Canuck

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“Canuck” /kəˈnʌk/ is a slang term for a Canadian. The origins of the word are uncertain.

History

The Random House Dictionary notes that “The term Canuck is first recorded about 1835 as an Americanism (American term), originally referring specifically to a French Canadian. This was probably the original meaning, though in Canada and other countries, “Canuck” refers to any Canadian.” [1] For example, someone residing in Toronto might be considered a “Canuck”. In fact, the 1835 source cited refers to a foreign-speaker: “Jonathan distinguishes a Dutch or a French Canadian, by the term Kanuk”.[2] Although its etymology is unclear, possible origins include:

In Cree Indian mythology, there existed a wolf-spirit called “Kannuk”. This may be a possible origin for the term/ name “Canuck”…an Anglicization of the aboriginal word “Kannuk”.[citation needed]

Usage and examples

Canadians use “Canuck” as an affectionate or merely descriptive term for their nationality. It is not considered derogatory in Canada, although other nationalities may use the word as an affectionate or derogatory term. An abbreviated version of the word, “Nucks”, is sometimes heard, usually as a colloquial reference to the hockey team.

Usage of the term includes:

  • The Vancouver Canucks professional hockey team.
  • “Canuck” is a nickname for the Curtiss JN4 biplane and Avro CF-100 jet fighter. The CF-100 was the only Canadian-designed and built jet fighter to enter operational service. From 1950–1958, 692 Canucks were built. They remained in service until 1981.
  • One of the first uses of “Canuck” — in the form of “Kanuk” — specifically referred to Dutch Canadians as well as the French.
  • The Canada national rugby union team (men’s) is officially nicknamed “Canucks”.
  • The Canucks rugby Club, playing in Calgary since 1968.
  • The Crazy Canucks, Canadian alpine ski racers who competed successfully on the World Cup circuit in the ’70s.
  • Johnny Canuck, a personification of Canada who appeared in early political cartoons of the 1860s resisting Uncle Sam‘s bullying. Johnny Canuck was revived in 1942 by Leo Bachle to defend Canada against the Nazis. The Vancouver Canucks have adopted a personification of Johnny Canuck on their alternate hockey sweater.[4] The former goaltender for the Canucks Roberto Luongo, had a picture of Johnny Canuck on his goalie mask.
  • In 1975 in comics by Richard Comely, Captain Canuck is a super-agent for Canadians’ security, with Redcoat and Kebec being his sidekicks. (Kebec is claimed to be unrelated to Capitaine Kébec of a French-Canadian comic published two years earlier.) Captain Canuck had enhanced strength and endurance thanks to being bathed in alien rays during a camping trip. The captain was reintroduced in the mid-1990s, and again in 2004.
  • Operation Canuck was the designated name of a British SAS raid led by a Canadian captain, Buck McDonald in January 1945.
  • “Canuck” also has the derived meanings of a Canadian pony (rare) and a French-Canadian patois[5] (very rare).
  • Soviet Canuckistan was an insult used by Pat Buchanan in response to Canada’s reaction to racial profiling by US Customs agents.
  • During the Vancouver 2010 Olympics official Canadian Olympic gear bore the term.
  • The Canuck letter became a focal point during the US 1972 Democratic primaries, when a letter published in the Manchester Union Leader implied Democratic contender Senator Edmund Muskie was prejudiced against French-Canadians. Soon, as a result, he ended his campaign. The letter was later discovered to have been written by the Nixon campaign in an attempt to sabotage Muskie.
  • The Marvel Comics character Wolverine is often referred to affectionately as “the Ol’ Canuklehead” due to his Canadian heritage.
  • In the novel Infinite Jest, by David Foster Wallace, French-Canadians are often referred to as “‘Nucks.”

Inuksuk

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

For the Canadian wireless network, see Inukshuk Wireless Partnership.
An inuksuk at Igloolik, Nunavut, Canada

An inuksuk (plural inuksuit) [1] (from the Inuktitut: ᐃᓄᒃᓱᒃ, plural ᐃᓄᒃᓱᐃᑦ; alternatively inukshuk in English[2] or inukhuk in Inuinnaqtun,[3] inussuk in Greenlandic) is a stone landmark or cairn built by humans, used by the Inuit, Inupiat, Kalaallit, Yupik, and other peoples of the Arctic region of North America. These structures are found from Alaska to Greenland. This region, above the Arctic Circle, is dominated by the tundra biome and has areas with few natural landmarks.

The inuksuk may have been used for navigation, as a point of reference, a marker for travel routes, fishing places, camps, hunting grounds, places of veneration, drift fences used in hunting [4] or to mark a food cache.[5] The Inupiat in northern Alaska used inuksuit to assist in the herding of caribou into contained areas for slaughter.[6] Varying in shape and size, the inuksuit have ancient roots in Inuit culture.[citation needed]

Historically, the most common type of inuksuk is a single stone positioned in an upright manner.[7] There is some debate as to whether the appearance of human- or cross-shaped cairns developed in the Inuit culture before the arrival of European missionaries and explorers.[7] The size of some inuksuit suggest that the construction was often a communal effort.[4]

At Enukso Point on Baffin Island, there are over 100 inuksuit. The site was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1969.[8][9]

This article contains Canadian Aboriginal syllabic characters. Without proper rendering support, you may see question marks, boxes, or other symbols instead of syllabics.

Name

Inuksuk in the vicinity of Kuujjuarapik, Quebec.
Inuksuit at the Foxe Peninsula (Baffin Island), Canada

The word inuksuk means “something which acts for or performs the function of a person”. The word comes from the morphemes inuk (“person”) and -suk (“ersatz” or “substitute”). It is pronounced inutsuk in Nunavik and the southern part of Baffin Island (see Inuit phonology for the linguistic reasons). In many of the central Nunavut dialects, it has the etymologically related name inuksugaq (plural: inuksugait).

While the predominant English spelling is inukshuk, both the Government of Nunavut[10] and the Government of Canada through Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada[11] promote the Inuit-preferred spelling inuksuk.

A structure similar to an inuksuk but meant to represent a human figure, called an inunnguaq (ᐃᓄᙳᐊᖅ, “imitation of a person”, plural inunnguat), has become widely familiar to non-Inuit. However, it is not the most common type of inuksuk. It is distinguished from inuksuit in general.

The Hammer of Thor, located on the Ungava Peninsula, Quebec may be an inuksuk.[citation needed]

Modern usage

An inuksuk on the flag of Nunavut
Inuksuk sculpture by David Ruben Piqtoukun in the lobby, Canadian Embassy, Washington, D
An inukshuk on the grounds of the National Assembly, Quebec City
Inuksuit marking Canada’s building site at Auroville, Tamil Nadu, India.

Inuksuit continue to serve as an Inuit cultural symbol. An inuksuk is the centre piece of the flag and coat of arms of the Canadian territory of Nunavut, and the flag of Nunatsiavut. The Inuksuk High School in Iqaluit is named after the landmark.

Inuksuit—particularly, but not exclusively, of the inunnguaq variety—are also increasingly serving as a mainstream Canadian national symbol. In 1999 Inukshuk was the name for the International Arctic Art & Music Project of ARBOS in the Canadian provinces of Québec, Ontario, Nunavik, and Nunavut; and in Greenland, Austria, Denmark and Norway.[12]

On July 13, 2005, Canadian military personnel erected an inuksuk on Hans Island, along with a plaque and a Canadian flag, as part of Canada’s longstanding dispute with Denmark over the small Arctic island.[13] The markers have been erected throughout the country, including a nine-metre-high inuksuk that stands in Toronto on the shores of Lake Ontario. Located in Battery Park, it commemorates the World Youth Day 2002 festival that was held in the city in July 2002.

Artisan Alvin Kanak of Rankin Inlet, Northwest Territories (now in the territory of Nunavut), created an inuksuk as a gift to the city of Vancouver for Expo 86. The land has since been donated to the city, and is now a protected site.

“Ilanaaq”, the mascot logo of the 2010 Winter Olympics, located on Whistler Mountain

An inunnguaq is the basis of the logo of the 2010 Winter Olympics designed by Vancouver artist Elena Rivera MacGregor. Its use in this context has been controversial among the Inuit, and the First Nations within British Columbia. Although the design has been questioned, people believe it pays tribute to the inuksuk that stands at Vancouver’s English Bay. Friendship and the welcoming of the world are the meanings of both the English Bay structure and the 2010 Winter Olympics emblem.[citation needed]

The Vancouver 2010 logo and the construction of inuksuit around the world have led to increasing recognition of them.[citation needed] There are five authentic inuksuit which were donated—wholly or in part—by the government of Canada: in Brisbane, Australia; Monterrey, Mexico; Oslo, Norway; Washington D.C., United States; and Guatemala City.[14]

The Monterrey Inuksuk is unveiled by Canada’s ambassador to Mexico and the governor of Nuevo León

The most recent Canadian-donated inuksuk was built in Monterrey in October 2007 by the Inuvialuit artist Bill Nasogaluak. The sculpture was presented to the people of the northern state of Nuevo León as a gift from the Monterrey chapter of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce in Mexico and the Government of Canada, to mark the chamber’s 10th anniversary in the city. The sculpture stands over the Santa Lucía Riverwalk. Nasogaluak, of Tuktoyaktuk, personally chose the rocks for the structure from a local quarry near Monterrey. The inuksuk contains two rocks which the artist took to Mexico from Canada, one from the high Arctic and another from his home town of Toronto. Together they form the inuksuk’s heart.

The inuksuk was also used as the symbol of the Summit of the Americas, because of its connotations of “guidance and unity…towards common goals.”[15]

Officials in various wilderness parks throughout Canada routinely dismantle inuksuit constructed by hikers and campers, for fear that they could misdirect park visitors from the cairns and other markers that indicate hiking trails. The practice of erecting inuksuit in parks has become so widespread that Killarney Provincial Park, on the north shore of Ontario’s Georgian Bay, issued a notice in 2007 urging visitors to “stop the invasion” of inuksuit.[16]

A large number of inuksuit have been built in some areas along the Trans-Canada Highway, including Northern Ontario. In 2010, a journalist from Sudbury‘s Northern Life counted 93 inuksuit along Highway 69 between Sudbury and Parry Sound. The journalist successfully tracked down a person who had built two inuksuit along the route; he attributed his action to having had a “fill the dreams moment where I needed to stop and do it” while driving home from a family funeral.[17]

According to Guinness World Records, the tallest inuksuk is in Schomberg, Ontario, Canada. Built in 2007, it is 11.377 m tall.[18]

The Canadian rock band Rush featured a lone inuksuk on the cover of their 1996 album Test for Echo.

See also

Lester B. Pearson

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The Right Honourable
Lester B. Pearson
PC (UK) PC (Can) OM CC OBE
Lester B. Pearson, 1958
14th Prime Minister of Canada
In office
22 April 1963 (1963-04-22) – 20 April 1968 (1968-04-20)
Monarch Elizabeth II
Governor General Georges Vanier
Roland Michener
Preceded by John Diefenbaker
Succeeded by Pierre Trudeau
Leader of the Liberal Party of Canada
In office
16 January 1958 (1958-01-16) – 6 April 1968 (1968-04-06)
Preceded by Louis St. Laurent
Succeeded by Pierre Trudeau
Leader of the Opposition
In office
16 January 1958 (1958-01-16) – 22 April 1963 (1963-04-22)
Monarch Elizabeth II
Prime Minister John Diefenbaker
Preceded by Louis St. Laurent
Succeeded by John Diefenbaker
8th Secretary of State for External Affairs
In office
10 September 1948 (1948-09-10) – 20 June 1957 (1957-06-20)
Prime Minister W.L. Mackenzie King
Louis St. Laurent
Preceded by Louis St. Laurent
Succeeded by John Diefenbaker
2nd Canadian Ambassador to the United States
In office
1944–1946
Prime Minister William Mackenzie King
Preceded by Leighton McCarthy
Succeeded by H. H. Wrong
8th President of the United Nations General Assembly
In office
1952
Preceded by Luis Padilla Nervo
Succeeded by Vijaya Lakshmi Pandit
Member of the Canadian Parliament
for Algoma East
In office
25 October 1948 (1948-10-25) – 23 April 1968 (1968-04-23)
Preceded by Thomas Farquhar
Succeeded by None (district abolished)
Personal details
Born Lester Bowles Pearson
(1897-04-23)23 April 1897
Township of York, Toronto, Ontario
Died 27 December 1972(1972-12-27) (aged 75)
Ottawa, Ontario
Resting place MacLaren Cemetery, Wakefield, Quebec
Political party Liberal
Spouse(s) Maryon Pearson
Children Geoffrey Pearson, Patricia Pearson
Alma mater University of Toronto (B.A.)
University of Oxford (B.A.)
University of Oxford (M.A.)
Profession Diplomat, Politician, Historian, Soldier
Religion Methodist, then the United Church of Canada
Awards Nobel Prize for Peace (1957)
Signature

Lester Bowles “Mike” Pearson, PC, OM, CC, OBE (23 April 1897 – 27 December 1972) was a Canadian professor, historian, civil servant, statesman, diplomat, soldier, and politician, who won the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1957 for organizing the United Nations Emergency Force to resolve the Suez Canal Crisis. He was the 14th Prime Minister of Canada from 22 April 1963 to 20 April 1968, as the head of two back-to-back Liberal minority governments following elections in 1963 and 1965.

