Showing 163 results

Authority record
Person
Ferry, William Dow
Person · 1913-1996

William Dow Ferry (1913 - 1996) was the son of Carney Ferry and served as a judge of the County Court of the Cariboo. He was founding President of the Prince George Junior Chamber of Commerce, served on the Hospital Board from 1949 to 1961 and was elected to City Council four times between 1950 and 1955. He practiced law in Prince George from 1949 until 1961, when he was appointed judge requiring his move to Williams Lake.
Harcourt, Michael
Person · 6 January 1943-

Michael Franklin Harcourt (born January 6, 1943) served as the 30th Premier of the province of British Columbia in Canada from 1991 to 1996, and before that as the 34th mayor of BC's major city, Vancouver from 1980 to 1986.

Harcourt was Student Council president at Sir Winston Churchill Secondary School and studied at the University of British Columbia where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts and a Bachelor of Laws. Harcourt served as a Vancouver Alderman from 1973 to 1980, and as Mayor of Vancouver from 1980 to 1986. As Mayor, his term in office was dominated by planning for Expo 86, an event that saw many new developments come to the city.

He was first elected to the British Columbia Legislature in the 1986 British Columbia provincial election. He became the leader of the New Democratic Party of British Columbia (NDP) and the Leader of the Official Opposition in the following year.

He was named as a special advisor to Prime Minister Paul Martin on cities on December 12, 2003. In November, 2007, he received an honorary doctoral degree in Law (LL.D) from UBC. In February, 2009 he was appointed Associate Director of the new UBC Continuing Studies Centre for Sustainability.
Jago, Charles
Person · 1943-

Charles Jago (born 1943) is an academic and university administrator.

He was born and raised in St. Catharines, Ontario. He received his BA in Honors English and History from the University of Western Ontario in London, Ontario in 1965 and his PhD in History from Cambridge University in 1969. His academic field is early-modern Spanish history.

He received his first academic position at Georgian College of Applied Arts and Technology in Barrie, Ontario in 1969.The next year he moved to the Department of History at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario as Assistant Professor where he remained until 1987. In 1989 he was appointed Principal of Huron University College where he served for eight years before moving to the University of Northern British Columbia to succeed Geoffrey Weller as President.

Jago retired as President of the University of Northern British Columbia at the end of academic year 2005-2006. On the resignation of his successor, Don Cozzetto, in June 2008 he was appointed Interim President of UNBC, serving in this position until a new President, George Iwama, took over in July 2009.
Oberle, Frank
Person · 24 March 1932-

Born in Forchheim near Karlsruhe, Germany, Oberle moved with his family to German-occupied Poland in 1941. There he was placed in a Hitler Youth indoctrination program. Later, he fled the Red Army advance, surviving on grass and stolen eggs while walking 800 kilometres to his home village in the Black Forest. Rejected by his relatives, he immigrated to Canada at the age of 19 and became a logger and then a gold miner.

Oberle entered municipal politics, becoming mayor of Chetwynd. He entered federal politics and was elected to the Canadian House of Commons in the 1972 general election as the Progressive Conservative Member of Parliament for Prince George—Peace River, British Columbia. He subsequently won re-election five times.

In 1985, Oberle became the first German-born federal Canadian cabinet minister when he became Minister of State for Science and Technology in Prime Minister Brian Mulroney's government. He later became Minister of State for Forestry, and then Minister of Forestry in 1990. Oberle retired from Cabinet when Kim Campbell succeeded Mulroney as Prime Minister, and retired from politics with the dissolution of the 34th Canadian parliament for the 1993 election.

In 2004, Oberle published a memoir of his World War II experiences, Finding Home: A War Child’s Journey to Peace (2004). A second memoir, A Chosen Path: From Moccasin Flats to Parliament Hill, was published in the same year.
Strachan, Bruce
Person · [19-?]-

Bruce Strachan was MLA for Prince George South and Minister of State for the Cariboo Region. He was a member of the Interior University Society and a strong proponent of the creation of a university in the North. In 1989, he became Minister of Advanced Education.
Larkin, Peter
Person · 1924-1996

Born in New Zealand, Peter Larkin came to Canada as a child, and was educated at the University of Saskatchewan and at Oxford (where he was a Rhodes Scholar, earning his DPhil at the age of 24). He moved to B.C. as Chief Fisheries biologist for the B.C. Game Commission in 1948, and in 1955 he joined the faculty at UBC. He worked first in the Fisheries Institute, and then in the Department of Zoology; and subsequently he became head of department, then dean of Graduate Studies, and later still, vice-president in charge of research. Author of some 160 scientific papers, he also served over the course of his career on some 50 local, national, and international commissions, ranging from the Science Council of Canada and the National Research Council to TRIUMF and the Vancouver Hospital Board, and from federal studies of the impact of pesticides, and United Nations studies of marine mammals, to the Board of B.C. Packers Ltd., the B.C. Advisory Committee on Ecological Reserves, and the committee that worked on preserving and developing Strathcona Park. After his retirement from UBC, he became actively involved in the Northern River Basins Study, and he maintained his interest in marine research. From 1993 to 1994, he was appointed as a temporary head commissioner for the British Columbia Utilities Commission Review on the Kemano Completion Project.
Holland, Arthur H.
Person · August 6, 1875 - September 21, 1954

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.
Lazier, Dr. David Brownlee
Person · 1870 - 1931

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.
Fisher, Robin
Fisher, Robin
Person · 24 Feb. 1946 - present

Robin Fisher was born on 24 February 1946 in Palmerston North, New Zealand to Anthony Hornbrook Fisher and Miriel Abernethy Fisher (nee Hancox).

