Language Matters

2025-01-15T10:54:00.010-07:00

The Norman Wells Story

In Canada’s early years, important hydrocarbon discoveries occurred almost independently of settlement. In the frontiers, of course, that pattern continues. The relationship between Norman Wells and Alberta’s post-war discovery at Leduc is one example of a pattern that turns on its head the American model of petroleum development. Remote exploration has always played a critical role in the industry’s development.

Before I address the major topic of my presentation today, I would like to suggest an idea about the development of Canada’s petroleum industry compared to that in the United States. Simply put, the patterns of petroleum industry development in the two countries paralleled their respective patterns of settlement.

As you know, the US takes up the best temperate lands along the eastern seaboard, and there are no major barriers to settlement between New York and San Francisco. The Cordillera is a problem, but settlement in the far west was still not seriously hindered – especially after the construction of the transcontinental railways. That pattern exactly reflects the development of the US petroleum industry. In the US there are many sedimentary basins – smallish, but regularly spaced across the country. Once Colonel Drake drilled his historic well, the American petroleum industry developed with patterns of settlement.

Canada has quite a different geography. Settlement was difficult in this country because of the predominance of the Canadian Shield, which provided barriers in many ways. Trapped between the Shield and the Cordillera, the Western Canada sedimentary basin is far bigger than the many on-shore basins in the US. Because of the Shield, it is well separated from the small basins in eastern and central Canada. The Shield and our northern latitudes created what I call the coureurs du bois model of how the Canadian industry developed.

In case you don’t know the expression, coureurs du bois were fur traders who earned their livelihoods with the aid of canoe transport along our mostly northward-flowing rivers. They played a big role in the creation of Canada. For example, from remote northern locations they brought information about resource potential to our political and commercial centres.

Partly because of their efforts, our earliest hydrocarbons were found in outposts of settlement. Consider our Oil Springs discovery, for example, which was contemporaneous with Colonel Drake’s 1859 well. Based on investigation into the well-known gum beds near Black Creek, the Oil Springs discovery took place on the north shore of Lake Erie – in an area without roads, but along the transportation and trading system afforded by the Great Lakes.

Alberta’s first recorded natural gas find came in 1883 from a well at CPR siding No. 8 at Langevin, near Medicine Hat. This well was one of a series drilled at scattered points along the railway to get water for the Canadian Pacific Railway’s steam-driven locomotives. The unexpected gas flow caught fire and destroyed the drilling rig. The discovery took place as we built our first transcontinental railway – itself an effort to settle our empty prairies before the Americans did the job for us.

Pelican Rapids

The Athabasca oil sands were already well known – in fact, the first recorded mention of Canada’s bitumen deposits goes back to a Hudson’s Bay Company record of June 12, 1719. Hoping to find light oil beneath the sands, in the late 19th century Ottawa undertook a drilling program to help define the region’s resources. Using a rig taken north by river, in 1893 contractor A.W. Fraser began drilling for liquid oil at Athabasca, where the oil sands had been known for centuries. In 1897 he moved the rig to Pelican Rapids, also in northern Alberta. There it struck natural gas at 250 metres. But the well blew wild, flowing huge volumes of gas for 21 years. It was not until 1918 that a crew succeeded in killing the well.

These few examples illustrate my point. Quite unlike the situation in the US, Canada’s early hydrocarbon exploration took place along transportation corridors rather than in settled areas. The country had been well explored during the fur trade era, but settlements were still few and far apart. That pattern is in evidence in the case of Norman Wells, to which I now turn my attention.

Ask any of Canada’s exploration professionals when Western Canada’s oil industry began, and you will get one of two answers. The first is the Dingman #1 discovery, which began disgorging wet gas at Turner Valley in 1914. The second is Imperial’s 1947 oil discovery at Leduc. The more thoughtful industrial historian would probably say Dingman was the critical event for the industry’s early years, while the modern era began at Leduc.

I want to suggest that another event was equally pivotal. The year was 1914. The occasion was an expedition down the Mackenzie River by a British geologist, Dr. T.O. Bosworth. There are direct links between that trip and the modern industry’s birth.

Out of Calgary

Two Calgary businessmen, F.C. Lowes and J.K. Cornwall, commissioned Bosworth’s journey. They wanted to investigate the petroleum potential of northern Alberta and beyond, and to stake the most promising claims. Bosworth did not disappoint. His confidence that the north was highly prospective is apparent on almost every page of his 69-page report.

Bosworth’s own words suggest how ambitious the expedition was. “The undertaking was planned in March 1914,” he says. “In April I consulted with the officers of the Government Geological Survey and other Departments in Ottawa and gathered from them all available information; maps and literature bearing on the subject.

“At the beginning of May, I journeyed from London to Canada accompanied by three assistant geologists and surveyors, and on May 19th, the expedition set out from Edmonton to travel northwards in the Guidance of the Northern Trading Company. We returned to Edmonton September 24th.”

During that period, the Bosworth expedition covered huge distances. And according to his report, there were excellent exploration prospects in three general regions: “The Mackenzie River between Old Fort Good Hope and Fort Norman; the Tar Springs District on the Great Slave Lake; and in the Tar Sand District on the Athabasca River.”

His report offered concise, well-written geological descriptions of rocks, formations and structures. It also included chemical reports on both rocks and oil from the many seepages in the area. Some of his greatest praise came from investigations north of Norman Wells, areas which to this day have not yielded a major oil discovery. “Near Old Fort Good Hope (lat. 67 30’) in the banks of a tributary stream, the shales are well exposed ... from the fossils it is evident that the shales are of Upper Paleozoic Age and probably belong to the Upper Devonian,” he said. “This remarkable series of Bituminous Shales and Limestones, of such thickness and of such richness contains the material from which a vast amount of petroleum might be generated and might pass into an overlying porous rock. It is admirable as an oil generating formation.”

In a discussion of the evidence of good reservoir rock, Bosworth points to a nearby occurrence of “gray clay shales and shaley sandstone,” and to another of “greenish shaley sandstone containing occasional fossils – corals, chenetes and rhynconella.”

Both of the reservoir rocks Bosworth speculates upon lie above the Devonian shales. He was looking specifically for “overlying porous rock” to form the reservoir. It does not seem to have occurred to him that reefs within the shales could have served as reservoirs, even though he specifically noted the presence of Devonian corals.

Before I turn to the outcome of this expedition, which was quite important, I would like to share with you the business advice he gave his clients in the conclusion to his general report. “To avoid all competition,” he said, “I strongly advise that you form a controlling company or syndicate containing the most influential men. I recommend particularly that you arrange matters in such a way that it would be to the obvious advantage of every oil man to join you, and that you freely provide the opportunity so that the Company may include every man who wishes to venture anything in the exploitation of the oilfields of the North. By this means alone can you hope to avoid competition and the unfortunate results which must follow….”

Ted Link

In his report Bosworth noted that he had “investigated” the discovery at Turner Valley. Fifteen months in the drilling, the wet gas discovery came in on May 14, 1914 – just before Bosworth left Edmonton on his expedition. Within 20 years, that discovery would be recognized as “the largest oilfield in the British Empire.” Bosworth, however, was not impressed. In his view, the real potential was in the North.

Believing Turner Valley was doomed to disappoint explorers, he wrote that that “there are a number of oil companies in Western Canada who have capital in hand which must be spent on drilling wells. At this moment they are faced with failure (at Turner Valley), and might gladly turn to any region where there is a genuine reason to expect oil. Any such companies might become associated with your controlling company to the obvious advantage of all parties, on terms which can be mutually arranged...”

After further commentary, he advises his clients in these words: “You would also provide for the transportation; the necessary railroads; the pipe lines, the refineries, and, what is more important than all the rest, and which would give you complete command of the whole situation, all of the oil produced in the region would pass through your hands to be marketed by you.

“If you could succeed in promoting a great scheme on some such lines as these, no smaller rival group could hope to compete against you, and you might eventually be in the position to control the great oil fields of the North.”

One of the great ironies of these comments, of course, is that they came barely three years after the Standard Oil Trust was dismantled for just such anti-competitive practices. In addition, Bosworth completely misread the importance of Turner Valley and the petroleum potential of Alberta, so smitten was he by the North. The practical value of his advice may be seen in the fact that seven decades elapsed before oil from the Norman Wells oilfield actually began flowing to southern markets.

Now, let us push on with our story. Bosworth does not remark on the coming of World War I. However, when he and his men left the world was at peace; when he returned, Europe and the British Empire had become embroiled in that terrible war. He was probably totally unaware of those developments while in the north.

The exigencies of war postponed exploration of Bosworth’s claims. So did the Dingman discovery. The petroleum industry by this time was focused on Turner Valley field development, where standard practice was to strip naphtha from the gas stream and flare the gas itself. By 1918 an Imperial Oil subsidiary, The Northwest Company, had acquired the properties Bosworth had staked for his clients. Imperial had hired Bosworth himself as chief geologist. The company decided to drill on one of those claims.

Imperial Oil Limited’s legendary exploration geologist, Ted Link, led the drilling expedition. By train, scow and riverboat, he and his crew followed Bosworth’s route north to Fort Norman, just south of the Arctic Circle. They had taken with them the wherewithal to assemble a cable-tool drilling rig, and they soon set to work. One valuable member of the party was an ox, which supplied heavy labour during the summer. As the autumn cold began killing off the forage, he delivered steaks and stew.

Before moving on, it is worth noting that the most important early geological work at Norman Wells, including the location of the discovery well, needs to be attributed to Ted Link – not to T.O. Bosworth. In an important 1947 presentation to the AAPG, J.S. Stewart of the Geological Survey of Canada is adamant on this point.

Canol

Imperial’s first well brought in the great Norman Wells discovery, in 1920. However, there was no practical way to get the oil to market. Because demand in the Northwest Territories was marginal, Imperial had little reason to develop the field. However, later in the decade the company constructed a tiny refinery at Norman Wells to supply gasoline and other products to missions, mines, riverboats and other local customers. The company did not need many wells to meet local needs, and did little investigation of the geology of the reservoir.

That changed after Pearl Harbor. When the Americans came into the Second World War, they were extremely concerned about having secure local fuel supplies in the North, especially after Japan took control of a couple of Alaska’s Aleutian islands. They therefore worked with Canada to develop Norman Wells into a source of local oil supply for a refining and distribution complex. This was the beginning of the Canol Project. The name supposedly comes from the contraction of “Canadian” and “oil”, but I suspect the second syllable is actually “oil” with a Texas accent.

Construction crews built a 950-kilometre oil pipeline over the Mackenzie Mountains to a newly constructed refinery in Whitehorse, in the Yukon Territory. The pipeline was built over some of the most difficult terrain in the country, and much of the work had to be done in bitter cold. Crews also laid product pipelines to Skagway, Alaska. In total, they constructed 2,560 kilometres of pipeline.

By any standard those lines were terrible. The line ran on top of the ground, alongside the road, often without supports. Vulnerable to frost heaving, snowstorms and flooding, the Canol pipelines were not designed for extreme cold. They were neither installed nor handled properly, and they failed frequently. The crude oil pipeline leaked onto the permafrost. So did the product pipelines, which delivered diesel and gasoline to a fuelling station in Skagway, Alaska.

To meet the needs of the refinery, Imperial drilled more wells, and began to better understand the Norman Wells reservoir. Of note, the company discovered that it was a Devonian reef – of earlier vintage than the Leduc and Redwater fields soon to be discovered in Alberta, but still a Devonian reef. That turned out to be the geological key.

By the time the refinery was ready to begin operations, the company had drilled 60 productive wells out of 67 project wells in total. The test for the field came on February 16, 1944 when the pipeline began operating. As a producer of good-quality oil (39° to 41° API), the field surpassed expectations. By October 1944 Norman Wells was producing 4,600 barrels per day by natural pressure.

The extraordinary Canol project did not contribute meaningfully to the war effort. The threat to west coast shipping had disappeared and it was clear that the war would soon be won. First oil flowed through the pipeline in 1944, and the refinery operated for less than a year before being mothballed. Perhaps Canol was the greatest white elephant in petroleum history.

No one really knows how much the project cost, though there is no doubt the American taxpayer picked up the tab. For the following calculations I will use one of the common cost estimates: $134 million. Total oil production was about 1.5 million barrels. In as-spent dollars, therefore, it cost $89.33 per barrel. The Whitehorse refinery only produced 866,670 barrels of refined product. Dividing that by total project cost, you get $0.97 per litre.

Now, let’s adjust those numbers by official consumer price inflation in the United States. In today’s money, the oil would cost $982 a barrel. The refined products would cost $10.69 a litre. And that’s before taxes!

Later studies of the project’s environmental impact in Whitehorse were revealing. The Canol legacy included the creation of an environmental horror known locally as the Maxwell Tar Pit. Appalling disposal and clean-up practices during the Canol debacle had created an oily mess that was declared an environmentally contaminated site in 1998. Forty years earlier, a man had stumbled into the pit and got stuck. He later died in hospital.

Leduc

Although Canol had little impact on affairs of state, it had a huge impact on oil development in Western Canada. As the result of wartime field development at Norman Wells, Imperial learned that the field’s reservoir rock was Devonian reef. Armed with this knowledge, the company’s geologists – led by Ted Link, who by this time was in charge of Imperial’s exploration efforts – their approach to Western Canada.

This was an important example of thinking outside the box. Other oilmen at the time were on the hunt for big plays that looked, walked and talked like Turner Valley. They would be roughly 340 million years old. They would be thrusted anticlines of Paleozoic age in a Mississippian formation. Much fruitless drilling in the foothills sought the next Turner Valley.

Perhaps we should not give all the credit to Imperial Oil for the geological idea that there might be Devonian reefs in Alberta. In an email, my friend Clint Tippett asked whether GSC mapping of the Rockies west of Edmonton – work undertaken by Helen Belyea, Digby Maclaren and others – influenced Imperial’s thinking. Before the Leduc discovery, Charles Stelck at the University of Alberta also gave thought to the question of Devonian reefs in Alberta.

However Imperial arrived at its revolutionary idea, the importance of its decision to drill for a reef cannot be understated. That geological idea brought forth a series of great discoveries. The first came with the aid of primitive seismic technology, and it was a big one – the famous Leduc #1 discovery well. When it came in to much fanfare on February 21, 1947, Leduc laid the groundwork for one of the world’s great post-war oil booms.

There is another important connection between post-war oil development in Alberta and the Canol project. The refinery built in Whitehorse played an important role in Alberta’s industrial development. Imperial bought the mothballed refinery for one dollar, dismantled it and moved it to Strathcona, near Edmonton. There, the company reassembled it to handle production from Leduc and other post-war discoveries. That refinery laid the foundation for one of Canada’s biggest refining complexes.

As I leave this discussion, a final piece of trivia. Although Imperial is the hero of this drama, I understand that the company’s geologists mapped the Leduc reefs at a 90° angle to their actual orientation. After mapping them correctly, Texaco came to have the dominant position in the Leduc chain of reefs.

Summary

The Norman Wells story illustrates a pattern that turns on its head the American model of petroleum industry development. Briefly put, remote exploration has played a critical role in the industry’s development since the earliest years of oil and gas exploration in this country. Bosworth was wrong in important areas. However, his work greatly influenced that of his successor, Ted Link, who ultimately proved that Devonian reefs were an important key to Canada’s petroleum wealth. That change in thinking paved the way for a series of discoveries which represented the birth of the modern petroleum industry in Canada.

It would be easy to think of Canada’s petroleum industry as one that began in southern Ontario and Alberta, grew wealthy, then began exploring and developing its frontiers. But this model doesn’t fit the facts. Key discoveries and developments took place in remote regions. In the sector’s early years, important discoveries occurred almost independently of settlement, and a great deal of oil and gas development continues to take place in sparsely populated areas. In our frontiers, of course, that pattern is fully intact.

If not for the Bosworth report, Canada’s petroleum industry would have had quite a different history. Imperial Oil’s efforts were heroic – indeed, the stuff of legend. Enormously frustrated with its unbroken string of 133 dry holes, Imperial planned the program that yielded Leduc as its last major wildcat play in Alberta. If Leduc had not come in, it is easy to imagine the Devonian oil fields lying fallow for many, many years. No other big players were exploring the prairies.

In the actual case, however, oilmen around the world soon became aware of this important new discovery, and they began to bring expertise and investment into the province. They created one of the first great post-war oil booms and helped lay the foundation for one of the world’s most diverse and technically advanced petroleum industries.

In respect to its long-term impact, T.O. Bosworth’s 1914 report may have been the most influential geological document in Canadian history. I hope my brief comments today have given you reason to consider that claim.

References:

1. T.O. Bosworth, 1914; “The Mackenzie River between Old Fort Good Hope and Fort Norman; the Tar Springs District on the Great Slave Lake; and in the Tar Sand District on the Athabasca River.” Available at the Glenbow Archives, Calgary; reference number M-8656; 69 pages.

2. J.S. Stewart, 1948; “Norman Wells Oil Field, Northwest Territories, Canada”; in Structure of Typical American Oil Fields, Volume III, pp. 86-109; original paper read before an AAPG meeting in Wichita, Kansas, on January 18, 1947.

3. Peter McKenzie-Brown, 1988; “Two Historical Documents: Notes for an Address to the Petroleum History Society.”

Aeroplanes to the Arctic

The first airplane[i] flights into the Northwest Territories annihilated time and distance and opened doors to the north. Before the “bush plane,” most northern trading posts operated just as they had for the previous century. Transportation and communication were by York boat and canoe, in summer, and dog sled, in winter. Mail took months to deliver and then only in small amounts, for the population was small. In 1921, the Northwest Territories consisted of 8,100 people (primarily Inuit and Dene) and perhaps 250 non-natives in an area one-third the size of Canada. The few residents of the Mackenzie Valley lived in scattered forts along the banks of the 2400-kilometre long Mackenzie River. The typical community consisted of a Hudson’s Bay fur-trading post, a Northwest Mounted Police barracks, a Church or Mission, plus a few log cabins and wigwams. The natives, who lived near these established posts, hunted, fished and traded furs with the competing fur companies (Northern Trading Company, Lamson and Hubbard, and the Hudson’s Bay Company).

Although the first plane flight in Canada occurred in 1909,it was more than a decade before planes flew into the Northwest Territories. No one believed that there was a reason to fly to the North until Imperial Oil Limited discovered the Norman Wells oilfield in 1920. A staking rush ensued, and Charles E. Taylor, Imperial Oil’s western Production Manager, recommended the use of aeroplanes to secure claims. President Stillman, of Imperial Oil headquarters in Toronto, approved the purchase of two Junkers JL6 monoplanes powered by 185 horsepower liquid cooled engines. These aircraft were purchased from John M. Larsen of New York City in December 1920 at an approximate cost of $20,000 (U.S.) each. They were shipped across the Atlantic Ocean from Germany to New York where they were assembled and then flown to Edmonton, Alberta, by Captain W. R. (“Wop”) May and Lieutenant George W. Gorman. Eager to further develop their land position, Imperial Oil’s plan was to fly a surveyor to the site before as anticipated spring rush by fortune seekers.

This was a bold and ambitious undertaking. The Junkers aeroplane could carry four passengers in its cabin, but the pilot had to sit in a semi-enclosed cockpit exposed to the wind and ice. There were no runways and they virtually had to carry all their own fuel with them. The planes had never been flown in such cold conditions or with skis. The engine’s water-cooling systems had to be repaired twice on the cross-Canada flight due to frigid temperatures in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. “Wop” May decided in Edmonton not to carry on with the adventure, so he was replaced by another pilot, Elmer Fullerton, a member of the Canadian Air Force on leave from the service.

Fullerton and George Gorman had never seen the areas they were supposed to fly in, and they had to trust their own judgment on weather conditions and safe landing areas. There were no radios. Two other aviators were with them: flight engineer S. C. (Pete) Derbyshire and mechanic William (Bill) Hill. The challenge was daunting, but all of them had flown or serviced planes during World War I and they were eager to make Imperial Oil’s program a success.

Their trip later inspired C. H. (Punch) Dickins flights across the Canadian Barren Lands and along the Mackenzie River Valley to the Arctic. The Norman Wells flights convinced him that aeroplanes would become the principal means of transportation in the North. Nine years later he was rescuing fellow fliers on the Barren Lands. Twenty years later he was Vice-President and General Manager of Canadian Pacific AirLines Ltd. Just as construction task forces were arriving in Edmonton, to begin work on the CANOL Project.

The two Junkers airplanes were Christened at a ceremony in Edmonton by Mrs. McQueen, the wife of an Imperial Oil Limited Vice-President. One plane was named Vic for Victoria, the daughter of Charles E. Taylor and the other Rene for Taylor’s secretary, Rene Arsenault. After a brief ceremony both planes were flown to Peace River where they were checked-out and fitted with skis. On March 22 they were used to establish a cache of gasoline at a Hudson’s Bay post, 300 kilometres north at Upper Hay River Post. Two days later, the crew of four left Peace River with two passengers: W. H. Waddell, a Government of Canada land surveyor, who could stake claims, plus a last-minute passenger, Sergeant Hubert (Nitchie) Thorne, a Royal Northwest Mounted Policeman. Earlier that winter Sergeant Thorne had taken eight weeks of bone-breaking work to take a murderer out from Fort Simpson to Peace River by snowshoe and dog team.

As the six anxious aviators droned northwards, at 145 kilometres per hour, optimism grew about the success of their mission. They felt like the snow geese that would soon be making their way north. They stared at the seemingly featureless expanse of dark spruce and tamarack that peppered the snow-covered land beneath their wings. They watched the shadow of the plane skimming treetops and dipping at every valley that was crossed. Sergeant Thorne remembered his trip out. Each stream crossing had been a struggle with his dog-team and now he watched the plane’s shadow crossing each river valley effortlessly.

