Sedgwick passed away on December 6, 2011, after a long struggle with cancer.

Dr. Paul Sanborn is a Professor in the Faculty of Environment with the Department of Ecosystem Science and Management at the University of Northern British Columbia. Sanborn joined UNBC in 2002 after eleven years as a regional soil scientist with the British Columbia Ministry of Forests. At UNBC, his research program has built on established local field studies of site productivity, nutrient cycling, and soil rehabilitation, and developing a new emphasis on the role of soils as a recorder of long-term environmental change in northwestern Canada.

Known in Central British Columbia as "Mr. Radio," Jack E. Carbutt made enormous contributions to the broadcasting history of both Prince George and the province of British Columbia.

Born on April 13, 1917 in Vancouver, Jack Carbutt began his career in radio in July 1940 at Vancouver station CKMO as an announcer, operator, singer and organist. Three years later, Jack moved to Kamloops where he worked at CFJC as an announcer, production, program and sales manager. After World War II, Carbutt moved to Prince George where he joined station manager Cecil J. Elphicke and engineer R.J. Tate to establish Prince George’s first radio station, CKPG. This fledgling station began broadcasting from the Ritts-Kiefer Building on George Street on February 8th, 1946. Initially, Carbutt worked as the Sales and Program Manager, but soon became an announcer before moving on to station manager. In 1953 CKPG moved to its present Sixth Avenue location. Carbutt’s unique style and pioneering radio efforts lead him to also be known as the "Voice of the North". Jack Carbutt produced a popular weekly radio program titled "Reveries" during which he read poetry, sang, and interviewed local personalities.

In addition to being a popular radioman, Jack Carbutt was involved in various community projects. He helped to start the Kinsmen Radio Day and El-Ro-Ki. The latter was a fundraiser for the Elk's Lodge, Rotary, and Kinsmen Club which ultimately grew into what is now known as the Rotary Auction, a major charity fundraising event in Prince George. Jack Carbutt passed away on August 20th, 1990, at the age of 73.

Dr. Joselito (Lito) Arocena [1956-2015], was a geochemistry professor at UNBC [1994 – 2015], was a founding member of the Natural Resources & Environmental Studies Institute (NRESi) at UNBC and UNBC’s first Canada Research Chair (2001). He had immigrated to Canada from the Philippines, held a master’s degree from the University of Philippines, a licentiate in soil science from the State University of Ghent and a doctorate in soil genesis and classification from the University of Alberta. Dr. Arocena collaborated internationally with universities in Spain, France and China and held an adjunct professorship with Wenzhou University in China.

As of December 2014, he had authored 105 peer-reviewed journal articles and book chapters, 56 of which held the names of NRESi as co-authors.

Dr. David Brownlee Lazier was a regional doctor in central BC. He was born in Ontario in 1870 and eventually moved to BC and built a small, three-bed hospital – known as Lazier’s Hospital – in South Fort George in the early 1910s and but later moved his practice to Burns Lake and then to Francois Lake ca. 1921. Dr. Lazier died in 1931.

William Andrew Cecil (W.A.C.) Bennett, PC, OC was the 25th Premier of the Canadian province of British Columbia. With just over 20 years in office, Bennett was and remains the longest-serving premier in British Columbia history.

Dr. Gordon Hartman was a highly respected figure in fisheries and natural resource management for his skill as a researcher, his integrity and vision, and his lifelong commitment to the protection of the environment.

Born in Fraser Lake, BC, on September 20, 1927, he was the fifth in a large family growing up on a hardscrabble, depression-era farm. Despite its challenges, this childhood instilled a deep connection to nature that would ultimately form the foundation of his professional life and an abiding personal philosophy centered on environmental conservation. From his beginnings as a reluctant student in a one-room schoolhouse, he ultimately journeyed to the University of British Columbia to pursue a career in fisheries. He received his PhD in biology in 1964, and embarked on a rich and diverse career in research, university teaching and fish and wildlife management that took him, and his family, across Canada and throughout the world.

After publishing his seminal graduate dissertation on salmonid behaviour and ecology, he worked with the Fish and Wildlife Branch conducting research and assisting graduate students at UBC. He then accepted a position at the University of Guelph teaching fisheries biology from 1968-72, before returning to his native BC. From 1972-77 he served as Regional Supervisor of the Fish and Wildlife Branch in the West Kootenays. During this time he took a leave of absence to spend an incomparable year with his family living in Malawi, on what would prove to be the first of several trips to work on fisheries in Africa. From 1977-80 he served as Director of Wildlife for the Yukon Territorial Government, before returning to the rewards of research as Coordinator of the landmark Carnation Creek Fish-Forestry Study.

Although Gordon officially retired from his position as a government scientist in 1986, he continued to work on many projects, including teaching and supervising graduate students at the University of Addis Ababa in 1987-88, serving as a member of the Scientific Panel for Sustainable Forest Practices in Clayoquot Sound from 1993-1995, and returning to Malawi in 1997-98 for the Lake Malawi Biodiversity Conservation Project. In 2004 he contributed to and co-edited the book “Fishes and Forestry - Worldwide Watershed Interactions and Management,” that presented fish-forestry perspectives from scientists from the world over.

Perhaps most importantly, throughout his career and his retirement Gordon felt a strong responsibility to speak publicly about the threats to fish habitat, and natural ecosystems in general, posed by major resource extraction projects such as the Kemano Completion Project, Enbridge pipeline, Old Man River Dam and others. His expertise and principled approach, combined with the scope of his vision, produced scientific assessment and commentary that was an enormous contribution to society.

Joan Sawicki was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1945 and spent her early years on a small family farm in Burnaby. In 1956, the family moved to Terrace, B.C. Upon high school graduation, Joan attended the University of Victoria earning a Bachelor of Education degree in 1968, majoring in History and Geography.

