Showing 357 results

Authority record
Tompkins, Tommy
2000.4 · Person · 1920 - 1988

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.

Tsimshian First Nations
2009.7 · Family

Tshimshian communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000 Tsimshian. Their culture is matrilineal with a societal structure based on a clan system, properly referred to as a moiety.

UNBC Arts Council
Corporate body · 1996-

During a conversation in 1996, Eve Pankovitch and David Kerr, employees at UNBC, expressed to each other their concern regarding the absence of art on campus. A few months later they founded the Arts Council of UNBC and set out to respond to the need for art, including musical, visual, literary, performing and conceptual forms, on campus and to foster a relationship with the arts community in Prince George and the region. Since 1996, the Arts Council has initiated and collaborated on many projects including art exhibitions, talks by art professionals, University art acquisitions, poetry readings and musical performances.

20210623 · Corporate body · 2007-01-01 -

UNBC's Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology unit, as it currently exists, was created in 2007. As a result of some internal restructuring, there was the creation of a Dean of Teaching, Learning and Technology and a Director of the Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology. At that time, those positions were held by the same person, Dr. Heather Smith. In this new structure, Information and Technology Services (ITS), the UNBC Geoffrey R. Weller Library, and the CTLT all reported to the Dean. The Dean reported to the Provost. For a variety of reasons this restructuring was unsuccessful and in the fall of 2007, Dr. Smith resigned from the decanal position. Through this resignation, and with support of institutional allies, the decanal funding was guaranteed to the CTLT thus ensuring the ongoing funding of the unit. Dr. Smith stayed on as Acting Director of the CTLT until June 2008.

During this initial period, the CTLT had an Acting Director, a full time administrative assistant, and Elearning Coordinator, Grant Potter (hired in December 2007) and several student assistants who supported elearning. In addition, the Learning Skills Centre (now the Academic Success Centre) reported to the Director of the CTLT. The Director shifted their report from the Provost to a Dean of Student Success and Enrolment Management after her resignation as Dean.

In 2008, Dr. William Owen took over as Director of the CTLT and the staffing compliment stayed the same. He did gain an additional report as the Access Resource Centre began to report to him. At the time, he reported to a Dean of Student Success and Enrolment Management but this report also changed back to a direct report to the Provost.

In the spring of 2012, Dr. Owen took the position of Acting Dean of Student Engagement. Dr. Smith returned to again be Acting Director of the CTLT and she reported to the Provost. In negotiations that lead to Dr. Smith taking on the position of Acting Director it was agreed that Dr. Owen would ‘take’ the Academic Success Centre and the Access Resource Centre with him and bring them into the Student Engagement portfolio. It is also worth noting that between 2012 and 2017, there have been four different Provosts.

Corporate body · [ca. 1990]

The University of Northern British Columbia's Conference and Event Services provides services such as accommodations, catering, meeting space, audio-visual, and conference management.

UNBC Convocation Office
Corporate body · [ca. 1990]

The UNBC Convocation Office is responsible for the organization of convocation events.

Corporate body · [ca. 1990]

Educational Media Services provides state-of-the-art media services to the University community and offers options to improve teaching, learning and research methodology at UNBC. EMS offers full Media (Audiovisual) services to the University and Prince George Community.

UNBC Finance Office
Corporate body · [ca. 1990]

The Finance Office is responsible for all administrative activities of a financial nature at UNBC.

Those responsibilities with a direct impact on student life include:
student fee assessment and collection
disbursement of all cheques including scholarship and bursary cheques
payroll for teaching assistantships and all student jobs
administration of research grants and fellowship income

UNBC First Nations Studies
Corporate body · [ca. 1990]

The First Nations Studies Program at UNBC focuses on various issues: contemporary issues ; research methods (including oral history) ; First Nations languages and cultures ; land and resource use and environmental philosophy ; art and material culture ; religion and spirituality ; the state, gender and legal issues.