The first stage of their flight took them from Peace River to a Hudson’s Bay post at Fort Vermilion. They left Peace River at 9 a.m. on the 24th of March in a cloudless sky, but after only 160 kilometres a blizzard blew-in from the northwest. Fullerton and Gorman were forced to fly less than 200 metres above the ground just to see where they were going. However, they stuck to their landmarks and swooped down to make a perfect landing at Vermilion on 60 cm of snow. The aviators spent the next three days there, stormbound.

Their next hop took them 300 kilometres along the Peace and Slave rivers in a giant counter-clockwise half circle to Hay River Post on Great Slave Lake. They left Vermilion on March 27th and were able to photograph Hay River Falls, which is one of the great sights of the north. The river first plunges 30 metres over a limestone ledge (Alexandra Falls) and then, two kilometres downstream, another 15 metres in another sheer drop known as Louise Falls. These were the first aerial photographs ever taken of the Northwest Territories. A successful landing was made a short time later at Hay River Post on 80 centimetres of snow.

The next day was March 28th. At 2 p.m. the flyers took off again and crossed the western end of Great Slave Lake. A strong north wind brought in another blizzard as they flew into the Mackenzie Valley. They made a forced landing on the Mackenzie River 30 kilometres upstream of Fort Providence. The storm subsided after an hour and they jumped to Fort Providence where they landed on the Mission Field on 100 cm of dry snow with no problems.

By March 30th the weather had cleared. After refueling, they took three attempts to clear the engulfing snow and push on to Fort Simpson, another 225 kilometres north on the Mackenzie River. Once there, they would only be a three-hour flight from the oilfield.

As the planes approached the fork of the broad Mackenzie and Liard rivers, Thorne congratulated himself on his quick return. This would be a pleasant surprise for his wife who did not expect him back before May. Although the last stop had been only one hour and forty minutes earlier, they had now flown more than eight hours during six days. He was tired and cold, and not used to staring out frosted windows but thankful that he would not have to mush his dog team home. He thought, “Fifty days behind the dogs is a long time.”

The pilots were also tired of flying over the frozen landscape and eager to land and warm up. They were flying in a light snowstorm against a moderate headwind. Smoke streamed sideways from the roofs of a small group of buildings scattered along the banks of the large low island ahead of them. This was Fort Simpson and their approach was from the south. Their legs, arms and hands were stiff and cold with fatigue. The Roman Catholic Mission was the most prominent building and the nearby field looked like a small blank piece of paper. They had intended to land on the river again, but it was a jagged mass of ice blocks, which looked like teeth to them.

Old Chippesaw, a Slavey Aboriginal who was mushing from upriver back to the Fort, shot at the planes as they flew over his head. Later he told the Chief Factor of the Hudson’s Bay post that a “Thunder Bird” was after him. The roar of the landing planes could be heard for miles in that freezing air, but no one heard the report of his rifle as he fired at the planes.

Thorne, in Gorman’s plane Rene, suggested a landing on the field near the Mission because the river was impossible. So Gorman hand-signaled to Fullerton who began to descend. It was mid-afternoon. Through the half-light they could see the whitewashed log buildings of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police barracks and the neat and tidy buildings of the Hudson’s Bay Company post. The ubiquitous red Hudson’s Bay Red Ensign flapped from a pole above the post.

Fullerton safely landed the Vic, but the fuselage sank in the deep snow. Gorman, seeing Fullerton’s safe landing, circled once more, craning his neck to the left to check the field for any obstructions. He intended to land about 50 metres from Fullerton. The freezing air pierced the back of his neck and stuck steel fingers down his jacket and across his chest. The field looked good, so he banked over the Mackenzie River and throttled down to land. As the skis touched down all seemed well at first. Pilot and crew held their breath looking at the wind-crusted snow and the frozen dog-sled ruts. But as soon as Rene’s weight pressed down, one of the skis plunged through a frozen drift and “Rene’s” nose slammed into the ground. No one could see anything for the cloud of snow that surrounded the plane, like smoke. The propellor dug into the frozen ground and shattered, sending shards of walnut-arrows past Gorman’s head. The ski and propellor were smashed, but they were safe on the ground. Now both planes sat motionless on the cold field while snow dust fell over them, silver in the sunlight against a darkening sky.

Fred Camsell, the factor, and his 37-year-old missionary clerk, Walter Johnson, heard the approaching planes as they baled furs. Fred said, “Did you hear that?” Walter Johnson replied, “Be darned if I know what it is.”

They said nothing more as they pulled on their parkas and mukluks and walked out to the riverbank. From there they looked towards the Mission field where one of the planes had already landed. The second plane was still circling to land. When they got to the field, they were amazed to find Nitchie Thorne and the strangers standing about the planes, angry and disconsolate.

The Vic was buried to the fuselage in snow. So they packed a snow strip with their snowshoes, and flew her two kilometres to the Snye – a narrow but smooth river channel between the island and the mainland. They were still intent on reaching Fort Norman but engine trouble developed when they ferried Vic to the Snye. They cursed their luck a thousand times. Fullerton, Waddell and Hill thought about continuing in the Rene but how? Their solution was to take the good propellor from the Vic and use it to replace Rene’s shattered propeller. Then they removed a good ski from Vic and put it on Rene. Now they could fly the Rene to the Vic on the Snye. They transferred their equipment from Vic to the Rene. Set at last, Fullerton revved the phoenix Rene to red line and roared down the channel.

Gorman and Derbyshire watched from beside the crippled and cannibalized Vic, wishing their partner’s success but wishing that they were with them. Fullerton, Waddell, and Hill regretted leaving their partners but knew that they could be back soon to take them south. After all, Fort Norman was only 400 kilometres away.

These hopes were all shattered like the first propeller when Rene’s engine died 15 metres in mid-air and the plane crashed belly-first back on to the ice. The undercarriage was wrecked, a wing was slightly damaged, and their last propellor was shattered. Camsell and Johnson reassured the aviators and helped gather what goods they could carry back to the post. Aside from being shaken up, no one was hurt in the crash.

That night, pilots and crew sat around the Carron stove long into the night talking about aeroplanes with Camsell and Johnson and other old-timers who came to get news of the South and the origin of these strange silver birds. George Gorman was most upset at the thought of being marooned until July, when the first paddle wheeler would arrive. Derbyshire believed in the value of the aeroplane but found it difficult to argue its merits while the two Junkers stood silent nearby. To some of the old-timers, the way of the snowshoe and dog sled was more certain and predictable. Some believed that it was just too cold for any engine to ever replace the dog in the North but others knew that it was just wishful thinking. As sure as the railway crossed the prairies, the aeroplane would come to the north. After all the evidence was before them, in the mustached but beardless faces of Fullerton and Gorman and the silver frost covered planes on the Snye.

No one knew this better than Philip Godsell who had joined the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1906 as an apprentice clerk at the age of 16. He sailed from England to York Factory and began his career in northern Ontario, and then in northern Manitoba and Alberta Peace River country, and Fort St John, British Columbia. He was always pushing to the “end-of-steel” and then beyond. He had left Fort Simpson on December 5 1920 with three other men and three dog teams. Now, in late March, he was finally returning from his 2900-kilometre inspection of Hudson’s Bay Company fur trading posts along the entire length of the Mackenzie Valley. As he mushed up to Fort Simpson, he was astonished to see the two planes spread-eagled on the snow of the Mission grounds. After the crash, he joined the rest of the group around the stove fire but said little. The voices were unnaturally loud, and the two all-metal planes presaged another “end-of-steel” scenario for him.

The next day, Walter Johnson walked out to the Snye and examined the remains of the propellors with his keen carpenter’s eye. He was the general handyman around the post and in England he had been a cabinetmaker. The two-bladed propellers were about twice as tall as him and composed of nine strips of black walnut glued into a solid block shaped by a lathe and tipped with a copper sheath.

“Heck,” he said, “It shouldn’t be such a job to make a new propellor. Eh?” He grinned. “I’ve yet to see the woodworking job I couldn’t handle.” But this was the first plane he had ever seen, and he had no wood.

Godsell had the idea of using old oak sleigh boards that he had up in the old fur loft. They were about three metres long and 20 centimetres wide. “If they’re okay, we’ve got lots of moose skins that could be boiled down to glue.”

Pilots Fullerton and Gorman looked at each other with raised eyebrows. “You don’t even have any tools,” they objected. “Even if you’ve got the wood you can’t build one. They’re precision made in factories by special engineers. We can’t possibly do it.”

Only Walter Johnson showed any enthusiasm for the plan. “At least it’s worth a try,” he said. “We’ve got five months, you know.” Bill Hill groused, “Why bother? You ruddy bastards are sure to crash again and kill us all.”

That day, Walter Johnson collected up all the tools that he could find: a few steamer clamps, an auger, a ship’s adze, several axes, planes and a few crooked knives^. Father Decoux of the Sacred Heart Mission gave permission for the men to use the church workshop. Just five years earlier, Walter had asked to become a Catholic and had been baptized at the same Mission. Day after day, for eight days, he and Hill sawed and chipped away at the oak toboggan boards, and each other, until they had the requisite shape. Gorman and Fullerton were still incredulous. Hill was still discouraging.

On April 15th Elmer Fullerton bolted the first moose-hide-glue propellor on to Vic and slipped into the cockpit to start her.He pulled the throttle full out and the engine roared. The propellor performed perfectly. There were no signs of any cracking, splitting or strain. They were ready for an air test. Shrugging his shoulders once, Fullerton clenched his teeth, and roared down the frozen Snye. The plane crawled into the air, sunlight shining on the red blur of the propellor, and then climbed in slow smooth circles above the watching skeptics on the ground. Gorman stood there white knuckled with arms stiff at his sides, too breathless to speak until the plane spiraled back down, and landed beside him. Fullerton leaped out of the plane whooping about how well the propellor performed. Gorman and crew ran down to the Vic and they all jumped up and down in a circle hugging each other and slapping Johnson and Hill on the back. They were the heroes of the day. Hill straightened up saying, “Yah. You should all just wait. Fifty miles from here and you’ll blow the engine.”

There was still the need for another propellor, and Walter and Bill made it out of alternating planks of oak and birch. When done, it was fitted to the Rene and flight tested on April 20. By this time, spring was too far advanced for the planes to land on skis at Fort Norman, so they decided to return south to Peace River. However, bad luck still dogged them.

On April 24th they awoke to excited Indians telling everyone that the ice was going out on the river. Breakup on the Mackenzie River is a monstrous sight. Ice blocks two metres thick are rushed downstream in a huge mass of gnashing broken white teeth, thrusting ice pans and crushing ice and slush. The sound is loud and water can rise ten metres in a matter of minutes when an ice jam occurs. Their two planes were still parked on the Snye channel and in danger.

The airmen rushed to save their planes. Tarpaulins had to be removed and fire started to heat the engine oil. There was 400 metres of solid ice for take-off when they got to the planes but only 200 metres when they were ready to fly-off. Gorman tried first in Rene, but as she lifted-off her tail broke through the snow crust and suffered severe damage. Fullerton was next in Vic. By now the ice was heaving at the downstream end of the Snye channel. A trapper, Jack Cameron, knew of an ice-covered lake eight kilometres away so he leaped into the Vic with his snowshoes on. Fullerton barely lifted Vic clear of the snapping teeth beneath them. They managed to land on the lake and trudged back to Fort Simpson in a matter of three and half-hours. By that time the Sacred Heart Mission brothers had pulled the stranded Rene off the Snye, using a team of oxen. Repairing her now was out of the question.

Two days later, on April 26th, Gorman, Fullerton, Hill and Waddell back-packed to the lake at six o’clock a.m. and loaded the Vic with their gear plus a small package of letters that Godsell asked them to take to Peace River. Derbyshire remained at Fort Simpson to await parts for repairing Rene. Instead of following the rivers back to Peace River they had decided that a direct flight to Peace River, was necessary because they were short of fuel. Bill Waddell, the surveyor knew that a cut line for the sixth meridian had been cut to mark the border between Alberta and British Columbia. The distance was 900 kilometres and at a cruising speed of 145 kilometres per hour they could be there in just over six hours. The Junkers aircraft carried 360 litres of fuel, enough for seven and a half hours flying under ideal conditions. As the airmen bounced off the softening ice, they carried the first air mail ever flown from the north and delivered it six hours later in Peace River. Upon landing they found that they had three litres of gasoline left: enough for another five minutes flying. The small package of letters from Godsell was for his future wife and the Hudson’s Bay factors of Peace River and Winnipeg. Normally the mail would not have reached its destination until the following August.

* * *

Imperial Oil Limited was chastened but undaunted by their first failed attempt to fly men and equipment into their fledgling oilfield. In fact, the need had become even more urgent as throngs of prospectors made their way north to stake claims near the Discovery Well. In January 1921, thirteen dog teams pulled into Fort Simpson carrying men and their outfits to the new place known as Norman Wells. A Japanese prospector, Jigrio Wada, left for Fort Norman from Fort MacMurray in the winter of 1920/21 with a team of four dogs and covered the 4,000-kilometre distance in 579 hours travelling time. Another musher, who made the trip from Edmonton, was Tony Neiss. On one day he travelled 130 kilometres behind his dogs. Obviously, these prospectors were in a hurry. So was Imperial Oil.

By spring, prospecting parties were attempting get to Norman Wells by riverboats and canoes. One hopeful staking crew was the Dyers party who left Peace River on May 17, twelve days before Imperial Oil made another attempt to return to the oilfield by airplane. The Dyers’ party consisted of William G. Ogilvie, Rex Henderson and Bill Dyers. They estimated that it would take about three weeks to make their way to the oilfield by boat. In fact, their trip took about six weeks: they arrived at Fort Simpson on June 13th and reached the Discovery well in early July. In contrast, the repaired Junkers aircraft left Peace River on May 29 and arrived at Fort Norman on June 2^nd after 12.5 hours of actual flying time. On this trip, the crew again consisted of Elmer Fullerton and Bill Hill, the mechanic, plus Imperial Oil geologist T. A. (Ted) Link and, once again, W. H. (Billy) Waddell. As a Dominion of Canada land surveyor, it seemed appropriate that Billy should serve as navigator. In Ted Link’s lap was a satchel containing $35,000 dollars to help buy claims along the river if they were too late to stake more claims themselves.

Fullerton was more confident than on his previous flight, for he had seen the country and this time it was spring not winter. Hill was as pessimistic as ever, “Now that you’ve got floats, you’ll drown us.” The plane was on a set of large wooden floats, which made it slower and more awkward to land than the skis or wheels. When Fullerton left Peace River it weighed 1,955 kilograms. However, its maximum take-off and landing weight were listed as 1,774 kilograms.

Fullerton banked the plane in a long slow circle around Fort Norman and prepared to land, on the Mackenzie River, with the current, 70 metres from shore. The water was smooth as glass,but as the pontoons touched down, one was torn from the struts and smashed like an eggshell. Later Fullerton reported that he must have hit a submerged ice or sunken driftwood. The river was rising at the time and floating blocks of ice and driftwood were being picked up by the rising waters. The right wingtip dipped into the river and began to fill with water and sink.

The passengers and crew scrambled out of the plane and onto the upper wing to try and keep the plane from overturning. Nevertheless, it still leaned at a forty-five degree angle and only the three-metre depths near shore saved the plane. The wing was dragged over the boulders on the bottom and sustained considerable damage. The lower part of the cabin filled with water and a third of the baggage was soaked before a line could be thrown to shore and the plane pulled into shallower water. Ted Link, thinking that the plane might sink, had thrown the $35,000 dollars overboard to try to save it. But there was no need. A small crowd of people had knotted on the shore when they heard the plane in the air and now some of the men were able to paddle a scow and several canoes out to the plane to save the crew. They lifted the damaged wing and put an old scow under it and ground the plane near shore. As for the money, someone from Fort Norman picked up the satchel and returned it, with water draining out of the pouch, onto Ted Link’s feet.

Once again, Elmer Fullerton, passengers and crew were marooned, but this time they were within reach of their destination. Fullerton and Hill, with two others from Fort Norman, floated the crippled airplane and scow 80 kilometres downriver to the Discovery well in eleven hours. A temporary pontoon was then made from empty gasoline drums lashed lengthwise to poles and fastened to the struts so that the scow could be returned to Fort Norman. The unfortunate Fullerton and Hill then had to abandon their plane for later repairs and make their way south by motorboat. About two weeks later they were back at Fort Simpson where their previously abandoned plane, Rene, stood alone on the grass of the Mission field. They needed several days to overhaul the engine of the plane.

On June 13th, Nitchie Thorne’s wife invited Fullerton and Hill for dinner. As they traded air and bear stories, the Dyers’ party arrived. They made their way to her home, which was the Northwest Mounted Police barracks, because they were required to register a Clearance Certificate at each police post along the route. A special Ordinance Respecting Entry into the Northwest Territories had been passed by the first Northwest Territories government, to deal with the anticipated oil rush. Mrs. Thorne did not hesitate to invite the Dyer’s party in for dinner too. That night Rex Henderson, of the Dyer’s party, played the only piano north of the 60th parallel. Fullerton and Hill found themselves explaining the advantages, and disadvantages, of air travel in the north once more, while horseflies batted themselves against the Junkers aircraft grounded on a mud-bank at Fort Norman. Mr. Ogilvie remarked that, “It will be a long time before flying in the north is practical,” but the feasibility had already been proven and practicality was only a matter of time.

Vic and Rene were two of 23 Junkers F13 aircraft exported to North America. A total of 318 of these planes were built in Germany. The Vic was sold to the United Railway Employees’ Investment and Industrial Association of Hazelton British Columbia (B.C.) in May, 1922. She made one more notable flight from Edmonton, Alberta to Henry House, B.C. and then was pressed into service for hunting and prospecting parties. The business languished, however, and Vic was hauled up onto the banks of the Skeena River for six years. In 1928, she was purchased by R. F. Corless and shipped to Prince George B. C. for overhauling. The air authorities refused to renew her air certification due to age and deterioration and a few days later the plane disappeared. She was then flown illegally, by unknown individuals, until September 20, 1929, when she crashed while landing on floats at Stuart Lake, B. C. She was vandalized by young people in the area and the engine was sold to an up-coast mining venture where it was rebuilt and used as an air compressor.

The Rene was even less fortunate. On August 21, 1921 she had been repaired by Pete Derbyshire and Bill Hill at Fort Simpson and was ready for a return trip to Peace River. During landing on the Peace River, a pontoon stuck a submerged log and the plane capsized. The crew were rescued, and the plane salvaged, but it never flew again.

However, the two moose-hide-glue propellors have survived. They are held by the Aeronautical Museum of the National Research Council of Canada in Ottawa. Mrs. Gorman and her family donated the Number 1 propellor in 1947. It was the one used on the Vic for the return to Peace River. The Number 2 propellor, which was made of birch and oak and fitted to the Rene, was donated to the museum in 1938 by Father Cathy O.M.I. on behalf of the Sacred Heart Mission at Fort Simpson.

Norman Wells as it was in 1982^{^[ii]}

Norman Wells, unlike many other Canadian communities, is presently experiencing “boom” economic conditions. This small community on the banks of the Mackenzie River owes its origin to the petroleum industry, and the current expansion of its oil production by Esso Resources Canada Ltd. (Esso) is simply one more step in its growth as an oil center. In the current phase of its evolution, Norman Wells is destined to become an important exporter of crude oil to southern Canada.

This industrial growth required not only an increase in oil production at Norman Wells but also the construction of a pipeline from Norman Wells to Zama, Alberta, undertaken by Interprovincial Pipe Line (NW) Ltd. With the accompanying increase in government and business functions in Norman Wells, its prospects for becoming a regional center in the central Mackenzie Valley brightened.

From 1980 to 1985, said the report, its population was expected to double to more than 600. This growth along with above average per capita income would create strong demand for more goods and services. Already Norman Wells was the acknowledged transportation center in the central Mackenzie Valley area and the signs were “promising that its role as a retail and service center will grow in the 1980s. Its present trading area, extending north to Fort Good Hope, east to Fort Franklin, and south to Fort Norman, encompasses a population of approximately 2000.”

Unlike most Mackenzie Valley settlements, Norman Wells was not an old native community with deep historic ties to the land. Rather, it was a creature of the oil industry and its primary raison d ’être was oil production. Though Alexander Mackenzie had first noted seepages of oil along the Mackenzie River in 1789, this hamlet was only about 70 years old, dating from the time when the first oil drilling rig arrived. The makeup of its population has been shaped by its relationship to the oil industry – almost all the residents were employees of Esso or are otherwise connected with the oil industry.

Most had come north to seek employment, and few remained in the community after their employment ended. In 1981, an estimated 82 percent of the population was of European descent.

The Background

The emergence of commercial hydrocarbon interest in the Canadian north began in 1898 when an application for an exploration permit was issued by the Department of the Interior in Ottawa. While this show of interest in the commercial potential of oil seepages along the Mackenzie River did not lead to serious field investigations, it represented a positive response to the report of the Special Senate Committee of 1888 which, in its review of the potential oil riches of the Canadian Northwest, extolled this mineral wealth as “. . .the most extensive petroleum field in America, if not the world.” Yet the commercial exploitation of this deposit did not take place at that time because of its inaccessibility to world markets and the lack of sufficient local demand for refined petroleum products.

The first serious investigations of the deposits at Norman Wells were conducted by J.K. Cornwall of the Northern Trading Company in 1911. His findings were encouraging as his samples revealed a light, good-quality crude oil. Three years later, P.O. Bosworth obtained the mineral rights to three parcels of land in the Norman Wells area.

