Nationalist Mel Hurtig dies at 84
VANCOUVER— A published report says Mel Hurtig, the ardent nationalist behind The Canadian Encyclopedia, has died.
The Globe and Mail, which interviewed his daughter Leslie, reported he died Wednesday in hospital in Vancouver of complications from pneumonia. He was 84.
“Let’s never, never, give in to those who are selling out Canada,” Hurtig urged in his 2002 book The Vanishing Country.
Hurtig was perhaps best known as publisher of The Canadian Encyclopedia and co-founder of the Council of Canadians, a group dedicated to preserving the country’s sovereignty. “We mourn our friend and mentor,” Maude Barlow, national chairwoman of the council, posted to Twitter on Wednesday night.
“He was a legend in Canadian publishing and a pioneer of progressive causes,” said Ontario poet Paul Vermeersch. “A true Canadian hero.”
According to his Facebook page, he was an Officer of the Order of Canada, had honorary Doctor of Laws degrees from six Canadian universities and was the recipient of the Lester B. Pearson Man of the Year Peace Award.
Hurtig was born June 4, 1932, in Edmonton to Jewish parents. His father was Romanian, his mother Russian.
He worked in his father’s fur store in Edmonton after he graduated from high school. He started a bookstore with $500 and eventually became head of what he described as the largest Canadian publishing house outside Toronto. He also dabbled in federal politics.
Hurtig eventually sold his publishing firm to Toronto’s McClelland & Stewart and turned to writing.