During her university years, Joan developed an interest in agriculture, environment and land use planning while working with the Canada Land Inventory, both in Victoria and Ottawa. She was a secondary school teacher in Williams Lake 1968-1969 and in Armstrong 1972-1973 before joining the Land Commission staff in 1973 to work on establishing the original Agricultural Land Reserve boundaries. Joan Sawicki married Gary Runka in 1978 and joined him as a partner in G.G. Runka Land Sense Ltd. consulting firm in 1979.

From 1987 to 1990, Joan Sawicki served on Burnaby City Council. She chaired the environment and waste management committee and sat as a municipal representative on the Greater Vancouver Regional District waste management committee and the Metropolitan Board of Health.

After failing to win a seat in the provincial legislature representing the NDP in Burnaby-Willingdon during the 1986 election, Joan Sawicki was elected in that riding in 1991, and re-elected in 1996. Under the Premier Harcourt government, Joan Sawicki was appointed Speaker of the Legislative Assembly in March 1992, serving for two years. After leaving the Speaker’s chair, Joan served as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Municipal Affairs (April 1994 to May 1996), focusing on the Georgia Basin Initiative and serving on the board of the International Centre for Sustainable Cities.

Upon re-election in 1996, Joan was appointed Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment, Lands and Parks (June 1996 to January 1998) and charged with the task of expanding BC’s beverage container deposit/refund system. She resigned from that position when her government invoked the Provincial Interest clause to allow exclusion of land from the Agricultural Land Reserve for a proposed development project at Six Mile Ranch near Kamloops.

In July 1999, Premier Glen Clark named Joan Sawicki to cabinet as Minister of Environment, Lands, and Parks, during which time she championed a Green Economy Initiative and Sustainability legislation. She retained her portfolio under Premier Ujjal Dosanjh until November 1, 2000 after she had announced she would not be seeking re-election in 2001.

Upon retirement from elected politics, Joan returned to land use consulting work through G.G. Runka Land Sense Ltd. Upon her husband’s death, Joan completed their work opposing the loss of prime agriculture land due to the Site C dam. Joan served on the board of directors for Nature Conservancy of Canada, BC Region from 2004 to 2010 and continues to be active on environmental issues, including volunteering with BC Parks and other non-profit organizations.

Gordon Young Wyness was born in Vancouver on September 16, 1912, to Gordon Armstrong and Emma Sanders Wyness. He had two older sisters, Frances Dorothy and Margaret Jean. After living in Vancouver and Winnipeg, in 1918 the family settled in Plenty, Saskatchewan, a town near Saskatoon that served the local farming community and where the elder Gordon Wyness owned the general store from 1918 to 1935.

In 1929, he completed high school and went on to study at the University of Saskatchewan, graduating with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1934. Following graduation, he could not find employment because of the Great Depression. He worked in his father's store until the business was sold in 1935, at which point he moved to Vancouver.

Between June 5 and October 8, 1936, he was employed by Philip M. Monckton, a B.C. Land Surveyor. His degree in mechanical engineering gave him qualifications for this type of work. As far as is known, triangulation surveys in northwestern B.C. were the focus of the work. The survey crew stayed in various locations including Burns Lake, Francoise Lake, Prince George, Quesnel, Pioneer Ranch (owned by the McInnes family and located in North Bulkley near Hazelton), and Vanderhoof areas. From photographs taken by Gordon Wyness, it seems that the crew led by Philip M. Monckton consisted of Jack Lee and Gordon Wyness. Wyness can be easily identified in these photographs due to his height of six feet four and a half inches. Monckton's wife, Lavender Monckton (nee O'Hara), also accompanied the group.

In 1937, after seriously considering becoming a pupil to Land Surveyor Philip Monckton, Wyness found employment in the standards department of Burns and Co. He worked in Burns's Calgary and Edmonton locations before being appointed head of the standards department in Vancouver. His time with Burns gave him both management experience and an understanding of the meat industry.

On May 31, 1941, he married Alison Reid and in June the couple moved to Brownsburg, Quebec, where he had accepted a job with the Dominion Ammunition Division of Canadian Industries Ltd. His positions between 1941 and 1945 were special assistant to the production superintendent, special assistant to the assistant works manager and supervisor of the process and product improvement and rate control department.

As the end of the war approached, Wyness explored other career opportunities. After considering various options, he decided to accept his father-in-law's proposal that he take over the management of James Inglis Reid Ltd., which he did in the fall of 1945. This family ham curing and provisions business was well established in Vancouver. Its slogan 'we hae meat that ye can eat' and reputation for quality products with a Scottish flavour including haggis, was well known in Vancouver and beyond. For example, F. W. Bunton who owned Fraser River Hardware in Prince George regularly ordered cured ham and bacon sent up by Greyhound bus. Wyness managed the business until it closed in 1986.

Gordon Wyness passed away on July 7, 2004.

Philip Monckton was born in South Africa and educated in England. At the age of 17, Monckton entered articles with a distinguished surveyor and engineer, the late E.A. Cleveland, B.C.L.S., P.Eng., as a pupil in surveying, and after writing his final examinations in 1913, he was awarded his commission as a British Columbia Land Surveyor. He then took a year's course in mining engineering at the University of Washington 1914-1915. War service followed with a commission in the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, 1915-1919; after he had attained the rank of Captain he returned to resume land surveying in British Columbia. He married Lavender (nee O'Hara) at St. Albans in January 1918.

Although not officially a civil servant until 1941, most of Mr. Monckton's professional career was devoted to Provincial Government assignments, mainly on exploratory triangulation surveys in northwestern British Columbia. Place names such as Terrace, Kitimat, Skeena, Nass, Iskut, Stikine, Finlay and Kechika Rivers, Meziadin and Bowser Lakes, and Telegraph Creek exist in his reports to the Surveyor General though the years 1921-1940.