Imperial Oil later purchased these parcels through its subsidiary, the Northwest Company, and a wildcat drilling team was sent into the area near the present site of Norman Wells in 1919. Oil was struck on 24 August 1920. At the time, this was the most northerly oil well in the world. The rate of flow from this well, known as the Discovery Well, was about 15 cubic metres per day. The Northwest Company quickly erected a 50 cubic metre per day refinery designed to serve the demand of communities along the Mackenzie River. However, the refinery (described by some as nothing more than a “glorified boiler”) and Discovery Well were closed in 1925 as local demand for petroleum products proved to be insufficient.

The viability of the Norman Wells hydrocarbon industry was largely contingent upon finding a suitable market area, one ready to consume petroleum products at the higher prices necessitated when production occurs in isolated, small-scale settings. Fortunately, two areas of new mining activity were opened in the Northwest Territories during the 1930s and they provided the requisite market for Norman Wells crude. With a contract to supply diesel fuel to the Port Radium pitchblende mines which were to open in 1933, the refinery was reactivated in the summer of 1932. Just six years later, the opening of the Con and Negus mines at Yellowknife created even greater demands for Norman Wells petroleum products. The significant petroleum requirements of the mining industry provided the core sales, and production figures mirrored this development as output of oil at Norman Wells increased from less than 150 cubic metres per day in 1932 to more than 3,600 cubic metres per day six years later.

A key wartime development affecting Norman Wells was the CANOL Project (CANOL was an acronym for Canadian Oil). Fearing a Japanese attack on Alaska, the United States Army devised a plan to supply oil to the area – oil which would be delivered unimpeded by a Japanese submarine or air strike. This plan, known as the CANOL Project, saw the Norman Wells field linked to Alaska by pipeline and the Alaska Highway. A refinery was built at the terminus of the 101 millimetre-diameter pipeline at Whitehorse, Yukon Territory. Also, the project pressed Imperial Oil to drill some 67 new wells (of which 60 were producers) and expand its refining operations to almost 175 cubic metres per day. These plans were initiated in 1942, and the CANOL Project went into service in early 1944. By that time, however, the threat of an attack on Alaska by the Japanese had diminished considerably. Without the rationale of a military need for such a pipeline, economic considerations forced a dramatic refinery shutdown the following year.

To the chagrin of the U.S. Army, the 960-kilometre CANOL Pipeline was declared obsolete, and by 1947 much of the infrastructure – from pipe to pumping equipment to vehicles – was sold as surplus. At that time, Imperial Oil moved its Whitehorse refinery to Edmonton and located it on the site of the present Strathcona refinery, where it processed production from the Leduc oil field.

The impact of the CANOL Project on the production of oil at Norman Wells was enormous. Annual outputs from 1942 to 1944 increased exponentially, from 12,000 ic metres to more than 197,000 cubic metres. After the loss of the military market, though, production plunged to 28,000 cubic metres 1946. By this time, most of the new CANOL-funded wells had been capped.

With the post-World War 2 industrialization and modernization of northern Canada, Imperial Oil slowly built its annual production through the 1950s and 1960s from below 30,000 cubic metres per day to more than 130,OOO. As domestic demand for petroleum products such as fuel oil and gasoline increased along with the growth of the urban population, some of the CANOL wells were brought into production. The market area for Norman Wells crude extended from Hay River to the Mackenzie Delta by the 1950s, and the mines at Yellowknife and Port Radium were its best customers.

In the early 1970s production levels stabilized at around 150,000 cubic metres per year. Several factors had contributed to this phenomenon either directly or indirectly. First, extension of the southern highway network into the Mackenzie District permitted cheaper petroleum products from larger refineries in southern Canada to capture these markets. Second, the extension between 1962 and 1965 of the railhead from Roma, Alberta, to Pine Point, NWT – the site of the Canadian Consolidated Smelter Corporation's lead-zinc operations, lowered the transportation costs of Alberta petroleum producers to this new northern market. Thus, by the late 1960s the market for Norman Wells refined products was restricted to the area serviced by the Mackenzie water system north of Fort Simpson, which marked the northern terminus of the Mackenzie Highway system. This shrinking market included the Mackenzie District north of but not including Fort Simpson, the Arctic coast west to Alaska and east to Gjoa Haven, and the more southerly of the Arctic Islands to the north: essentially all those territorial areas reasonably accessible by river-barge but not serviced by a major highway from southern Canada.

The formation of a world oil cartel known as OPEC – an acronym for the Oil Producing and Exporting Countries – ushered in a new era in petroleum pricing. Able to influence world oil prices by establishing supply and export controls, these countries caused dramatic inflation in world oil prices between its formation in 1972 and 1981.

After OPEC's formation, prices skyrocketed from more than $14 per cubic metre in 1973 to more than $77 per cubic metre in 1981. These rapid increases made formerly uneconomic projects viable. The price per cubic metre of daily domestic production was now less than that of foreign production. Esso Resources Canada Ltd. (formerly Imperial Oil) had been carrying out tests for secondary recovery of hydrocarbons at Norman Wells since 1968, and in 1980 Esso and IPL produced a joint development proposal.

Esso would expand its oil field facilities at Norman Wells through a secondary recovery project, while IPL proposed to construct a pipeline 324 millimetre (12 inches) in diameter to transport Norman Wells petroleum products to a terminal near Zama, Alberta – some 868 kilometres to the southeast. At that point the line would join the existing Canadian pipeline network. In August 1981, the Government of Canada approved the $1.4 billion project – northern Canada's first industrial mega-project. Ironically, the worldwide economic recession began in 1981, resulting in a weakening in the demand for petroleum products and a softening of its price.

The expansion of the Norman Wells oilfield called for more production wells, and enhanced recovery method through waterflooding more than doubled the amount of oil produced from this Devonian deposit. This method permitted 42 percent of the petroleum deposit to be recovered, compared to the 17 percent produced using old-style conventional recovery.

Because much of the 100 million cubic metre Kee Scarp oil-bearing reef lies beneath the Mackenzie River, the development plan required the construction of six artificial islands. The islands would house approximately half of the 150 wells, which would extend about 500 metres into the Devonian formation.

Fuel, and diesel fuel from the Norman Wells refinery for its established northern markets will continue at its present rate of about 335 mg per day. As much of the new oil production is aimed at southern markets, a pipeline will be built to the northern terminus of the Alberta pipeline system at Zama. From there, the oil would be transported through the existing Rainbow Pipeline System to Edmonton, where the link with IPL's extensive trans-Canadian system will be made. The route of the Norman Wells Pipeline would be along the east side of the Mackenzie River to a point near Fort Simpson where it crosses the Mackenzie and then southeast to Zama. Construction of the pipeline involves two major river crossings, the Great Bear River and the Mackenzie River. IPL's pump stations will be located at Norman Wells and near the communities of Wrigley and Fort Simpson, with terminal facilities located at Zama.

The main processing facility, the fieldgate, provided the industrial infrastructure. Designed to service the wells and to produce gas for the plant, the refinery, and the community. The fieldgate would also supply crude oil to the Norman Wells refinery (500 cubic metres per day) and to the pipeline (4,000 cubic metres per day). This processing facility would house the separation equipment designed to receive oil from the pipeline gathering system, and the equipment for crude oil stabilization and dehydration, natural gas compression and dehydration, freshwater treatment, electrical power generation and bulk storage for processed crude oil.

The benefits of this energy project would have far-reaching effects for Canada. At the national level, Canada will move closer to its goal of energy self-sufficiency. In turn, by reducing its need for imported oil, Canada will save some $8 billion over the lifetime of the oil field (Esso and IPL, 1980: 1). Federal revenues will also increase substantially through corporate and personal income taxes. These two sources of tax revenue plus a one-third share in the project's profits are expected to increase the size of the federal treasury by some $172 million per year.

During the construction period, the demand for equipment and materials will stimulate both southern and northern Canadian industries and reduce regional unemployment. Perhaps the biggest single beneficiary will be Canada’s steel industry, which will supply the thousands of tonnes of steel pipe to be installed at Norman Wells and along the pipeline route. Numerous other firms will supply a variety of equipment ranging from pumps to compressors to storage tanks.

Much of this equipment will be manufactured in Edmonton, Alberta, and other Canadian cities; the pipe is being manufactured by Interprovincial Steel and Pipe Corporation at its plants in Edmonton and Regina, Saskatchewan. From Edmonton, these materials are moved by surface transport to Hay River and then shipped by barge to Norman Wells or to selected stockpile sites along the pipeline route.

At the regional level, the principal benefits of this project will fall to the N.W.T. and Alberta. Given the logistics of the existing air routes and road network, most project-related freight and passenger movements are expected to originate in Edmonton. For example, a significant number of Esso’s (and its primary subcontractors, Partec-Lavalin and Northern-Loram) skilled construction workers are residents of Edmonton and other southern Alberta centers. These commuters will work in Norman Wells for a number (usually two to three) of weeks and then return to their southern residences for a week off.

The Government of the Northwest Territories expected to receive a small share of the tax revenues – some $6 million per year. The territorial government expressed disappointment at the size of its share, which amounted to som 3 percent of the sum received by the federal government. Nonetheless, businesses in settlements along the pipeline route and near the focal community of Norman Wells, should, by virtue of transport costs, have a competitive edge in supplying certain goods and services to the two major proponents. In fact, considerable benefits have already accrued to northern business and residents in the form of contract services and employment, respectively. According to Esso, during 1981-82 more than $37.5 million had been disbursed to bona fide northern businesses, and 2876 worker-months of northern resident employment created, through the Norman Wells Expansion Project.

At Norman Wells, most benefits should accrue to local businessmen and workers. Already there has been an increase in the work force, an expansion of the industrial, educational service, and recreational infrastructure, and a growth in population. Esso expects the number of construction workers to exceed 900 from mid-1983 to mid-1984, swelling the Norman Wells population to more than 1,200 at peak construction periods. The pressure on community services and housing will be mitigated by the establishment of separate housing for rotational workers. The primary camps for Esso and its major subcontractors are expected to accommodate more than 900 workers.

The Report of the Federal Environmental Assessment and Review Office (FEARO, 1981:73) recognized that this project would provide “... a needed economic stimulus” to the Mackenzie Valley. Its recommendations are intended to insure that economic benefits, particularly local employment and business opportunities, are realized. FEARO believed that impacts on the people of the Mackenzie Valley can be kept “within acceptable limits” and provided a number of examples where socioeconomic disruptions should be minimized, including: (1) inflationary effects of the project upon the local economy; (2) wage differentials between project workers and workers in other sectors of the northern economy; (3) pressure on housing stock, public services, and recreation facilities; and (4) the well-being of the trapping economy.

FEARO stressed the importance of minimizing the social pressure from the construction workers upon the communities of Norman Wells, Fort Norman, Wrigley, and Fort Simpson. Esso has responded to this request by housing its Norman Wells workers in self-contained work camps and by employing an air commuting system for rotating workers to Edmonton and to northern centers. The needs of the construction workers for housing, services, and entertainment will thereby be satisfied mainly in the camps and in their home communities.

In 1982, the pre-construction phase of the Norman Wells Oilfield Expansion and Pipeline Project began. By the spring of 1982, thousands of tonnes of freight – from prefabricated buildings to drilling rigs – had been stockpiled at Hay River, prior to being barged to Norman Wells. During the summer months, supplies and materials were shipped along the Mackenzie River to Norman Wells. One of the major subcontractors to Esso, Northern-Loram (a joint-venture firm of Northern Construction Company of Vancouver and Loram International of Calgary), signed a $100 million contract to carry out drilling, blasting, and hauling of rock from a shale and limestone quarry near Norman Wells. Much of this rock has been used to build a road from the quarry to the river and to construct a new dock. In early 1983, trucks began hauling the rock over specially constructed ice roads to the sites of four of the six artificial islands.

During 1982, the federal and territorial governments took measures to assist the hamlet in dealing with the increased population pressures. These measures included the addition of new positions in the public sector, an increase in the number of public services, and the genesis of a long-range community plan. The need for new or upgraded recreational facilities has been recognized and the principal developer, Esso, has provided the hamlet with a grant for new recreation services. Similar growth has occurred at Norman Wells in the private sector, where small businesses formed in response to the demand for goods and services. From 1982 to 1983, the number of local businesses increased substantially, from 37 to 51.

The first wave of construction workers arrived in Norman Wells in the summer of 1982. According to Esso, there were 225 rotational workers in the summer of 1982 and 300 by the winter. This influx of workers has nearly doubled the population of Norman Wells. Concerns about the social implications of the population boom were expressed by local and federal officials. However, the initial impact of this project seems to have been well within the guidelines set by FEARO. According to a report of the RCMP detachment at Norman Wells submitted to the Hamlet Council on 23 November 1982, crime rates over the preceding three years (1980 to 1982) had not varied significantly. This report included an analysis of various categories of crimes, such as liquor offences, motor vehicle infractions, break-and-enters, theft, and assault.

The construction boom that at Norman Wells brought many changes. Perhaps the most dramatic signs of the boom included the physical shift of the Esso operations employee residences from the original Esso lease site to a new hamlet subdivision, work in local quarry and heavy truck traffic. The rapid growth put some pressure on demand for family housing and commercial lots, but supply and demand stayed in balance. To a large degree, this balance was thu result of company control. Esso provided housing for employees in the work camps and in company residences, and both the federal and territorial governments supplied housing for their employees.

The role of Norman Wells as the regional center of the central Mackenzie Valley was strengthened by the expansion of its oil field and by the building of a pipeline to southern markets. With a larger population in Norman Wells, the business and public service functions of the center grew, augmented by the retail and service sectors. There was also growth in such surrounding settlements as Fort Franklin, Fort Norman, Colville Lake, and Fort Good Hope.

The oil reserves of the Norman Wells field are expected to last for more than 20 years at the projected rate of extraction. By that time, other industrial developments may provide an additional economic base for Norman Wells. These developments could involve the discovery of additional energy resources or a better means of recovering more in-place oil. Exploration in the Mackenzie Valley is continuing and seismic crews have been busy in recent years in the Colville Lake (200 km northeast of Norman Wells), Fort Norman, and Wrigley areas.

The development of Beaufort Sea hydrocarbons could also have a marked effect on the future of Norman Wells. Currently, the three major operators in the Beaufort region (Esso Resources, Dome Petroleum, and Gulf Canada) are proposing several alternative methods of hydrocarbon transport to the federal government. One of the proposals receiving considerable attention would see an overland pipeline from the Mackenzie Delta south to existing pipelines in Alberta, using the Mackenzie Valley as a natural transport corridor. Such developments permanently established Norman Wells as a regional center in the central Mackenzie Valley.

The future is now

Today, Norman Wells is the regional centre for the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories. Still situated on the north side of the Mackenzie River, the town provides a view down the valley of the Franklin and Richardson mountains.

According to the 2016 Census, the town has not grown much: Its population, at that time 778 souls – a decline from 809 in 2012. According to the more recent numbers, 315 were Indigenous: 195 of First Nations origin, 80 Métis, 15 Inuit and 20 respondents of two or more Indigenous origins. The main languages in the town are North Slavey and English.

The artificial islands used as drilling platforms to the oil deposits underneath the Mackenzie River (Dehcho River) are clearly visible on takeoff from the Norman Wells airport.

The Norman Wells Proven Area Agreement of 1944 is a partnership between Imperial Oil and the federal government, administered by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada, enabled Imperial to complete an oil pipeline from Norman Wells to Zama City in 1985. Once connected to the North American pipeline grid, it resulted in increased economic activity along its length.

The Norman Wells Métis, which is signatory to the Sahtu Dene and Métis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement, are currently negotiating self-government powers and have signed a framework agreement towards a new treaty

The sources for this chapter used source material from the 1930s, which were heavily influenced by the British spelling of the time.

This section is based on an article by Robert M. Bone and Robert J. Mahnic in VOL. 37, NO. 1 (MARCH 1984), pp. 53-80 ARCTIC. The title is “Norman Wells: The Oil Center of the Northwest Territories;”.

2024-12-09T14:55:00.003-07:00

Ukraine: The Forging of a Nation

by Yaroslav Hrystak

Published in Ukrainian in 2022; English translation published in the UK in 2023; 438 pages in length, including acknowledgements and a selected biography.

Reviewed by Peter McKenzie-Brown

My off-the-wall book presentation stretches the geography theme quite a bit. The author is a Ukrainian academic; the book was translated by Dominique Hoffman in 2023, as the country defended itself against war and invasion from the USSR. In the book’s acknowledgements, Hrystak says “I have the impression that thanks to her, my book sounds better in English than in Eukraine. I am thankful.”

A professor at the Ukrainian Catholic University in Kiev, the author delivers an enlightening history intended for serious readers like the gentlemen reading this review. Among other things, you will discover that familiarity with Western European history is of little help in comprehending the vast lands and people of Ukraine. Ethnically, the country is quite diverse.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, people around the world witnessed the remarkable reality of contemporary Ukraine, which has a key place in Western Europe: It is the breadbasket of Europe – a reality described in the book’s first interlude chapter, titled “A Brief History of Ukrainian Bread.” The book’s other two such chapters are titled “A Brief History of Ukrainian Song” and “A brief History of the Ukrainian Borderland.”

In this superb book, the author presents the millennium of Ukrainian history with humour, but also covers the dangers the country has often encountered. It tells the Ukraine story through what strikes me as a balanced analysis of events, conflicts, and developments that have shaped it over the course of centuries. So doing, he weaves a rich and detailed tapestry of a country in continual transformation.

Ukraine is essential reading for anyone who wants to better understand the country’s dramatic past and its global significance - from the 17th-century Cossack uprising to the collapse of the USSR in 1991 and Ukrainian independence, and from the evolution of the Ukrainian language to the warning signs that anticipated Russia’s invasion almost three years ago.

This book is the definitive story of Ukraine and its people, as told by one of its most celebrated voices. Published in 2022, the book required a long introduction to account for Russia’s invasion.

More than 1,000 years ago, Vikings from Scandinavia moved east, mixing with Slavic tribes to form a huge realm centered on Kyiv, in today’s Ukraine. Although comprising a distinct culture, Ukrainians never coalesced as a state, and the opportunity vanished in 1772-1796, when its neighbors partitioned the territory. Russia absorbed most Ukrainians, and Austria-Hungary the rest. Nonetheless, Ukrainian nationalism flourished throughout the 19th century. Under Lenin, the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic enjoyed modest autonomy, but its peasants were strongly resistant to Stalin’s laws of collectivization.

This book is riveting to history nerds like yours truly. Hrytsak tells the story of his nation through a meticulous examination of the major events, conflicts, and developments that shaped it over the course of centuries. Granted that I haven’t read other histories of this country, but my strong opinion is that this one is definitive.

Book Review: Thomas d'Aquino Private Power, Public Purpose

2024-09-09T11:30:00.025-06:00

Book Review

d'Aquino, Thomas;

Private Power, Public Purpose: Bronowski, Jacob, The Ascent of Man;

Private Power Public Purpose: Adventures in Business, Politics

and the Arts

Published by Signal, an imprint of McLelland and Stewart; 2023

462 pages, plus a 10-page index.

This is yet another book I found in a book box, and one of the most interesting I have read in recent years. In his time, d’Aquino was almost a force of nature on the global stage.

The author spent five decades at the intersection of political and business power in this country. As the long-serving chief executive of the Business Council of Canada, he was an adviser to three generations of prime ministers on the political side, and to business CEOs in the corporate world.

I don’t know whether d’Aquino has an astonishing memory or keeps detailed records: I suspect both are true. Think back on almost any important economic issue in your lifetime: Free trade, the National Energy Program, Quebec separation, the global financial crisis. D’Aquino was a central player in these dramas, and in many more.

The book is riveting from start to finish – a a superb commentary on Canadian and global business since Expo 67, which was about the time he finished university. It’s a dissertation on the evolution of Canadian public policy, but it also delivers warnings about what ails Canada, and ideas about how to fix it.

Ever wondered what happens in Davos, when business and political elite gather in the Swiss Alps for the World Economic Forum? D’Aquino captures – and defends – the magic of these meetings by detailing a 1995 dinner that saw him, hedge-fund billionaire George Soros and mining entrepreneur Peter Munk conclude their meal by writing a sternly worded letter to then-finance minister Paul Martin. The trio warned that Canada’s soaring deficits were turning the country “into an honorary member of the Third World.” Several weeks later, d’Aquino says, Martin tabled the first in a series of austerity budgets and vowed to slay the deficit.

The child of Italian immigrants, d’Aquino spent the early years of his career as a lawyer and business consultant, with stints in London and Paris. His international experience shaped a belief that corporate leaders have a right, and an obligation, to be engaged in influencing public policy. That view was at odds with the two solitudes of business and government that prevailed in Canada through to the 1970s.

When the CEOs running a predecessor to the Business Council of Canada hired d’Aquino in 1981 to bridge the deep divide by building ties to government, they endorsed his vision of capitalism linked to social purpose. D’Aquino was an early advocate of the concept that chief executives must serve multiple stakeholders, not just investors. It’s now a mainstream view.

To illustrate just one of the ideas he covers, consider Chapter 17, titled “Special Moments with Leaders.” Here he covers interviews he had with political and businesspeople we all know: Joe Clark, Jimmy Pattison, Paul Desmarais Sr., Beverly McLachlin, David Johnston, Peter Lougheed, Jean Chretien – the list goes on, and his commentaries are superb.

Summary? I love this book. It's superb!

The Ascent of Man: Book Review by Peter McKenzie-Brown

2024-09-05T11:08:00.004-06:00

The title of the book is The Ascent of Man, by Jacob Bronowski, with a forward by Richard Dawkins. Published by BBC Books; 330 pages, plus a four-page bibliography and a 15-page index.

The book was released to correspond to a 13-episode BBC commentary on the evolution of humankind. It is worth noting that the series’ title is a pun on Charles Darwin’s book The Descent of Man. For the record, you can still watch the entire series on the BBC website.

