Biographies

Famous Canadians: Championing and Conquering Nature

Canada’s rugged landscape has inspired and challenged Canadian men and women for generations.

From sea captains to conservationists, these famous Canadians have helped to forge the natural history of Canada.

They include heroes such as Captain Robert Abram Bartlett. Born in Newfoundland in 1875, Bartlett helped save participants of the ill-fated Karluk expedition. Stranded on Wrangel Island in the Bering Strait for several months, Captain Bartlett trekked 700 miles across ice to summon help.

Women such as Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill recorded Canada’s natural history. The sisters immigrated to Canada and wrote about their lives as pioneers. They became two of Canada's most important 19th-century writers.

Contemporary photographer Louise Tanguay continues the chronicle of natural Canada through her photos of nature.

Other Canadians promote and protect the environment. Grey Owl  (1888 –1938) was one of Canada's first conservationists.

Similarly, ardent environmentalist David Suzuki has devoted his life to helping people to understand, respect, and protect the natural world.

In this vein, a group called Greenpeace sailed from Vancouver to Alaska to protest nuclear weapons tests in 1971. Now a global organization, Greenpeace’s members work to protect the environment through lobbying, research, education, and peaceful protests.

This section is about the Canadian men and women who have done and still continue to champion and conquer nature.