In September 1942, after having a year's permanent appointment in the British Columbia Forest Service, Mr. Monckton was granted leave to accept a commission in the R.C.A.F. to perform engineering and surveying duties on the West Coast and later in Quebec. He returned to the Provincial Civil Service in November 1944, after which departmental surveys under the Land Act occupied most of his attention until his retirement in 1957. A special assignment in 1947 was a reconnaissance survey of possible routes for a highway from Hazelton northwest to the Yukon via the Kispiox, Nass, Bell Irving, Iskut, Stikine Rivers and Atlin. Segments of his proposed location are now followed by the Cassiar-Stewart road.

Philip Monckton died on October 4th, 1965 in the Vancouver General Hospital after a heart attack.

Jack Boudreau was born in the small community of Penny in the central region of British Columbia between the McGregor and Upper Fraser Rivers. BC. Jack's parents, Joe and Bessie Boudreau, moved to Penny on May 15, 1923, and had seven children- Jack being the fifth. Jack Boudreau was the postmaster in Penny for several years, and then worked in forestry until his retirement in 1993. He has devoted his professional life to British Columbia's forest industry working as a licensed scaler, industrial first-aid attendant and forest fire fighter mostly with the Ministry of Forests. From early childhood he has been an avid lover of the outdoors. He is a mountain climber, fisher and skier. Boudreau is the author of five bestsellers—"Sternwheelers and Canyon Cats," "Crazy Man's Creek," "Grizzly Bear Mountain," "Wilderness Dreams and Mountains," "Campfires and Memories."

Jim Rustad was the general manager and president of Rustad Bros. and Co. Ltd., a large sawmill and planermill that was started by his father and uncle in 1947.

Garvin Dezell moved to Prince George in 1946 with his wife Bea Dezell and their two children. Garvin served as Mayor of Prince George from 1950-1953, and 1960-1969. During this period, the creation of three new pulp mills led the city's population to increase from 4,000 to 30,000 people. He and Bea owned a construction contracting company with Garvin's father James Nelson called J N Dezell & Son. Garvin died in 1972.

Bea was born in North Vancouver in 1908. She married Garvin Dezell and had two children. The family moved to Williams Lake and then settled in Prince George in 1946. The family owned a construction contracting company. She very involved in the family business and in the Prince George community. Bea Dezell died in 2014 at 105.

Bridget Moran (née Drugan) (September 1, 1923-August 21, 1999) was a prominent social activist, social worker, writer and mentor who spent most of her adult life in British Columbia. She was born in Enniskillen, County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland, and shortly after her birth the Drugan family emigrated to Success, Saskatchewan, where Bridget spent her formative years. She attended Normal School in Saskatchewan and taught school in rural Saskatchewan until 1944 when she enlisted in the Women's Royal Canadian Service. After her discharge from the Navy in 1946, Bridget entered academic studies at the University of Toronto, where she received an Honours B.A. in Philosophy and English and was the recipient of a gold medal upon graduation. She began work on a Master's Degree in History in 1950, however she soon realized it would be impossible to continue as the federal Department of Veterans' Affairs refused to provide her with financial support on the grounds that they found no women teaching in history departments in Canada.

In 1951 Moran decided to immigrate to British Columbia where she began a career as a social worker; first in welfare offices in Haney, Salmon Arm and Vernon, and then in 1954 in Prince George where she took a position as District Supervisor of Welfare Services for a large section of the Central Interior of BC. For the following ten years Moran worked as a social worker based out of Prince George attending to the welfare service needs of BC’s Central Interior population. However, Moran’s career with the public service came to a very public end when she was suspended from her position in 1964 after she wrote an open letter in a Vancouver newspaper criticizing Premier W.A.C. Bennett’s Social Credit government for what she saw as gross neglect in addressing the needs of child welfare in the province. Although Moran eventually won reinstatement after a two year battle, she was told there would be no work available for her in the BC Ministry of Social Services. She continued her career in social work; first, for the Prince George Regional Hospital, and later with the University of Victoria Social Work Department as a practicum instructor for social work students in Prince George. In 1977 she practiced social work with the Prince George School District, where she remained for twelve years before retiring in 1989.

After Moran’s retirement from the Prince George School District, she pursued her ‘second career’ as a writer. In 1988 she wrote Sai’k’uz Ts’eke: Stoney Creek Woman: The Story of Mary John (1988) based on extensive oral histories that Moran conducted with Mary John about life on the Stoney Creek reserve. Moran’s second book Judgment at Stoney Creek: Sai’k’uz Ne ba na huz’ya, (1990) is based on her account of the inquest into the death of Coreen Thomas and provides an in-depth analysis of tenuous white-native relations in rural BC in the 1970s. Moran’s next book, A Little Rebellion (1992) provides an auto-biographical account of her public dispute with the Bennett government. The book Justa: A First Nations Leader, Dakelhne Butsowhudilhzulh’un (1994) is based on extensive oral interviews Moran conducted with Tl’azt’en Nation member, Justa Monk, who transformed his life and was elected Tribal Chief of the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council. Moran was commissioned by the Elizabeth Fry Society to write the case history of “Theresa” a battered woman, for the book Don’t Bring Me Flowers (1992). Her last book Prince George Remembered from Bridget Moran (1996) provides a series of excerpts of oral history interviews that Moran conducted in the late 1950s with white settlers providing memories of their arrival in Prince George c.1911-c.1920.

Arthur Hagarty Holland was born in Coburg, Ontario, on August 6, 1875. His father was Henry F. Holland, a Solicitor, and his mother was Selvia E. Holland (nee Fraser) and he attended public school, collegiate, and Victoria College in Coburg. In 1892, he went to Bridgeport Connecticut, where he apprenticed in Electrical Engineering. He returned home in 1895 and the following year he moved west to work as rodman with the Canadian Pacific Railway survey in British Columbia. By 1900, he was in Vancouver working as a chainman and in 1904 he entered into articles with Noel Humphrys, BCLS, CE, and became British Columbia Land Surveyor #14 in 1907.