Jacob Bronowski (18 January 1908 – 22 August 1974) was a Polish-British mathematician and philosopher, according to an extensive write-up in Wikipedia, which says “He is best known for developing a humanistic approach to science, and as the presenter and writer of the thirteen-part 1973 BBC television documentary series, and accompanying book, The Ascent of Man.

I chose to buy the book because I had been totally mesmerized by the BBC series. I think I got DVDs from the public library, but I checked: If they were once available there, they aren’t anymore.

There is a vast amount of depth in this book, from start to finish. To whet your collective appetites, I will end these notes by quoting the first two paragraphs of Chapter One, which is titled “Lower than the Angels.”:

Man is a singular creature. He has a set of gifts which make him unique among the animals: so that, unlike them, he is not a figure in the landscape – he is a shaper of the landscape. In body and in mind he is the explorer of nature, the ubiquitous animal, who did not find but has made his home in every continent.

It is reported that when the Spaniards arrived overland at the Pacific Ocean in 1769 the California Indians used to say that at the full moon the fish came and danced on these beaches. And it is true that there is a local variety of fish, the grunion, that comes up out of the water and lays its eggs above the normal high-tide mark. The full moon is important, because it gives the time needed for the eggs to incubate undisturbed in the sand, nine or tend days, between these very high tides and the next ones that will wash the hatched fish out to sea again….

What makes humankind different, he continues, is that humankind “is distinguished from other animals by his imaginative gifts. He makes plans, inventions, new discoveries, by putting different talents together; and his discoveries become more subtle and penetrating, as he learns to combine his talents in more complex and intimate ways. So the great discoveries of different ages and different cultures, in techniques, in science, in the arts, express in their progression a richer and more intricate conjunction of human facilities, an ascending trellis of his gifts.”

That quote comes from page 20 of this superb text. Don’t miss the 320 pages that follow.

Review of Walter Youngquist's book GeoDestinies

2024-02-12T11:32:00.001-07:00

Book Review by Peter McKenzie-Brown

GeoDestinies: The inevitable control of Earth resources over nations and individuals, by Walter Youngquist.

500 pages; 29 chapters plus preface and epilogue. Originally published in 1997 by National Book Company, in Portland, Oregon. Born in 1921, Youngquist updated the book in 2012, and made the updated version available to all online; click here to download the PDF. He died in 2018.

Walter Youngquist was a petroleum geologist and a prof at the University of Oregon. He studied geological issues in 70 countries, investigating the relationships between earth resources to nations and individuals. In this book, he discusses an astonishing range of topics – from the origins of life to the increasing plunder of our planet’s resources.

Why I chose this book: The topic for this month is “the future.” This book explores the future by going deep into the past.

The image above is the cover of the version I have just reread; I first read it shortly after it came off the press, perhaps in 1999. The image below, on the right, is the cover of the later, revised version. In my opinion, this book is superb. It is well documented (up to eight pages of endnotes per chapter) and uses graphics occasionally to illustrate trends.

Themes: The book doesn’t spend a lot of time on the high-profile issue of climate change, although that is certainly part of its agenda. Instead, Youngquist focuses on the rapid depletion of formerly abundant volumes of natural resources – resources which predate the arrival of humankind.

The gist is that Earth’s resources are now being so rapidly used that the existence of vast human populations may soon be in peril. Numerous resources are being degraded and depleted — aquifers, topsoil, hydrocarbons, minerals, lakes, forests, farmland and so on and so forth. Rather dramatically, he somewhere says that once an area is covered with asphalt, it will never again be farmed.

The author cites examples of smaller countries with access to uncommon mineral resources. For short-term gain, they may extract and export what they own. But then what? Their only mineral is gone. What’s left for their futures?

Consumers pay little attention to resource limits, but there’s a fair amount of chatter about the impact of carbon emissions on the climate. I suspect that most of the people in this club are also concerned about this issue. However, Youngquist argued, mainstream experts repeatedly tell us not to worry, essentially promoting blind faith in miracles: In some mysterious way, we will find a smooth and easy transition to a clean, green, renewable utopia. The message I’ve heard often over the years is that we all need to obey the three Rs: Reduce, reuse and recycle. Yes, but….

Youngquist argues that we are living dangerously by destroying astonishing amounts of non-renewable resources. To use the example Albertans are most familiar with, we’ve been shipping oil and gas east, west, and south through vast networks of pipelines. Our society, and most of us in this club individually, have benefitted from these businesses. But these binges can’t be repeated in this province. Non-renewable energy is finite in volume – by definition.

It took more than 500 million years for geologic forces to transform plant and animal residue into fossil fuels — coal, oil, and natural gas. It will take less than 500 years for humans to extract and burn them. We live during a brief blip in Earth history – an ecological hurricane. The author’s core message is a blunt warning. “The momentum of population growth and resource consumption is so great that a collision course with disaster is inevitable. Large problems lie not very far ahead.…In some respects, the Twenty-first Century will be like the Twentieth Century in reverse.”

The public believes that adequate “renewable” substitutes will become available as needed. Alternative energy is not clean, green and free. The facts, though, are more complex. Scaling up to replace non-renewable energy would require vast land area, roads, power lines, and backup for when adequate wind or sunbeams are unavailable. Manufacturing solar panels requires such critical minerals as cobalt, gallium, germanium, indium, manganese, tellurium, titanium, and zinc. Each wind turbine requires tons of concrete, steel, and other resources. As we seek those resources, another cycle begins.

I strongly recommend this book.

In Defense of Civilization

2024-02-07T12:34:00.004-07:00

Book Review by Peter McKenzie-Brown
In Defense of Civilization: How Our Past Can Renew Our Present
By Michael R.J. Bonner
Sutherland House, Toronto, 2023; 220 pages

I read this book just after it came off the press last summer. I found petty faults – for example, footnotes are at the bottom of pages rather than in a notes section. Also, there is no index.

Why This Book?

Putting those points aside, for history buffs like me the book is a delight. For one, it uses Canadian spelling, like “defense” in the title. The Canadian author has terrific academic credentials (master’s and PhD degrees in Iranian history from Oxford) and is fluent or knowledgeable in French, Greek, Latin, Persian, Arabic, Aramaic, and Hebrew. The mind boggles.

Three Purposes

This book has three major aims, in my opinion: To explain what makes civilisation what it is; to discuss what we are in danger of losing in the event of social collapse around the world, and to point the way toward renewal.

To quote from the first paragraph of Bonner’s intro, “Human history is largely a record of failure. Economic strife, inflation, military overstretch, foreign warfare, domestic unrest, famine, and disease have always conspired against us and usually defeated us…. We must struggle through hard times, enduring a substantial reduction in living standards and state capacity, or the total collapse of institutions.” The rest of the brief intro summarizes the horrors of recent years (think 9-11) and mentions such sources as Kenneth Clarke’s 1969 BBC documentary Civilization. (Speaking of that wonderful series, I will bring my DVD copy to the club meeting – first come, first served.)

Bonner suggests that there is a consensus in the West that something is wrong. Many people have the uneasy feeling that the liberal democratic order is in danger, and that civilization itself hangs in the balance. This feeling could be dismissed as alarmism, but the pandemic, and global political instability and rioting are reminders of the fragility of civilisation everywhere. A recent example? Think of the horrors arising in the Middle East in recent months, and the impacts of those horrors around the world – not least of which, I would argue, have been anti-Semitic riots within Canada.

The Rise and Fall of Empires

Bonner provides numerous commentaries on empires and societies that have collapsed throughout human history. But history has another side to it: Human civilisation has extraordinary powers of recuperation. Drawing on such examples as the revival of Europe after the collapse of the Roman Empire, and the ebb and flow of civilization in China despite repeated foreign conquests, he shows how humankind’s quest for clarity, order, and beauty – what he calls “the crucial elements of civilization” – evolved through the thoughtful examination and imitation of past events.

The book’s breadth seems to be an effort to bring both Middle and Far East into conversation with the West by identifying shared avenues of cultural and historical exchange – eras in which not only money and goods were traded, but so did ideas about the fundamental nature of the common good. Bonner charts the sharing of ideas about stability, peace, and order from neolithic cave paintings to the throne room at Persepolis, where depictions of warlike tyrants crushing their foes gradually gave way to images of the king sitting calmly on his throne before respectful advisors and cheerful courtiers.

Ideas have mattered since the beginning of time, he suggests. Indeed, civilisation itself grew out of ideas. Thus, the civilising thoughts of philosophers like Confucius make up part of the story. So do the ideas of ancient Greece, those of Copernicus and on and on. This is the concept that underpins this wonderful book. So doing, it provides an almost magical perception of the growth and evolution of our planet.

“There would be no break with the past without enormous misery,” he writes, and attempts to do so are not some sort of disinterested, theoretical consideration, but a true assault on the past leading to the obliteration of present civilisation, which turns out to be literally, not merely historically, contingent upon all that has gone before.

That argument may not seem particularly revolutionary, and it’s hardly a bad thing. Revolutions, after all, too often come at a high cost in ruin and carnage. Certainly, Bonner is not alone in seeking a return to the fundamental truths that have accompanied us along our way out of the caves of prehistory and onto the many tree-lined boulevards of the modern era.

There are innumerable volumes on the history of our planet and its successes and failures, going back thousands of years. Unlike many histories, this one brings new voices and a profound understanding of the Middle East into the story. By bringing other voices and new cultures into the story, he implies saving the discussion of civilisation-building from being dominated by the West. Great ideas come from people past and present. One way to further appreciate them is to read this book.

2023-11-25T11:16:00.001-07:00

The Remainders: A Gentlemen’s Book Club of Calhoun

The backstory to this club comes from Fred Valentine who – in 2023, when the club was in its eighth year – put it into historical focus. “When I had the idea to try to form a book club,” he said, “I knew little about book clubs, although my wife Katie belonged to groups that gathered in private homes to discuss a single book, monthly.”

“I had experienced the loss (through death) of several close friends and felt a need for such socialization as they had provided me,” he continued. “So, without a lot of ‘design’ principles, I emailed 25 friends from different paths of life. They were all men because I was looking for male friendship. I outlined what I thought the club might be like, and 23 signed on.”

Then as now, members represented such professions as law, medicine, engineering, commerce, journalism, and education. The commonalties among members are loves of books and reading.

Fred didn’t think discussing one book per month made a lot of sense. Instead, he came up with a plan in which members discussed books from a single genre at each meeting. This would generate diversity at meetings and increase interest in participation. Gordon Brown assisted greatly in the early days, developing “ground rules” to give the club structure.

Among the early members, Bill Taylor became the club’s “Resident Scholar.” In that role, he keeps a record of books that members have reported on; in this way, he prevents more than one report on a particular book. Also, he compiles commentaries from each month’s presenters into a club newsletter.

According to the Oxford Canadian Dictionary, the word “remainders” has two meanings relevant to this club: “remaining persons or things,” and “copies of a book left over when it is unsold.” Fred chose the name, however, because it seemed applicable to retirees exploring the final arcs in the cycle of life. The club’s reputation spread quickly, and many wanted to join. The club then began devising admission criteria.

Men-only book clubs are unusual, but women-only reading groups are not. Indeed, the oldest functioning book club in Canada is The Calgary Women’s Literary Club, which predates the First World War. Congratulations, ladies!

There is an important difference between our club and those which choose a single book for all members to read. The club executive chooses genres for discussion, and near yearend sends members a list for the upcoming year. To illustrate from the 2024 lineup, three monthly topics are “The Future,” “Gender,” and “Heroes and Villains.” When not enough members want to report on a month’s genre, a few members close the gap with books they would like to present under the rubric “Reader’s Choice.”

All presenters then prepare brief summaries explaining their choices. These writeups are compiled into a monthly email newsletter for members. At meetings, the members – never more than our membership limit of 25 – attend and become involved in the discussion.

Meetings begin at 1:15 in the afternoon on the last Monday of every month but December.

Why is December omitted? Because the last week of that month is one of parties, family visits, travel and (of course) visits from Santa Claus. To accommodate those realities, in mid-December we get together for lunch at the Calgary Golf and Country Club. Our tradition has become one in which we each receive a nicely wrapped book from Santa, who attends this get-together in person.

Changing times and changing places Over our brief history, we have changed our meeting place three times, and will change again in January.At our inaugural meeting on March 28th, 2016, we met at the Calhoun Public Library on 14^th Street S.W.

When the COVID pandemic hit, social gatherings became dangerous, and many public facilities were closed to the public. What to do? We went online, with meetings taking place through the magic of ZOOM. For two years, while vaccinations were being developed, we held well-attended online meetings. Once the pandemic was under control, we moved our meetings again – this time, to a meeting area belonging to the Elbow Park Residents Association in southwest Calgary.

At this excellent facility, our meetings include a coffee-and-cupcake break amid several hours of intellectual stimulation and camaraderie. These get-togethers are among our favourite afternoons. However, in January 2024 we will move to an excellent facility at a nearby Anglican Church.

Book Review: The Father of Spin

2023-11-07T10:28:00.001-07:00

The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays
and The Birth of Public Relations

by Larry Tye,

Crown Publishers, 1998; 306 pages

Larry Tye is an American non-fiction author and journalist known for his biographies of notable Americans including Edward Bernays (1999) Satchel Paige (2009), Robert F. Kennedy (2016) and Joseph McCarthy (2020).

I was particularly interested in this book because I spent much of my working life doing PR, and Bernays was the father of the trade.

The Father of Spin is the first full-length biography of the legendary Edward L. Bernays, who, beginning in the 1920s, was one of the first successful practitioners of the art of public relations.

In this engrossing biography, Larry Tye uses Bernays’s life as a prism to understand the evolution of the craft of public relations and how it came to play a critical – and sometimes insidious – role in modern life.

Drawing on interviews with primary sources and voluminous private papers, Tye presents a fascinating and revealing portrait of the man who, more than anyone else, defined and personified public relations, a profession that today helps shape our political discourse and define our commercial choices.

This full-length biography of Edward L. Bernays, who, beginning in the 1920s, was an enormously influential innovator in this field. This engrossing biography shows how the craft of public relations came to play an important role in modern life.

Drawing on interviews with primary sources and voluminous private papers, Tye portrays the man who defined and personified public relations – a profession that helps shape political discourse and affects many of our commercial choices.

Bernays’ earliest book, published in 1923, was titled Crystallizing Public Opinion. He published his second book, Propaganda, five years later. A European Jew by birth and the nephew of Sigmund Freud, he learned in 1933 that Nazi propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels was using his ideas in its early campaigns against Jews.

It was a talent he first learned in the U.S. Committee on Public Information, whose half-truths, exaggerations and outright lies sold the American public on the First World War, so the world would (in President Woodrow Wilson’s words) “be made safe for democracy.”

His methods are still used on the public today, a fact that might both please and dismay the “father of public relations.”

Mr. Bernays was very thorough and very professional, and eager to distance himself from his predecessors, the stereotypically sleazy press agents. As a nephew of Sigmund Freud, he loudly proclaimed the usefulness of his uncle’s theories in manipulating the public. In many ways, Propaganda is his attempt to garner the same respect accorded traditional professions.

“[He]did a great deal to legitimize the work of propaganda – first of all by renaming it ‘public relations,’ although he was annoyed that the word ‘propaganda’ had become pejorative,” Prof. Miller said. “He regarded propaganda as an entirely rational and humane means of running a society.”

“The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society,” Mr. Bernays says in the first sentences of the book. “Those who manipulate this unseen mechanism . . . constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country.”

“We are governed, our minds moulded, our tastes formed, our ideas suggested, largely by men we have never heard of.” And propaganda is the “executive arm of the invisible government.”

Yet Mr. Bernays’s easy humanism is somewhat disingenuous, considering that his major work as a “public-relations counsel” was for high-paying, well-financed corporations with sales or image problems that could afford his price.

Mr. Bernays brought big-picture thinking to public relations, the idea of engineering an enormous change in public behaviour with the help of psychological and sociological insight. “It was, of course, the astounding success of propaganda during the war that opened the eyes of the intelligent few in all departments of life to the possibilities of regimenting the public mind,” he wrote.

Whereas the press agents before him thought in terms of individual changes, Mr. Bernays loathed the “hard sell” or even any connection to selling. He mastered the indirect approach, which went along with his “invisible masters” conception.

For example, Mr. Bernays was instrumental in promoting smoking during the 1920s and the 1940s. One of his most famous coups was his “Torches of Freedom” event in 1929, during which dozens of women on Fifth Avenue during the Easter parade lighted cigarettes. The press had been forewarned and were there to cover it.

No one knew Mr. Bernays had arranged the event, at the behest of a tobacco company, so that women would associate smoking with progress and freedom, but he helped generations of female smokers form the habit.

He continued working for tobacco companies for years, but directed his children to destroy their mother’s cigarettes any chance they got. Finally, late in life, after becoming convinced of the dangers of smoking, he would try to dissuade all PR firms from promoting tobacco.

“He was a bundle of contradictions in everything he did and even more in terms of ethics,” said Larry Tye, who wrote the first and only Bernays biography, 1998’s The Father of Spin.

During the last 20 years of his life, Mr. Bernays strongly advocated a set of ethical guidelines for the profession, but the effort came late from a man who spent most of his career pioneering some of the most disreputable methods in the profession.

His work for the United Fruit Company, for example, helped the Central Intelligence Agency overthrow the democratically elected Guatemalan government.

“He gave us the contradiction that PR represents today,” Mr. Tye remarked. “PR can be used for the best and worst objectives.”

Propaganda is an accessible, fascinating examination of Mr. Bernays’s concepts and methods, which would affect world events right into the new millennium.

“George Bush and his spinmeisters looked as though they’d taken a page from Bernays’s book,” Mr. Tye remarked. “They really made a case for invading Iraq that pushed all the right buttons.”

How Can I Help? A Week in my Life as a Psychiatrist

2023-09-21T14:00:00.004-06:00

by David Goldbloom and Pier Bryden; 2013
Book review by Peter McKenzie-Brown; September 25^th, 2023.

Lately, the best reads I get have come from one of the many Little Libraries (book boxes) around town. That applies to the book I’m reporting on this month. Once I started reading, I was hooked.

The downside was that I lent it to a friend who promptly went on holiday. To show you the book today, I had to order it from the library. I knew it would be available, because it was a non-fiction bestseller across Canada.

A psychiatrist, David Goldbloom is a senior medical adviser at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto. He and co-author Pier Bryden, who is also a psychiatrist, seek to reduce public fear of psychiatry by showing what they really do, the conditions they treat, the resources they deploy and the settings in which they work.

Tracking Goldbloom over the course of a hypothetical week gives the reader a bird’s-eye view of what psychiatrists in a teaching hospital do, providing a textured picture of its complexity. In this book the reader observes Goldbloom diagnosing and critiquing a diagnostic interview, meeting with long-standing patients to monitor their symptoms and medication, teaching residents, administering electroconvulsive therapy, and confirming a diagnosis of Asperger's disorder by long-distance telepsychiatry to Kenora, Ontario, and admitting an involuntary schizophrenic patient to the acute care unit. Those activities all take place on a single morning.

Some of the patients profiled gave explicit permission to appear in the book as themselves; others are fictionalized composites. Whichever category they fall into, all seem equally real. Goldbloom's genuine and sensitive engagement with his patients is moving to behold. Yet a great many of the bonds he ha- with his clients are based on that recognition that are virtually no cures for what this book describes as the three major psychiatric disorders: bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and depression. In these cases, the challenge is to restore mental health when relapses occur, extend periods between episodes by facilitating emotional, vocational, cognitive, and other strengths, bolster social supports, and offer hope.

The book explains many of the biases that exert internal pressure on him when he's trying to remain on an even clinical keel. More impressive is the way he frames his professional story with his personal life. While immersing himself in the moods, thoughts, worries and preoccupations of his patients, the same processes are pressuring him. All physicians are subject to emotional vicissitudes, but most specialists are not trying to treat these same intense fluctuations in others while trying to cope with their own. Goldbloom's extra measure of personal exposure makes it clear that psychiatrists and other physicians are not exactly exempt from human emotions.

Shouldn’t psychiatrists be able to manage their internal challenges with introspection, insight, and other techniques? Well, yes. But in one case he mentions, Goldbloom is so distraught by the news that one of his patients has committed suicide that he rallies many resources to regain emotional equilibrium, including paying a condolence call to his patient's family in which their shared grief helps all of those present to heal.

This book is beautifully written. Although there are two authors, most paragraphs are written in the first person: I did this, I saw that, I asked how, and so on. Throughout the book, the first person clearly seems to be Goldbloom. This confused me a bit, in the sense that Ms. Bryden is the co-author, yet no segment of the book seems to directly represent her own point of view. Odd though it may seem, the consistency of this approach contributes to the book’s readability.

Throughout the book, the authors refer to the literature that helped create modern psychiatry, much of it originating in the 19^th Century. I’ll close with a story from that century about a young woman who had the mental condition known as anorexia nervosa, which is mostly a female syndrome, in which the patient refuses to eat. To give an example, he cites the story of Sarah Jacobs, who stopped eating normally as she entered puberty. I’ll close these comments with her story:

[Sarah] claimed to need no form of nourishment and became a tourist attraction, bringing her family money and fame. A medical team was sent to observe this apparent miracle, providing nurses to watch Sarah around the clock and ensure that she wasn’t surreptitiously given any food or water. After six days of this, Sarah was clearly failing, and the nurses appealed to the doctors on the team and to Sarah’s father to feed the girl. Mr. Jacobs refused, presumably determined that the family’s golden goose not be slaughtered, and after ten days of observation, Sarah died.

This book is powerful; I rank it a Canadian masterpiece. Every page is a source of knowledge and wisdom. It is worth savouring.