During Pearson’s time as Prime Minister, his Liberal minority governments introduced universal health care, student loans, the Canada Pension Plan, the Order of Canada, and the new Flag of Canada. Pearson also convened the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, and he struggled to keep Canada out of the Vietnam War. In 1967, his government passed Bill C-168, which abolished capital punishment in Canada de facto – by restricting it to a few capital offenses for which it was never used, and which themselves were abolished in 1976. With these accomplishments, together with his groundbreaking work at the United Nations and in international diplomacy, Pearson is generally considered among the most influential Canadians of the 20th century[1] and is regularly ranked as one of the greatest Canadian Prime Ministers.

Early years

Pearson was born in the township of York, Ontario, (now a part of Toronto), the son of Annie Sarah (née Bowles) and Edwin Arthur Pearson, a Methodist (later United Church of Canada) minister. He was the brother of Vaughan Whitier Pearson and Marmaduke Pearson.[2]

Pearson graduated from Hamilton Collegiate Institute in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1913 at the age of 16. Later that same year, he entered Victoria College at the University of Toronto,[2] where he lived in residence in Gate House and shared a room with his brother Duke. He was later elected to the Pi Gamma Mu social sciences honour society’s chapter at the University of Toronto for his outstanding scholastic performance in history and sociology. After Victoria College, Pearson won a scholarship to study at St John’s College, Oxford.

At University of Toronto, he became a noted athlete, excelling in rugby union, and also playing basketball. He later also played for the Oxford University Ice Hockey Club while on a scholarship at the University of Oxford, a team that won the first Spengler Cup in 1923. Pearson also excelled in baseball and lacrosse as a youth, and played golf and tennis as an adult. His baseball talents were strong enough for a summer of semipro play with the Guelph Maple Leafs of the Ontario Intercounty Baseball League.[3]

First World War

Pearson serving with the Canadian Army Medical Corps in World War I

When World War I broke out in 1914, Pearson volunteered for service as a medical orderly with the University of Toronto Hospital Unit. In 1915, he entered overseas service with the Canadian Army Medical Corps as a stretcher bearer with the rank of private, and was later commissioned as a lieutenant. During this period of service he spent two years in Egypt and in Greece. He also spent time in the Serbian Army as a corporal and a medical orderly.[4] In 1917, Pearson transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, since the Royal Canadian Air Force did not exist at that time, where he served as a flying officer until being sent home with injuries from two accidents. Pearson learned to fly at an air training school in Hendon, England. He survived an aeroplane crash during his first flight.

In 1918, Pearson was hit by a bus in London during a citywide blackout and he was sent home to recuperate, but then he was discharged from the service. It was as a pilot that he received the nickname of “Mike”, given to him by a flight instructor who felt that “Lester” was too mild a name for an airman. Thereafter, Pearson would use the name “Lester” on official documents and in public life, but was always addressed as “Mike” by friends and family.[5]

Interwar years

After the war, he returned to school, receiving his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Toronto in 1919. He was able to complete his degree after one more term, under a ruling in force at the time, since he had served in the military during the war. He then spent a year working in Hamilton and Chicago, in the meat-packing industry, which he did not enjoy. Upon receiving a scholarship from the Massey Foundation, he studied for two years at St John’s College at the University of Oxford, where he received a B.A. degree with Second-Class honours in modern history in 1923, and the M.A. in 1925. After Oxford, he returned to Canada and taught history at the University of Toronto, where he also coached the Varsity Blues Canadian football team, and the Varsity Blues men’s ice hockey team. In 1925, he married Maryon Moody (1901–89), who was one of his students at the University of Toronto. Together, they had one daughter, Patricia, and one son, Geoffrey.[3]

Diplomat

Pearson with John Ross McLean, Vincent Massey and Georges Vanier, Canada House, London.

Ice hockey in Europe; Oxford University vs. Switzerland, 1922. Future Canadian Prime Minister Lester Pearson is at right front. His nickname from the Swiss was “Herr Zig-Zag”.

Lester B. Pearson quote on Peacekeeping Monument

In 1927, after scoring the top marks on the Canadian foreign service entry exam, he then embarked on a career in the Department of External Affairs.[3] Pearson was assigned to London in the late 1930s, and he served there during World War II from 1939 through 1942 as the second-in-command at Canada House, where he coordinated military supply and refugee problems, serving under High Commissioner Vincent Massey.[3]

Pearson returned to Ottawa for a few months, where he was an assistant under secretary from 1941 through 1942.[6] In June 1942 he was posted to the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C., as a ministerial counselor.[6] He served as second-in-command for nearly two years. Promoted minister plenipotentiary, 1944, he became the second Canadian Ambassador to the United States on 1 January 1945. He remained in this position through September 1946.[3][6]

Pearson had an important part in founding both the United Nations and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization.[7]

During World War II, Pearson once served as a courier with the codename of “Mike.” He went on to become the first director of signals intelligence.

Pearson nearly became the first Secretary-General of the United Nations in 1945, but this move was vetoed by the Soviet Union.[3]

The Canadian Prime Minister, William Mackenzie King, tried to recruit Pearson into his government as the war wound down. Pearson felt honoured by King’s approach, but he resisted at the time, due to his personal dislike of King’s poor personal style and political methods.[8] Pearson did not make the move into politics until a few years later, after King had announced his retirement as the Prime Minister of Canada.

Early political career

Pearson presiding at a plenary session of the founding conference of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization in 1945.

In 1948, Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent appointed Pearson Secretary of State for External Affairs (foreign minister) in the Liberal government. Shortly afterward, he won a seat in the Canadian House of Commons, for the federal riding of Algoma East in northern Ontario.

Nobel Peace Prize

Pearson in 1944.

In 1957, for his role in resolving the Suez Crisis through the United Nations, Pearson was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The selection committee claimed that Pearson had “saved the world”, but critics accused him of betraying the motherland and Canada’s ties with the UK. The United Nations Emergency Force was Pearson’s creation, and he is considered the father of the modern concept of peacekeeping. Leaders of the United States, France, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom (for best example) all had vested interests in the natural resources around the Suez Canal. Pearson was able to organize these leaders by way of a five-day fly-around, and was by effect responsible for the development of the structure for the United Nations Security Council. His Nobel medal is on permanent display in the front lobby of the Lester B. Pearson Building, the headquarters of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in Ottawa.

Party leadership

St. Laurent was defeated by the Progressive Conservatives under John Diefenbaker in the election of 1957. After just a few months as Leader of the Opposition, St. Laurent retired, and he endorsed Pearson as his successor. Pearson was elected leader of the Liberal Party at its leadership convention of 1958, defeating his chief rival, former cabinet minister Paul Martin, Sr.

At his first parliamentary session as Opposition Leader, Pearson asked Diefenbaker to give power back to the Liberals without an election, because of a recent economic downturn. This strategy backfired when Diefenbaker showed a classified Liberal document saying that the economy would face a downturn in that year. This contrasted heavily with the Liberals’ campaign promises of 1957.

Consequently, Pearson’s party was badly routed in the federal election of 1958, losing over half their seats, while Diefenbaker’s Conservatives won the largest majority ever seen in Canada to that point (208 of 265 seats). The election also cost the Liberals their stronghold in Quebec. This province had voted largely Liberal in federal elections since the Conscription Crisis of 1917, but Quebec had no favourite son leader, as it had had since 1948.

Pearson convened a significant “Thinkers’ Conference” at Kingston, Ontario in 1960, which developed many of the ideas later implemented when he became the Prime Minister.[9]

In the federal election of 1962, Pearson’s party reset the Tories as minority government.

Not long after the election, Pearson capitalized on the Conservatives’ indecision on accepting American nuclear warheads on Canadian BOMARC missiles. Defence Minister Douglas Harkness resigned from Cabinet on 4 February 1963, because of Diefenbaker’s opposition to accepting the warheads. On the next day, the government lost two nonconfidence motions on the issue, forcing a national election. In that election, the Liberals took 129 seats to the Tories’ 95. Despite winning 41 percent of the vote, the Liberals came up five seats short of a majority largely because of winning just three seats on the Prairies. With the support of the New Democratic Party, Pearson won enough support to form a minority government, and he was sworn in as the Prime Minister on 22 April 1963.

Prime Minister (1963-1968)

Statue on Parliament Hill grounds

Pearson, and three of his cabinet ministers who later became Prime Ministers. From left to right, Pierre Trudeau, John Turner, Jean Chrétien, and Pearson.

Pearson campaigned during the election promising “60 Days of Decision” and support for the BOMARC surface-to-air missile program. Pearson never had a majority in the Canadian House of Commons, but he brought in many of Canada’s major updated social programs, including universal health care, the Canada Pension Plan, and Canada Student Loans, and he instituted a new national flag, the Maple Leaf flag. He also instituted the 40-hour work week, two weeks vacation time, and a new minimum wage.

On 15 January 1964, Pearson became the first Canadian Prime Minister to make an official state visit to France.[10]

Pearson signed the Canada-United States Automotive Agreement (or Auto Pact) in January 1965, and unemployment fell to its lowest rate in over a decade.[11] While in office, Pearson declined U.S. requests to send Canadian combat troops into the Vietnam War. Pearson spoke at Temple University in Philadelphia on 2 April 1965, while visiting the United States and voiced his support for a pause in the American bombing of North Vietnam, so that a diplomatic solution to the crisis may unfold. To President Lyndon B. Johnson, this criticism of American foreign policy on American soil was an intolerable sin. Before Pearson had finished his speech, he was summoned to Camp David, Maryland, to meet with Johnson the next day. Johnson, who was notorious for his personal touch in politics, reportedly grabbed Pearson by the lapels and shouted, “Don’t you come into my living room and piss on my rug.”[12][13]

Pearson later recounted that the meeting was acrimonious, but insisted the two parted cordially. After this incident, L.B.J. and Pearson did have further contacts, including two more meetings together, both times in Canada[14] as the United States relied on Canada’s raw materials and resources to fuel and sustain its efforts in the Vietnam War.[15]

Pearson also started a number of Royal Commissions, including the Royal Commission on the Status of Women and the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. These suggested changes that helped create legal equality for women, and brought official bilingualism into being. After Pearson’s term in office, French was made an official language, and the Canadian government provided services in both English and French. Pearson himself had hoped that he would be the last unilingual Prime Minister of Canada and fluency in both English and French became an unofficial requirement for candidates for Prime Minister after Pearson left office.

Pearson’s government endured significant controversy in Canada’s military services throughout the mid-1960s, following the tabling of the White Paper on Defence in March 1964. This document laid out a plan to merge the Royal Canadian Navy, the Royal Canadian Air Force, and the Canadian Army to form a single service called the Canadian Forces. Military unification took effect on 1 February 1968, when The Canadian Forces Reorganization Act received Royal Assent.

Pearson has been credited with instituting the world’s first race-free immigration system.[16] Credit for who created the policy, however, is disputed, and likely should be shared with John Diefenbaker.[17] Diefenbaker’s government in 1962 introduced a new race-free policy; however, under the 1962 policy, Americans were still given an advantage.[18] It was in 1967 that Pearson introduced a discrimination-free points-based system which encouraged immigration to Canada, a forerunner of the system still in place today.

Pearson also oversaw Canada’s centennial celebrations in 1967 before retiring. The Canadian news agency, The Canadian Press, named him “Newsmaker of the Year” that year, citing his leadership during the centennial celebrations, which brought the Centennial Flame to Parliament Hill.

Also in 1967, the President of France, Charles de Gaulle, made a visit to Quebec. During that visit, de Gaulle was a staunch advocate of Quebec separatism, even going so far as to say that his procession in Montreal reminded him of his return to Paris after it was freed from the Nazis during the Second World War. President de Gaulle also gave his “Vive le Québec libre” speech during the visit. Given Canada’s efforts in aid of France during both world wars, Pearson was enraged. He rebuked de Gaulle in a speech the following day, remarking that “Canadians do not need to be liberated” and making it clear that de Gaulle was no longer welcome in Canada. The French President returned to his home country and would never visit Canada again.

Supreme Court appointments

Pearson chose the following jurists to be appointed as justices of the Supreme Court of Canada by the Governor General:

Retirement

Pearson’s gravestone in Wakefield, Quebec

After his 14 December 1967 announcement that he was retiring from politics, a leadership convention was held. Pearson’s successor was Pierre Trudeau, whom Pearson had recruited and made justice minister in his cabinet. Two other cabinet ministers Pearson had recruited, John Turner and Jean Chrétien, served as prime ministers following Trudeau’s retirement. Paul Martin Jr., the son of Pearson’s External Affairs Minister Paul Martin Sr., also went on to become prime minister.

