YOUR SOCIETY
News from The Royal Canadian Geographical Society
The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s College of Fellows Annual Dinner is the standout event of the year for hundreds of people who share the Society’s passion for making Canada better known to Canadians and the world. But 2019’s event, held Nov. 21 at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que., was even more special, as the Society celebrated 90 years of exploration, curiosity and storytelling.
Space exploration was the overarching theme of the evening, with 2019 marking the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon mission as well as the 90th anniversary of the RCGS. Dr. Roberta Bondar, Canada’s first woman astronaut and an RCGS Honorary Vice-president, introduced fellow astronauts Harrison Schmitt and Andrew Feustel as they accepted their Gold Medals, while Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-jacques returned the RCGS expedition flag he had taken with him to the International Space Station on Expedition 58/59.
Schmitt delighted the crowd by tossing out foam “moon balls” and sharing his experience as the last living human on the moon, while Saint-jacques amazed with a presentation about his mission and the perspective it has given him on our planet. “This is our home in the vacuum of space,” he said, “and we have to take care of it.”
The RCGS awarded medals to 36 exceptional honourees this year — among them astronauts, educators, artists, former heads of state, explorers and scientists — at a special ceremony at its Ottawa headquarters on Nov. 21. For the full list of medallists visit cangeo.ca/jf20/awards.
The Society inducted 133 new Fellows into its ranks. This year’s class includes country singer Paul Brandt, journalists Julian Brave Noisecat and Steve Paikin, giraffologist Anne Innis Dagg, historian Margaret Macmillan, and Tlingit artist Keith Wolfe Smarch.