2023-03-27T12:45:00.000-06:00

The Upright Thinkers:

The Human Journey from Living in Trees to Understanding the Cosmos

By Leonard Mlodinow

Book Review by Peter McKenzie-Brown

Our last club meeting spurred me to finish reading this book and report on it. The reason is that I believe in science far more than religion. This book balances those ideas by presenting a magnificent commentary on the evolution of our understanding of planet Earth and beyond.

A physicist with a PhD from U Cal Berkeley, Mlodinow is a terrific writer, with a style that ranges from delightful humour to serious commentary on political developments. But throughout this book he is a scientist first. Also, he’s Jewish, so not opposed to religion.

He demonstrates how scientific developments are not only the product of isolated genius, but depend on the convergence of systems, technologies, and happenstance. This book is a witty and thought-provoking account of the history of scientific discovery.

A subtext to this story is the story of Judaism over the years. Mlodinow comes from Jewish stock; the story of his father in a Nazi concentration camp appears in the first chapter, and he reappears throughout. Near the end, the author talks touchingly about his death.

A California Institute of Technology physicist and bestselling author, Mlodinow offers readers a grand history of science in this book. Spanning more than three million years, his account of how humans came to ask questions about the physical world and the meaning of their own existence is a powerful read about the development of scientific thought and process. His explanations are clear, even when they concern the most puzzling developments in quantum mechanics. In short, it is a concise and engaging introduction to the history of science and to history’s most important scientific developments.

Long overarching histories sometimes risk overlooking complexities, smoothing over contradictions and disputes. The Upright Thinkers embraces them, skillfully showing that the progress of science depends as much on happenstance, culture, and institutional backing as it does on the passion and persistence of its main cast of scientist characters. Although the book recounts the stories of already well-known figures in science, such as Galileo Galilei, Isaac Newton and Albert Einstein, their profiles offer rare glimpses into the social contexts of the scientists, their tribulations, and their shortcomings. The “vision of the great discoverers of intellectual history is more often muddled than clear, and their accomplishments more indebted to their friends and colleagues – and luck – than the legends show and than the discoverers themselves often wish to admit.”

For example, in the chapter on Newton, Mlodinow writes about the rigid class hierarchies at Cambridge, while highlighting Newton’s tendency to work alone. These aspects of a person’s life show that scientific developments do not occur at a stroke of genius. The story of the apple falling on Newton’s head is apocryphal; it took years of work and failure, along with coincidental meetings with other scientists and mathematicians, for Newton to develop his laws of motion. That said, Newton’s “progress required many hits on the head, and many years in which to process ideas and come to a true understanding of their potential.”

This book is full of characters with deep curiosity and an urge to understand how the physical world works. It is this curiosity that makes human beings distinct as a species. But incoherence and unpredictability constantly assault our capacity to ask questions and think. Beliefs and feelings animate science almost as much as mathematical or lab expertise. The author deftly illustrates this mishmash of ideas with personal anecdotes of his own encounters with physics and with physicists, some of whom would give the cranky Isaac Newton a run for his money in terms of temperament.

The author describes the ingenuity with which Heisenberg contributed to subatomic physics – first in the work he did in respect to the positioning of electrons around an atom; later by introducing the uncertainty principle, which added a lot to quantum theory. Although many of the key scientists behind nuclear physics in the 30s and 40s were Jews (Albert Einstein, for one), when Nazism took over Germany Heisenberg proclaimed that “Now we at least have order, an end is put to the unrest, and we have a strong hand governing Germany which will be to the good of Europe.”

The Upright Thinkers pays detailed attention to the systems and technologies that played roles facilitating scientific developments. For Newton, it was the recent availability of paper that enabled him to scribble ideas into a notebook, which he called the ‘Waste Book’. This process was integral to his formulations of calculus. Charles Darwin relied on the efficient ‘penny post’ system to share his ideas with colleagues to gather feedback for what eventually became On the Origin of Species, the first detailed account of natural selection.

This attention to the material contexts – such as the development of glass lenses, changes to the postal system or the availability of specific metals – that limited or enabled certain scientific developments makes for a nuanced account of how scientific thought progressed. It challenges a common view that science is a product of genius and hard work, while embracing the randomness through which discoveries are made. Alongside Newton, Heisenberg and Darwin stood friends and family members, stationery, academic gowns, religious institutions and communication systems, all of which played interesting and crucial roles in providing the environments in which scientists and innovators thought.

I found the last two chapters – titled, respectively, “Invisible Realm” and “The Quantum Revolution” – to be difficult reads. I attribute that to my limited background in hard science. But then came the epilogue, which speculates on what science may one day reveal about the cosmos.

It almost left me breathless.

Bird Banding Gives Us Incredible Insights into Avian Life - and Our Planet

2023-03-11T10:53:00.009-07:00

Bird Banding Gives Us Incredible Insights into Avian Life - and Our Planet

By Peter McKenzie-Brown;

Published in the Globe and Mail, March 21, 2023

If you live in southern Canada, from the Atlantic provinces to the Rockies, you have likely seen a ruby-throated hummingbird. Beautiful but solitary, they breed in the North.

In autumn, they migrate south. Most end their journeys when they reach the Gulf of Mexico, but some fly across the Gulf of Mexico to the Yucatan Peninsula – 800 kilometres flown with three-gram bodies. Though Canada-born, they make instinctive beelines to their winter homes. Summer and winter, many return to the same gardens year after year. We know because bands on their tiny legs enable us to track their passage. Those bands have become vital tools for ornithology.

Dramatic reductions in the populations of bird species – the result of predation, farming and forestry practices – are the backstory to our efforts. In the Calgary area, for example, bird loss led to the formation of a registered society that sponsors the banding of mountain bluebirds and tree swallows. During the summer breeding season, my friend Bill Taylor and I pull up to a nest box and obstruct its opening with a rag. He bands the nestlings if they are old enough, then continues to the next box.

If house sparrows have built a nest in one of the boxes, we unceremoniously remove it. That species is invasive, unlike house wrens, which are protected.

In autumn, we trap northern saw-whet owls at night with nylon or mesh mist nets, record their biometrics, band and release. All three species are small enough to hold in one hand.

Using purpose-made tools, Bill clips a band with a unique number on a captured bird’s leg. He later reports the date, place, species and number for this bird. During its lifetime, the chances are good the bird will be recaptured and reported to birding authorities. In this way, avian science can reconstruct its movements.

For the record, some bird markers are readable from a distance – neck collars for geese and swans, for instance, and wing markers for vultures, eagles, swans and herons.

Banding works because of the international machine in which each bander is a minuscule cog. If anyone recaptures a banded bird, or finds a band on a dead bird’s leg, that band tells how to report date and place – information to help ornithology better understand migration patterns and changes in behaviour over well-defined periods. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) staffers manage more than 77 million archived banding records, receiving some 1.2 million banding records and 100,000 encounter reports annually.

Now a worldwide phenomenon, the practice got a boost in 1918 when the U.S. and Canadian governments signed the Migratory Bird Treaty; two years later it became federal law.

To become a bander, you must have a government-issued permit; most of those with banding permits are ornithologists, biologists and wildlife technicians; the others are birders and environmentalists who just want to help.

With the help of planet Earth’s armies of banders, ornithologists long ago established that migratory birds need intact habitats to survive. Banding contributed to an Audubon Society report that says two-thirds of North American bird species are at risk of extinction.

Banders record the location, date, species, gender, estimated age and other information about the birds they band, and submit their data to the appropriate regulator. USGS works with the North American Banding Council to develop banding materials and address safety issues.

Banding enables science to better understand avian migration patterns and habitat, thereby identifying priority areas for conservation. Changes in the age of birds caught may indicate longer or shorter life expectancy. The number of annual captures may indicate whether populations are increasing or in decline. Weight and wingspan data can show health trends. Sampling wild birds for Lyme disease and avian influenza can help determine these diseases’ prevalence, and which human and animal communities may be at risk. Toxicologists can assess a species’ exposure to contaminants and other environmental threats.

Banding is by no means new. In 2020, a USGS article celebrated banding’s first century in North America, noting that birds contribute more than beauty to our planet. Many plants need birds to pollinate. Hawks and owls target rodents and other pests. Fruit- and grain-eating birds help spread the seeds of the plants they consume.

The Canadian bird-banding program in Ottawa issues permits to capture and band within Canada. Co-operatively run by Canada’s banding office and the American Bird Banding Laboratory, this program relies on the public to report sightings or recoveries of bird bands and other avian markers.

Because banders contribute greatly to our environment, there’s always room for more. Like humankind everywhere, banders are curious about the world around us. We study everything on this planet – from its molten core through to the biosphere and the reaches of space. We are, after all, a curious species.

Book Review: The King's Speech

2023-01-31T14:17:00.002-07:00

The King’s Speech: How One Man Saved the British Monarchy by Mark Logue and Peter Conradi; published in 2010, Penguin Group; 242 pages; 13 pages of notes and index. One of the authors, Mark Logue, is the grandson of Lionel Logue, the therapist who is one of the two main characters in the book; the other main character is the man who became a duke, and then King Edward VIII.

The co-author of the book, Peter Conradi, is a well-known professional writer and editor. From a piece I found online, it seems clear to me that Logue did the research and wrote the first draft – the book makes it clear that he was obsessed with the story, which quotes endless details from Lionel Logue’s archives – letters, diary entries, and much other minutiae, plus royal proclamations, and revisions that his grandfather made to documents. Conradi did the polishing. In the online interview I mentioned, he talked about spending three months or so on this work, which is based upon endless detail about Logue’s grandfather and the king.

I found this book absolutely riveting, and had trouble putting it down. The gist of the story is that Lionel Logue – an almost unknown, and self-taught, speech therapist – saved the British Royal Family in the first decades of the 20th century. He wasn’t an aristocrat or even an Englishman: he was a commoner, and an Australian to boot. Nevertheless, it was the outgoing, amiable Logue who single-handedly turned the nervous, tongue-tied Duke of York into one of Britain’s greatest kings after his brother, Edward VII, abdicated in 1936 over his love of twice-divorced Mrs. Simpson.

(An aside: My father was a British mariner during the Great Depression and WWII, and captain of a ship that brought supplies to the UK from America. He once told me that Edward had given up being the Lord Admiral of the Royal Navy to become third mate on an American tramp. It seemed funny, at the time.)

This book focuses on the remarkable relationship between Logue and the future King George VI. Researched and drafted by Logue’s grandson and drawing extensively from his grandfather Lionel’s diaries and archives, it brilliantly throws light on the intimacy of the two men, and the vital role the King’s wife – Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother – played in bringing them together to save her husband’s reputation and reign.

The book provides astonishing insights into a private world. Logue’s diaries also reveal, for the first time, the torment the future King suffered at the hands of his father George V because of his stammer – and mentions, in passing, that he was born left-handed. As was common in Britain’s upper crust in those days, this was seen as a defect, so his parents and servants insisted that he behave as if he were right-handed. This, the book suggests, likely contributed to his now-famous stutter.

The King’s Speech provides a wonderful portrait of the British monarchy from Great Depression through WWII and the defeat of Naziism to the deaths of these two men only months apart. The late Queen Elizabeth II also plays cameo roles, from the time she was a child.

Finally, there is the matter of the film we all adore, The King's Speech. Set in the 1930s, this 2010 British historical drama appeared the same year the book came out. That said, it only covers a small portion of the story. I recommend you watch the film after reading the book, or vice versa – or, as I did, both.

– 30 –

2023-01-24T10:16:00.057-07:00

Curious Species

Fundamental to avian science, birders help protect our planet

By Peter McKenzie-Brown

If you live in southern Canada, from the Atlantic provinces to the Rocky Mountains, you have likely seen a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Beautiful but solitary, these tiny birds breed in the north of the continent. But think about what they do during migration.

In fall, they fly south through the US. Most end their journeys when they reach the Gulf of Mexico, but not all. Almost incredibly, they fly across the Gulf of Mexico to the Yucatan Peninsula – an 800 km, non-stop flight that would seem to require more calories than their three-gram body weight could provide. Though born in this country, they make instinctive beelines to their winter homes. They may even return to the same gardens – both in Canada and around the Gulf – year after year. We know that because bands on their tiny legs enable us to track their passage. This story is about those bands.

I’ve been a birder for years. The hobby lures me into the natural world to watch species often of extraordinary beauty and splendid song. The friend who got me into birding, Dave Russum, tells me he has observed 250 species within Calgary’s city limits in a single year, and knows someone who has seen 293.

The birders I know worry deeply about species loss – a concern superbly explained by the Wilder Institute, which is associated with the Calgary Zoo. The institute explains with chilling effect the dangers species face around the world. Vast numbers of avian and mammalian species are at risk.

Dramatic reductions in the populations of bird species because of changes in predation, farming, and forestry practices are the backstory to our efforts. In Alberta, bird-loss led to the development of “Bluebird trails.” These trails consist of volunteer-built nest-boxes placed at intervals along highways and byways to provide safe breeding sites for the Bluebirds.

Opportunistic Tree Swallows face less environmental risk, but like the boxes. The result? On our Mountain Bluebird Trail we mostly band Tree Swallows. For both species we record nesting successes, numbers of nestlings banded, age and gender of the chicks. When we capture adults, we band them, too. In autumn, we band Northern Saw-whet Owls migrating from the boreal forest. To band this species, we set up mist nets in the woods nearby.

For the record, mist nets date back to 17^th century Japan, according to an article in a 1982 issue of the North American Bird Bander. The technique arrived in North America after WWII, after which birders around the world began using them as a critical banding tool. We blare into the sky the recorded voices of these diminutive owls. Small numbers (perhaps six) fly into our tiny mist net and become entangled. We carefully disentangle them, band their legs, do various biometrics, and set them free.

Our efforts are a miniscule part of a global effort to understand and assist our avian friends. We attach bands on the young birds’ legs just before they leave their nest-box. If anyone recaptures a banded bird, or finds a band on the leg of a dead bird, that band provides information on how to report the date and place. This information helps the ornithological community better understand migration patterns and changes in behaviour over well-defined periods.

Known as “ringing” in the UK, banding is a logical continuation of birding. Taken together, they contribute to the simple realities that most people need nature to be happy, and that little in nature is lovelier than birds and birdsong in the wild. Banding practices around the world help our avian friends, but only because of the vast international machine in which each bander is a miniscule cog.

The Early Years In North America, John James Audubon and Ernest Thompson Seton were pioneers in bird tracking, although their method was primitive compared to banding as we know it today. To determine whether the same bird would return to his farm, Audubon tied silver threads onto the legs of young Eastern Phoebes in 1805. He soon became a committed birder – later publishing the New World’s most famous bird book, The Birds of America.

Seton may have become the first marker in Canada nearly three quarters of a century later, when he used ink to mark Snow Buntings on his Manitoba farm. Like Audubon, he wanted to see whether the same birds would return the following year.

Banding as we know it today began in 1899, when Danish schoolteacher Hans Christian Cornelius Mortensen started using aluminum rings on European starlings. Within two decades, banding had spread across western Europe and much of North America. Federal programs began in the U.S. (1920) and Canada (1923) in response to the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty agreed between the two countries. To a degree, this treaty reflected the then-recent extinction of the Passenger Pigeon. Indigenous to this continent, these tasty and easy-to-hunt birds numbered perhaps seven billion when Europeans arrived. By 1900, they were virtually extinct. In 1914 Martha, the last of her species, died in the Cincinnati Zoo.

Long-term, continual records of the bird-banding community are vital to understanding changes in population and species movement in a rapidly changing world.

Banders maintain the boxes to keep records of nesting successes and failures. Licensed banders clip a band on one leg of captured adults and mature nestlings. When we recapture banded birds, our reports to ornithological authorities help avian science gain a better understanding of the migration patterns, ages, and changes in species behaviour over a well-defined period. The bands themselves neither harm nor hamper the birds.

With the help of banding armies, ornithologists long ago established that migratory birds are at risk, and need intact habitats to survive. A few years ago, the Audubon Society (named after the renowned birder) published Survival by Degrees, a report showing that 64 per cent (389) of North American bird species risk extinction from climate change, industrial development and other factors. This gloomy report argues that only immediate, determined action could improve odds for three quarters of those species.

How does banding protect birds? As banders do their work, they record the location, date, species, gender, estimated age, and other features of the birds they band, and send that information to the lab. To ensure the birds’ well-being, trained volunteers and researchers undertake the capture and banding. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) works with The North American Banding Council, which develops banding materials and addresses safety issues.

Those who catch a banded bird or find its corpse can report its banding information back to the lab, which keeps records of such encounters. USGS staffers manage more than 77 million archived banding records and another five million bird-encounter reports. The organization processes some 1.2 million banding records and 100,000 encounter reports each year.

Through banding research, scientists can learn a bird’s routines – where it spends most of the day, its migration patterns, what it eats and how much habitat it needs to feed and reproduce. This information helps identify priority areas for conservation. For example, changes in the age of birds caught at a certain location may indicate longer or shorter life expectancy. The number of captures may indicate whether populations are increasing or in decline. Data such as weight and wingspan can show health trends. Such insight can cue scientists to look for changes to birds’ food sources, predators, competitors, habitats, and other factors that affect their survival and reproduction. Sampling wild birds for Lyme Disease and Avian Influenza can help determine these diseases’ prevalence. Bird migration routes can identify which human and animal communities are at risk of exposure too. And toxicologists can determine effects of avian exposure to contaminants and other environmental threats.

Banding is by no means new. In 2020, the USGS published a celebratory article about banding’s first century in North America. Birders are among the multitudes aware that most birds bring joy merely by their presence – from their bold colours and majestic songs to their grace as they flap or glide through the sky. But they contribute more than beauty. Many plants depend on hummingbirds and other species to pollinate them. Hawks and owls target rodents and other pests. Fruit- and grain-eating birds help spread the seeds of the plants they consume.

Different types of markers are used depending on the type of bird, its behaviour and the information needed. Bands are small and light to avoid impeding movement. Banders follow strict protocols to virtually eliminate harm or hindrance to the species carrying them.

Banders clip a small metal band with a unique number on the bird’s leg so that when its band is reported its movements can be reconstructed. Birds may carry other markers. These include neck collars for geese and swans, which are readable from a distance with binoculars and spotting scopes. Wing markers on vultures, eagles, swans, ravens, crows, or herons are often visible while the birds are in flight or perched. Leg flags on shorebirds stick out from the upper leg with a code which can be read from a distance.

As a scientific technique, banding requires expertise and skill usually gained from years of study and field experience. To participate in banding activities, you must apply for a permit. Most of those with banding permits are professional ornithologists, biologists, and wildlife technicians. The others are keen birders who just want to help.

The Canadian Bird Banding Office in Ottawa issues permits to capture and band within Canada.. Cooperatively run by Canada’s banding office and the American Bird Banding Laboratory, this program relies on the public to report sightings or recoveries of bird bands and other avian markers. In Canada, the procedures for reporting bird bands are quite clear.

Banding data help scientists and researchers understand, monitor and conserve migratory birds. The presence or absence of birds in nature can indicate stressors affecting the ecosystem. Put another way, banding and its related technologies are now among ornithology’s vital tools.

Like humankind everywhere, banders are curious about the world around us. People study everything on this planet – from subatomic particles to the tiniest microbe to the make-up of the cosmos in which our solar system is barely a speck. We are, after all, a curious species.

-30-

2022-09-25T11:07:00.001-06:00

Bird Banding Builds a Healthier World

By Peter McKenzie-Brown

If you live in southern Canada, from the Atlantic provinces to the prairies, you have surely seen a Ruby-throated Hummingbird. Beautiful but solitary, these tiny birds breed in the north of the continent. But think about what they do during migration.

In fall, they fly south through the US. Many stop when they reach the Gulf of Mexico, but not all

. Almost incredibly, they fly across the Gulf of Mexico to the Yucatan peninsula – an 800 km, non-stop flight that would seem to require more calories than their three-gram body weight could provide. Though born in Canada, say, they make the same beelines to their winter homes. They may even return to the same garden, year after year. We know that because of bird banding.

I’ve been a birder for years. The hobby lures us into the natural world to watch species often of extraordinary beauty and splendid song. Besides birding as a hobby, in recent years, I have served as bird-banding assistant to my friend Bill Taylor. Bill is a certified bander, and on trips into rural Alberta I am often his helper. We are among the hundreds of volunteers who help band beautiful Mountain Bluebirds and Tree Swallows at breeding sites in the Alberta foothills.

Dramatic reductions in the populations of bird species because of changes in predation, farming, and forestry practices are the backstory to our banding activity. In Alberta, bird-loss led to the development of “Bluebird trails” – volunteer-built nesting boxes placed at intervals along highways and byways to provide safe breeding sites for the Bluebirds. Opportunistic Tree Swallows face less risk, but acquired a liking for these boxes. The result? Ironically, on our Bluebird Trail we mostly band Tree Swallows – keeping comparable records for each species: nesting successes, nestlings banded, age and gender of the chicks. When we capture adults, we band them, too.

Our efforts are a miniscule part of a global effort to understand and assist our avian friends. We attach bands on the young birds’ legs just before they are about to leave their nest box. If anyone recaptures a banded bird, or finds a band on their legs after they die, that band provides information on how to report the date, time, and place. This information helps the ornithological community better understand migration patterns and changes in behaviour over well-defined periods.

Banding is a logical continuation of birdwatching. Taken together, they enhance the simple reality that people need nature to be happy – and little in nature is lovelier than birds and birdsong in the wild. Banding practices around the world help our avian friends, but only because of the vast international machine in which each bander is a tiny, tiny cog.

Banding requires armies of volunteers – the heartbeat of “citizen science.” In Canada, 27 primary sites track birds during spring and fall migration, using both observation and banding techniques. Licensed banders and countless volunteers show up before dawn during migration, capturing specimens in fine-meshed “mist nets” set up for the occasion.