From 1968 to 1969, Pearson served as chairman of the Commission on International Development (the Pearson Commission), which was sponsored by the World Bank. Immediately following his retirement, he lectured in history and political science at Carleton University while writing his memoirs. From 1970 to 1972, he was the first chairman of the Board of Governors of the International Development Research Centre. From 1969 until his death in 1972, he was chancellor of Carleton University in Ottawa.

Illness and death

In 1970, Pearson underwent a surgery to have his right eye removed in order to remove a tumor in that area.[19]

In November 1972, it was reported that Pearson was admitted to the hospital for further unspecified treatment. His condition deteriorated rapidly by Christmas Eve. On 27 December 1972, it was announced that the cancer had spread to the liver and Pearson had lapsed into a coma. He died at 11:40 pm ET on 27 December 1972 in his Ottawa home.[20]

Pearson is buried at MacLaren Cemetery in Wakefield, Quebec[21] (just north of Gatineau), next to his close External Affairs colleagues H. H. Wrong and Norman Robertson.

Honours and awards

Order of Merit (Commonwealth realms) ribbon.png Order of Canada (CC) ribbon bar.png Order of the British Empire (Civil) Ribbon.png

Order of Canada Citation

Pearson was appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada on 28 June 1968. His citation reads:[29]

Former Prime Minister of Canada. For his services to Canada at home and abroad.

Educational and academic institutions

Civic and civil infrastructure

Sports

Honorary degrees

Lester B. Pearson, Canadian Ambassador to the United States, at University of Toronto convocation, 1945

This list is incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Lester B. Pearson received Honorary Degrees from 48 Universities, including:

John A. Macdonald

Posted on by
The Right Honourable
Sir John A. Macdonald
GCB GCMG PC QC
1st Prime Minister of Canada
In office
17 October 1878 – 6 June 1891
Monarch Victoria
Governor General Earl of Dufferin
Marquess of Lorne
Marquess of Lansdowne
Lord Stanley of Preston
Preceded by Alexander Mackenzie
Succeeded by John Abbott
In office
1 July 1867 – 5 November 1873
Monarch Victoria
Governor General Viscount Monck
Lord Lisgar
Earl of Dufferin
Succeeded by Alexander Mackenzie
Personal details
Born 11 January 1815
Glasgow, Scotland, UK
Died 6 June 1891(1891-06-06) (aged 76)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Resting place Cataraqui Cemetery, Kingston, Ontario
Political party Conservative
Spouse(s) Isabella Clark
(1843-1857, her death)
Agnes Bernard
(1867-1891, his death)
Children 3
Profession Lawyer
Religion Anglican
(Previously Presbyterian)
Signature

Sir John Alexander Macdonald, GCB, KCMG, PC, PC (Can), QC (11 January 1815 – 6 June 1891), was the first Prime Minister of Canada (1867–1873, 1878–1891). The dominant figure of Canadian Confederation, he had a political career which spanned almost half a century. Macdonald served 19 years as Canadian Prime Minister; only William Lyon Mackenzie King served longer.

Macdonald was born in Scotland; when he was a boy his family immigrated to Kingston in the colony of Upper Canada (today in eastern Ontario). He articled with a local lawyer, who died before Macdonald qualified, and Macdonald opened his own practice, although not yet entitled to do so. He was involved in several high-profile cases and quickly became prominent in Kingston, which enabled him to seek and obtain a legislative seat in 1844. He served in the legislature of the colonial United Province of Canada and by 1857 had become premier under the colony’s unstable political system.

When in 1864 no party proved capable of governing for long, Macdonald agreed to a proposal from his political rival, George Brown, that the parties unite in a Great Coalition to seek federation and political reform. Macdonald was the leading figure in the subsequent discussions and conferences, which resulted in the British North America Act and the birth of Canada as a nation on 1 July 1867.

Macdonald was designated as the first Prime Minister of the new nation, and served in that capacity for most of the remainder of his life, losing office for five years in the 1870s over the Pacific Scandal (corruption in the financing of the Canadian Pacific Railway). After regaining his position, he saw the railroad through to completion in 1885, a means of transportation and freight conveyance that helped unite Canada as one nation. Macdonald is credited with creating a Canadian Confederation despite many obstacles, and expanding what was a relatively small country to cover the northern half of North America. By the time of his death in 1891, Canada had secured most of the territory it occupies today.

Early years, 1815–1830

John Alexander Macdonald was born in Glasgow, Scotland, on 11 January 1815.[a] His father was Hugh Macdonald, an unsuccessful merchant, who had married Helen Shaw on 21 October 1811.[1] John Alexander Macdonald was the third of five children. After Hugh Macdonald’s business ventures left him in debt, the family immigrated to Kingston, in Upper Canada (today the southern and eastern portions of Ontario), in 1820, where there were already a number of Macdonald relatives and connections.[2]

The Macdonalds initially lived with another family, but then resided over a store which Hugh Macdonald ran. Soon after their arrival, John’s younger brother James died from a blow to the head by a servant who was supposed to look after the boys. After Hugh’s store failed, the family moved to Hay Bay, west of Kingston, where Hugh unsuccessfully ran another shop. His father, in 1829, was appointed a magistrate for the Midland District.[3] John Macdonald’s mother was a lifelong influence on her son, helping him in his difficult first marriage and remaining a force in his life until her 1862 death.[4]

John initially attended local schools. When he was aged 10, his family scraped together the money to send him to Midland District Grammar School in Kingston.[4] Macdonald’s formal schooling ended at 15, a common school-leaving age at a time when only children from the most prosperous families were able to attend university.[5] Nevertheless, Macdonald later regretted leaving school when he did, remarking to his private secretary Joseph Pope that if he had attended university, he might have embarked on a literary career.[6]

Law career, 1830–1843

Legal training and early career, 1830–1837

Macdonald’s parents decided he should become a lawyer after leaving school.[7] As Donald Creighton (who penned a two-volume biography of Macdonald in the 1950s) wrote, “law was a broad, well-trodden path to comfort, influence, even to power”.[8] It was also “the obvious choice for a boy who seemed as attracted to study as he was uninterested in trade.”[8] Besides, Macdonald needed to start earning money immediately to support his family because his father’s businesses were again failing. “I had no boyhood,” he complained many years later. “From the age of 15, I began to earn my own living.”[9]

A few months after he opened his first law office in 1835, Macdonald moved with his parents and sisters to this 2 1⁄2-storey stone house on Kingston’s Rideau Street.

Macdonald travelled by steamboat to Toronto (known until 1834 as York), where he passed an examination set by the Law Society of Upper Canada, including mathematics, Latin, and history. British North America had no law schools in 1830; students were examined when beginning and ending their tutelage; between the two examinations, they were apprenticed, or articled to established lawyers.[10] Macdonald began his apprenticeship with George Mackenzie, a prominent young lawyer who was a well-regarded member of Kingston’s rising Scottish community. Mackenzie practised corporate law, a lucrative speciality that Macdonald himself would later pursue.[11] Macdonald was a promising student, and in the summer of 1833, managed the Mackenzie office when his employer went on a business trip to Montreal and Quebec in Lower Canada (today the southern portion of the province of Quebec). Later that year, Macdonald was sent to manage the law office of a Mackenzie cousin who had fallen ill.[12]

In August 1834, George Mackenzie died of cholera. With his supervising lawyer dead, Macdonald remained at the cousin’s law office in Hallowell (today Picton, Ontario). In 1835, Macdonald returned to Kingston, and even though not yet of age nor qualified, began his practice as a lawyer, hoping to gain his former employer’s clients.[13] Macdonald’s parents and sisters also returned to Kingston, when Hugh Macdonald became a bank clerk.[14]

Soon after Macdonald was called to the Bar in February 1836, he arranged to take in two students; both became, like Macdonald, Fathers of Confederation. Oliver Mowat became premier of Ontario, and Alexander Campbell a federal cabinet minister and Lieutenant Governor of Ontario.[7] One early client was Eliza Grimason, an Irish immigrant then aged sixteen, who sought advice concerning a shop she and her husband wanted to buy. Grimason would become one of Macdonald’s richest and most loyal supporters, and may have also become his lover.[15] Macdonald joined many local organisations, seeking to become well known in the town. He also sought out high-profile cases, representing accused child rapist William Brass. Brass was hanged for his crime, but Macdonald attracted positive press comments for the quality of his defence.[16] According to his biographer, Richard Gwyn:

As a criminal lawyer who took on dramatic cases, Macdonald got himself noticed well beyond the narrow confines of the Kingston business community. He was operating now in the arena where he would spend by far the greatest part of his life — the court of public opinion. And, while there, he was learning the arts of argument and of persuasion that would serve him all his political life.[17]

Legal prominence, 1837–1843

All Upper Canadians between 18 and 60 years of age were members of the Sedentary Militia, which was called into active duty during the Rebellions of 1837. Macdonald served as a private in the militia, patrolling the area around Kingston, but the town saw no real action and Macdonald was not called upon to fire on the enemy.[18]

Although most of the trials resulting from the Upper Canada Rebellion took place in Toronto, Macdonald represented one of the defendants in the one trial to take place in Kingston. All the Kingston defendants were acquitted, and a local paper described Macdonald as “one of the youngest barristers in the Province [who] is rapidly rising in his profession”.[19]

Battle of the Windmill, near Prescott, Upper Canada, 13 November 1838

In late 1838, Macdonald agreed to advise one of a group of American raiders who had crossed the border to liberate Canada from what they saw as the yoke of British colonial oppression. The inept invaders had been captured after the Battle of the Windmill (near Prescott, Ontario), in which 16 Canadians were killed and 60 wounded. Public opinion was inflamed against the prisoners, as they were accused of mutilating the body of a dead Canadian lieutenant. Macdonald biographer Donald Creighton wrote that Kingston was “mad with grief and rage and horror” at the allegations. Macdonald could not represent the prisoners, as they were tried by court martial and civilian counsel had no standing. At the request of Kingston relatives of Daniel George, paymaster of the ill-fated invasion, Macdonald agreed to advise George, who, like the other prisoners, had to conduct his own defence.[20] George was convicted and hanged.[21] According to Macdonald biographer Donald Swainson, “By 1838, Macdonald’s position was secure. He was a public figure, a popular young man, and a senior lawyer.”[22]

Because of the unrest, the British Parliament merged Upper and Lower Canada into the Province of Canada effective in 1841; Kingston became the initial capital of the new province; Upper Canada and Lower Canada became known as Canada West and Canada East.[23]

Macdonald continued to expand his practice while being appointed director of many companies, mainly in Kingston. Macdonald became both a director of and a lawyer for the new Commercial Bank of the Midland District. Throughout the 1840s, Macdonald invested heavily in real estate, including commercial properties in downtown Toronto.[24] Meanwhile, he was suffering from some illness, and in 1841, his father died. Sick and grieving, he decided to take a lengthy holiday in Britain in early 1842. He left for the journey well supplied with money, as he spent the last three days before his departure gambling at the card game loo and winning substantially.[25] Sometime during his two months in Britain, he met his first cousin, Isabella Clark. As Macdonald did not mention her in his letters home, the circumstances of their meeting are not known.[26] In late 1842, Isabella journeyed to Kingston to visit with a sister.[27] The visit stretched for nearly a year before John and Isabella Macdonald married on 1 September 1843.[28]

Political rise, 1843–1864

Parliamentary advancement, 1843–1857

 Portrait of Isabella Clark Macdonald, artist unknown.