From 1909 to 1911 Holland mainly surveyed for a land company associated with the Grand Trunk Railway. In the fall of 1910 he surveyed in an area northeast of Prince George but the exact location and why he was there are unknown; but there are some interesting photographs from there. In 1911, he surveyed in and around Fort Fraser and in 1912 he was in the Cariboo. He took several photos this latter year but unfortunately they are small and many are unlabeled. In 1914 and 1915 Holland surveyed east of Prince George and there are some newspaper articles about his work there. Historian Jay Sherwood said: “The 1913 photos and survey are definitely the highlight of Holland's early career and would make a great re-photography project.”

In February 1916, Holland went overseas and served with the Royal Canadian Engineers and later with the Railway Troops, gaining a commission as Lieutenant. After returning from overseas in 1919, he resumed his survey work for the Provincial Government until 1922 in the Prince George area and later in the Similkameen area. In his 1919 report to the Surveyor General, he reported on the excellent forage crops on the Stuart River with one exception to one pre-emption wherein he said: “… whose only production came from an illicit still.”

He suffered from a stroke in 1947 and retired from private practice. He never did recover from the stroke and eventually died in his 80th year on September 21, 1954.

Adam Hartley Zimmerman, O.C., B.A., F.C.A. (1927 - 2016 ) was born in Toronto. From 1930 to 1941 he lived with his family in Youngstown and Niagara Falls, New York while his father worked with the Moore Corporation as a mining engineer. Adam moved back to Ontario to complete junior high school and attended Upper Canada College from 1938-40, Ridley College from 1940-44, the Royal Canadian Naval College 1944-46, and Trinity College, University of Toronto, 1946-50. He received a Bachelor of Arts degree in General Arts with a major in Philosophy in 1950. He also served six years in the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve rising to the ranks of lieutenant.

After graduation and a brief term with Proctor Gamble, Zimmerman decided to join Clarkson Gordon (now Ernst & Young), as a student-in-accounts from 1950-54; received his CA and worked as a Chartered Accountant (1956) and Audit Supervisor, 1956-58. Mr. Zimerman then joined Noranda Inc. first serving as an Assistant Comptroller at Noranda Mines (1958-61), and then Comptroller (1961-1966). He subsequently became Vice President and Comptroller (1966-1974), Executive Vice President (1974-1982), President and CEO (1982-87), Vice Chairman of Noranda Inc. (1987-1992), as well as CEO, Noranda Forest Inc. (1987-1991), Chairman (1987-1993), and Director (1987-1994), as well as Chairman (1983-1990) and Vice Chairman (1990-1993) of MacMillan Bloedel after it was acquired by Noranda Forests Inc. Zimmerman also served as an independent director of Algoma Steel and as a foreign director at Royal Dutch Paper Mills (when MB was a dominant shareholder). Zimmerman retired from Noranda Inc. in 1994.

Mr. Zimmerman has served on over 40 private and public sector boards throughout his career including directorships on the following Northwood Pulp and Timber Ltd.; Confederation Life Insurance Co.; The Toronto Dominion Bank; Battery Technologies Inc.; Economic Investment Trust; Maple Leaf Foods Inc.; The Pittston Co.; Southam Inc; and Hydro One (2002- ). He has had had many professional affiliations during his career including with: C.D. Howe Institute (Former Chairman & Dir.); Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario (Fellow); Canadian Pulp & Paper Association (former Chairman); Canadian Forest Industries Council (former Chairman); University of Toronto, Faculty of Forestry (Advisory Board.); The Hospital for Sick Children (Honorary Trustee); The Hospital for Sick Children Foundation (Director); Roy Thomson Hall (Director); World Wildlife Fund Canada (Executive Committee); Zeta Psi; York Club; Toronto Golf Club; Craigleith Ski Club; Madawaska Club.

Publications: Who’s in Charge Here, Anyway?: reflections from a life in business, (Don Mills, Ontario: Stoddart; Distributed in Canada by General Distribution Services), 1997.

HONOURS: Distinguished Business Alumni Award, Univ. of Toronto, 1992; LL.D. (Hon), Royal Roads Military College; D.S.L., Trinity University, Toronto. Member of the University of Toronto, Faculty of Forestry; a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario; Past Chairman, Canadian American Committee; and board positions with the Mining Association of Canada; Canadian Forest Industries Council; Canadian Pulp and Paper Association and with Zeta Psi.

R.A. Harlow was born in Brewer, Maine on March 22, 1889 and died in Kelowna, BC on July 4, 1978 at 89 years of age. At the time of his death, Harlow was a retired roadmaster for CNR.

R.A. Harlow was a member of the surveying party for the Grand Trunk Pacific (GTP) Railway c.1911 and later worked on the Pacific Great Eastern (PGE) Railway as a Resident Engineer. While with the PGE, he was part of the engineering party which, on April 7, 1914, set the finish point stake and measured the required distance to the starting points for the two track-layer crews (East vs. West) who would race to the finish line. The West end crew cut and placed the last rail in place on the line after which PGE President E.J. Chamberlain drove in the last spike. After this historic driving in of the “last spike” on the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway one mile east of Fort Fraser, R.A. Harlow was then commissioned to take a small can of white paint and a brush and inscribe the following notation onto the flange of the 11ft. last rail: “Point of Completion April 7th, 1914”. This marked piece of rail was later taken up, shipped to Winnipeg and sliced into quarter-inch-thick pieces which were polished, suitably engraved and distributed among railway officers as paper-weights. One of these commemorative pieces is at the Prince George Railway and Forestry Museum. Aside from his involvement with the driving in of the “last spike”, R. A. Harlow was also intrinsically involved with the arrival of the first PGE train into Prince George from Squamish in 1952.