Corporate body · 1994-

The Geoffrey R. Weller Library is located at the north end of campus. The attractive four-story building is currently the largest building on campus. One of the main architectural features in the library is the atrium, which fills the main working area with natural light. -

The Library is home to the Northern British Columbia Archives, which is devoted to the preservation of Northern British Columbia’s history. The Archives holdings include records of the Cassiar mining community, photographic and cartographic materials related to the development of transportation and communication links in Northern BC and the genealogical records of the Carrier-Sekani Tribal Council. -

The Library was named after one of the people most responsible for shaping the University’s initial development. Geoffrey Weller was the University's Founding President and held the position until 1995, when he returned to teaching as a Professor in the UNBC International Studies program. He was largely responsible for setting out the five major themes of the University – environment, northern studies, women’s studies, First Nations studies and international studies. Dr. Weller passed away in July of 2000 at the age of 58. The UNBC Library was renamed Geoffrey R. Weller Library in 2000 in honour of his memory.

Corporate body · [ca. 1990]-

The Office of Communications fosters the public image of UNBC by creating strategies, materials, and activities that promote the University. Their areas of activity include publications, alumni relations, official UNBC websites, media relations, and public presentations that aim to market UNBC's programs, research, and community connections.

Corporate body · [1992?]-[1995?]

UNBC memorandum from Chris Conway to All Staff identifies the 1992 Contacts Directory as the first edition of a document intended to provide an introduction to key individuals and organisations for new staff, and to provide a ready-reference for frequent contacts.

Corporate body · [2001?]-

The Office of Regional Operations is responsible for the development and delivery of services to students at campuses across northern BC. Many services are provided locally, as well as over the Internet, via email or on the phone in conjunction with the Student Success Centre at the Prince George Campus. Regional Operations maintains three regional campuses, as well as an office at the Prince George campus.

Corporate body · [ca. 1990]-

The University Senate and Board of Governors – including all of the Board committees and most of the Senate committees – are supported in their activities by the University Secretariat. In addition, the Secretariat is responsible for the organization of major university ceremonies, especially the annual convocation and installations as necessary. The University Secretary is the Freedom of Information Protection of Privacy (FOIPOP) Officer for the University.

UNBC President's Council
Corporate body · [ca. 1990]

The UNBC President's Council is comprised of all of the University's senior administrators.

UNBC Registrar's Office
Corporate body · [ca. 1990]

The Office of the Registrar is responsible for many aspects of a student's life. The Office handles undergraduate and graduate admissions, including assessment of transfer credit; registrations; records management, including student records, student appeals, and transcripts; and scheduling, including courses and exams.

In addition, the Registrar's Office interprets the collection and dissemination of information for the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act, and prepares for production many University publications, including the Undergraduate and Graduate Calendars.

UNBC Senate
Corporate body · [ca. 1990]-

The UNBC Senate is a UNBC governing body and an academic authority for the institution.

The Senate is composed of:
(a) The Chancellor;
(b) The President, who shall be chair;
(c) the Provost;
(d) the Vice President, Research;
(e) the Director of Continuing Studies;
(f) the Deans of Colleges;
(g) the Dean of Graduate Programs;
(h) the University Librarian;
(i) 9 students;
(j) 4 Regional Representatives;
(k) 18 faculty members;
(i) 8 from the College of Arts, Social and Health Sciences,
(ii) 8 from the College of Science and Management,
(iii) 2 elected at large by all faculty members and librarians;
(l) 4 Lay Senators;
(m) 1 member to be elected by the governing body of Wilp Wilxo’oskwhl Nisga’a (WWN)

UNBC Update Magazine
Corporate body · 1991-

Update Magazine is the UNBC Magazine for alumni and friends of the university.

2009.21 · Corporate body · 1765 -

The United Church was inaugurated on June 10, 1925 in Toronto, Ontario, when the Methodist Church of Canada, the Congregational Union of Canada, and 70 per cent of the Presbyterian Church in Canada entered into an organic union. Joining as well was the small General Council of Union Churches, centred largely in Western Canada. It was the first union of churches in the world to cross historical denominational lines. Each of the uniting churches, however, had a long history in Canada prior to the 1925 union. Methodism in Canada, for example, is traced back to 1765 when Lawrence Coughlan, an Irish Methodist preacher, first came to Newfoundland. In Nova Scotia, beginning in the late 1770s, Methodists began migrating from England, an event which led to a revival of Methodist practice in this small territory. This influx of new religious ideology provided renewed energy to Methodist missionaries in their ministerial endeavours throughout British North America.