In February 1843, Macdonald announced his candidacy for the post of alderman in Kingston’s Fourth Ward.[29] On 29 March 1843, Macdonald celebrated his first election victory, with 156 votes against 43 for his opponent, a Colonel Jackson. He also suffered what he termed his first downfall, as his supporters, carrying the victorious candidate, accidentally dropped him onto a slushy street.[28]

In March 1844, Macdonald was asked by local businessmen to stand as Conservative candidate for Kingston in the upcoming legislative election.[30] Macdonald followed the contemporary custom of supplying the voters with large quantities of alcohol.[31] In the era preceding the secret ballot when votes were publicly declared, Macdonald defeated his opponent, Anthony Manahan, by 275 “shouts” to 42 when the two-day election concluded on 15 October 1844.[32] At that time, the Legislative Assembly met in Montreal. Macdonald was never an orator, and especially disliked the bombastic addresses of the time. Instead, he found a niche in becoming an expert on election law and parliamentary procedure.[33]

In 1844, Isabella fell ill. She recovered, but the illness recurred the following year, and she became an invalid. John Macdonald took his wife to Savannah, Georgia, in the United States in 1845, hoping that the sea air and warmth would cure her ailments. Although John Macdonald was able to return to Canada after six months, Isabella remained in the United States for three years.[34] He visited her again in New York at the end of 1846, and returned several months later when she informed him she was pregnant.[35] In August 1847 their son John Alexander Macdonald Jr. was born, but as Isabella remained ill, relatives cared for the infant.[36]

Although he was often absent due to his wife’s illness, Macdonald was able to gain professional and political advancement. In 1846, he was made a Queen’s Counsel. The same year, he was offered the non-cabinet post of Solicitor General, but declined it. In 1847, the Joint Premier, William Henry Draper, appointed Macdonald as Receiver General.[37] Accepting the government post required Macdonald to give up his law firm income[38] and spend most of his time in Montreal, away from Isabella.[37] When elections were held in December 1847 and January 1848, Macdonald was easily reelected for Kingston, but the Conservatives lost seats and were forced to resign when the legislature reconvened in March 1848. Macdonald returned to Kingston when the legislature was not sitting, and Isabella joined him there in June.[37] In August, the child John Jr. died suddenly.[39] In March 1850 Isabella Macdonald gave birth to another boy, Hugh John Macdonald, and his father wrote, “We have got Johnny back again, almost his image.”[40] Macdonald began to drink heavily around this time, both in public and in private, which Patricia Phenix, who studied Macdonald’s private life, attributes to his family troubles.[41]

The Liberals, or Grits, maintained power in the 1851 election, but soon, they were divided by a parliamentary scandal. In September, the government resigned, and a coalition government uniting parties from both parts of the province under Sir Allan MacNab took power. Macdonald did much of the work of putting the government together and served as Attorney General. The coalition which came to power in 1854 became known as the Liberal-Conservatives (referred to, for short, as the Conservatives). In 1855, George-Étienne Cartier of Canada East (today Quebec) joined the Cabinet. Until Cartier’s 1873 death, he would be Macdonald’s political partner. In 1856, MacNab was eased out as premier by Macdonald, who became the leader of the Canada West Conservatives.[42] Though the most powerful man in the government he remained as Attorney General, with Sir Étienne-Paschal Taché as premier.[43]

Colonial leader, 1857–1864

John A. Macdonald in 1858

In July 1857, Macdonald departed for Britain to promote Canadian government projects.[44] On his return to Canada, he was appointed premier in place of the retiring Taché, just in time to lead the Conservatives in a general election.[45] Macdonald was elected in Kingston by 1,189 votes to 9 for John Shaw, who was subsequently hanged in effigy; however, other Conservatives did badly in Canada West, and only French-Canadian support kept Macdonald in power.[46] On 28 December, Isabella Macdonald died, leaving John A. Macdonald a widower with a seven-year-old son. Hugh John Macdonald would be principally raised by his paternal aunt and her husband.[47]

In 1856, the Assembly had voted to move the seat of government permanently to Quebec City. Macdonald had opposed that, and used his power to force the Assembly to reconsider in 1857. Macdonald proposed that Queen Victoria decide which city should be Canada’s capital. Opponents, especially from Canada East, argued that the Queen would not make the decision in isolation; she would be bound to receive informal advice from her Canadian ministers. Nevertheless, Macdonald’s scheme was adopted, with Canada East support assured by allowing Quebec City to serve a three-year term as the seat of government before the Assembly moved to the permanent capital. Macdonald privately asked the Colonial Office to ensure that the Queen would not respond for at least 10 months, or until after the general election.[48] In February 1858, the Queen’s choice was announced, much to the dismay of many legislators from both parts of the province: the isolated Canada West town of Ottawa.[49]

On 28 July 1858, an opposition Canada East member proposed an address to the Queen informing her that Ottawa was an unsuitable place for a national capital. Macdonald’s Canada East party members crossed the floor to vote for the address, and the government was defeated. Macdonald resigned, and the Governor General, Sir Edmund Walker Head, invited opposition leader George Brown to form a government. Under the law at that time, Brown and his ministers lost their seats in the Assembly by accepting office, and had to face by-elections. This gave Macdonald a majority pending the by-elections, and he promptly defeated the government. Head refused Brown’s request for a dissolution of the Assembly, and Brown and his ministers resigned. Head then asked Macdonald to form a government. The law allowed anyone who had held a ministerial position within the last thirty days to accept a new position without needing to face a by-election; Macdonald and his ministers accepted new positions, then completed what was dubbed the “Double Shuffle” by returning to their old posts.[50] In an effort to give the appearance of fairness, Head insisted that Cartier be titular premier, with Macdonald as his deputy.[51]

In the late 1850s and early 1860s, Canada enjoyed a period of great prosperity. The railroad and telegraph improved communications. According to Macdonald biographer Richard Gwyn, “In short, Canadians began to become a single community.”[52] At the same time, the provincial government became increasingly difficult to manage. An act affecting both Canada East and Canada West required a “double majority”—a majority of legislators from each of the two sections of the province. This led to increasing deadlock in the Assembly.[53] The two sections each elected 65 legislators, even though Canada West had a larger population. One of Brown’s major demands was “rep by pop”, that is, representation by population, which would lead to Canada West having more seats, and was bitterly opposed by Canada East.[54]

The American Civil War led to fears in Canada and in Britain that once the Americans had concluded their internecine warfare, they would invade Canada again. Britain asked the Canadians to pay a part of the expense of defence, and a Militia Bill was introduced in the Assembly in 1862. The opposition objected to the expense, and Canada East representatives feared that French-Canadians would have to fight in a British-instigated war. At the time, Macdonald was drinking heavily, and he failed to provide much leadership on behalf of the bill. The government fell over the bill, and the Grits took over under the leadership of John Sandfield Macdonald (no relation to John A. Macdonald).[55] John A. Macdonald did not remain out of power long; the parties remained closely matched, with a handful of independents able to destroy any government. The new government fell in May 1863, but Head allowed a new election, which made little change to party strength. In December 1863, Canada West MP Albert Norton Richards accepted the post of Solicitor-General, and so had to face a by-election. John A. Macdonald campaigned against Richards personally, and Richards was defeated by a Conservative. The switch in seats cost the Grits their majority, and they resigned in March. John A. Macdonald returned to office with Taché as titular premier. The Taché-Macdonald government was defeated in June. The parties were deadlocked to such an extent that, according to Swainson, “It was clear to everybody that the constitution of the Province of Canada was dead”.[56]

Confederation of Canada, 1864–1867

The Quebec Conference. Macdonald seated, fourth from left

As his government had fallen again, Macdonald approached the new Governor General, Lord Monck, and obtained a dissolution. Before he could act on it, he was approached by Brown through intermediaries; the Grit leader felt that the crisis gave the parties the opportunity to join together for constitutional reform. Brown had led a parliamentary committee on confederation among the British North American colonies, which had reported back just before the Taché-Macdonald government fell.[57] Brown was more interested in representation by population; Macdonald’s priority was a federation that the other colonies could join. The two compromised and agreed that the new government would support the “federative principle”–a conveniently elastic phrase. The discussions were not public knowledge, and Macdonald stunned the Assembly by announcing that the dissolution was being postponed because of progress in negotiations with Brown—the two men were not only political rivals, but were known to hate each other.[58]

The parties resolved their differences, joining in the Great Coalition, with only the Parti Rouge of Canada East, led by Jean-Baptiste-Éric Dorion, remaining apart. A conference, called by the Colonial Office, was scheduled for 1 September 1864 in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island; the Maritimes were to consider a union. The Canadians obtained permission to send a delegation to what became known as the Charlottetown Conference. Macdonald, Cartier, and Brown led the Canadians in Charlottetown. At the conclusion of the conference, the Maritime delegations expressed a willingness to join a confederation if the details could be worked out.[59]

In October 1864 delegates for confederation met in Quebec City for the Quebec Conference, where the Seventy-Two Resolutions were agreed to—they would form the basis of Canada’s government.[60] The Great Coalition was endangered by Taché’s 1865 death: Lord Monck asked Macdonald to become premier, but Brown felt that he had as good a claim on the position as his coalition partner. The disagreement was resolved by appointing another compromise candidate to serve as titular premier, Narcisse-Fortunat Belleau.[61]

In 1865, after lengthy debates, Canada’s Legislative Assembly approved confederation by 91 votes to 33.[62] However, none of the Maritimes had approved the plan. In 1866, Macdonald and his colleagues financed pro-confederation candidates in the New Brunswick general election, resulting in a pro-confederation assembly. Shortly after the election, Nova Scotia‘s premier, Charles Tupper, pushed a pro-confederation resolution through that colony’s legislature.[63] A final conference, to be held in London, was needed before the British Parliament could formalise the union. Maritime delegates left for London in July 1866, but Macdonald, who was drinking heavily again, did not leave until November, angering the Maritimers.[64] In December 1866, Macdonald both led the London Conference, winning acclaim for his handling of the discussions, and wooed and won his second wife, Agnes Bernard.[65] Agnes Bernard was the sister of Macdonald’s private secretary, Hewitt Bernard; the couple first met in Quebec in 1860, but Macdonald had seen and admired her as early as 1856.[66] In January 1867, while still in London, he was seriously burned in his hotel room when his candle set fire to the chair he had fallen asleep in, but Macdonald refused to miss any sessions of the conference. In February, he married Agnes at St George’s, Hanover Square.[67] On 8 March, the British North America Act, which would serve Canada as a constitution for over a century, passed the House of Commons (it had previously passed the House of Lords).[68] Queen Victoria gave the bill Royal Assent on 29 March 1867.[69]

Macdonald had favoured the union coming into force on 15 July, fearing that the preparations would not be completed any earlier. The British favoured an earlier date, and on 22 May, it was announced that the Dominion of Canada would come into existence on 1 July.[70] Lord Monck appointed Macdonald as the new nation’s first Prime Minister. With the birth of the Dominion, Canada East and Canada West became separate provinces, known as Quebec and Ontario.[71] Macdonald was knighted on that first observance of what came to be known as Canada Day, 1 July 1867.[72]

Prime Minister of Canada

First term, 1867–1871

 Timeline of the evolution of Canada’s boundaries since 1867

Macdonald and his government faced immediate problems upon formation of the new country. Much work remained to do in creating a federal government. Nova Scotia was already threatening to withdraw from the union; the Intercolonial Railway, which would both conciliate the Maritimes and bind them closer to the rest of Canada, was not yet built. Anglo-American relations were in a poor state, and Canadian foreign relations were matters handled from London. The withdrawal of the Americans in 1866 from the Reciprocity Treaty had increased tariffs on Canadian goods in US markets.[73] Much of present-day Canada remained outside confederation—in addition to the separate colonies of Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland, and British Columbia, which remained governed by the British, vast areas in the north and west belonged to the British and to the Hudson’s Bay Company.[74] American and British opinion was that the experiment of Confederation would quickly unravel, and the nascent nation absorbed by the United States.[75]

In August 1867, the new nation’s first general election was held; Macdonald’s party won easily, with strong support in both large provinces, and a majority from New Brunswick.[76] Parliament convened in November,[77] surprisingly without Brown, who was defeated in Ontario and never served as a member of the House of Commons of Canada.[78] By 1869, Nova Scotia had agreed to remain part of Canada after a promise of better financial terms—the first of many provinces to negotiate concessions from Ottawa.[79] Pressure from London and Ottawa failed to gain the accession of Newfoundland, whose voters rejected a Confederation platform in a general election in October 1869.[80][81]

Macdonald in 1870, age 55

In 1869, John and Agnes Macdonald had a daughter, Mary. It soon became apparent that Mary had ongoing developmental issues. She was never able to walk, nor did she ever fully develop mentally.[82] Hewitt Bernard, Deputy Minister of Justice and Macdonald’s former secretary, also lived in the Macdonald house in Ottawa, together with Bernard’s widowed mother.[83] John Macdonald himself fell ill in 1870 with a gallstone which took him two months to pass. He convalesced in Prince Edward Island, most likely conducting discussions aimed at drawing the island into Confederation at a time when some there supported joining the United States.[84] The island joined Confederation in 1873.[85]

Macdonald had once been tepid on the question of westward expansion of the Canadian provinces; as Prime Minister he became a strong supporter of a bicoastal Canada. Immediately upon Confederation, he sent commissioners to London who in due course successfully negotiated the transfer of Rupert’s Land and the North-Western Territory to Canada.[86] The Hudson’s Bay Company received $1,500,000, and retained some trading posts as well as one-twentieth of the best farmland.[87] Prior to the effective date of acquisition, the Canadian government faced unrest in the Red River Colony (today southeastern Manitoba, centred on Winnipeg). The local people, including the Métis, were fearful that rule would be imposed on them which did not take into account their interests, and rose in the Red River Rebellion led by Louis Riel. Unwilling to pay for a territory in insurrection, Macdonald had troops put down the uprising before 15 July 1870 formal transfer, but as a result of the unrest, the Red River Colony joined Confederation as the province of Manitoba, while the rest of the purchased lands became the North-West Territories.[88]

“We don’t want you here.” Annexation to the United States was a political issue in Canada’s early days. In this anti-annexation cartoon from 1869 by “Grinchuckle”, Uncle Sam is given the boot by Young Canada as John Bull looks on approvingly.

