YOUR SOCIETY
News from The Royal Canadian Geographical Society
O
ne of Canada’s greatest writers and an acclaimed polar documentarian were among those recognized for their contributions to geography at The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s annual College of Fellows Dinner on Nov. 18 at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que. The 2015 award winners are listed below.
Gold Medal (achievements in geography) Margaret Atwood, award-winning novelist and literary critic Graeme Gibson, novelist and conservationist Jacob Verhoef, continental shelf mapping, Natural Resources Canada
Massey Medal (outstanding career achievement in Canadian geography) Brian Osborne, historical and cultural geographer, Queen’s University
Sir Christopher Ondaatje Medal for Exploration Jean Lemire, biologist and documentarian
Martin Bergmann Medal (excellence in Arctic leadership and science) John Smol, pioneering paleolimnologist and Arctic researcher, Queen’s University
3M Environmental Innovation Award Greenbug Energy, innovative micro hydroelectric projects Camsell Medal (outstanding volunteer service to the RCGS) Louise Maffett, past Executive Director and Governor, RCGS Bruce Amos, former Governor and Chair, RCGS
Lawrence J. Burpee Medal (outstanding achievement that enhances the Society’s ability to make Canada better known) Louie Kamookak, historian Wendy Cecil, philanthropist, business and community leader Alex Trebek, Jeopardy! host and philanthropist
Capt. Joseph-elzéar Bernier Medal (exemplary deed or activity that aids the Society in fulfilling its mandate) Kathryn Mccain, philanthropist and community leader Milbry Polk, WINGS Worldquest founder
Geographic Literacy Award Zachary Vanthournout, teacher at Moncton High School, Moncton, N.B.
Innovation in Geography Teaching Award Janet Ruest, teacher at Chemainus Secondary, Cobble Hill, B.C.
M embers of Canadian Geographic Education recently donned oversized galoshes and arm-length red rubber gloves with a Grade 12 class from Neelin High School in Brandon, Man. The budding scientists had gathered in Riding Mountain National Park in early October for a mini “bioblitz.” Their mission: visit two creeks within the Lake Winnipeg watershed — one disturbed by human activity, one relatively untouched — and catalogue as many aquatic species as possible in just a few hours. This condensed bioblitz served as a pilot for a larger, 24-hour bioblitz that will be held in May 2016. “Citizen science and field work, or crowd-sourcing data, is working its way back into everyday education,” says Ellen Curtis, director of Canadian Geographic Education. “It encourages students to get outside of their classrooms and connect what they’ve learned in textbooks to real-world situations.” The bioblitzes are part of a larger educational initiative that aims to map the entire Lake Winnipeg watershed. This cross-border project, called OPEN Water, is spearheaded by Canadian Geographic Education, the Minnesota Alliance for Geographic Education and the North Dakota Geographic Alliance. They hope to give teachers from all regions tools that will help their students visualize the watershed, recognize their place within it and appreciate the impact of localized activities on the watershed as a whole. Citizen science is one excellent way of doing this, and it could ultimately contribute to the scientific community’s understanding of the watershed. “Citizen science pushes the envelope of what ecologists can achieve,” wrote Cornell Lab of Ornithology professor Janis Dickinson in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. With countless new educational tools available, organized and widespread data collection can both expand the bounds of what is possible in research and supplement existing, but localized, research programs. “Too often, geography classrooms limit the type of learning that students are able to do,” says Curtis. “Citizen science initiatives like OPEN Water are helping to show that geography is more than just memorizing capes and bays. It’s connected to everything.”