Natural Resources. For the nations of the Americas, birds are a shared resource. The U.S. and Canada coordinate their banding work through the North American Bird Banding Program, which links the Canadian Wildlife Service Bird Banding Office with America’s labs. These organizations cooperate closely – especially on species that migrate within and through North America. However, bird banding takes place across the world, and both Canada and the US collaborate with other countries. Over the course of a normal year, 914 species of wild bird occur naturally north of the US/Mexican border. Of these, 426 species reside in Canada for part or all the year. But let’s go back to the beginning.

In North America, John James Audubon and Ernest Thompson Seton were pioneers in bird tracking, although their methods of marking birds were primitive. To determine whether the same bird would return to his farm, in 1805 Audubon tried tying silver threads onto the legs of young Eastern Phoebes. His interest grew, and he began exercising his considerably intellect and artistic talent to write and design the New World’s most famous bird book, The Birds of America, in 1839. Later to the game, in Canada bird marking seems to have begun in 1882, when Seton marked Snow Buntings caught on his Manitoba farm – with ink! – to see whether they would return the following year.

Banding proper, however, dates to 1899. In that year Danish schoolteacher Hans Christian Cornelius Mortensen started using aluminum rings on European starlings. Within two decades, banding had spread across western Europe and had begun in Canada. Federal programs began in the U.S. (1920) and Canada (1923) pursuant to the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty agreed between the two countries. Sadly, that treaty reflected the then-recent extinction of the Passenger Pigeon. Indigenous to this continent, these birds may have numbered seven billion when Europeans began to settle. By 1900, they were virtually extinct. In 1914 Martha, the last of her species, died in the Cincinnati Zoo.

Banding on a Big Scale. In recent years, the use of mist nets has enabled banding to take place on a big scale. These nets date back to 17^th century Japan, according to an academic article in a 1982 issue of the North American Bird Bander. Today’s birders would abhor their purpose: to catch birds for food. The technique arrived in North America after WWII, after which birders around the world began using them as a critical banding tool. Ornithologists and their supporters set up these nets during critical migration times along key migration routes. An example is Ontario’s Long Point Observatory on Lake Erie, which began banding during migration in 1960. It banded its millionth bird only 17 years later.

The long records of the bird banding community are vital to understanding changes in avian populations and species movement in a rapidly changing world.

The banding equipment needed depends on the species of bird in question. One must decide what species of bird to focus on. Many of the supplies used during an operation are determined by how big a bird is. The essential equipment includes a bird identification guide, mist nets or other trapping devices, and banding pliers. A leg gauge, wing ruler, and a digital scale can also be useful.

Thanks to the work of the banding armies, ornithologists long ago established that migratory birds need intact habitats to survive. A few years ago, the Audubon Society published Survival by Degrees, a report showing that 64 per cent (389) of North American bird species risked extinction from climate change, industrial development and other factors. A gloomy report to a large degree, it said immediate, determined action could improve the odds for three quarters of the species in danger.

How does banding protect birds? Banders they record the location, date, species, gender, estimated age, and other features of those banded, then send that data to their national banding authority. To ensure the birds’ well-being, trained volunteers and researchers undertake the capture and banding. North America’s banding authorities work with the North American Banding Council, which develops banding materials and addresses safety regulations.

People who see or catch a banded bird report that information back to the lab, which keeps records of all reported encounters. Laboratory staffers manage more than seventy-seven million archived banding records and another 5 million bird encounter reports. Annually, the organization processes about 1.2 million banding records and 100,000 encounter reports.

Through banding research, scientists can learn a bird’s routines – where and how it spends its day, its migration patterns, what it eats, and the habitat it needs to feed and procreate. This information helps identify priority areas for conservation.

Banding data can reveal other trends in life span and population. If there is a change in the age of birds caught at a certain location, life expectancy may be getting shorter or longer. The number of birds captured may indicate whether populations are increasing or in decline. Data such as weight and wingspan can show health trends. Such insight can cue scientists to look for changes to birds’ food sources, predators, competitors, habitats, and other factors that affect their survival and reproduction. Sampling wild birds for Lyme Disease and Avian Influenza can help determine these diseases’ prevalence and risk, and which human and animal communities are at risk of exposure.

As we have seen, banding is by no means a recent practice. Two years ago, the US Geological Survey wrote a celebratory article about banding’s first century in North America. Birders are among the multitudes aware that most birds bring joy merely by their presence – from their bold colours and majestic songs to their grace as they flap or glide through the sky. But they contribute more than beauty. Many plants depend on hummingbirds and other species to pollinate them. Hawks and owls target rodents and other pests. Fruit- and grain-eating birds help spread the seeds of the plants they consume.

Bird researchers sometimes add additional markers to identify individuals in the field without the need to recapture them. Bands for large birds sometimes use colour and alphanumeric code combinations readable from a distance with binoculars or spotting scopes. The markers used depend on the type of bird, its behaviour and the information needed, and must avoid impeding movement. Banders follow strict protocols to virtually eliminate harm or hindrance to the species carrying them.

Although banders typically clip a small metal band with a unique number on the bird’s leg, larger birds may carry other markers. These include neck collars for geese and swans, readable from a distance with binoculars or a spotting scope. Wing markers on vultures, eagles, swans, ravens, crows, or herons are often visible while the birds are in flight or perched. Similarly, leg flags on shorebirds stick out from the upper leg with a code readable from a distance.

Regulation: As a scientific technique, banding requires expertise and skill usually gained through study and field experience. To participate in banding activities, you must apply for a permit. Professionals with banding permits include ornithologists, biologists, and wildlife technicians. Others are keen birders who just want to help.

Permits for banding in Canada come from the Canadian Bird Banding Office in Ottawa, which operates closely with America’s Bird Banding Laboratory. However, to get maximum value for this work banding programmes rely on the public to report their observations or recoveries of bird bands and other bird markers. The data these reports provide help scientists and researchers understand, monitor and conserve migratory birds. Banding data also track and publish species longevity records.

The presence or absence of birds can be signs of habitat loss, or stress patterns affecting ecosystems. Put another way, banding and its related technologies developed as tools of ornithology research into avian conservation science.

Banding data do indeed reveal vital developments: whether populations are increasing or in decline. Health data Illustrate trends and worries in respect to food sources, predation, competition, and habitat. Sampling wild birds for such bird-borne disorders as Lyme disease and avian influenza can provide a sense of these diseases’ prevalence, since the migration routes of infected species help identify which human and animal communities are at risk of exposure. In toxicology research, banding data can also show birds’ potential exposure to chemical contaminants, for example.

How to sum up? One of the great pleasures of birding is that it lures us into the natural world. Because it promotes practices that enable species better to survive, banding contributes to a healthier world.

My Species List

2022-07-20T09:39:00.016-06:00

My Species List, Effective July, 2022

Osprey

Birds

Avocet, American
Barbet, Coppersmith; Thailand
Bee-eater, Blue-throated; Thailand
Bee-eater, Chestnut-headed; Thailand
Bee-eater, Green; Thailand
Bittern, American; New Brunswick
Bittern, Cinnamon; Burma
Blackbird, Brewer’s
Blackbird, Brewer’s; Alberta
Blackbird, Common; England/Ireland
Blackbird, Red-winged
Blackbird, Red-winged; Alberta
Blackbird, Rusty
Blackbird, Yellow-headed; Alberta
Bluebird, Asian Fairy; Thailand
Bluebird, Mountain
Bobolink; Alberta
Bufflehead
Bulbul, Black; Thailand
Bulbul, Black-crested; Thailand
Bulbul, Flavescent; Thailand
Bulbul, Mountain; Thailand
Bulbul, Red-whiskered; Thailand
Bulbul, Sooty-headed; Thailand
Bulbul, Streak-eared; Thailand
Bulbul, Yellow-vented; Thailand
Bullfinch; England/Ireland
Bunting, Reed; Ireland
Bushchat, Grey; Thailand
Bushchat, Indochinese; Thailand
Bushchat, Pied; Thailand
Bush-Robin, Orange-flanked; Thailand
Buttonquail, Barred; Thailand
Buzzard, Common; England/Thailand
Buzzard, Turkey; BC
Canvasback; North America
Catbird, Grey; Alberta
Chaffinch; England/Ireland
Chickadee, Black-capped
Chickadee, Boreal; Alberta, BC
Chickadee, Mountain; Alberta
Cisticola, Zitting; Thailand
Coot, American; Alberta, BC
Coot, Common; England/Ireland
Cormorant, Double-crested; Alberta
Cormorant, Indian; Burma
Cormorant, Little; Burma
Cormorant, Pelagic; BC
Cormorant; England/Ireland/Alberta
Coucal, Greater; Thailand
Coucal, Lesser; Thailand
Cowbird Brown-headed; Alberta
Cowbird, Bronzed; North America
Cowbird, Brown-headed
Crane, Sandhill; BC
Crane, Whooping; Alberta
Creeper, Brown; Alberta
Crossbill, White-winged; Alberta
Crow, American; Alberta
Crow, Carrion; England/Ireland
Crow, Hooded; England/Ireland
Crow, Northwestern; BC
Cuckooshrike, Indochinese; Thailand
Curlew, UK
Dipper, American; Alberta
Dove, Emerald; Thailand
Dove, Eurasian Collared; Ireland
Dove, Little Cuckoo; Thailand
Dove, Mourning; North America
Dove, Peaceful; Thailand
Dove, Red-collared; Thailand
Dove, Rock; North America
Dove, Spotted; Thailand
Dowitcher, Long-Billed; Alberta
Dowitcher, Short-tailed
Drongo, Black; Thailand
Drongo, Bronzed; Thailand
Drongo, Greater Racket-tailed; Thailand
Drongo, Hair-crested; Thailand
Drongo, Lesser Racket-Tailed; Thailand
Duck, American Black; North America
Duck, Canvasback
Duck, Harlequin; Alberta
Duck, Lesser Whistling; Thailand
Duck, Long-tailed; Alberta
Duck, Redhead
Duck, Ring-necked; New Brunswick
Duck, Ruddy; Western Canada
Duck, Tufted; England/Ireland
Duck, Wood; Alberta
Dunlin; UK
Dunnock; Ireland
Eagle, Bald; Alberta
Eagle, Golden; BC
Egret, Cattle; Burma
Egret, Intermediate; Burma
Egret, Little; Thailand
Eider; England/Ireland
Falcon, Peregrine; Alberta
Falcon, Prairie; Alberta
Falcon, White-rumped; Thailand
Fantail, Pied; Thailand
Fantail, White-throated; Thailand
Fantail, Yellow-bellied; Thailand
Finch, Blue; England/Ireland
Finch, Brown-capped Rosy
Finch, Cassin’s; BC
Finch, House
Finch, Purple; BC
Flameback, Common; Thailand
Flicker, Northern; Alberta
Flicker, Red-shafted Northern
Flicker, Yellow-shafted Northern
Flowerpecker, Scarlet-backed; Thailand
Flycatcher, Blue; Thailand
Flycatcher, Least; Alberta
Flycatcher, Little Pied; Burma
Flycatcher, Olive-sided
Flycatcher, Red-throated; Thailand
Flycatcher, Slaty-backed; Thailand
Flycatcher, Snowy-browed; Burma
Flycatcher-Shrike, Bar-winged; Thailand
Forktail, Slaty-backed; Thailand
Forktail, White-crowned; Thailand
Francolin, Chinese; Thailand
Fulvetta, Grey-cheeked; Thailand
Fulvetta, Rufous-winged; Thailand
Gadwall; Alberta
Godwit, Black-tailed; England/Ireland
Godwit, Marbled; Alberta
Goldeneye, Barrow’s; North America
Goldeneye, Common; Alberta
Goldfinch, American; Alberta
Goose, Canada; North America
Goose, Greater White-fronted; BC
Goose, Snow; North America
Grackle, Common; Alberta
Grebe, Eared; Alberta
Grebe, Little; Ireland/Thailand
Grebe, Pied-billed; Alberta/Ireland
Grebe, Red-necked; Alberta
Grebe, Red-throated; Alberta
Grebe, Western; Alberta
Greenfinch; England/Ireland
Grosbeak, Black-headed; Alberta
Grosbeak, Evening; Alberta, N.B.
Grosbeak, Yellow; Alberta
Grouse, Ruffed; Alberta
Grouse, Sage; North America
Grouse, Sharp-tailed; Alberta
Grouse, Spruce; BC
Gull Brown-headed; Burma
Gull, Black-headed; England/Ireland
Gull, Bonaparte’s; Alberta
Gull, California; Alberta
Gull, Common (Mew Gull); Ireland
Gull, Franklin’s; Alberta
Gull, Herring; North America
Gull, Lesser Black-backed; Ireland
Gull, Ring-billed; Alberta
Gull, Western; BC
Gyrfalcon; Alberta
Harrier, Northern; Alberta
Hawk, Broad-winged
Hawk, Cooper’s
Hawk, Ferruginous; Alberta
Hawk, Lutistic Red-Tailed
Hawk, Red-Tailed; Alberta
Hawk, Rough-legged; Alberta
Hawk, Sharp-shinned
Hawk, Swainson’s; Alberta
Hawk-Eagle, Changeable; Thailand
Heron, Black-crowned; Alberta
Heron, Great Blue; Alberta
Heron, Grey; England/Ireland
Heron, Indian Pond; Burma
Heron, Little; Thailand
Hobby, Eurasian; Thailand
Honey-buzzard, Oriental; Thailand
Hummingbird, Black-chinned; BC
Hummingbird, Calliope; BC
Hummingbird, Rufous; BC
Ibis, White-faced; Alberta
Jacana, Bronze-winged; Thailand
Jackdaw; England/Ireland
Jay (Eurasian); England/Ireland
Jay, Blue; Alberta
Jay, Canada; Alberta
Jay, Steller’s; BC
Junco, Dark-eyed; Alberta
Junglefowl, Red; Thailand
Kestrel, American; Alberta
Kestrel; England/Ireland
Killdeer; Alberta
Kingbird, Eastern
Kingbird, Eastern; Alberta
Kingbird, Western; Alberta
Kingfisher, Belted; Alberta
Kingfisher, Black-capped; Thailand
Kingfisher, Blyth’s; Thailand
Kingfisher, White-throated; Thailand
Kite, Black; Burma
Lapwing, Northern; England/Ireland
Lapwing, Red-wattled; Thailand
Lapwing, River; Burma
Lapwing; England/Ireland
Lark, Horned; Alberta
Laughing-thrush, Chestnut-crowned; Thailand
Longspur, Chestnut-collared; Alberta
Loon, Common; Alberta
Magpie, Black-billed; Alberta
Magpie, Red-billed Blue; Burma
Magpie-Robin, Oriental; Thailand
Malkoha, Green-billed; Thailand
Mallard; North America
Martin, Common; Ireland
Martin, Dusky Crag; Thailand
Martin, Plain; Thailand
Martin, Purple; Alberta
Martin, Sand; Thailand
Meadowlark, Eastern; Alberta
Meadowlark, Western; Alberta
Merganser, Common; North America
Merganser, Hooded; Alberta
Merganser, Red-breasted; Alberta
Merlin; Alberta
Minivet, Scarlet; Thailand
Mockingbird, Northern; Alberta
Moorhen, Common; Thailand, Europe
Munia, Black-headed; Thailand
Munia, Chestnut-tailed; Thailand
Munia, Scaley-breasted; Thailand
Munia, White-rumped; Thailand
Myna, Common; Thailand
Myna, Golden-crested; Thailand
Myna, Hill; Thailand
Myna, White Vented; Thailand
Night-heron, Black-crowned; Alberta
Nutcracker, Clark’s; North America
Nuthatch, Chestnut-bellied; Thailand
Nuthatch, Red-breasted; Alberta
Nuthatch, White-breasted; Alberta
Openbill, Asian; Thailand
Oriole, Baltimore
Oriole, Baltimore; Alberta
Oriole, Bullock's; Alberta
Osprey; Alberta
Owl, Barn; Thailand, Alberta
Owl, Brown Wood; Thailand
Owl, Great Grey
Owl, Great Horned; North America
Owl, Long-eared; Ireland
Owl, Northern Pygmy; North America
Owl, Northern Saw-whet
Owl, Oriental Scops; Thailand
Owl, Short-eared; Alberta
Owlet, Asian Barred; Thailand
Partridge, Gray; UK/Ireland/Canada
Partridge, Rufous-throated; Thailand
Peacock; Alberta
Peewee, Western Wood
Pelican, American White; Alberta
Pewee, Western Wood; Alberta
Phalarope, Red-necked; Alberta
Phalarope, Wilson’s; Alberta
Pheasant, Common; England/Ireland
Pheasant, Ring-necked; North America
Phoebe, Eastern; New Brunswick
Pigeon, Common Wood England/Ireland
Pigeon, Rock (Feral Pigeon)
Pintail, Northern; Alberta
Pipit, Meadow; Ireland
Pipit, Paddyfield; Thailand
Plover, Black-bellied; Alberta
Plover, Mountain; Alberta
Plover, Semipalmated; Alberta
Pochard, Common; Ireland
Pond Heron, Chinese; Thailand
Prinia, Grey-Breasted; Thailand
Prinia, Plain; Thailand
Prinia, Yellow-bellied; Thailand
Quail, California; BC, Alberta
Quail, Franklin’s; North America
Raven, Common; Alberta
Redhead; Alberta
Redpoll, Common; Alberta
Redshank; Burma
Redstart, American
Robin, American; Alberta
Robin, European; England/Ireland
Robin, White-tailed; Thailand
Rock Dove, Feral; Ireland/North America
Rock Thrush, Chestnut-bellied; Thailand
Roller, Indian; Thailand
Rook; England/Ireland
Rosy-Finch, Grey-crowned; BC
Sanderling; Alberta
Sandpiper, Baird’s; Alberta
Sandpiper, Common; England/Ireland
Sandpiper, Green; England/Ireland
Sandpiper, Pectoral; Alberta
Sandpiper, Semipalmated; Alberta
Sandpiper, Solitary; Alberta
Sandpiper, Spotted; Alberta
Sandpiper, Stilt; Alberta
Sandpiper, Western; BC
Sapsucker, Red-breasted
Sapsucker, Red-naped; Alberta
Sapsucker, Yellow-bellied
Sapsucker, Yellow-bellied; Alberta
Scaup, Greater; Alberta, BC
Scaup, Lesser; Alberta
Scimitar Babbler, White-browed; SE Asia
Scoter, Surf; BC
Serpent-Eagle, Crested; Thailand
Shama, White-rumped; Thailand
Shearwater, Flesh-Footed; BC
Shearwater, New Zealand; BC
Shearwater, Sooty; BC
Shelduck, Common; England/Ireland
Shelduck, Ruddy; Burma
Shortwing, White-browed; Thailand
Shoveler, Northern; Alberta
Shoveler; England/Ireland
Shrike, Brown; Thailand
Shrike, Burmese; Thailand
Shrike, Long-tailed; Thailand
Shrike, Northern; Alberta
Sibia, Dark-backed; Thailand
Sibia, Rufous-backed; Thailand
Sisken, Eurasian; Ireland
Sisken, Pine; Alberta
Snipe, Common; North America
Solitaire, Townsend's; Alberta
Sora; Alberta
Sparrow, American Tree; North America
Sparrow, Black-chinned; North America
Sparrow, Brewer’s; Alberta
Sparrow, Chipping; Alberta
Sparrow, Clay-coloured; Alberta
Sparrow, Eurasian Tree; Thailand
Sparrow, Fox; BC
Sparrow, Gold-crowned; BC
Sparrow, House; North America, Burma
Sparrow, LeConte’s; Alberta
Sparrow, Lincoln’s; Alberta
Sparrow, Nelson’s Sharp-Tailed; Alberta
Sparrow, Plain-backed; Thailand
Sparrow, Savannah; Alberta
Sparrow, Song; Alberta
Sparrow, Tree; Thailand
Sparrow, Vesper; Alberta
Sparrow, White-crowned; Alberta
Sparrow, White-throated; Alberta
Spiderhunter, Little; Thailand
Starling, Black-collared; Thailand
Starling, Chestnut-tailed; Thailand
Starling, European; Alberta
Stilt, Black-necked; Alberta
Stilt, Black-winged; Thailand
Stonechat, Common; Thailand, Ireland
Sunbird, Crimson; Thailand
Sunbird, Green-tailed; Thailand
Sunbird, Mrs. Gould’s; Thailand
Sunbird, Olive-backed; Thailand
Sunbird, Purple; Thailand
Sunbird, Ruby-cheeked; Thailand
Swallow, Bank; Alberta
Swallow, Barn; Alberta, Thailand
Swallow, Cliff; Alberta
Swallow, Common; England/Ireland
Swallow, Red-rumped; Thailand
Swallow, Tree; Alberta
Swallow, Violet-Green; Alberta, BC
Swan, Mute; England/Ireland/N.B.
Swan, Trumpeter; Alberta
Swan, Tundra; Alberta
Swift, Asian Palm; Thailand
Swift, House; Thailand
Tailorbird, Common; Thailand
Tanager, Western; Alberta
Teal, Blue-winged; North America
Teal, Cinnamon; Alberta
Teal, Green-winged; Alberta
Tern, Black; Alberta
Tern, Common; Alberta/Thailand
Tern, Forster’s; Alberta
Thrasher, Brown; Alberta
Thrush, Blue Whistling; Thailand
Thrush, Dusky; Thailand
Thrush, Hermit; BC
Thrush, Mistle; England/Ireland
Thrush, Swainson’s
Thrush, Varied; Alberta
Thrush, Wood; North America
Tit, Coal; England/Ireland
Tit, Crested; England/Ireland
Tit, European Blue; England/Ireland
Tit, Great; England/Ireland
Tit, Long-Tailed; England/Ireland
Tit, Yellow-cheeked; Thailand
Towhee, Spotted; BC
Treepie, Grey; Thailand
Treepie, Racket-tailed; Thailand
Treepie, Rufous; Thailand
Vireo, Philadelphia
Vulture, Common; England
Vulture, Turkey; Alberta, BC
Wagtail, Citrine; Burma
Wagtail, Gray; Thailand
Wagtail, Pied; England/Ireland
Wagtail, White; Thailand
Wagtail, Yellow; Thailand
Warbler, Blackpoll; Alberta
Warbler, Blyth’s Leaf; Thailand
Warbler, Palm; Alberta
Warbler, Radde’s; Thailand
Warbler, Tennessee; Alberta
Warbler, Two-barred; Thailand
Warbler, Willow; Ireland
Warbler, Wilson’s; Alberta
Warbler, Yellow; Alberta, N.B.
Warbler, Yellow-browed; Thailand
Warbler, Yellow-rumped; Alberta
Waterhen, White-breasted; Thailand
Waterthrush, Northern
Waxwing, Bohemian; Alberta
Waxwing, Cedar; Alberta, N.B.
Weaver, Baya; Thailand
Wigeon, American; Alberta
Wigeon, Eurasian; Alberta
Willet; Alberta
Woodpecker, Black-backed; Alberta
Woodpecker, Downy; Alberta
Woodpecker, Hairy
Woodpecker, Lewis’s; BC
Woodpecker, Pileated; Alberta
Wren, House; Alberta
Yellowlegs, Greater
Yellowlegs, Lesser