Macdonald also wished to secure the Colony of British Columbia. There was interest in the United States in bringing about the colony’s annexation, and Macdonald wished to ensure his new nation had a Pacific outlet. The colony had an extremely large debt that would have to be assumed should it join Confederation. Negotiations were conducted in 1870, principally during Macdonald’s illness and recuperation, with Cartier leading the Canadian delegation. Cartier offered British Columbia a railroad linking it to the eastern provinces within 10 years. British Columbia quickly agreed and joined Confederation in 1871.[89] The Canadian Parliament ratified the terms after a debate over the high cost that cabinet member Alexander Morris described as the worst fight the Conservatives had had since Confederation.[90]

There were continuing disputes with the Americans over deep-sea fishing rights, and in early 1871, an Anglo-American commission was appointed to settle outstanding matters between the British (and Canadians) and the Americans. Canada was hoping to secure compensation for damage done by Fenians raiding Canada from bases in the United States. Macdonald was appointed a British commissioner, a post he was reluctant to accept as he realised Canadian interests might be sacrificed for the mother country. This proved to be the case; Canada received no compensation for the raids and no significant trade advantages in the settlement, which required Canada to open her waters to American fishermen. Macdonald returned home to defend the Treaty of Washington against a political firestorm.[91]

Second term and Pacific Scandal, 1872–1873

In the run-up to the 1872 election, Macdonald had yet to formulate a railway policy, or to devise the loan guarantees that would be needed to secure the construction. During the previous year, Macdonald had met with potential railway financiers such as Hugh Allan and considerable financial discussion took place. Nevertheless, the greatest political problem Macdonald faced was the Washington treaty, which had not yet been debated in Parliament.[92]

In early 1872, Macdonald submitted the treaty for ratification, and it passed the Commons with a majority of 66.[93] The general election was held through late August and early September (future Canadian elections would be conducted, for the most part, on one day). Redistribution had given Ontario increased representation in the House; Macdonald spent much time campaigning in the province, for the most part outside Kingston. Widespread bribery of voters took place throughout Canada, a practice especially effective in the era when votes were publicly declared; in future elections the secret ballot would be used. Macdonald and the Conservatives saw their majority reduced from 35 to 8.[94] The Liberals (as the Grits were coming to be known) did better than the Conservatives in Ontario, forcing the government to rely on the votes of Western and Maritime MPs who did not fully support the party.[95]

“Whither are we drifting?” Macdonald is shown triumphant at obtaining a prorogation, but is trampling a weeping Canada and apparently drunk with bottle in pocket in this August 1873 cartoon by John Wilson Bengough. Macdonald is depicted claiming clean hands, but with “Send me another $10,000” written on his palm.

Macdonald had hoped to award the charter for the railway in early 1872, but negotiations dragged on between the government and the financiers. Macdonald’s government awarded the Allan group the charter in late 1872. In 1873, when Parliament opened, Liberal MP Lucius Seth Huntington charged that government ministers had been bribed with large, undisclosed political contributions to award the charter. Documents soon came to light which substantiated what came to be known as the Pacific Scandal. The Allan-led financiers, who were secretly backed by the United States’s Northern Pacific Railway,[96] had donated $179,000 to the Tory election funds, they had received the charter, and Opposition newspapers began to publish telegrams signed by government ministers requesting large sums from the railway interest at the time the charter was under consideration. Macdonald had taken $45,000 in contributions from the railway interest himself. Substantial sums went to Cartier, who waged an expensive fight to try to retain his seat in Montreal East (he was defeated, but was subsequently returned for the Manitoba seat of Provencher). During the campaign Cartier had fallen ill with Bright’s disease, which may have been causing his judgment to lapse;[97] he died in May 1873 while seeking treatment in London.[97]

Even before Cartier’s death, Macdonald attempted to use delay to extricate the government.[98] The Opposition responded by leaking documents to friendly newspapers. On 18 July, three papers published a telegram dated August 1872 from Macdonald requesting another $10,000 and promising “it will be the last time of asking”.[99] Macdonald was able to get a prorogation of Parliament in August by appointing a Royal Commission to look into the matter, but when Parliament reconvened in late October, the Liberals, feeling Macdonald could be defeated over the issue, applied immense pressure to wavering members.[100]

On 3 November, Macdonald rose in the Commons to defend the government, and according to his biographer P.B. Waite, gave “the speech of his life, and, in a sense, for his life”.[101] He began his speech at 9 p.m., looking frail and ill, an appearance which quickly improved. As he spoke, he consumed glass after glass of gin and water. He denied that there had been a corrupt bargain, and stated that such contributions were common to both political parties. After five hours, Macdonald concluded,

I leave it with this House with every confidence. I am equal to either fortune. I can see past the decision of this House either for or against me, but whether it be against me or for me, I know, and it is no vain boast to say so, for even my enemies will admit that I am no boaster, that there does not exist in Canada a man who has given more of his time, more of his heart, more of his wealth, or more of his intellect and power, as it may be, for the good of this Dominion of Canada.[101]

Macdonald’s speech was seen as a personal triumph, but it did little to salvage the fortunes of his government. With eroding support both in the Commons and among the public, Macdonald went to the Governor General, Lord Dufferin on 5 November and resigned; Liberal leader Alexander Mackenzie became the second Prime Minister of Canada. Following the resignation, Macdonald returned home and told his wife Agnes, “Well, that’s got along with”, and when asked what he meant, told Agnes Macdonald of his resignation, and stated, “It’s a relief to be out of it.”[102] He is not known to have spoken of the events of the Pacific Scandal again.[103] When Macdonald announced his resignation in the Commons, Conservative and Liberal MPs traded places on the benches of the House of Commons, though one Conservative MP, British Columbia’s Amor de Cosmos remained in his place, thereby joining the Liberals.[104]

On 6 November 1873, Macdonald offered his resignation as party leader to his caucus; it was refused. Mackenzie called an election for January 1874; the Conservatives were reduced to 70 seats out of the 206 in the Commons, giving Mackenzie a massive majority.[105] The Conservatives bested the Liberals only in British Columbia; Mackenzie had called the terms by which the province had joined Confederation “impossible”.[106] Macdonald was returned in Kingston but was unseated on an election contest when bribery was proven; he won the ensuing by-election by 17 votes. According to Swainson, most observers viewed Macdonald as finished in politics, “a used-up and dishonoured man”.[107]

Opposition, 1873–1878

Macdonald was content to lead the Conservatives in a relaxed manner in opposition and await Liberal mistakes. He took long holidays and resumed his law practice, moving his family to Toronto and going into partnership with his son Hugh John.[108] One mistake that Macdonald believed the Liberals had made was a free-trade agreement with Washington, negotiated in 1874; Macdonald had come to believe that protection was necessary to build Canadian industry.[109] The Panic of 1873 had led to a worldwide depression; the Liberals found it difficult to finance the railroad in such a climate, and were generally opposed to the line anyway—the slow pace of construction led to British Columbia claims that the agreement under which it had entered Confederation was in jeopardy of being broken.[110]

By 1876, Macdonald and the Conservatives had adopted protection as party policy. This view was widely promoted in speeches at a number of political picnics, held across Ontario during the summer of 1876. Macdonald’s proposals struck a chord with the public, and the Conservatives began to win a string of by-elections. By the end of 1876, the Tories had picked up 14 seats as a result of by-elections, reducing Mackenzie’s Liberal majority from 70 to 42.[111] Despite the success, Macdonald considered retirement, wishing only to reverse the voters’ verdict of 1874—he considered Charles Tupper his heir apparent.[112]

In this Bengough cartoon, Macdonald (centre, ankles crossed) rides the elephant of the National Policy into power in the 1878 election, trampling the Liberals underfoot. Prime Minister Alexander Mackenzie is also being strangled by the elephant’s trunk.

When Parliament convened in 1877, the Conservatives were confident and the Liberals defensive.[113] After the Tories had a successful session in the early part of the year, another series of picnics commenced in a wide belt around Toronto. Macdonald even campaigned in Quebec, which he had rarely done, leaving speechmaking there to Cartier.[114] More picnics followed in 1878, promoting proposals which would come to be collectively called the “National Policy“: high tariffs, rapid construction of the transcontinental railway (the Canadian Pacific Railway or CPR), rapid agricultural development of the West using the railroad, and policies which would attract immigrants to Canada.[115] These picnics allowed Macdonald venues to show off his talents at campaigning, and were often lighthearted—at one, the Tory leader blamed agricultural pests on the Grits, and promised the insects would go away if the Conservatives were elected.[116]

The final days of the 3rd Canadian Parliament were marked by explosive conflict, as Macdonald and Tupper alleged that MP and railway financier Donald Smith had been allowed to build the Pembina branch of the CPR (connecting to American lines) as a reward for betraying the Conservatives during the Pacific Scandal. The altercation continued even after the Commons had been summoned to the Senate to hear the dissolution read, as Macdonald spoke the final words recorded in the 3rd Parliament: “That fellow Smith is the biggest liar I ever saw!”[117]

The election was called for 17 September 1878. Fearful that Macdonald would be defeated in Kingston, his supporters tried to get him to run in the safe Conservative riding of Cardwell; having represented his hometown for 35 years, he stood there again. In the election, Macdonald was defeated in his riding by Alexander Gunn, but the Conservatives swept to victory.[118] Macdonald remained in the House of Commons, having quickly secured his election for Marquette, Manitoba; elections there were held later than in Ontario. His acceptance of office vacated his parliamentary seat, and Macdonald decided to stand for the British Columbia seat of Victoria, where the election was to be held on 21 October. Macdonald was duly returned for Victoria,[119][120] although he had never visited either Marquette or Victoria.[121]

Third and fourth terms, 1878–1887

Macdonald in November 1883, age 68

Part of the National Policy was implemented in the budget presented in February 1879. Under that budget, Canada became a high-tariff nation like the United States and Germany.[122] The tariffs were designed to protect and build Canadian industry—finished textiles received a tariff of 34%, but the machinery to make them entered Canada free.[123] Macdonald continued to fight for higher tariffs for the remainder of his life.[124] As the budget moved forward, Macdonald studied the railway issue, and found the picture unexpectedly good. Although little money had been spent on the project under Mackenzie, several hundred miles of track had been built and nearly the entire route surveyed. In 1880, Macdonald found a syndicate, led by George Stephen, willing to undertake the CPR project. Donald Smith (later Lord Strathcona) was a major partner in the syndicate, but because of the ill will between him and the Conservatives, Smith’s participation was initially not made public, though it was well-known to Macdonald.[125] In 1880, the Dominion took over Britain’s remaining Arctic territories, which extended Canada to its present-day boundaries, with the exception of Newfoundland, which would not enter Confederation until 1949.[126] Also in 1880, Canada sent its first diplomatic representative abroad, Sir Alexander Galt as High Commissioner to Britain.[127] With good economic times, Macdonald and the Conservatives were returned with a slightly decreased majority in 1882. Macdonald was returned for the Ontario riding of Carleton.[128]

The transcontinental railroad project was heavily subsidised by the government. The CPR was granted 25,000,000 acres (100,000 km2; 39,000 sq mi) of land along the route of the railroad, and $25,000,000 from the government. In addition, the government was pledged to build $32,000,000 of other railways to support the CPR. The entire project was extremely costly, especially for a nation with only 4.1 million people in 1881.[129] Between 1880 and 1885, as the railway was slowly built, the CPR repeatedly came close to financial ruin. Not only was the terrain in the Rocky Mountains difficult, the route north of Lake Superior proved treacherous, as tracks and engines sank into the muskeg.[130] When Canadian guarantees of the CPR’s bonds failed to make them salable in a declining economy, Macdonald obtained a loan to the corporation from the Treasury—the bill authorizing it passed the Senate just before the firm would have become insolvent.[131]

Macdonald uses his parliamentary majority to roll to victory over Liberal leader Edward Blake and his party in this 1884 cartoon by John Wilson Bengough

As the transcontinental railway neared completion, the Northwest again saw unrest. Many of the Manitoban Métis had moved into the territories. Negotiations between the Métis and the Government to settle grievances over land rights proved difficult, Riel had lived in exile in the United States since 1870, he journeyed to Regina with the connivance of Macdonald’s government, who believed he would prove a leader they could deal with.[132] Instead, the Métis rose the following year under Riel in the North-West Rebellion. Macdonald put down the rebellion with militia troops transported by rail, and Riel was captured, tried for treason, convicted, and hanged. Macdonald refused to consider reprieving Riel, who was of uncertain mental health. The hanging of Riel proved bitterly controversial,[133] and alienated many Quebecers (like Riel, Catholic and culturally French Canadian) from the Conservatives—they would realign with the Liberals by the turn of the 20th century.[134] Transporting troops helped the CPR raise money. The railroad was completed on 7 November 1885; Macdonald was notified by CPR manager William Van Horne, who wired him from Craigellachie, British Columbia, where the last spike was driven home.[135]

In the summer of 1886, Macdonald traveled for the only time to western Canada, traveling from town to town by private railway car, and addressing large crowds, until reaching Vancouver. Macdonald traveled with his wife, and to get a better view, the two would sometimes sit in front of the locomotive on the train’s cowcatcher.[136] On 13 August 1886, Macdonald used a silver hammer and pounded a gold spike to complete the Esquimalt and Nanaimo Railway.[137]