Alfred Hugh Phipps was born on 27 December 1899 in Victoria, British Columbia. As a teen, he dropped out of high school to enlist as a soldier in World War I; however as he was still underage at the time, he served his tour in Canada instead of being deployed overseas. After the War, Phipps worked in the woods as a logger and in 1928 he began his surveying career as a transit man for professional provincial surveyor Frank C. Swannell. Apparently Swannell found Phipps to be a capable surveying assistant, axe man, huntsman and fisherman of amiable character, and so took him on as an articled student (a three year apprenticeship). While Phipps became a good field surveyor, because he had dropped out of high school he just didn’t have the education required to pass has BCLS (BC Land Surveyor’s) exams. Despite possession of official credentials, Swannell continued to hire Phipps on various expeditions both in 1931 and in the late 1930’s.

Not much is known about Phipps other surveying activities before the Bedaux expedition in 1934, but according to Swannell, Phipps worked for an unidentified surveyor in 1933, and in early 1934 did surveys for a mining company in the southern Interior of British Columbia. In his correspondences to Jack Bocock, the organizer of the Bedaux Expedition in 1934, Swannell spoke highly of Phipps’ skills and this endorsement may have led to Phipps being hired as a third surveyor for the Bedaux Sub-Arctic Expedition in 1934. This was a cross-country expedition from Edmonton to the west coast of BC, traversing across vast tracts of wilderness via (then) state of the art Citroon vehicles. Four months later the expedition was cancelled as the crew was unable to reach their objective owing to problems related to weather, gumbo, and hoof rot. After the Pearl Harbor attack of World War II, the surveying information gathered through the failed Bedaux expedition of 1934 was used to construct a road through BC to Alaska.

On the Beduax Sub-Arctic Expedition, Al Phipps made a very positive impression on Charles Bedaux, the initiator of the Expedition. Upon the conclusion of the expedition Bedaux offered Phipps a position in the Bedaux Company in South Africa. On 4 June 1935, Phipps left for South Africa to assume his new position of Assistant to the Engineers and was thereafter engaged in various consulting projects for Witwatersrand Gold Mines. During his time in South Africa, Phipps met his future wife, Dorothy Summers, the daughter of a wealthy local family. A few years later, Phipps worked for Bedaux’s in Glasgow, Scotland and eventually became Bedaux’s chief supervisor for pottery businesses in England that employed the “Bedaux system”: a factory efficiency system invented by Charles Bedaux. Phipps left the Bedaux Company upon the expiry of his contract, and returned to Canada on 10 December 1936 with his South African born wife.

In 1937 Phipps again worked with the Frank Swannell’s crew surveying land tracts on Vancouver Island. Two years later, Phipps was also part of the crew which accompanied Swannell on his last surveying expedition into northern BC. Phipps Lake in British Columbia was named after A.H. Phipps by Frank Swannell in 1936; Swannell later remarked that the survey of Phipps Lake was done in a day from their camp around Lamprey Lake. It is of note that Swannell also set up a triangulation station on the bluff that he called Phipps’ Bluff.

With the advent of World War II, Phipps served as a captain in the Canadian Intelligence branch, again within Canadian boundaries. In his later years Phipps was employed by the British Columbia Civil Service from which he retired in 1964. Alfred H. Phipps died in August 1974 at the age of 74.

Jim Mackenzie was born in 1905 in Forres, Scotland and emigrated in 1929. He worked on Frank Swannell's survey crews during the 1930, 1931, 1935 and 1937 field seasons. He took photographs and produced a photo album from the first three seasons. When Mackenzie left Victoria to establish a surveying practice in Dawson Creek after World War II he probably left these albums with Al Phipps.

Mackenzie died in Dawson Creek on March 22, 1963.

Born in Longmont, Colorado on 10 March 1919, environmentalist and social activist Walter (Walt) Taylor devoted a lifetime in the U.S.A. and Canada to the cultivation of peace with justice. During World War II he served in work camps as a conscientious objector to war, but ultimately went to prison for his stand against conscription. He turned away from graduate study in Physics to take a Master’s degree in Human Development at the University of Chicago.

With four children in their family, he and his wife Margaret (Peggy) Taylor (b. Lewiston, Maine, 7 August 1916) worked in a variety of social services, but were always seeking opportunities to encourage a fundamental movement toward peace with justice and sustainable environmental stewardship.

In the 1960s Philadelphia Quakers sent Walt as their response to a request from the Seneca Nation of Native Americans for help in defending the oldest active treaty in American history, the Treaty of Canandaigua which had been firmly negotiated with the Seneca Nation in 1794. In spite of a great nation-wide protest, that treaty was violated by the construction of the controversial Kinzua Dam (1961-1965) on the Allegheny River which flooded 10,000 acres of land and displaced 600 Seneca families out of their traditional territory. After moving to Summerland, British Columbia during the Vietnam War, Walt continued his active interest in the concerns of First Nations peoples and even worked for the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs in the 1970s.

Beginning in 1973 and running for several years thereafter, Walt directed an innovative project called “Imagine Penticton” through which the whole community of Penticton was invited to imagine itself the way it ought to be and to join Walt and his staff in bringing this collective vision to fruition. Taylor was also actively involved with the South Okanagan Civil Liberties Society, the South Okanagan Environmental Coalition and the Southern Interior Ecological Liaison – venues which allowed him to further his passionate advocacy for justice, peace and environmental sustainability.

