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Five Canada Day lessons: Sometimes you have to lie to your mother
With Canada Day looming, I’ve been revisiting my book 50 Canadians Who Changed the World. A cursory inspection reminds me that these outstanding individuals have a lot to teach the rest of us. 1. Don’t be afraid to wade in a swamp. Because, as a boy, he felt like an outsider, David Suzuki took refuge in nature: “My…
Read MoreMeet the Inuit activist who made climate change a human rights issue
In December 2005, Inuit author and activist Sheila Watt-Cloutier launched the world’s first legal action on climate change when she presented a 167-page petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Signed by sixty-two Inuit elders and hunters, it charged that unchecked emission of greenhouse gases from the United States had violated Inuit cultural and…
Read MoreHow did Canada become multicultural, multi-racial, multi-national?
“Most developed countries tolerate plural identities. But what they struggle to accommodate, Canada embraces and proclaims.” So I wrote four years too early. “This is partly the result of necessity: ours is a country of minorities. But it derives also from historical timing.” In the introduction to 50 Canadians Who Changed the World, published by HarperCollins…
Read MoreScottish front pages highlight wet, rocky path through Brexit forest
Our guidebook described the hike to Steall Falls as “a pleasant walk with good views of the river.” It did concede that the “grass/stone path can be slippery when wet.” But as the rain came down, and we found ourselves scrambling up and down a rough, rocky trail that winds through a forest, we realized…
Read MoreSmaller than the Crystal Serenity, yet too big for a Scottish port
As we approached Oban on the ferry from Barra, I mistook this ship for the Crystal Serenity, which is slated to sail through the Northwest Passage later this year. But no. It’s the MV Artania, which was anchored offshore because it is too big to enter the port. This particular Motorized Vessel is 231 metres…
Read MoreThe ‘most hated man in Scotland’ is killing my buzz in the Islands
In the mid-19th century, he was “the most hated man in Scotland.” For sure he had competition, but Colonel John Gordon lived in a fabulous castle (see below) and was also known as Scotland’s “richest commoner.” Here in the Highlands and Islands, Gordon’s ghost has been killing my buzz. That’s not because he was wealthy, but…
Read MoreStumbling across a Highland Clearance site is my idea of a good time
Did I mention my interest in Scottish-Canadian connections? Today we stumbled on the ruins of a tacksman’s house in Upper Bornish Clearance Village. This brought us face to face with a well-documented Highland Clearance that sent thousands to Canada. We were rambling around on South Uist, roughly ten kilometres north of Lochboisdale, where the ferry…
Read MoreBonnie Prince Charlie points the way forward for the 21st century
They call this The Prince’s Shore. It’s on the tiny island of Eriskay in the Outer Hebrides, linked to South Uist by a two-lane causeway and to the Isle of Barra by ferry. This is where, on July 23, 1745, Bonnie Prince Charlie first set foot on Scottish soil. A hubristic twit with an astonishing…
Read MoreA cairn marks site of the most famous of all Highland Clearances
The pointing arrow said 3.2 kilometres. Already we had driven 5.7 kilometres along a winding, pot-holed, one-lane road that hugged the side of the small mountain. Happily, we had encountered no vehicles, no cyclists — in fact, nothing but recalcitrant sheep who frequently stood defiant in the middle of the road until we beeped our…
Read MoreSpontaneous dash to Orkney produces lost images and a whirlwind tour
We made a spontaneous dash to Orkney to visit Tom and Rhonda Muir. Then we contrived to banish them to the wrong camera (hence no pix of them!) and ended up with shots of a hotel, a statue and a charming young couple on the steps of a classic edifice in urgent need of refurbishment…
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