In 1886, another dispute arose over fishing rights with the Americans. United States vessels had been using treaty provisions allowing them to land in Canada to take on wood and water as a cover for clandestine inshore fishing. Several vessels were detained in Canadian ports, to the outrage of Americans, who demanded their release. Macdonald sought to pass a Fisheries Act which would override some of the treaty provisions, to the dismay of the British, who were still responsible for external relations. The British government instructed the Governor General, Lord Lansdowne, to reserve Royal Assent for the bill, effectively placing it on hold without vetoing it.[138] After considerable discussion, the British government allowed Royal Assent at the end of 1886, and indicated it would send a warship to protect the fisheries if no agreement was reached with the Americans.[138]

Fifth and sixth terms, 1887–1891; death

A Conservative election poster from 1891

Fearing continued loss of political strength as poor economic times continued, Macdonald planned to hold an election by the end of 1886, but had not yet issued the writ when an Ontario provincial election was called by Macdonald’s former student, Liberal Ontario Premier Oliver Mowat. The provincial election was seen as a bellwether for the federal poll. Despite considerable campaigning by the Prime Minister, Mowat’s Liberals were returned in Ontario, and increased their majority.[138] Macdonald finally dissolved Parliament on 15 January 1887 for an election on 22 February. During the campaign, Macdonald suffered another blow when the Quebec provincial Liberals were able to form a government (four months after the October 1886 Quebec election), forcing the Conservatives from power in Quebec City. Nevertheless, Macdonald and his cabinet campaigned hard in the winter election, with Tupper (the new High Commissioner to London) postponing his departure to try to bolster Conservative hopes in Nova Scotia. The Liberal leader, Edward Blake, ran an uninspiring campaign, and the Conservatives were returned nationally with a majority of 35, winning easily in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Manitoba. The Tories even took a narrow majority of Quebec’s seats despite resentment over Riel’s hanging. Macdonald became MP for Kingston once again.[139][140] Even the younger ministers, such as future Prime Minister John Thompson, who sometimes differed with Macdonald on policy, admitted the Prime Minister was an essential electoral asset for the Conservatives.[141]

Blake, whom Macdonald biographer Gwyn describes as the Liberal Party’s “worst campaigner until Stéphane Dion early in the twenty-first century”,[142] resigned after the defeat, to be replaced by Wilfrid Laurier. Under Laurier’s early leadership, the Liberals, who had accepted much of the National Policy under Blake while questioning details, rejected it entirely, calling for “unrestricted reciprocity”, or free trade, with the United States. Advocates of Laurier’s plan argued that north–south trade made more economic sense than trying to trade across the vast, empty prairies, using a CPR which was already provoking resentment for what were seen as high freight rates. Macdonald was willing to see some reciprocity with the United States, but was reluctant to lower many tariffs.[143] American advocates of what they dubbed “commercial union” saw it as a prelude to political union, and did not scruple to say so, causing additional controversy in Canada.[144]

Sir John A. Macdonald lying in state in the Senate chamber, 8 June 1891.

Macdonald called an election for 5 March 1891. The Liberals were heavily financed by American interests; the Conservatives drew much financial support from the CPR. The 76-year-old Prime Minister collapsed during the campaign, and conducted political activities from his brother-in-law’s house in Kingston. The Conservatives gained slightly in the popular vote, but their majority was trimmed to 27.[145] The parties broke even in the central part of the country but the Conservatives dominated in the Maritimes and Western Canada, leading Liberal MP Richard John Cartwright to claim that Macdonald’s majority was dependent on “the shreds and patches of Confederation”. After the election, Laurier and his Liberals grudgingly accepted the National Policy, and when Laurier himself later became Prime Minister, he adopted it with only minor changes.[146]

Several weeks of rest after the election seemed to restore Macdonald to health. However, in late May, he suffered a stroke, which left him partially paralysed. Vehicles and vessels passing his Ottawa home, Earnscliffe, did so as quietly as possible, while the nation followed the reports from Macdonald’s sickroom. “The Old Chieftain” lingered for days, remaining mentally alert, before dying in the late evening of Saturday, 6 June 1891. Thousands filed by his open casket in the Senate Chamber; his body was transported by funeral train to his hometown of Kingston, with crowds greeting the train at each stop. On arrival in Kingston, Macdonald lay in state again in City Hall, wearing the uniform of an Imperial Privy Counselor. He was buried in Cataraqui Cemetery in Kingston,[147] his grave near that of his first wife, Isabella.[148]

Wilfrid Laurier paid tribute to Macdonald in the House of Commons:

In fact the place of Sir John A. Macdonald in this country was so large and so absorbing that it is almost impossible to conceive that the politics of this country, the fate of this country, will continue without him. His loss overwhelms us.[148]

Legacy and tributes

Macdonald Monument, Montreal

Macdonald served just under 19 years as Prime Minister, a length of service only surpassed by William Lyon Mackenzie King.[149] Unlike his American counterpart, George Washington, no cities or political subdivisions are named for Macdonald (with the exception of a small Manitoba village), nor are there any massive monuments.[150] A peak in the Rockies, Mount Macdonald at Rogers Pass, is named for him.[119] In 2001, Parliament designated 11 January as Sir John A. Macdonald Day, but the day is not a federal holiday and generally passes unremarked.[150] Macdonald appears on the present Canadian ten-dollar bill.[151] He also gives his name to Ottawa’s Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway,[152] Ottawa Macdonald-Cartier International Airport and Ontario Highway 401 (the Macdonald-Cartier Freeway), though these facilities are rarely referred to using his name.[150]

A number of sites associated with Macdonald are preserved. His gravesite has been designated a National Historic Site of Canada.[153][154] Bellevue House in Kingston, where the Macdonald family lived in the 1840s, is also a National Historic Site administered by Parks Canada, and has been restored to that time period.[155] His Ottawa home, Earnscliffe, still stands and is today the official residence of the British High Commissioner to Canada.[119] Statues have been erected to Macdonald across Canada;[156] one stands on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.[157] A statue of Macdonald stands atop a granite plinth originally intended for a statue of Queen Victoria in Toronto’s Queen’s Park, looking south on University Avenue.[158] Macdonald’s statue also stands in Kingston’s City Park; the Kingston Historical Society annually holds a memorial service in his honour.[159]

Canadian stamp honouring Macdonald, 1927

Conservative Senator Hugh Segal believes that Macdonald’s true monument is Canada itself: “Without Macdonald we’d be a country that begins somewhere at the Manitoba-Ontario border that probably goes throughout the east. Newfoundland would be like Alaska and I think that would also go for Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. We’d be buying our oil from the United States. It would diminish our quality of life and range of careers, and our role in the world would have been substantially reduced.”[150] Macdonald’s biographers note his contribution to establishing Canada as a nation. Swainson suggests that Macdonald’s desire for a free and tolerant Canada became part of its national outlook: “He not only helped to create Canada, but contributed immeasurably to its character.”[160] Gwyn said of Macdonald,

his accomplishments were staggering: Confederation above all, but almost as important, if not more so, extending the country across the continent by a railway that was, objectively, a fiscal and economic insanity … On the ledger’s other side, he was responsible for the CPR scandal, the execution of Louis Riel, and for the head tax on Chinese workers. He’s thus not easy to scan. His private life was mostly barren. Yet few other Canadian leaders—Pierre Trudeau, John Diefenbaker for a time, Wilfrid Laurier—had the same capacity to inspire love.[161]

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Alexander Graham Bell

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Alexander Graham Bell
Portrait photo taken between 1914–19.
Born March 3, 1847
Edinburgh, Scotland
Died August 2, 1922(1922-08-02) (aged 75)
Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia, Canada
Cause of death
 Complications from diabetes [1]
Residence
Citizenship
Alma mater
Occupation
  • Inventor
  • Scientist
  • Engineer
  • Professor a

Teacher of the deaf [N 2]
Known for Invention of the telephone b
Spouse(s) Mabel Hubbard (m. 1877–1922)
Children four c
Parents
Relatives
Awards
Re-identified in 2013, Bell made this wax-disc recording of his voice in 1885.
Signature AGB Signature.svg
Notes

Alexander Graham Bell (March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922)[4] was an eminent Scottish-born scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone.[N 3]

Bell’s father, grandfather, and brother had all been associated with work on elocution and speech, and both his mother and wife were deaf, profoundly influencing Bell’s life’s work.[7] His research on hearing and speech further led him to experiment with hearing devices which eventually culminated in Bell being awarded the first U.S. patent for the telephone in 1876.[N 4] Bell considered his most famous invention an intrusion on his real work as a scientist and refused to have a telephone in his study.[9][N 5]

Many other inventions marked Bell’s later life, including groundbreaking work in optical telecommunications, hydrofoils and aeronautics. In 1888, Bell became one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society.[11]

Early life

Alexander Bell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, on March 3, 1847.[12] The family home was at 16 South Charlotte Street, and has a stone inscription marking it as Alexander Graham Bell’s birthplace. He had two brothers: Melville James Bell (1845–70) and Edward Charles Bell (1848–67). Both of his brothers died of tuberculosis.[13] His father was Professor Alexander Melville Bell, and his mother was Eliza Grace (née Symonds).[N 6] Although he was born “Alexander”, at age 10, he made a plea to his father to have a middle name like his two brothers.[14][N 7] For his 11th birthday, his father acquiesced and allowed him to adopt the middle name “Graham”, chosen out of admiration for Alexander Graham, a Canadian being treated by his father and boarder who had become a family friend.[15] To close relatives and friends he remained “Aleck” which his father continued to call him into later life.[16]

First invention

As a child, young Alexander displayed a natural curiosity about his world, resulting in gathering botanical specimens as well as experimenting even at an early age. His best friend was Ben Herdman, a neighbor whose family operated a flour mill, the scene of many forays. Young Aleck asked what needed to be done at the mill. He was told wheat had to be dehusked through a laborious process and at the age of 12, Bell built a homemade device that combined rotating paddles with sets of nail brushes, creating a simple dehusking machine that was put into operation and used steadily for a number of years.[17] In return, John Herdman gave both boys the run of a small workshop in which to “invent”.[17]

From his early years, Bell showed a sensitive nature and a talent for art, poetry and music that was encouraged by his mother. With no formal training, he mastered the piano and became the family’s pianist.[18] Despite being normally quiet and introspective, he reveled in mimicry and “voice tricks” akin to ventriloquism that continually entertained family guests during their occasional visits.[18] Bell was also deeply affected by his mother’s gradual deafness, (she began to lose her hearing when he was 12) and learned a manual finger language so he could sit at her side and tap out silently the conversations swirling around the family parlour.[19] He also developed a technique of speaking in clear, modulated tones directly into his mother’s forehead wherein she would hear him with reasonable clarity.[20] Bell’s preoccupation with his mother’s deafness led him to study acoustics.

His family was long associated with the teaching of elocution: his grandfather, Alexander Bell, in London, his uncle in Dublin, and his father, in Edinburgh, were all elocutionists. His father published a variety of works on the subject, several of which are still well known, especially his The Standard Elocutionist (1860),[18] which appeared in Edinburgh in 1868. The Standard Elocutionist appeared in 168 British editions and sold over a quarter of a million copies in the United States alone. In this treatise, his father explains his methods of how to instruct deaf-mutes (as they were then known) to articulate words and read other people’s lip movements to decipher meaning. Aleck’s father taught him and his brothers not only to write Visible Speech but to identify any symbol and its accompanying sound.[21] Aleck became so proficient that he became a part of his father’s public demonstrations and astounded audiences with his abilities. He could decipher Visible Speech representing virtually every language, including Latin, Scottish Gaelic and even Sanskrit, accurately reciting written tracts without any prior knowledge of their pronunciation.[21]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to a young Bell with his parents.

Education

As a young child, Bell, like his brothers, received his early schooling at home from his father. At an early age, however, he was enrolled at the Royal High School, Edinburgh, Scotland, which he left at age 15, completing only the first four forms.[22] His school record was undistinguished, marked by absenteeism and lacklustre grades. His main interest remained in the sciences, especially biology, while he treated other school subjects with indifference, to the dismay of his demanding father.[23] Upon leaving school, Bell travelled to London to live with his grandfather, Alexander Bell. During the year he spent with his grandfather, a love of learning was born, with long hours spent in serious discussion and study. The elder Bell took great efforts to have his young pupil learn to speak clearly and with conviction, the attributes that his pupil would need to become a teacher himself.[24] At age 16, Bell secured a position as a “pupil-teacher” of elocution and music, in Weston House Academy, at Elgin, Moray, Scotland. Although he was enrolled as a student in Latin and Greek, he instructed classes himself in return for board and £10 per session.[25] The following year, he attended the University of Edinburgh; joining his older brother Melville who had enrolled there the previous year. In 1868, not long before he departed for Canada with his family, Aleck completed his matriculation exams and was accepted for admission to the University of London.[26]

First experiments with sound

Bell’s father encouraged Aleck’s interest in speech and, in 1863, took his sons to see a unique automaton, developed by Sir Charles Wheatstone based on the earlier work of Baron Wolfgang von Kempelen.[27] The rudimentary “mechanical man” simulated a human voice. Aleck was fascinated by the machine and after he obtained a copy of von Kempelen’s book, published in German, and had laboriously translated it, he and his older brother Melville built their own automaton head. Their father, highly interested in their project, offered to pay for any supplies and spurred the boys on with the enticement of a “big prize” if they were successful.[27] While his brother constructed the throat and larynx, Aleck tackled the more difficult task of recreating a realistic skull. His efforts resulted in a remarkably lifelike head that could “speak”, albeit only a few words.[27] The boys would carefully adjust the “lips” and when a bellows forced air through the windpipe, a very recognizable “Mama” ensued, to the delight of neighbors who came to see the Bell invention.[28]

Intrigued by the results of the automaton, Bell continued to experiment with a live subject, the family’s Skye Terrier, “Trouve”.[29] After he taught it to growl continuously, Aleck would reach into its mouth and manipulate the dog’s lips and vocal cords to produce a crude-sounding “Ow ah oo ga ma ma”. With little convincing, visitors believed his dog could articulate “How are you grandma?” More indicative of his playful nature, his experiments convinced onlookers that they saw a “talking dog”.[30] However, these initial forays into experimentation with sound led Bell to undertake his first serious work on the transmission of sound, using tuning forks to explore resonance.