His time in the Okanagan region of B.C., also provided Walt Taylor with the opportunity to become heavily involved with the British Columbia Man and Resources Programme – a 2 year public participation programme sponsored and organized by the Canadian Council of Resource and Environment Ministers (CCREM). The Man and Resources Programme originated in 1961 when natural resource ministers from across the country met at the “Resources for Tomorrow” Conference to discuss a natural resources policy for Canada. At that time, public interest in resource issues was low, so the main results from that conference were strictly governmental and technical. Man and Resources was concerned with all aspects of the environmental problem – social, economic, ecological – but it also sought to involve all Canadians in its investigation; therefore one of the fundamental goals of this Programme was to enlist citizen participation to discuss the whole question of development and the use of resources and how that should be balanced against protection of the environment. This mandate was to be accomplished through two phases: Phase I was undertaken in 1972 when community representatives from across the province came together locally, then regionally (Delta, B.C., Sept. 23-23, 1972) and finally nationally (Montebello, Q.C., Oct. 29-Nov. 4, 1972) to take on the task of problem identification. In 1973, Phase II was undertaken which required citizen participants to identify solutions and alternatives to the problems identified at the national conference at Montebello in 1972. The provincial conference was held in Naramata, B.C., September 20-23, 1973 while the national conference was held in Toronto, Nov.18-23, 1973.

In 1982 Walt and his family moved north to Smithers, B.C. where he continued to dedicate his life to grass-roots level, political and environmental activism in the Bulkley Valley - Telkwa - Smithers area. For the next eighteen years Walt Taylor, and his wife Peggy, were actively involved with the Northwest Study Conference Society, the Skeena Round Table on Sustainable Development, the Waging Peace Society, Project Ploughshares – Smithers, the Smithers Human Rights Society, the Gitksan-Carrier Tribal Council, the Gitksan-Wet’suwet’en Tribal Council, the Telkwa Educational Action Committee of Householders, the Bulkley Valley Anti-Poverty Group, and the Smithers Social Planning Committee, to name a few, through which they promoted a wide range of social rights causes including global peace, human rights and environmental sustainability to peoples, organizations and communities throughout Northern B.C.

Originally from the U.K., Geoffrey R. Weller was born in 1942. He graduated high school in England in 1960 and then spent an additional year at Ann Arbor High School in Michigan, graduating a second time in 1961. Weller pursued a BSc in Economics at the University of Hull, graduating in 1964, and a master degree in Political Science at McMaster University, completing a thesis titled “Some Contemporary American Views of Democracy and the Third World: A Critical Appraisal” in 1967. He went on to hold teaching positions at Bishop’s University (1965-1971) and Lakehead University (1971-1990). At Lakehead University, Weller also became the Dean of Arts (1984-1985) and Vice-President (Academic) (1985-1990). Over the course of his career, Weller obtained visiting professor positions at: the University of Minnesota, Duluth (1973), the University of Ottawa (1977-1978), and Simon Fraser University (1995) and taught a summer course at Laurentian University (1979). Over his teaching career, Weller taught courses in Canadian politics, public policy, and comparative politics. In 1991, Weller became the founding president of the University of Northern British Columbia and held this position until 1995 when he stepped down and began teaching in the department of International Studies.

Weller’s early research pertained to Canadian labor relations, working first as a researcher for the Federal Task Force on Labor Relations in 1967 and subsequently pursuing an academic research project titled "Trade Unions and Political Change in the Province of Quebec 1921-1972.” In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Weller’s research turned to health policy in Canada and worldwide. From 1975 to 1980, Weller worked on his doctoral dissertation at McGill University titled “The Development of Health Policy in Ontario.” Though he ultimately never finished this degree, Weller published several papers on similar topics during this time, including: “From ‘Pressure Group Politics’ to ‘Medical Industrial Complex’: The Development of Approaches to the Politics of Health” (1980), “The Determinants of Canadian Health Policy” (1980), “The Conflict of Values and Goals in the Canadian Health Care System” (1978), and "Hygeia Versus Asclepius: Conflict within the Ontario Health Care System" (1979). Other projects on health policy in the 1980s included Weller’s research on the Canada Health Act of 1984 and collaboration with his colleague Pranlal Manga on a project looking at politics and health care in South Africa in 1983. Weller continued to conduct research on health policy into the 1990s.

Overlapping with his work on health policy, Weller explored politics and development in the Circumpolar North. From the late 1970s to the mid-1980s, he engaged in several projects examining local government in the North and provincial ministries of northern affairs. Specific publications included: "Local Government in the Canadian Provincial North" (1980), "The Evolution of Local Government in Northern Ontario" (1980), "Provincial Ministries of Northern Affairs: A Comparative Analysis" (1982), and “Local Government Development in the Yukon and Northwest Territories” (1983). Later in the 1980s, Weller conducted research on politics in Ontario, publishing a 1988 paper titled “The North in the Ontario Election of 1987.” This interest in government and development in the circumpolar north reemerges in Weller’s work in the 1990s with an emphasis on economic development, seen in the publications “Regional and Economic Development in the Circumpolar North: early 90s to 2000” (2000) and “Economic Development Initiatives in the Circumpolar North: A Comparative Analysis” (1999).

Weller’s research interests in health policy and northern studies also overlap in many projects. Specifically, from 1983 to 1991, Weller’s research on health policy turned to examine health care in the circumpolar north. During this period, Weller held government appointments and community service positions on the Advisory Committee for the Health Promotion and Prevention Project of the Ontario Council of Health (1983-1984), the study advisory group for the Study on Health and Social Service Professionals in Northern Ontario (1989-1990), and the Thunder Bay District Health Council (1983-1988), on which he was also chairman (1986-1988). Research conducted in these roles dovetailed with academic research projects, including "The Politics of Health in the Circumpolar North” (1987) "The Delivery of Health Care to Underserviced Areas” (1991) and "Health Care Delivery in Northern Hinterlands” (1989). During this period, some of Weller’s research also examined the transfer of health care responsibility to Canada’s northern territories and local government among First Nations groups, specifically in his papers “Self-Government for Canada's Inuit: The Nunavut Proposal” (1988), “Devolution, Regionalism and Division of the Northwest Territories” (1990), "The Devolution of Authority for Health Care Services to the Government of the Northwest Territories” (1989), and “Health Care Devolution to Canada’s Territorial North” (1990).