Along the north coastal areas of British Columbia, the Methodist mission found manifestation through several different portals: the provision of pastoral care via boat (such as the Thomas Crosby mission ships), regional medical services, and the provision of community ministry. In Port Simpson (now called Lax Kw’alaams) for example, Methodist medical mission work first began in 1889 under Dr. A.E. Boulton. By 1925 there were three Methodist Hospitals in the territory at Hazelton, Bella Bella and Port Simpson and in 1946 (post union) the United Church of Canada was asked to take over the administration of the Queen Charlotte City hospital.

Mission work throughout the territories was also fuelled, in part, by the existence of Hudson’s Bay Company posts. Not only did the existence of a post often lead to the organic development of an adjacent trading community to which to minister; with the inherent social problems resulting from the presence of, and commerce with, HBC Forts, the Church found opportunities to reach out to the surrounding population in an attempt to alleviate those social ills that resulted from common trading practices and bartered commodities. Fort Simpson was one such post - established as a fur trading post near the mouth of the Nass River in 1831 by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) as part of its Columbia Department. In 1834 the fort was moved to the Tsimshian Peninsula, about halfway between the Nass and the Skeena rivers; the village that grew around the fort later became known as Port Simpson (now called Lax Kw’alaams). In 1874, at the request of Tsimshian matriarch Elizabeth Diex, and her son Chief Alfred Dudoward and daughter-in-law Kate Dudoward, the Rev. Thomas Crosby was sent to Port Simpson to establish its first Methodist mission. From this home base, Rev. Crosby supervised the establishment of ten missions throughout north coastal British Columbia; while his wife Emma founded the Crosby Girls' Home in Port Simpson in the 1880s. This “Home” became part of B.C.'s residential school system in 1893 and was finally closed in 1948.

Corporate body · 1915-

While the originating legislation created UBC on March 7, 1908, the first day of lectures was September 30, 1915. On September 22, 1925, lectures began on the new Point Grey campus. The enabling legislation are the University Act and the University Amendment Act, 2004. The university is the oldest and largest in British Columbia with two campuses in Vancouver and Kelowna.

Corporate body · 1990-

The UNBC story began in January 1987, at a public meeting, held at the College of New Caledonia, on the possibility of extending degree-awarding opportunities in Prince George and on December 1, 1987, the Interior University Society (IUS) was incorporated under the Societies Act.

Important early support for the IUS was obtained from Bruce Strachan, MLA for Prince George South and Minister of State for the Cariboo Region, who saw the regional development potential of a northern university. This led to the commissioning of a study Building a Future of Excellence: a University of Northern BC ("The Dahloff Report"). On October 13, an IUS delegation was able to present the government with:

a petition signed by 16,000 voters who had paid $5 for the privilege;
letters of support from every town, village, city, regional district, hospital board, school board and Chamber of Commerce in northern BC;
an Angus Reid survey which indicated that 94% of northerners were in favour of creating the university;
the Dahloff Report indicating the feasibility, credibility and value of the university.

On November 1, 1989 the Government announced that Bruce Strachan, a clear advocate of the university of the north, had been appointed Minister of Advanced Education. On January 9, Minister Strachan made a formal statement that the government had accepted the IPG recommendations: that a university was to be established in the north with a main campus in Prince George. On June 22, the Provincial Legislature passed Bill 40, The UNBC Act, with all-party support. The Interim Governing Council then met formally for the first time on July 21. It was to act as both Board and Senate until such time as the University had gained the officers, faculty, and students capable of forming a senate.

Two dominant themes of early deliberations were site selection and the Presidential search. The latter began in June, and seven interviews were held in August and September. The outcome was the appointment of Geoffrey Weller, previously Vice-President Academic of Lakehead University. The IGC's site selection committee, meanwhile, had initially considered fifteen sites, but these were reduced to a shortlist of six sites for detailed study, and the Cranbrook Hill site finally carried the day when crown acreage was located with a fine view of the City.

In February 1992, the model of the Prince George campus was first unveiled, and in March, members of Convocation elected the University's first Chancellor, Iona Campognolo. The signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between UNBC and Forestry Canada occurred 3 July 1992 at the Coast Inn of the North in Prince George, BC. The MOU resulted in the establishment of UNBC's first research centre. The full opening of the University was delayed from September 1993 to September 1994. April saw the official sod-turning ceremony for the Prince George campus, conducted by BC Premier Mike Harcourt. This was followed in May with the largest and most prestigious event in the University's history to date - the Inaugural Convocation Ceremony, at which the formal Installation of the President and Chancellor took place. August 1992 saw the registration of the University's first students, when 70 students joined the "QuickStart" program. In November, interviews began for the appointment of the first 40 faculty members.