Mammals

Badger
Bat, Big Brown

Bat, Hoary

Bear, Plains Grizzly
Beaver, North American
Bobcat
Chipmunk
Cottontail, Nuttall’s
Coyote
Deer, Mule

Deer, White-tailed
Elk (Wapiti)
Fox, Red
Fox, Swift

Goat, Mountain
Gopher, Northern Pocket

Jackrabbit
Marmot, Yellow-bellied

Mink, American
Moose
Mountain Lion (Cougar)
Muskrat, Long-Tailed
Porcupine
Pronghorn
Raccoon

Sheep, Rocky Mountain Bighorn
Shrew, Dusky
Shrew, Masked

Shrew, Prairie
Skunk, Striped
Squirrel, Richardson’s Ground (“Gopher”)
Squirrel, Thirteen-lined Ground
Squirrel, Grey
Squirrel, Red
Squirrel, Black
Stonecat
Vole, Long-tailed
Vole, Meadow (“Field Mouse”)
Vole, Sagebrush

Weasel, Least
Weasel, Long-tailed

Wolf, Gray

Wood Rat, Bushy-tailed

Reptiles

Snake, Bull
Snake, Plains Garter

Rattlesnake, Prairie
Snake, Wandering Garter

Amphibians

Frog, Boreal Chorus

Frog, Northern Leopard

Salamander, Barred Tiger

Toad, Canadian

Toad, Plains Spadefoot

Insects

Monarch butterfly
Humungous Ant Nest (Fish Creek Park)

Book Review - The Midwife of Venice

2022-06-23T09:33:00.000-06:00

The Midwife of Venice

A Novel By Roberta Rich

I found this splendid volume in a book box, and was intrigued by the title, and the time and place of the action: Venice, beginning in the Jewish ghetto in 1575. The author is a Canadian who lives in BC, and winters in Mexico.

I rarely read fiction, and expected it to sit on a shelf until my wife Bernie picked it up. However, one day I found myself short of reading material, began reading, and was immediately hooked. About 325 pages long, it took me just over a week to read.

A romantic novel, this book sheds light on a society we can hardly imagine. The main story is that of Jewish midwife Hannah Levi who – against the religious laws of the time – assists the wife of a count (a Catholic) in delivering a child.

Already segregated because of their religion, the lives of Jewish women in Renaissance Venice were concealed from view. I can’t find the place where this occurred in the book, but in one scene the body of a woman is found in a Venetian canal, and she appears to be a Gentile. Catholic men prepare to destroy the ghetto and its occupants until a Jew arrives at the Ghetto gate and cries, “Good news! She was a Jew!”

Roberta Rich delves into the lives of people in that period with this book, which is neither an intense social drama nor an over-the-top adventure. The Midwife of Venice is a blend of both.

The year is 1575. Word about Hannah Levi's expert skills in midwifery has spread even to the Venetian nobility, which prompts a late-night visit to her apartment in the Ghetto Nuovo. The Conte di Padovani's wife, Lucia, lies close to death in childbirth, and he desperately needs Hannah's help.

Hannah agrees to accompany the Conte to his palazzo goes against both her rabbi's wishes and the papal edict of Catholicism, which is the dominant religion. Jews are forbidden to treat Christian patients. If either the mother or the child dies, she could bring down the wrath of Christian Venice upon everyone in the ghetto. And should anyone in the Conte's household discover her birthing spoons – a new technology she had developed to assist with deliveries – she could be charged with witchcraft and tried by the Inquisitors.

In return for this high-risk endeavour, she strikes a bargain: As payment, she asks for enough money to rescue her husband who had been enslaved by mercenaries and languished in Malta, until someone paid his ransom.

So begins a lively tale involving love, blackmail, family, murder, plague, intercultural compassion, dramatic last-minute rescues, and imaginative disguises. There is a lot going on, and the brisk pacing ensures ever-changing action.

Ms. Rich skips back and forth between the couple's stories: Hannah helps Lucia give birth to a healthy son, Matteo, then safeguards the infant from his wicked uncles in his parents' absence. Isaac is sold into slavery, passed from owner to owner, but keeps himself alive through his writing skills and wit. Despite the great risk to themselves, Isaac and Hannah hold fast to their faith and mutual devotion.

There is a great deal of intellectual subtext to this book. For example, she depicts the strength of women and the precariousness of their lives, regardless of status or religion. She also makes clear the plight of the Jews, who survive in a world that views them with suspicion and hatred. This book blends Jewish lore and Mediterranean history into a riveting story.

Something I don’t think I’ve ever seen in a novel before occurs on pages 327-329: A list of two dozen academic books, “for further reading.”

Book Review -- Maestros and Their Music

2022-05-19T10:47:00.000-06:00

Maestros and Their Music: The Art and Alchemy of Conducting,

by John Mauceri;

262 pages; published in 2017; Alfred A. Knopf

As you know from some of my previous presentations to this book club, I am a great fan of “serious music,” as it’s sometimes called: opera, ballet and symphony. My library, which now includes Mauceri’s book, holds sixty-five books about composers and their work, and our entertainment centre has stacks of DVD and Blu Ray discs of musical performances – music composed from the ages of Handel and Bach through the classical and romantic periods to the present day.

A close friend told me about this splendid book, which enables the music lover to understand the art and craft of leading an orchestra, putting it in historical context. Himself a renowned conductor, Maestro Mauceri’s career has involved conducting for the world’s top orchestras and opera houses. The latter include New York’s Met, where he had a close working relationship with Leonard Bernstein for 18 years; Teatro La Scala in Milan, and London’s Royal Opera House. He conducted the recording of more than 50 CDs, and has received awards in the US, the UK, France and Germany.

The book is bursting with anecdotes interspersed within a serious discussion of art of conducting. While the amount of detail is huge, there are few footnotes. I suspect that this is because Mauceri has a photographic memory.

The first of its ten chapters is ‘A Short History of Conducting.’ The conductor as we know him (rarely her—and that only in recent decades) is a creature of the 19th century. The increasing complexity of scores required that someone be in charge. The two founders of modern conducting were both great composers – Hector Berlioz and Richard Wagner. It was obvious that no matter how detailed the notation and instructions in a musical score, the room for interpretation was such that the conductor’s success in realizing its composer’s vision could vary extensively from one conductor to another.

Yet the conductor is the only person in the hall or theater who doesn’t make a sound. The players play; the singers sing; the audience applauds. So how does a man influence the quality of a performance by gesticulating standing on a podium, waving a baton from the right hand and supporting those movements with his left. with How the conductor affects players and singers is what Mauceri’s book is about.

His most important requirement is keeping the performers working together. To get an idea of the challenge, think about the realities. The orchestra may comprise one hundred or more players, playing numerous different instruments: The string family includes violin, viola, and cello; among the woodwinds are the flute, piccolo, oboe, English horn, clarinet, bass clarinet and cor anglais; brass instruments include trumpet, French horn, and trombone. Then there are keyboards, harps, and the harpsichord. Percussion instruments range from the tympani to the triangle. Then there are soloists and a chorus which can cover a range of voices from basso profundo at the low end to coloratura soprano at the high.

Add to this confabulation of voices and instruments the musical score itself. After the variety of instruments began to multiply two hundred years ago, musical scores became more complex, full of ambiguities and with markings that have no literal meaning. The conductor’s job is to realize a performance that brings out all the meaning in a score: good conductors will develop different interpretations of Beethoven’s 5^th Symphony, say, or Verdi’s Aida.

Mauceri’s depictions of the path to leading an orchestra, the demands of the job and its satisfactions, and everything that can go wrong are the essence of this book. Anyone interested in the workings of symphonic, operatic, and other forms of serious music will find this maestro’s book an illuminating read.

To end this review, these two paragraphs from page 196 – chosen almost at random – will give you both a sense of his writing style and a perspective on his work.

You may well ask, when all is said and done, is this a lone journey, a communal one, or perhaps a cosmic one? Yes. Yes. Yes. Sometimes it is truly glamorous. I have conducted Walton’s Orb and Sceptre for Queen Elizabeth II, which had been composed for her coronation, and, as I said Turandot at La Scala for Prince Charles and Princess Diana; performed for two presidents of the United States – and had Paul McCartney say it was cool to meet me. Returning home and sitting in seat 3A of a Jumbo jet, drinking a mimosa, feet resting on the wall, and awaiting a good meal does make one feel like a very successful person indeed. We easily forget the stresses that just preceded our arriving in that very special seat. We easily forget the stresses that just preceded our arriving in that very special seat. We have already moved on to the next challenge and we are going home.

However, we suffer when we are not working – “between engagements” – and we suffer when we are engaged, from the stress of leaving home and family behind and the unknowns that lie ahead of us. We must therefor find a certain contentment in what we are privileged to do that will override the massive challenges and expectations – those we bring to the job and those brought by the musicians, managers, and public to our art.

Read this book. In my view, it would be hard not to enjoy it.

Jabs and Hesitancy -- The Vaccination Story

2022-04-18T13:34:00.012-06:00

By Peter McKenzie-Brown and Steve Pitt

In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Friar John had just one job. While out on his clerical rounds, he was asked by a fellow Franciscan to drop off a seemingly innocent note to a brooding rich kid named Romeo Montague.

Before delivering the note, Friar John visited parishioners who were rumoured to be unwell. Unfortunately, the city of Verona was locked in plague hysteria. Veronese authorities forcibly slammed the door shut and Friar John was quarantined with his parishioners. Because the note went undelivered, Romeo mistakenly believed his teen bride Juliet had committed suicide. Rushing to her tomb, he killed himself with poison. Juliet famously awoke from a potion-induced death coma and, when she saw her Romeo’s body, killed herself with his dueling dagger.

When Shakespeare wrote this play in 1597, he suggested to his audience that astrology had somehow led to the fates of these “star-crossed” lovers.

If this tragedy occurred today, there would still be debate. One side would be complaining that two innocent teens had died needlessly because of the despotic power overreach by the medical authorities of Verona. The other side would insist that hundreds and possibly thousands of innocents lived because the authorities had prevented Father John from wandering the town after contacting people carrying the dreaded Black Death.

When did pandemics go from being a medical emergency to a political debate? In Shakespeare’s day, there was no effective way of preventing the spread of plagues other than quarantining the living and mass burials when that failed.

Two centuries later, a new era dawned. We might call it The Age of Jabs and Hesitancy. In 1796, British physician Edward Jenner introduced a medical breakthrough called vaccination. His process was a scientific improvement on an existing treatment for smallpox – a deadly, disfiguring disease ravaging every corner of the world.

Up until then, a process called variolation was the only known preventive treatment. It involved cutting open a patient’s skin and inserting powdered scab matter from a person who had recently recovered from smallpox. The process saved lives but was risky and only marginally effective: two of King George III’s children died even after being treated by variolation.

Jenner correctly conjectured that injecting material from a non-lethal but similar disease would be safer, and injecting fresh material from a living donor instead of a dried scab would be more effective. He tested his hypothesis on an eight-year-old boy by first inoculating him with a cowpox vaccine made from a cow udder. After a few weeks, he deliberately inoculated the boy with smallpox. Thankfully, the child survived.

Questionable medical ethics aside, the experiment was encouraging enough for Jenner to vaccinate more patients. After their treatment proved successful, he shared his breakthrough by publishing his findings. Since those heady days, vaccinations have saved millions around the world. But soon after the Age of Jabs began, the Anti-Jabber movements began.

You can hardly blame people for being suspicious of miracle medical cures in Jenner’s age. Real scientific medicine wasn’t even in its infancy; it was embryonic. Medical doctors were trained in traditions and theories that dated back to Greco-Roman times. Accepted medical treatments included bleeding patients; raising huge blisters all over their bodies with arsenic compounds and then lancing them; force-feeding patients with vomit- or diarrhea-inducing drugs; and prescribing pills made from mercury or other deadly substances.

When Jenner’s experiments were first published, editorial cartoons showed patients sprouting cow heads or horns from their bodies after being vaccinated. But the proof was in the results. The British conducted mass vaccinations in British India and Ceylon in the early 1800s – another morally questionable medical experiment. Fortunately, it was a success.

Spain conducted similar experiments in its American colonies. Again, success. Napoleon reputedly stated that he might as well fight a major battle every month of the year because he lost just as many soldiers to disease over the same period. Bonaparte ordered his entire army to be vaccinated. He was so pleased with the results he awarded Jenner (citizen of an enemy nation) a medal.

As the Industrial Revolution spread through Britain, so did pandemics. People left rural life for dense and dirty urban communities. In the 1830s, yet another deadly outbreak of smallpox finally prompted the British government to proclaim the first Vaccination Act in 1840. Vaccinations were free and non-mandatory.

The vaccine’s success in preventing deaths convinced the government to pass a mandatory Vaccination Act in 1853. Every newborn in Britain was required to have an anti-smallpox vaccination within three months of birth. Parents failing to comply were fined one pound sterling – a heavy fine for the working class. (Rich and middle-class citizens who did not want their children to be vaccinated could simply pay a fine).

This heavy-handed government mandate collided with a rising wave of people’s rights movements across Europe. In 1848, working class people from Italy to Ireland, Spain to Germany, marched through their streets demanding more say in government decisions, the right to free speech and control of their own destinies – including the right to decide what happened to their own children.

Part of the reason for rising resistance to jabs was the fact that the smallpox vaccine was far from foolproof. Parents who had dutifully obeyed the mandate were sometimes dismayed to see their children die anyway – sometimes from more horrible symptoms than those common in smallpox. They blamed the vaccine – not malnourishment, overcrowding and the unsanitary living conditions common in mid-19th century Europe. Also, at that time medical practices like sterilizing medical instruments and washing hands between patients weren’t standard.

In addition, respected scientists, doctors, and celebrities were among those who publically declared their opposition to vaccination mandates. Not even Dr. Jenner knew exactly how or why vaccines worked. Until brilliant scientists like Louis Pasteur unlocked the secrets of microbiology, no one knew scientifically how they worked: They just did.

Anti-vax organizations arose across Europe and North America. By 1898 there was enough well-organized resistance that the British government finally created an exemption for “conscientious objectors” to refuse vaccinations for themselves and their children. Anti-vaxers had to sign a legal document acknowledging that they knew there could be consequences for failing to have their children vaccinated, and to take responsibility for the consequences.

Such clauses lingered through the 20th century. As modern medicine and general living conditions improved, adverse consequences from vaccinations almost disappeared. World War I saw the rise of the Spanish Flu – a disease passed down the trenches, which eventually killed more than the war itself. Vaccinations arose, and by the end of World War II mass vaccinations were routine in North America, Europe, and many other regions. Childhood diseases like measles, rubella and polio lingered only where inhabitants were unable or unwilling to get vaccinated.

Even as medicine made giant leaps, government and pharmaceutical scandals around the world kept the scepticism of Anti-Jabbers alive. The same generation that can remember polio can likely also remember the Thalidomide scandal. This ill-tested morning sickness medication induced severe birth defects among thousands of babies. Also, during the last century, governments funded and participated in such medical programs as eugenics, forced sterilization, lobotomies and testing hallucinogenic drugs on institutionalized or non-European people. We have plenty to be skeptical about.

But the medical science is clear: vaccines do not make us sterile or magnetic, rewrite our DNA, contain microchips, or make certain parts of the male body swell up like basket balls. Indeed, many of us are here today because of ancestors who rolled up their sleeves.

Book Review: Letter to Daniel

2022-03-09T10:45:00.001-07:00

Letter to Daniel: Dispatches from the Heart

by Fergal Keane (born 1961); Penguin Books/BBC Books; 1996; 232 pages

Fergal Keane is an Irish journalist, whom we still see from time to time on BBC-TV programs. The book’s title refers to his son, who was a newborn when he published the book. The chapters cover family matters at the beginning, but then drift into coverage of events he reported on throughout Africa and Asia.

Keane began his career as a writer for a small Irish newspaper, but quickly progressed. He is now one of the BBC's best known foreign correspondents, and has received the Order of the British Empire (OBE) from the Queen.

This work contains a collection of his pieces and includes the Letter to Daniel and a similar dispatch he wrote to his deceased father. The book also features many of his pieces for From Our Own Correspondent and articles written for The Spectator, The Guardian and the BBC Worldwide magazine.

This is a wonderful read – especially if you have a particular penchant for history, as I do. One chapter deals with South Africa’s transition from a white-dominated autocracy into a liberal democracy. He is a superb journalist, and the tales are all engaging. Among his stories focuses on the Transvaal region of South Africa and the story of how one of his colleagues, journalist John Harrison – another journalist, and a close friend – was murdered at the bidding of a local chief. Following that chapter is a one-page item, Poem for John.

The next chapter seems almost to develop from this theme. Titled “Season of Blood,” its dateline is Nyarubuye, Rwanda, 1994. He begins the chapter with the one-line summary “Up to a million people lost their lives when the shooting down of President Habyarimana’s jet led to a hundred-day orgy of killing in Rwanda.”

In the chapter itself, he talks about travelling through a country littered with rotting corpses – mostly Tutsi women, children, and men slaughtered by the country’s militia, which was manned by country’s dominant Hutu tribe.

The stories go on, and on, and on. Each is brilliant, but the last – titled No Man is an Island – is extraordinary. At the time, “The Troubles” in Northern Ireland were driven by religious conflict between Catholics and Protestants. Writing from his peaceful sanctuary in the liberal democracy that the Republic of Ireland had become, he writes,

There is a spirit of openness reflected in the willingness of the media to confront the most powerful figures in the land, be they churchmen or politicians, and make them truly accountable for their actions.

Reflecting on the status of the North and its Troubles, he recalls an encounter in Rwanda with a Catholic priest: “They think that by killing the other ethnic groups they can solve all their problems,” he said, in tears at the sight of the corpses of children.

Keane’s answer concludes the book. “A man not born to hate, but who has learned hatred. A man like you and me.”

Can Canada Really Become Carbon Neutral?

2022-01-16T14:54:00.003-07:00

Remember the 1988 World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere, which took place in Toronto? At that ground-breaking confab, more than 300 scientists and policymakers representing 46 countries announced that the world also needed to lower carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2005.

Since those heady days, Canada’s emissions have risen from about 600 megatonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 1990 to 730 megs recently. Indeed, per capita CO₂ emissions in Canada are by far the highest among the G7 countries. Emissions per Canuck are about 19%. Other industrial countries with high per capita emission levels include the US and Australia – both at 14%.

We Canadians are such energy hogs because our country is rich, big and cold, and because we share borders with the United States.

Rich: This concerns us all. Indeed, three quarters of Canadians worry that they will be personally affected by a gasoline shortage in the next five years, but their actions do not seem to match their anguish. Last year, for example, 43 per cent of Canadians reported increasing their consumption of gasoline during the previous three years, compared to 21 per cent who reported lowering it.

Yet during that three-year period, prices nearly doubled. This partly reflects the economic good times of recent years. Many Canadians have seen their personal wealth (think house prices) grow greatly. For many, this has made gasoline price increases – a small part of most household budgets – seem less significant than they would in a recession, say. The relative insignificance of fuel pricing today is one of the main reasons we are less likely to change our driving habits than we did during the last great run-up in gasoline prices - between 1975 and 1980. We have become addicted to gasoline, and that addiction is growing. And the Canada Energy Regulator sees no decline in our oil consumption in the foreseeable future.

If asked who should pay the climate change bill, I suspect that most Canadians would say “someone else.” While surveys many Canadians express concern about global warming, there is a large gap between thought and action. After all, the highest-selling vehicles in Canada are pickup trucks and SUVs, and Canada’s snowbirds have a long tradition of flying south for winter holidays. That and the realities that we also mine, use and export coal for energy, help explain why we’ve had 25 years of unachieved carbon emission goals.

Another is Canada’s Arctic Archipelago, which represents half of our land mass. Among these, the Hudson Bay Lowlands of northern Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec comprise one of the largest such continuous regions. These numbers are relevant to global climate-change scenarios and Canada’s role in them because organic matter trapped in permafrost represents half of the global carbon pool below ground. As the permafrost inn these regions thaw, releasing greenhouse gases, they create feedback loops that are turbocharging this country’s climate change experience.