Weller’s research in the field of northern studies also combined with research on environmental politics, higher education, and international relations. During 1981-1988, Weller collaborated with Douglas Nord on projects pertaining to environmental issues and politics in the Great Lakes region, including two research reports funded through the state of Minnesota and the Canadian Consulate-General in Minneapolis titled “Transborder Politics and Paradiplomacy: The Ontario- Minnesota Fishing Dispute” (1987) and “Canada and the United States: An Introduction to a Complex Relationship” (1987). Weller also pursued academic research in this area including a project titled “Water Politics and Policy in the Lake Superior Basin” (1988) and another collaboration with Douglas Nord "Environmental Policy and Political Support in Canada and the United States: A Comparative Analysis” (1981).
Also holding research interests in higher education, from the late 1983 to 1998 Weller explore aspects of circumpolar universities and their effect on the surrounding regions, resulting in publications such as “Universities, Politics and Development: The Case of Northern Ontario” (1988) and “Universities, Politics and Development: Northern Ontario and Northern Sweden” (1985). Weller’s interest in northern studies combined with international studies in research concentrating on foreign policy and security in the north. Publications in this area include “The Circumpolar North and Canadian Foreign Policy” (1989) and “The Arctic as an International Community” (1992). Weller also produced publications in the late 1980s through the 1990s dealing with security and intelligence in Canada and internationally.

In 1999, Weller was awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of Lapland based on his work on the circumpolar north encompassing Scandinavian countries and his research collaborations with Scandinavian scholars. Geoffrey Weller passed away in 2000. His legacy includes the establishment of the Lakehead University Centre for Northern Studies, the Northern Ontario Medical Program, and the Association of Circumpolar Universities.

Brian Fawcett was born in Prince George on May 13, 1944. He completed elementary and secondary school in Prince George before leaving at the age of 22 to attend Simon Fraser University. After graduating with a B.A. (Honours) in 1969 from SFU, Fawcett went on to complete coursework for a M.A. in English Literature at SFU in 1972. After graduation, he worked as a Community Organizer and Urban Planner for the Greater Vancouver Regional District until 1988. Mr. Fawcett is a former Editor of "Books in Canada" and a former Columnist for the "Globe Mail" newspaper. He has also written articles and reviews for many of Canada's major magazines. In addition, Fawcett has worked as a teacher of English and Creative Writing in federal maximum security penitentiaries. Brian Fawcett has written more than a dozen books including "Cambodia" (1986), "The Secret Journal of Alexander Mackenzie" (1985), "Capital Tales" (1984), "Gender Wars" (1994), "Disbeliever's Dictionary" (1997), "Virtual Clearcut" (2003), "Local Matters" (2003), "Human Happiness" (2011), and "The Last of the Lumbermen" (2013). He moved to Toronto in 1990, where he continues to live and write.

Marianne (Marika) Ainley (nee Gosztonyi) 1937 - 2008 was born on December 4, 1937 in Budapest, Hungary. She started out her adult life as a chemist after receiving her diploma in industrial chemistry from Petrik Lajos Polytechnical College of Chemistry in Budapest in 1956. She immigrated to Sweden in 1956 to escape the unrest accompanying the failed Hungarian Revolution, and then to Montreal, Quebec in 1957.

In Montreal, she worked as a laboratory technician during which she studied aesthetics, music appreciation and literature at Sir George Williams University (now part of Concordia University) from 1961-1964, earning a bachelor's degree in English and French literature. In 1966, she became a research assistant at Loyola College (now part of Concordia) in the Chemistry department under Dr. Thomas Nogrady. She worked under Dr. Thomas Nogrady from 1966-1969 and 1973-1974, taking a hiatus for the birth of her son during which she developed her interest in birding and pottery. Between 1967 and 1969, she studied pottery under Grace Atkinson and Rai Nakashima at the Potter's Club in Montreal. She exhibited some of her pottery at the Potter's Club in the Montreal Studio Fair. In 1974, she became a laboratory instructor in the Chemistry Department at Loyola College where she worked until 1978.

In 1979, upon the recommendation of a colleague to look into the History of Science Program (Histoire et de sociopolitique des sciences) at the Universite de Montreal, Ainley applied and was accepted. While attending the Universite de Montréal, Ainley was employed as a research assistant in the History of Science Program at Concordia and completed Cornell University's certificate in ornithology. She graduated with a Master of Science in 1980 from the Institut d'histoire et de sociopolitique des sciences of the Universite de Montreal upon the completion of her thesis on the history of American ornithologists, "La professionnalisation de l'ornithologie Americaine, 1870-1979." Ainley continued her research in ornithology while completing her PhD at McGill University, graduating in 1985 upon the completion of her dissertation, "From Natural History to Avian Biology: Canadian Ornithology, 1860-1950."

Shortly after completing her PhD, Ainley received a grant to write a biography of zoologist William Rowan. In the same year, she applied for and received post-doctoral funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), which she spent at McGill studying the history of Canadian women in science. She also co-curated "the Bicentennial of J.J. Audubon" exhibition at McGill University. In 1986, she secured multi-year funding (from 1986-1988) as an independent scholar through the Women and Work Strategic Grants program for "Women and Scientific Work in Canada, I."

In 1988, she became a lecturer at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute at Concordia University and, in the following year, received her second Women and Work strategic grant for "Women and Scientific Work in Canada, II," which funded her research until 1992. In her first semester at the Simone de Beauvoir Institute, while developing a course on historical and contemporary perspectives of women, science and technology, she recognized a dearth of material on the subject and solicited a series of essays, which became "Despite the Odds: Essays on Canadian Women and Science." Ainley edited the book, published in 1990, and contributed a chapter and bibliography. In the same year, she became a visiting scholar in the women’s studies at Carleton University as well as a researcher for and curator of the "Canadian Achievements in Science" historical photograph exhibition at Concordia University. Upon returning to the Simone de Beauvoir Institute in 1991, she became the principal and a half-time associate professor of women’s studies. She began work as a co-investigator on another SSHRC funded project, "Critical Turning Points: Women Engineers Within and Outside the Profession," on women in the field of engineering in 1993. In the same year, she received a grant to publish her biography of William Rowan, entitled, "Restless Energy—A Biography of William Rowan, 1891-1957."