1994 saw the culmination of the years of planning and effort. In May, the first UNBC students graduated: six students from the "Quickstart" program received their degrees from the Governor General. In August, the Prince George campus was ceremonially opened by Her Majesty the Queen, at a nationally televised event which saw some 10,000 people visit the Prince George campus. In September, the University opened fully, with around 1,500 students enrolled. To commemorate the opening, a full-colour coffee-table book, "A University is Born", was published by the UNBC Press.

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.

Weller, Geoffrey R.
Person · 1942-2000

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.

Weller, Jean
Person · [19-?]-

Jean Weller was the wife of Dr. Geoffrey R. Weller, the founding president of UNBC.

Wet'suwet'en Nation
Corporate body · Unknown

Wet'suwet'en (also known as Hwotsotenne, Witsuwit'en, Wetsuwet'en, Wets'uwet'en) are a First Nations people who live on the Bulkley River and around Broman Lake and Francois Lake in the northwestern Central Interior of British Columbia. The name they call themselves, Wet'suwet'en, means "People of the Wa Dzun Kwuh River".

The Wet'suwet'en are a branch of the Dakelh or Carrier people, and in combination with the Babine people have been referred to as the Western Carrier. They speak Witsuwit'en, a dialect of the Babine-Witsuwit'en language which, like its sister language Carrier, is a member of the Athabaskan family.

The traditional government of the Wet'suwet'en comprises 13 hereditary chiefs, organized today as the Office of the Hereditary Chiefs of the Wet'suwet'en, or the Office of the Wet'suwet'en in BC government terminology (the government does not recognize their hereditary rights). The Office of the Hereditary Chiefs is the main political body of the Wet'suwet'en and is involved in the negotiating process for an eventual treaty with the British Columbia government. In the past, they were co-complainants in the Delgamuukw v. British Columbia case, which sought to establish recognition of the hereditary territorial rights of the Gitxsan and Wet'suwet'en Confederacy.

Williston, Ray Gillis
2000.13 · Person · 1914-2006

Ray Williston (1914-2006) was principal of the Prince George Junior-Secondary School and a school inspector for the Prince George/Peace River area from 1945 to 1953. In 1953 he was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly for Prince George and served as Minister of Education from 1954 – 1956 and Minister of Lands and Forests from 1956 – 1972 in the B.C. Social Credit government under Premier W.A.C. Bennett. In the latter role he encouraged the development of a pulp economy from unused forest resources in the interior of B.C. in conjunction with government hydro-electric projects. After leaving government he became Chair and President of the British Columbia Cellulose Company and held a number of directorships in B.C. and New Brunswick. In addition he did consulting for the Canada International Development Agency (CIDA) and the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Williston Lake in Northern British Columbia is named in his honour.

Wilson, John Owen (J.O.)
Person · 1898-1985

John Owen Wilson, Q.C. was born in Nelson 7 November 1898. He moved to Prince George with his family in 1914. He worked as an office boy at his father (P.E. Wilson)'s law firm until 1915, when he enlisted. He served at the Battle of the Somme, the Battle of Vimy Ridge, and the Battle of Passchendaele. After working on riverboats and as a surveyor, Wilson attended the University of British Columbia. He was called to the BC Bar and returned to Prince George to practise with his father in 1922. He married Ruth Pine in December of that same year. Wilson served as Secretary of the Board of Trade of Prince George and of the Agricultural Association in the following years. He also became involved with the Liberal Party of BC, serving as campaign manager for first Harry Perry and then Gray Turgeon. Wilson was appointed to the County Court of Cariboo 13 January 1939, and subsequently moved with his wife and three children to Ashcroft. As Cariboo County Judge, Wilson held court in Quesnel, Wells, Barkerville, Williams Lake, and Lillooet. He was appointed to the BC Supreme Court in 1944,and to the BC Court of Appeal in 1962. In 1963 he became Chief Justice of the BC Supreme Court. He retired from the Bench and returned to the practice of law ten years later. He was appointed Queen's Counsel in 1974. He passed away in 1985, and was honoured posthumously with the Law Society Award 19 November 1992. Material donated to the Archives by R.H. Guile who was J.O. Wilson's nephew ; he worked at Russell & DuMoulin with Wilson for ten years