At the age of 19, he wrote a report on his work and sent it to philologist Alexander Ellis, a colleague of his father (who would later be portrayed as Professor Henry Higgins in Pygmalion).[30] Ellis immediately wrote back indicating that the experiments were similar to existing work in Germany, and also lent Aleck a copy of Hermann von Helmholtz‘s work, The Sensations of Tone as a Physiological Basis for the Theory of Music.[31]

Dismayed to find that groundbreaking work had already been undertaken by Helmholtz who had conveyed vowel sounds by means of a similar tuning fork “contraption”, he pored over the German scientist’s book. Working from his own erroneous mistranslation of a French edition,[32] Aleck fortuitously then made a deduction that would be the underpinning of all his future work on transmitting sound, reporting: “Without knowing much about the subject, it seemed to me that if vowel sounds could be produced by electrical means, so could consonants, so could articulate speech.” He also later remarked: “I thought that Helmholtz had done it … and that my failure was due only to my ignorance of electricity. It was a valuable blunder … If I had been able to read German in those days, I might never have commenced my experiments!”[33][34][35][N 8]

Family tragedy

In 1865, when the Bell family moved to London,[36] Bell returned to Weston House as an assistant master and, in his spare hours, continued experiments on sound using a minimum of laboratory equipment. Bell concentrated on experimenting with electricity to convey sound and later installed a telegraph wire from his room in Somerset College to that of a friend.[37] Throughout late 1867, his health faltered mainly through exhaustion. His younger brother, Edward “Ted,” was similarly bed-ridden, suffering from tuberculosis. While Bell recovered (by then referring to himself in correspondence as “A.G. Bell”) and served the next year as an instructor at Somerset College, Bath, England, his brother’s condition deteriorated. Edward would never recover. Upon his brother’s death, Bell returned home in 1867. His older brother Melville had married and moved out. With aspirations to obtain a degree at the University College London, Bell considered his next years as preparation for the degree examinations, devoting his spare time at his family’s residence to studying.

Helping his father in Visible Speech demonstrations and lectures brought Bell to Susanna E. Hull’s private school for the deaf in South Kensington, London. His first two pupils were “deaf mute” girls who made remarkable progress under his tutelage. While his older brother seemed to achieve success on many fronts including opening his own elocution school, applying for a patent on an invention, and starting a family, Bell continued as a teacher. However, in May 1870, Melville died from complications due to tuberculosis, causing a family crisis. His father had also suffered a debilitating illness earlier in life and had been restored to health by a convalescence in Newfoundland. Bell’s parents embarked upon a long-planned move when they realized that their remaining son was also sickly. Acting decisively, Alexander Melville Bell asked Bell to arrange for the sale of all the family property,[38][N 9] conclude all of his brother’s affairs (Bell took over his last student, curing a pronounced lisp),[39] and join his father and mother in setting out for the “New World“.[40] Reluctantly, Bell also had to conclude a relationship with Marie Eccleston, who, as he had surmised, was not prepared to leave England with him.[40]

Canada

Main article: Bell Homestead National Historic Site

Melville House, the Bells’ first home in North America, now a National Historic Site of Canada.

In 1870, at age 23, Bell, his brother’s widow, Caroline (Margaret Ottaway),[41] and his parents travelled on the SS Nestorian to Canada.[42] After landing at Quebec City the Bells transferred to another steamer to Montreal and then boarded a train to Paris, Ontario,[43] to stay with the Reverend Thomas Henderson, a family friend. After a brief stay with the Hendersons, the Bell family purchased a farm of 10.5 acres (42,000 m2) at Tutelo Heights (now called Tutela Heights), near Brantford, Ontario. The property consisted of an orchard, large farm house, stable, pigsty, hen-house and a carriage house, which bordered the Grand River.[44][N 10]

At the homestead, Bell set up his own workshop in the converted carriage house[46] near to what he called his “dreaming place”, a large hollow nestled in trees at the back of the property above the river.[47] Despite his frail condition upon arriving in Canada, Bell found the climate and environs to his liking, and rapidly improved.[48][N 11] He continued his interest in the study of the human voice and when he discovered the Six Nations Reserve across the river at Onondaga, he learned the Mohawk language and translated its unwritten vocabulary into Visible Speech symbols. For his work, Bell was awarded the title of Honorary Chief and participated in a ceremony where he donned a Mohawk headdress and danced traditional dances.[49][N 12]

After setting up his workshop, Bell continued experiments based on Helmholtz’s work with electricity and sound.[46] He also modified a melodeon (a type of pump organ) so that it could transmit its music electrically over a distance.[50] Once the family was settled in, both Bell and his father made plans to establish a teaching practice and in 1871, he accompanied his father to Montreal, where Melville was offered a position to teach his System of Visible Speech.

Work with the deaf

Bell, top right, providing pedagogical instruction to teachers at the Boston School for Deaf Mutes, 1871. Throughout his life he referred to himself as “a teacher of the deaf”.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to the Scott Circle School for Deaf Children.

Bell’s father was invited by Sarah Fuller, principal of the Boston School for Deaf Mutes (which continues today as the public Horace Mann School for the Deaf),[51] in Boston, Massachusetts, to introduce the Visible Speech System by providing training for Fuller’s instructors, but he declined the post in favor of his son. Traveling to Boston in April 1871, Bell proved successful in training the school’s instructors.[52] He was subsequently asked to repeat the program at the American Asylum for Deaf-mutes in Hartford, Connecticut, and the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts.

Returning home to Brantford after six months abroad, Bell continued his experiments with his “harmonic telegraph”.[53][N 13] The basic concept behind his device was that messages could be sent through a single wire if each message was transmitted at a different pitch, but work on both the transmitter and receiver was needed.[54]

Unsure of his future, he first contemplated returning to London to complete his studies, but decided to return to Boston as a teacher.[55] His father helped him set up his private practice by contacting Gardiner Greene Hubbard, the president of the Clarke School for the Deaf for a recommendation. Teaching his father’s system, in October 1872, Alexander Bell opened his “School of Vocal Physiology and Mechanics of Speech” in Boston, which attracted a large number of deaf pupils, with his first class numbering 30 students.[56][57] While he was working as a private tutor, one of his most famous pupils was Helen Keller, who came to him as a young child unable to see, hear, or speak. She was later to say that Bell dedicated his life to the penetration of that “inhuman silence which separates and estranges.”[58] In 1893, Keller performed the sod-breaking ceremony for the construction of the new Bell’s new Volta Bureau, dedicated to “the increase and diffusion of knowledge relating to the deaf”.[59][60]

Several influential people of the time, including Bell, viewed deafness as something that should be eradicated, and also believed that with resources and effort they could teach the deaf to speak and avoid the use of sign language, thus enabling their integration within the wider society from which many were often being excluded.[61] In several schools, children were mistreated, for example by having their hands tied behind their backs so they could not communicate by signing—the only language they knew—in an attempt to force them to attempt oral communication. Owing to his efforts to suppress the teaching of sign language, Bell is often viewed negatively by those embracing deaf culture.[62]

Continuing experimentation

In the following year, Bell became professor of Vocal Physiology and Elocution at the Boston University School of Oratory. During this period, he alternated between Boston and Brantford, spending summers in his Canadian home. At Boston University, Bell was “swept up” by the excitement engendered by the many scientists and inventors residing in the city. He continued his research in sound and endeavored to find a way to transmit musical notes and articulate speech, but although absorbed by his experiments, he found it difficult to devote enough time to experimentation. While days and evenings were occupied by his teaching and private classes, Bell began to stay awake late into the night, running experiment after experiment in rented facilities at his boarding house. Keeping “night owl” hours, he worried that his work would be discovered and took great pains to lock up his notebooks and laboratory equipment. Bell had a specially made table where he could place his notes and equipment inside a locking cover.[63] Worse still, his health deteriorated as he suffered severe headaches.[54] Returning to Boston in fall 1873, Bell made a fateful decision to concentrate on his experiments in sound.

Deciding to give up his lucrative private Boston practice, Bell retained only two students, six-year-old “Georgie” Sanders, deaf from birth, and 15-year-old Mabel Hubbard. Each pupil would play an important role in the next developments. George’s father, Thomas Sanders, a wealthy businessman, offered Bell a place to stay in nearby Salem with Georgie’s grandmother, complete with a room to “experiment”. Although the offer was made by George’s mother and followed the year-long arrangement in 1872 where her son and his nurse had moved to quarters next to Bell’s boarding house, it was clear that Mr. Sanders was backing the proposal. The arrangement was for teacher and student to continue their work together, with free room and board thrown in.[64] Mabel was a bright, attractive girl who was ten years Bell’s junior, but became the object of his affection. Having lost her hearing after a near-fatal bout of scarlet fever close to her fifth birthday,[65][66][N 14] she had learned to read lips but her father, Gardiner Greene Hubbard, Bell’s benefactor and personal friend, wanted her to work directly with her teacher.[67]

Telephone

Main article: Invention of the telephone

By 1874, Bell’s initial work on the harmonic telegraph had entered a formative stage, with progress made both at his new Boston “laboratory” (a rented facility) and at his family home in Canada a big success.[N 15] While working that summer in Brantford, Bell experimented with a “phonautograph“, a pen-like machine that could draw shapes of sound waves on smoked glass by tracing their vibrations. Bell thought it might be possible to generate undulating electrical currents that corresponded to sound waves.[68] Bell also thought that multiple metal reeds tuned to different frequencies like a harp would be able to convert the undulating currents back into sound. But he had no working model to demonstrate the feasibility of these ideas.[69]

In 1874, telegraph message traffic was rapidly expanding and in the words of Western Union President William Orton, had become “the nervous system of commerce”. Orton had contracted with inventors Thomas Edison and Elisha Gray to find a way to send multiple telegraph messages on each telegraph line to avoid the great cost of constructing new lines.[70] When Bell mentioned to Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders that he was working on a method of sending multiple tones on a telegraph wire using a multi-reed device, the two wealthy patrons began to financially support Bell’s experiments.[71] Patent matters would be handled by Hubbard’s patent attorney, Anthony Pollok.[72]

In March 1875, Bell and Pollok visited the famous scientist Joseph Henry, who was then director of the Smithsonian Institution, and asked Henry’s advice on the electrical multi-reed apparatus that Bell hoped would transmit the human voice by telegraph. Henry replied that Bell had “the germ of a great invention”. When Bell said that he did not have the necessary knowledge, Henry replied, “Get it!” That declaration greatly encouraged Bell to keep trying, even though he did not have the equipment needed to continue his experiments, nor the ability to create a working model of his ideas. However, a chance meeting in 1874 between Bell and Thomas A. Watson, an experienced electrical designer and mechanic at the electrical machine shop of Charles Williams, changed all that.

With financial support from Sanders and Hubbard, Bell hired Thomas Watson as his assistant,[N 16] and the two of them experimented with acoustic telegraphy. On June 2, 1875, Watson accidentally plucked one of the reeds and Bell, at the receiving end of the wire, heard the overtones of the reed; overtones that would be necessary for transmitting speech. That demonstrated to Bell that only one reed or armature was necessary, not multiple reeds. This led to the “gallows” sound-powered telephone, which could transmit indistinct, voice-like sounds, but not clear speech.

The race to the patent office

Main article: Elisha Gray and Alexander Bell telephone controversy

In 1875, Bell developed an acoustic telegraph and drew up a patent application for it. Since he had agreed to share U.S. profits with his investors Gardiner Hubbard and Thomas Sanders, Bell requested that an associate in Ontario, George Brown, attempt to patent it in Britain, instructing his lawyers to apply for a patent in the U.S. only after they received word from Britain (Britain would issue patents only for discoveries not previously patented elsewhere).[75]

Alexander Graham Bell’s telephone patent[76] drawing, March 7, 1876.

Meanwhile, Elisha Gray was also experimenting with acoustic telegraphy and thought of a way to transmit speech using a water transmitter. On February 14, 1876, Gray filed a caveat with the U.S. Patent Office for a telephone design that used a water transmitter. That same morning, Bell’s lawyer filed Bell’s application with the patent office. There is considerable debate about who arrived first and Gray later challenged the primacy of Bell’s patent. Bell was in Boston on February 14 and did not arrive in Washington until February 26.