He attended Palmerston North Boys High School (1964), Massey University (BA, English and History, 1967), and the University of Auckland (MA, History, 1969). In 1970, Fisher emigrated to Canada to pursue a PhD at the University of British Columbia. During his time there, Fisher became a student of British Columbia's history and particularly of First Nations history. In 1974 he completed his PhD with his dissertation, "The Early Years of Indian-European Contact in British Columbia, 1774-1890".

Fisher joined Simon Fraser University as Assistant Professor in 1974 and gained the rank of Associate Professor in 1977 and Full Professor in 1983. During the nearly twenty years that Dr. Fisher was at Simon Fraser, he taught and published in British Columbia history. He authored his first and seminal book on native relations in British Columbia, "Contact and Conflict: Indian-European Relations in British Columbia, 1774-1890" in 1977, which was based on his PhD dissertation. This book was the winner of the John A. Macdonald prize of the Canadian Historical Association in 1977, "judged to have made the most significant contribution to an understanding of the Canadian past". He co-edited "An Account of a Voyage to the North West Coast of America in 1785 and 1786 by Alexander Walker" (1982). In 1991 he published a biography of a provincial premier entitled "Duff Pattullo of British Columbia". Apart from the work of a faculty member, while still at SFU Dr. Fisher organized two major international conferences on the European exploration of the Pacific Ocean and the Northwest Coast of North America. The first, on James Cook in 1978, led to the publication of "Captain James Cook and His Times" (1979) while the second, on George Vancouver in 1992, led to the publication of "From Maps and Metaphors: the Pacific World of George Vancouver". Both of these works were co-edited by Hugh Johnston. While at SFU, Dr. Fisher was also involved in the national historical profession. He was a member of the council of the Canadian Historical Association from 1981-1984 and first chair of the editorial board and then co-editor of the "Canadian Historical Review" between 1982 and 1987. He was also a member of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) adjudication committee for research grants in History.

In 1993, Dr. Fisher moved to the University of Northern British Columbia as the founding Chair of the History Program. His first task at UNBC was to get a new History Program up and running in time for the opening of the new University in September 1994. Soon after the University opened, Dr. Fisher became acting Dean of Arts and Science and later the actual Dean of that Faculty. In 1997, Dr. Fisher became the Dean of the newly formed College of Arts, Social and Health Sciences. In that capacity, he was responsible for the administration of 14 academic programs in the Humanities, Social Sciences and Health Sciences. Although his career was largely in administration at UNBC, Dr. Fisher continued to give papers at scholarly conferences as well as teach at both the undergraduate and graduate level.

In 2002, Fisher joined the University of Regina as Dean of Arts. He joined Mount Royal University as Provost and Vice-President, Academic in 2005 until 2010.
Walsh, Ann
Walsh, Ann
Person · September 20, 1942 - present

Ann Lorraine Walsh was born to Alan Barrett and Margaret Elaine (née Clemons) on September 20, 1942 and attended school in South Africa, England, Holland and Saskatchewan before her family finally settled down in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1953. She received her Bachelor of Education from the University of British Columbia in 1968 and soon thereafter moved to Williams Lake with her husband, John Walsh, where she worked in a variety of teaching positions including: classroom teacher, teacher-librarian, and college instructor at the former University College of the Cariboo (now Thompson Rivers University).

Ann Walsh had always wanted to write. She wrote her first book, Your Time, My Time, in 1982 after taking a short ten-day short writing course in Wells, B.C. with writer/poet Robin Skelton. Since then she has authored numerous books for children and young adults. Several of her historical fiction novels for younger readers are set during the gold rush in BC during the 1800s. She has also published a book of poetry, was the instigator and editor of three anthologies of short stories for young adult readers, and has done many readings and workshops for all ages. Walsh’s work for adults has been heard on CBC and has appeared in newspapers and magazines, both literary and glossy, around the world. She is a winner of the Canadian Children’s Book Centre Our Choice Award, the Forest of Reading Golden Oak Award, and was a Canadian Library Association Notable selection. She was also shortlisted for the Forest of Reading Silver Birch Award and the B.C. Book Prize.

Walsh is a member of the Writer’s Union of Canada (since 1990), the Canadian Children’s Book Centre (since 1986), the Federation of B.C. Writers (since 1984), Director Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers (since 1990), The Children’s Writers & Illustrators of B.C. (since 1989) and is a founding member of the Williams Lake Writers Group (est. 1984).

Along with writing and teaching, Ms. Walsh was also a creative writing instructor at Island Mountain Arts in the summer of 1998; community correspondent for CBC Radio’s “Almanac” from 1992-1995 and served as convocation speaker for the University College of the Cariboo in 1994.

Ms. Walsh and her husband currently live in Victoria, BC.
Bronlund, Emil
Person · 1896-1988

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.
Stowell, Robert
Person · 1922-2018

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.