In 1995, Ainley accepted a position as a professor and the chair of the Women’s Studies Program at the University of Northern British Columbia, serving as chair until 1998 and as a professor until 2003. In 1999, Ainley became the president of the Canadian Women's Studies Association, of which she was a member since 1988. In 2000 and 2003, Ainley was a visiting professor at the Centre for Social Science Research at the Central Queensland University. In 2001, Ainley was a visiting scholar at Auckland University's Institute for the Study of Gender; she received associate professor emeritus status from the University of Concordia; and received the "Teaching as if the World Mattered" award from the Biology as if the World Mattered Research Group in Canada. In the same year, she received a SSHRC grant for her research project, "Re-explorations: new perspectives on gender, environment and the transfer of knowledge in 19th and 20th century Canada and Australia."

During her time at the University of Northern British Columbia, Ainley began her magnum opus, originally titled, "Overlooked Dimensions: Women and Scientific Work at Canadian Universities, 1884-1980." The book drew on her previous research, including research from her Women and Work SSHRC grants and "Critical Turning Points: Women Engineers Within and Outside the Profession," as well as oral history projects completed by other researchers and institutions. The book provides an overview of the history of women and scientific work at Canadian universities. It was posthumously published as Creating Complicated Lives: Women and Science at English-Canadian Universities, 1880-1980 by the McGill-Queen's University Press in 2012.

She continued her artistic pursuits and birding at the University of Northern British Columbia. She studied watercolour under Jennifer Ferris, Barry Rafuse and June Swanky Parker, drawing under Mary Richer and acrylics under Marlene Roberts between 1997 and 2001. She exhibited works at a variety of venues in Prince George from 1997-2000, including an exhibition at the Prince George Art Gallery in 1999, and exhibitions at the British Columbia Festival of Arts from 1998-2000. She was part of the Artists' Workshop in Prince George from 1997-2004. She served on the University of Northern British Columbia Arts Council between 1998-2004, curating two exhibitions on Canadian achievements in science in 1996 and 1997. She was voted elective member of the American Ornithologists' Union 1996, having joined in 1972 and having been a centennial committee member from 1982-1983.

In 2004, Ainley moved to Victoria where she became an adjunct professor of Women's Studies at the University of Victoria. In 2005, she received professor emeritus status from the University of Northern British Columbia and joined Studio Madrona, an artist group, with whom she exhibited work in Goward House in Victoria in 2005.

On September 26, 2008, Ainley passed away after a battle with cancer.

Thomas A. (Tom) Steadman, franchise owner of the Canadian Tire store in Prince George, BC, spearheaded the campaign to raise awareness about a University of the North and for the North, speaking at many community gatherings during the early years of concept development for what would become the University of Northern British Columbia. He was one of founding members of the Interior University Society (IUS) and was founder and chairperson of the IUS membership committee. Mr. Steadman was appointed to the Implementation Planning Group in 1989 and later became a member of the Interim Governing Council of the University of Northern British Columbia. More recently, he helped establish the Northern Medical Programs Trust and Chaired the UNBC Foundation.

Ronald James (a.k.a. R.J. or Ron) Baker received his BA in 1951 and his MA in 1953 both from the University of British Columbia. With his education complete, Ron Baker went on to make significant contributions to the establishment of the community college system in Canada both as an educator and as an administrator from the early 1950s right through to his retirement in 1999. He also contributed greatly to the field of linguistic studies, most notably for the Prince George region, through his 1960-1961 examination of the Carrier language in the Nadleh Whuten (Nautley – Fort Fraser) Reserve on Fraser Lake in Northern B.C. R.J. Baker began his career in education as a lecturer (1951-1955; 1957-58) in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia (UBC); eventually advancing to the positions of Assistant Professor (1958-63) and Associate Professor (1963-65). It was during his UBC tenure in the 1960s that Ron Baker was asked to became one of the chief contributors to John B. Macdonald's report, “Higher Education in British Columbia and a Plan for the Future” (The University of British Columbia: 1962) This report led directly to the government's decision to establish a second university- Simon Fraser University- in the Lower Mainland. On November 14, 1963, the newly established Simon Fraser University (SFU) hired R.J. Baker as its first Director of Academic Planning. After assuming his duties on January 1, 1964 he went on to became the head of SFU's English Department on December 10, 1964: a position he held from 1964-1968. Throughout his SFU tenure, R.J. Baker also served on the provincial Academic Board for Higher Education, established to advise the government on applying the recommendations of the 1962 Macdonald Report. In 1969, Ron Baker left Simon Fraser University to become the first President of the University of Prince Edward Island, a post he held for nine years. On July 4, 1978 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada for his contributions to higher education. In addition to his work in British Columbia and Prince Edward Island, he was a long-time member of the Board of Directors of the AUCC, served the maximum period allowed on the Canada Council and was the President of the Association of Atlantic Universities. He was also President of the Association of Canadian University Teachers of English and the Canadian Society for the Study of Higher Education, and served on the executives of the Canadian Linguistic Association and the Canadian Council of Teachers of English. In January 1990, he was asked by the government of British Columbia to write a preliminary report on the establishment of a university in the northern part of the province – a university eventually established as the University of Northern British Columbia. Dr. Baker has since retired and now lives in Surrey, British Columbia. [excerpt from Ron Baker fonds, Appendix: “Autobiographical Sketch” by R.J. Baker, courtesy of Simon Fraser University Archives and Records Management Department.]