Big and cold: Canadians use a lot of energy because we live in a country much bigger than Europe, with a much colder climate. We need a lot of natural gas and petroleum products to heat homes and commercial buildings, and to power our economy and to drive long distances. Also, of course, most of us would rather drive than stand at the bus stop in a blizzard, so in winter we often avoid the bitter cold by using our vehicles rather than public transit.

Our driving habits, regulations and conditions are fuel-inefficient in many ways. Many of us drive SUVs and campers to visit parks and wilderness areas. Indeed, for years now consumers on both sides of the border have been buying more trucks than cars. And we drive fast. Speed limits in most provinces range up to 110 km per hour. To put that in context, only five EU countries permit drivers to reach 100 km per hour, compared to 70 to 90 kms per hour in the other 25 countries.

Our vehicles are more fuel-efficient than in the past, but suburban sprawl has created greater distances between home and the places where we work, shop and play. Walking and cycling to work are less likely to be serious options than in the past. Suburbs often don’t have easy access to public transit, and the situation is even worse in rural areas. So, we drive. Nation-wide, only one Canadian in four walks, cycles or takes public transit to work or school. Those of driveable age drive.

America’s neighbour: Most Canadians believe we have created a more civil society than Americans have. Illogically, from that starting point we believe we also do better in the matter of energy consumption and management. Unfortunately, that isn’t so.

Among the advanced industrial nations of the world, Canada has the greatest per capita appetite for petroleum-based energy – the forms most responsible for global warming.

The countries of North America are two stories with a common theme. We want economic growth; energy consumption be damned. Like the Americans, we have a wizening aversion to high energy taxes. Today, on average, Canadians spend US$1.21 for a litre of gasoline, compared to the average price in America of US$0.98.

Successive North American governments have refused to impose high taxes on fuel in the way most other OECD countries did. Compare the growth rate for hydrocarbon consumption in Canada to that in America. Population growth was slightly higher in Canada than in the US.

Neither did Canada, arguing that increasing energy costs would put the country's industries (many of them energy-intensive, resource-extraction operations) at a disadvantage compared to those in the US. The result? The volumes of non-renewable energy we consume haven’t flattened. They continue to grow despite the development of energy-efficient technologies, processes, and procedures.

And that takes us back to our southern neighbour again. To reduce greenhouse gas emissions in America, the Biden administration has proposed nearly US$50 billion in tax breaks, incentives for government agencies to buy electric vehicles, loans for retooling factories and aid to automotive plant communities. Further billions – for example, a 30 per cent tax credit for commercial electric vehicles and up to US$12,500 in tax credits to consumers who buy an electric vehicle assembled in the United States by union workers so far appears to lack the votes to pass the closely divided U.S. Senate.

Thus, through politics, the drift between the two countries accelerates.

Letter to The Alberta Government

2022-01-13T14:18:00.004-07:00

A Letter to Whitney Issik, MLA

The United Conservative Party of Alberta

Dear Ms. Issik:

My wife and I are among your constituents. We live in Calgary's Kelvin Grove area.

From our reading of articles in the Calgary Herald, the Globe and Mail, and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation website, it seems clear that the UCP Government’s Bill 81 allows for the bulk buying of political party memberships by a particular person for their spouse or minor children. I’m sure you are familiar with this argument, but here are a couple of quotes.

A month ago, the Herald’s Don Braid noted that Under Bill 81, which passed third reading, any party member can buy party memberships for other people without telling those people, or getting their approval. He added that there was fierce resistance from three UCP MLAs, as well as two independents who had been ejected from the UCP caucus – among whom was Drew Barnes, the Independent Cypress-Medicine Hat MLA, who told the house the bill is profoundly undemocratic.

“The whole heart of this is that we’re going from a situation where you cannot buy a membership for someone else to being able to buy hundreds of memberships for someone else,” he said.“ I believe that’s the heart of what the RCMP investigation from three years ago into this premier (Jason Kenney) and his leadership.”

Chestermere-Strathmore MLA Leela Aheer, a frequent Kenney critic, pleaded with her own government not to pass the bill with the membership provision. She said that counting her husband and relatives, and taking donation limits into account, “I can buy 1,600 memberships within my own family….For a person to have a membership bought for them without their knowledge, without their consent, goes against the fundamental principles of who we are.” In a more recent article by the Globe’s Carry Tait, she describes the problem this way:

“Before Bill 81, if someone paid $50 or less for membership in an Alberta political party, that payment didn’t count toward the person’s annual limit for provincial political donations. In Alberta, that limit is $4,000, indexed to inflation. If the membership cost more than $50, the donor still got a pass on the $50, but the excess amount counted against the limit.

“Bill 81 says that if a party supporter purchases memberships for other people, the price of those other memberships also count toward the buyer’s annual contribution limit.

“Some critics say the bill tacitly authorizes people or organizations to buy party memberships for other people in bulk, with or without their consent.

“A trio of dissident UCP members pushed unsuccessfully for Bill 81 to be altered so someone could not buy another person a party membership without the second person’s written consent. This would still have allowed for bulk membership purchases.

“The UCP government believes it was already legal to purchase bulk memberships. The party argues that the bill does not alter the rules of membership buying, and that the only thing it has done is clarify the way membership fees are classified for donation-limit purposes.”

~~~~

To return to commentary by the Herald’s Don Braid, he observed that after the vote Government House Leader Jason Nixon declared Bill 81 “a triumph of democracy.” Yet critics have called the bill undemocratic, he wrote, because “it tacitly approves of political parties selling memberships in bulk and stifling free speech.” Bill 81 also contains many other changes that will affect provincial politics.

I have many other reasons to be deeply concerned about the Alberta Government’s actions in recent years. How many people died after Mr. Kenney declared that we should have the “best summer ever” during the COVID epidemic. I can any other time in my life that provincial government policy could directly lead to the deaths of many citizens. His pussy-footing around with anti-vaxxers is an outrage, and an assault on science.

To conclude, I note that the RCMP continue to investigate whether Mr. Kenney’s team cheated in the UCP’s inaugural leadership race in 2017. The Premier’s critics allege his supporters stuffed the electronic ballot box by voting with e-mail addresses they controlled but had linked to other people’s names. I wonder how proud you are to be a member of the UCP.

Personally, I'm ashamed that you are the people who have formed this province's government.

A note to readers:

To my surprise, Ms. Issik has not yet replied to my note. Go figure!

Damned Nations

2021-12-28T11:01:00.000-07:00

Damned Nations: Greed, Guns, Armies & Aid by Samantha Nutt, M.D. Published in 2011 by McClelland & Stewart Canada, 191 pages.

A Rotarian at the time, in 2011 I went to a regional conference in Canmore, and bought this newly published book at a reception after hearing the author give a powerful presentation on the book’s main themes. She dedicated the copy to my wife Bernie, and signed it “Sam.” Then it sat for a decade in a bookshelf, unread, until I decided to review it for this club meeting.

A resident of Toronto, Dr. Nutt is a distinguished relief worker – a public-health physician who worked in many of the most hellish places on Earth from Somalia, Congo and Liberia to Iraq and Afghanistan. She is also one of the founders of War Child, an international charity that dedicates itself to rights and opportunities for children living in conflict zones. For me, an important feature of this book is its Canadian content.

In an author’s note at the beginning of this short tome, Dr. Nutt writes that “the stories contained within this book span nearly two decades of my work with war-torn communities around the world. During this time, I have been privileged to meet extraordinary individuals whose courage and compassion transcend any attempt on my part to introduce them to you in these pages. But I have tried to honour their legacy by providing a narrative platform through which they might speak directly to you and hopefully inspire you, as they did me…. Where the details have faded, I have written the dialogue as I remember it to give you a sense of the overall content and tone of the conversation – and the impression it made.”

She succeeds brilliantly: This book is touching, riveting and powerful. The author has a great sense of humour. For example, she refers to her home as the Nutthouse…. That said, there isn’t a lot in this book to laugh about. Damned Nations covers two themes. One describes her experiences in the field. There she writes particularly movingly of Somalia, for example, which “had the most permanent, psychically shattering effect on me.”

Dr. Nutt also writes in detail about the virtues and vices of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from rich countries working in the war zones of Africa, South America, and parts of Asia. Part of her argument is that, while most international NGOs are sincerely, passionately, and successfully committed to reducing poverty and human suffering, in some ways they reflect the privatization of what should be government functions.

Local militias and corrupt tyrants in the global south are to blame for the war, slaughter, and refugee flight that they visit on their own countries, of course. However, arms shipments from companies in the global north allow these wars to reach the high levels of horror which she describes in many chapters. She stresses that Canada is one of the rich world’s major arms exporters to the developing world, and thus part of the poor world’s problem.

My bottom line? This book is well worth reading.

2021-12-27T14:51:00.002-07:00

Can Canada Really Become Carbon Neutral?

Remember the 1988 World Conference on the Changing Atmosphere, which took place in Toronto? At this ground-breaking confab, more than 300 scientists and policymakers representing 46 countries announced that the world needs to lower carbon dioxide emissions by 20 percent by 2005.

Since those heady days, Canada’s emissions have risen from about 600 megatonnes of CO₂ equivalent in 1990 to 730 megs recently. Indeed, per capita CO² emissions in Canada are by far the highest among the G7 countries. Emissions per Canuck are about 19%. Other industrial countries with high per capita emission levels include the US and Australia – both at 14%.

Why are we Canadians such energy hogs? Because our country is rich, big and cold. Also, we share two borders with the United States.

Among the advanced industrial nations of the world, Canada has the greatest per capita appetite for petroleum-based energy – the forms most responsible for global warming.

Thus, through politics, the drift between the two countries accelerates.

Book Review: Erebus: One Ship, Two Epic Voyages, and the Greatest Mystery of All Time

2021-11-16T11:45:00.000-07:00

By Michael Palin

Sir Michael Edward Palin is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter and public speaker. You may know him from the BBC comedy series Monty Python. In that series, which he co-authored, he starred in in comedy classics like “I’m a Lumberjack and I’m Okay,” which he both wrote, acted in, and sang. For a laugh, here's a link to a YouTube performance. You can find several variations there. This one involves a BC lumberjack.

The book I am reviewing today was first published (2018) in the UK as Erebus: The Story of a Ship. However, it was then released across the pond as Erebus: One Ship, Two Epic Voyages, and the Greatest Naval Mystery of All Time. Vintage Canada distributed my paperback.

In this fascinating volume, Palin brings to life the world and voyages of HMS Erebus, from its oaken construction in the naval dockyards off the Thames River in Pembroke, England, to the part it played in Captain James Clark Ross’s Antarctic expedition of 1839–43, to its abandonment during Sir John Franklin’s ill-fated Arctic expedition, and to its final rediscovery, seven years ago, on the seabed in Canada’s Queen Maud Gulf, in the Arctic Islands.

He begins the story at the end, as it were. “Wilmot and Crampton Bay, Nunavut, Canada, 2 September 2014,” he writes in the prologue. “Near the coast of a bleak, flat, featureless island, one of thousands in the Canadian Arctic, where grey skies, sea and land merge seamlessly together, a small, aluminium-hulled boat called the Investigator is moving slowly, carefully, rhythmically across the surface of an ice-blue sea. Towed behind her, just below the water-line, is a slim silver cylinder called a towfish, not much more that 3 feet long. Inside the towfish is an acoustic device that sends out and receives sound waves. The sound waves bounce off the seabed, are returned to the towfish, transmitted up the tow-cable and translated into images of the seabed below.

In the following few paragraphs, he describes Canada’s discovery of the sunken remains of Erebus, the extraordinary pioneer vessel that explored both the world’s polar regions in the 19th century. So doing, it reveals much about both exploration and the Royal Navy in the 19th century. He explores the intertwined careers of the men who shared its journeys. The Antarctic expedition highlights the organisational genius of James Clark Ross. The leader of this mission, he captained that vessel and her sister ship, Terror, to map much of the Antarctic coastline and conduct early scientific experiments there – notably, efforts to establish the location of magnetic south. Thus, had Marine archaeologists discovered HMS Erebus, her snapped stern covered with algae, on the Arctic seabed.

Palin starts there and works back. Labourers at the Pembroke dockyard built the broad-hulled warship and sent it into the waters off Milford Haven in June 1826. She was named after the son of the mythological Chaos; not a big ship, at 104 feet, she was less than half the length of a standard man-o’-war. Vividly, Palin says, “at 372 tons she was a minnow compared to Nelson’s 2,141-ton Victory.”

By contrast, Sir John Franklin – at the age of 60 and after a chequered career – commanded the ship on its final journey, toward the North pole. Palin’s telling describes what life on board was like for the dozens of men who stepped ashore in the Canadian Arctic after the ship had been trapped in the ice, and crushed. There, one by one, they froze and starved to death in the Arctic wastes, as rescue missions desperately and unsuccessfully tried to track them down.

This work is based on deep research through the files of London’s Royal Geographical Society. To help tell the story, Palin travelled to various locations across the world – Tasmania, the Falkland Islands and Canada’s Arctic, among others – to search for local information, and to experience at first hand the terrain and the conditions that would have confronted the Erebus expeditions. A delightful feature of this book is how he uses these personal expeditions to bring the reader out of deep history into vivid descriptions of his travels into places the crews encountered on their expeditions.

The book’s layout fits the high quality of its prose. It uses maps, paintings, and engravings from the era to take you back to those times and places. The section on the Arctic trip includes a daguerreotype of each crewman. This technology had not been invented when the two ships began their adventures in the Antarctic.

Palin is strong on historical context. After Waterloo, the navy was at loose ends. Erebus (the name is Greek, for the primeval god of darkness) spent two years patrolling the Mediterranean “to annoy the Turks.” Then its life as a warship ended.

In September 1839, accompanied by HMS Terror, she dropped her pilot off in Kent and spent four years on an Antarctic adventure, the dashing James Clark Ross captained her to the Barrier, as it was then known. Today, it is known as Antarctica’s Ross ice shelf. It is hard to imagine what the Erebus crew thought and felt as they sailed along the tall ice cliffs of this shelf, which was the size of France. Erebus and Terror were the first sailing ships to break through the pack ice and the first to definitively confirm that an Antarctic continent existed.

On its way south, the three-masted Erebus had stopped off at Tasmania (at the time, Van Diemen’s Land) where they met up with Lt. Governor John Franklin. It was Franklin who later captained Erebus (again accompanied by Terror) on her final mission. By then fitted out with a steam-driven, screw-style propeller, they were to undertake an assault on the Northwest Passage – the fabled trade route from Europe to the riches of Cathay. That story begins two-thirds of the way through Palin’s book. It is a well-known tale, replete with human bones in kettles, plucky Inuit telling stories about encountering starving white men who staggered around after their ships sank. have sunk and the efforts of Lady Jane Franklin to dispatch rescue ships.

“Never again, in the annals of the sea, would a ship, under sail alone, come close to matching what [Erebus] and Terror had achieved,” Palin wrote.

I loved this book, and recommend it highly. That said, I’d like to end with a comment on two other exceptional books, both by the late Australian author Lennard Bickel. The first is Mawson’s Will: The Greatest Polar Survival Story Ever Written (1977). The second is a follow-up titled Shackleton’s Forgotten Men: The Untold Tragedy of the Endurance Epic (2000). Both books tell riveting stories about the early exploration of Antarctica.

Book Review:

2021-10-06T15:48:00.001-06:00

The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves

by Matt Ridley

According to Wikipedia, Matthew White Ridley is the fifth Viscount Ridley. Born in 1958, he studied at Eton and earned a Doctorate in history at Oxford. A British journalist and businessman, he is best known for his writings on science, the environment, and economics. Apart from the book I am reviewing today, his science books include The Red Queen: Sex and the Evolution of Human Nature (1994), Genome (1999), and The Evolution of Everything: How Ideas Emerge (2015).

I must have found my hardbound copy of The Rational Optimist in a used bookstore. Although only a decade old, it is in rough shape, and sat unread on my bookshelves until the club put the topic of economics onto our program. That’s when I scanned through the book, read the prologue (titled “When ideas have sex,”) and started to read. Once I began, I had a lot of trouble putting this book down – partly because it involves such a splendid combination of economics and history, which are both among my keen interests.

A good place to start in this review would be to cite part of a paragraph from that prologue. To “say that life is the same as it was 32,000 years ago would be absurd. In that time my species has multiplied by 100,000 percent, from perhaps three million to nearly seven billion people. It has given itself comforts and luxuries to a level that no other species can even imagine. It has colonised every habitable corner of the planet and explored almost every uninhabitable one. it has altered the appearance, the genetics and the chemistry of the world and pinched perhaps 23% of the productivity of all land plants for its own purposes. It has surrounded itself with peculiar, non-random arrangements of atoms called technologies, which it invents, reinvents, and discards almost continuously. This is not true for other creatures, not even brainy ones like chimpanzees, bottlenose dolphins, parrots and octopi. They may occasionally use tools, they may occasionally shift their ecological niche, but they do not raise their standard of living, or experience economic growth. They do not encounter poverty either. They do not progress from one mode of living to another and ash nor do they dip Lord doing so. They do not experience agricultural, urban, commercial, industrial and information revolutions, let alone Renaissance is, Reformations, Depressions, Demographic Transitions, Civil Wars, Cold Wars, Culture Wars and Credit Crunches….”

Our ancestors, Homo erectus ape-men, were avid tool users. We know this because archaeologists and others have found their stone axes in digs throughout Africa and Eurasia. But they were not innovators. Once they started making axes, they stuck to the same design for more than a million years. If you've seen one, you've seen them all. It never seemed to occur to these folks that you could make a better hand axe. In Ridley’s words, “their descendants would continue to make it for hundreds of thousands more years. That’s the same technology for more than a thousand millennia, ten thousand centuries, three thousand generations – an almost unimaginable length of time.”

Then we modern humans (homo sapiens) arrived. During the last 100,000 years we have not only devised fishhooks and farming, but steam engines, cellophane and one-click buying. What made us so different? Why did we come so far so quickly when our hominid predecessors were stuck in a rut for thousands of generations? Ridley’s answer is trade. As he sees it, we owe the forward march of humankind to the benefits of barter. Homo erectus had a large brain and probably a rudimentary language, but never saw the point of making things they could swap. Once we cottoned on to this trick, there was no stopping us. If a person good at making fishhooks knows people who are good at fishing, he should make the fishhooks while the others do the fishing. Each party to such a transaction suddenly has free time for further innovation. And the beat goes on.

Ridley makes a strong case for this thesis. He takes us from the hunter-gatherers who first ventured out of Africa to the moguls of Silicon Valley, and shows how humanity has built innovation on innovation in its never-ending search for new gizmos that people will want to buy. From this perspective, specialisation is the essence of humanity, and self-sufficiency a misguided objective. If you really had to make everything yourself, you would be back in the stone age, scrabbling around with hand axes. As Ridley details ad nauseum, it’s far better to work at one thing and let the market supply the rest.

As the book winds down, Ridley takes aim at the gloom-mongers who have always been with us, and have always been wrong. I, for one, have read many books focused on the notion that our civilization was on its way to hell in a handbasket. I’ve read numerous books predicting increasing poverty, pollution, and pestilence. Yet here we are with worldwide life expectancy up by more than a third in the past 50 years, cleaner air and rivers than we have enjoyed for centuries, and birth rates falling dramatically everywhere. In the 1950s, Ridley says, an amazed post-war world proclaimed that “we have never had it so good.” Today, those standards of living would count below the poverty line. And so it goes throughout this charming, optimistic romp through economic history.

Language Matters

Aeroplanes to the Arctic

Norman Wells as it was in 1982[ii]

The future is now

Book Review: Thomas d'Aquino Private Power, Public Purpose

The Ascent of Man: Book Review by Peter McKenzie-Brown

Review of Walter Youngquist's book GeoDestinies

Book Review by Peter McKenzie-Brown

GeoDestinies: The inevitable control of Earth resources over nations and individuals, by Walter Youngquist.

500 pages; 29 chapters plus preface and epilogue. Originally published in 1997 by National Book Company, in Portland, Oregon. Born in 1921, Youngquist updated the book in 2012, and made the updated version available to all online; click here to download the PDF. He died in 2018.

In Defense of Civilization

Book Review by Peter McKenzie-Brown In Defense of Civilization: How Our Past Can Renew Our Present By Michael R.J. Bonner Sutherland House, Toronto, 2023; 220 pages

Book Review: The Father of Spin

How Can I Help? A Week in my Life as a Psychiatrist

by David Goldbloom and Pier Bryden; 2013Book review by Peter McKenzie-Brown; September 25th, 2023.

Bird Banding Gives Us Incredible Insights into Avian Life - and Our Planet

Bird Banding Gives Us Incredible Insights into Avian Life - and Our Planet

Book Review: The King's Speech

Curious Species

Fundamental to avian science, birders help protect our planet

Bird Banding Builds a Healthier World

By Peter McKenzie-Brown

My Species List

Birds

Mammals

Reptiles

Amphibians

Insects

Book Review - The Midwife of Venice

Book Review -- Maestros and Their Music

Maestros and Their Music: The Art and Alchemy of Conducting,

by John Mauceri;

262 pages; published in 2017; Alfred A. Knopf

Jabs and Hesitancy -- The Vaccination Story

Book Review: Letter to Daniel

Can Canada Really Become Carbon Neutral?

Letter to The Alberta Government

Damned Nations

Book Review: Erebus: One Ship, Two Epic Voyages, and the Greatest Mystery of All Time

Book Review:

Norman Wells as it was in 1982^{^[ii]}

Book Review by Peter McKenzie-Brown
In Defense of Civilization: How Our Past Can Renew Our Present
By Michael R.J. Bonner
Sutherland House, Toronto, 2023; 220 pages

by David Goldbloom and Pier Bryden; 2013
Book review by Peter McKenzie-Brown; September 25^th, 2023.