Bell’s patent 174,465, was issued to Bell on March 7, 1876, by the U.S. Patent Office. Bell’s patent covered “the method of, and apparatus for, transmitting vocal or other sounds telegraphically … by causing electrical undulations, similar in form to the vibrations of the air accompanying the said vocal or other sound”[77] [N 17] Bell returned to Boston the same day and the next day resumed work, drawing in his notebook a diagram similar to that in Gray’s patent caveat.

On March 10, 1876, three days after his patent was issued, Bell succeeded in getting his telephone to work, using a liquid transmitter similar to Gray’s design. Vibration of the diaphragm caused a needle to vibrate in the water, varying the electrical resistance in the circuit. When Bell spoke the famous sentence “Mr. Watson—Come here—I want to see you” into the liquid transmitter,[78] Watson, listening at the receiving end in an adjoining room, heard the words clearly.[79]

Although Bell was, and still is, accused of stealing the telephone from Gray,[80] Bell used Gray’s water transmitter design only after Bell’s patent had been granted, and only as a proof of concept scientific experiment,[81] to prove to his own satisfaction that intelligible “articulate speech” (Bell’s words) could be electrically transmitted.[82] After March 1876, Bell focused on improving the electromagnetic telephone and never used Gray’s liquid transmitter in public demonstrations or commercial use.[83]

The question of priority for the variable resistance feature of the telephone was raised by the examiner before he approved Bell’s patent application. He told Bell that his claim for the variable resistance feature was also described in Gray’s caveat. Bell pointed to a variable resistance device in Bell’s previous application in which Bell described a cup of mercury, not water. Bell had filed the mercury application at the patent office a year earlier on February 25, 1875, long before Elisha Gray described the water device. In addition, Gray abandoned his caveat, and because he did not contest Bell’s priority, the examiner approved Bell’s patent on March 3, 1876. Gray had reinvented the variable resistance telephone, but Bell was the first to write down the idea and the first to test it in a telephone.[84]

The patent examiner, Zenas Fisk Wilber, later stated in an affidavit that he was an alcoholic who was much in debt to Bell’s lawyer, Marcellus Bailey, with whom he had served in the Civil War. He claimed he showed Gray’s patent caveat to Bailey. Wilber also claimed (after Bell arrived in Washington D.C. from Boston) that he showed Gray’s caveat to Bell and that Bell paid him $100. Bell claimed they discussed the patent only in general terms, although in a letter to Gray, Bell admitted that he learned some of the technical details. Bell denied in an affidavit that he ever gave Wilber any money.[85]

Later developments

Continuing his experiments in Brantford, Bell brought home a working model of his telephone. On August 3, 1876, from the telegraph office in Mount Pleasant five miles (eight km) away from Brantford, Bell sent a tentative telegram indicating that he was ready. With curious onlookers packed into the office as witnesses, faint voices were heard replying. The following night, he amazed guests as well as his family when a message was received at the Bell home from Brantford, four miles (six km) distant, along an improvised wire strung up along telegraph lines and fences, and laid through a tunnel. This time, guests at the household distinctly heard people in Brantford reading and singing. These experiments clearly proved that the telephone could work over long distances.[86]

Bell at the opening of the long-distance line from New York to Chicago in 1892.

Bell and his partners, Hubbard and Sanders, offered to sell the patent outright to Western Union for $100,000. The president of Western Union balked, countering that the telephone was nothing but a toy. Two years later, he told colleagues that if he could get the patent for $25 million he would consider it a bargain. By then, the Bell company no longer wanted to sell the patent.[87] Bell’s investors would become millionaires, while he fared well from residuals and at one point had assets of nearly one million dollars.[88]

Bell began a series of public demonstrations and lectures to introduce the new invention to the scientific community as well as the general public. A short time later, his demonstration of an early telephone prototype at the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia brought the telephone to international attention.[89] Influential visitors to the exhibition included Emperor Pedro II of Brazil. Later Bell had the opportunity to demonstrate the invention personally to Sir William Thomson (later, Lord Kelvin), a renowned Scottish scientist, as well as to Queen Victoria, who had requested a private audience at Osborne House, her Isle of Wight home. She called the demonstration “most extraordinary”. The enthusiasm surrounding Bell’s public displays laid the groundwork for universal acceptance of the revolutionary device.[90]

The Bell Telephone Company was created in 1877, and by 1886, more than 150,000 people in the U.S. owned telephones. Bell Company engineers made numerous other improvements to the telephone, which emerged as one of the most successful products ever. In 1879, the Bell company acquired Edison’s patents for the carbon microphone from Western Union. This made the telephone practical for longer distances, and it was no longer necessary to shout to be heard at the receiving telephone.

In January 1915, Bell made the first ceremonial transcontinental telephone call. Calling from the AT&T head office at 15 Dey Street in New York City, Bell was heard by Thomas Watson at 333 Grant Avenue in San Francisco. The New York Times reported:

On October 9, 1876, Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas A. Watson talked by telephone to each other over a two-mile wire stretched between Cambridge and Boston. It was the first wire conversation ever held. Yesterday afternoon [on January 25, 1915] the same two men talked by telephone to each other over a 3,400-mile wire between New York and San Francisco. Dr. Bell, the veteran inventor of the telephone, was in New York, and Mr. Watson, his former associate, was on the other side of the continent. They heard each other much more distinctly than they did in their first talk thirty-eight years ago.[91]

Competitors

See also: Canadian Parliamentary Motion on Alexander Graham Bell

As is sometimes common in scientific discoveries, simultaneous developments can occur, as evidenced by a number of inventors who were at work on the telephone.[9] Over a period of 18 years, the Bell Telephone Company faced 587 court challenges to its patents, including five that went to the U.S. Supreme Court,[92] but none was successful in establishing priority over the original Bell patent[93][94] and the Bell Telephone Company never lost a case that had proceeded to a final trial stage.[93] Bell’s laboratory notes and family letters were the key to establishing a long lineage to his experiments.[93] The Bell company lawyers successfully fought off myriad lawsuits generated initially around the challenges by Elisha Gray and Amos Dolbear. In personal correspondence to Bell, both Gray and Dolbear had acknowledged his prior work, which considerably weakened their later claims.[95]

On January 13, 1887, the U,S. Government moved to annul the patent issued to Bell on the grounds of fraud and misrepresentation. After a series of decisions and reversals, the Bell company won a decision in the Supreme Court, though a couple of the original claims from the lower court cases were left undecided.[96][97] By the time that the trial wound its way through nine years of legal battles, the U.S. prosecuting attorney had died and the two Bell patents (No. 174,465 and dated March 7, 1876 and No. 186,787 dated January 30, 1877) were no longer in effect, although the presiding judges agreed to continue the proceedings due to the case’s importance as a “precedent”. With a change in administration and charges of conflict of interest (on both sides) arising from the original trial, the US Attorney General dropped the lawsuit on November 30, 1897 leaving several issues undecided on the merits.[98]

During a deposition filed for the 1887 trial, Italian inventor Antonio Meucci also claimed to have created the first working model of a telephone in Italy in 1834. In 1886, in the first of three cases in which he was involved, Meucci took the stand as a witness in the hopes of establishing his invention’s priority. Meucci’s evidence in this case was disputed due to a lack of material evidence for his inventions as his working models were purportedly lost at the laboratory of American District Telegraph (ADT) of New York, which was later incorporated as a subsidiary of Western Union in 1901.[99][100] Meucci’s work, like many other inventors of the period, was based on earlier acoustic principles and despite evidence of earlier experiments, the final case involving Meucci was eventually dropped upon Meucci’s death.[101] However, due to the efforts of Congressman Vito Fossella, the U.S. House of Representatives on June 11, 2002 stated that Meucci’s “work in the invention of the telephone should be acknowledged”, even though this did not put an end to a still contentious issue.[102][103] [N 18][104] Some modern scholars do not agree with the claims that Bell’s work on the telephone was influenced by Meucci’s inventions.[105] [N 19]

The value of the Bell patent was acknowledged throughout the world, and patent applications were made in most major countries, but when Bell had delayed the German patent application, the electrical firm of Siemens & Halske (S&H) managed to set up a rival manufacturer of Bell telephones under their own patent. The Siemens company produced near-identical copies of the Bell telephone without having to pay royalties.[106] The establishment of the International Bell Telephone Company in Brussels, Belgium in 1880, as well as a series of agreements in other countries eventually consolidated a global telephone operation. The strain put on Bell by his constant appearances in court, necessitated by the legal battles, eventually resulted in his resignation from the company.[107][N 20]

Further information: The Telephone Cases

Family life

Alexander Graham Bell, his wife Mabel Gardiner Hubbard, and their daughters Elsie (left) and Marian ca. 1885

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bell and his family members.

The Brodhead-Bell mansion, the Bell family residence in Washington, D.C., from 1882 to 1889.[108]

On July 11, 1877, a few days after the Bell Telephone Company was established, Bell married Mabel Hubbard (1857–1923) at the Hubbard estate in Cambridge, Massachusetts. His wedding present to his bride was to turn over 1,487 of his 1,497 shares in the newly formed Bell Telephone Company.[109] Shortly thereafter, the newlyweds embarked on a year-long honeymoon in Europe. During that excursion, Alec took a handmade model of his telephone with him, making it a “working holiday”. The courtship had begun years earlier; however, Alexander waited until he was more financially secure before marrying. Although the telephone appeared to be an “instant” success, it was not initially a profitable venture and Bell’s main sources of income were from lectures until after 1897.[110] One unusual request exacted by his fiancée was that he use “Alec” rather than the family’s earlier familiar name of “Aleck”. From 1876, he would sign his name “Alec Bell”.[111][N 21] They had four children: Elsie May Bell (1878–1964) who married Gilbert Grosvenor of National Geographic fame,[N 22][N 23][N 24] [N 25] Marian Hubbard Bell (1880–1962) who was referred to as “Daisy”,[112][N 26] and two sons who died in infancy (Edward in 1881 and Robert in 1883). The Bell family home was in Cambridge, Massachusetts, until 1880 when Bell’s father-in-law bought a house in Washington, D.C., and later in 1882 bought a home in the same city for Bell’s family, so that they could be with him while he attended to the numerous court cases involving patent disputes.[114]

Bell was a British subject throughout his early life in Scotland and later in Canada until 1882, when he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. In 1915, he characterized his status as: “I am not one of those hyphenated Americans who claim allegiance to two countries.”[115] Despite this declaration, Bell has been proudly claimed as a “native son” by all three countries he resided in: the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.[116]

By 1885, a new summer retreat was contemplated. That summer, the Bells had a vacation on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, spending time at the small village of Baddeck.[117] Returning in 1886, Bell started building an estate on a point across from Baddeck, overlooking Bras d’Or Lake.[118] By 1889, a large house, christened The Lodge was completed and two years later, a larger complex of buildings, including a new laboratory,[117] were begun that the Bells would name Beinn Bhreagh (Gaelic: beautiful mountain) after Alec’s ancestral Scottish highlands.[119] [N 27] Bell also built the Bell Boatyard on the estate, employing up to 40 people building experimental craft as well as wartime lifeboats and workboats for the Royal Canadian Navy and pleasure craft for the Bell family. An enthusiastic boater, Bell and his family sailed a rowed a long series of vessels on Bras d’Or Lake, ordering additional vessels from the H.W. Embree and Sons boatyard in Port Hawkesbury, Nova Scotia. In his final, and some of his most productive years, Bell split his residency between Washington, D.C., where he and his family initially resided for most of the year, and at Beinn Bhreagh where they spent increasing amounts of time.[120]

Until the end of his life, Bell and his family would alternate between the two homes, but Beinn Bhreagh would, over the next 30 years, become more than a summer home as Bell became so absorbed in his experiments that his annual stays lengthened. Both Mabel and Alec became immersed in the Baddeck community and were accepted by the villagers as “their own”.[117][N 28] The Bells were still in residence at Beinn Bhreagh when the Halifax Explosion occurred on December 6, 1917. Mabel and Alec mobilized the community to help victims in Halifax.[121]

Further information: Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia

Later inventions

Alexander Graham Bell in his later years.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Bell’s many inventions.

Although Alexander Graham Bell is most often associated with the invention of the telephone, his interests were extremely varied. According to one of his biographers, Charlotte Gray, Bell’s work ranged “unfettered across the scientific landscape” and he often went to bed voraciously reading the Encyclopædia Britannica, scouring it for new areas of interest.[122] The range of Bell’s inventive genius is represented only in part by the 18 patents granted in his name alone and the 12 he shared with his collaborators. These included 14 for the telephone and telegraph, four for the photophone, one for the phonograph, five for aerial vehicles, four for “hydroairplanes” and two for selenium cells. Bell’s inventions spanned a wide range of interests and included a metal jacket to assist in breathing, the audiometer to detect minor hearing problems, a device to locate icebergs, investigations on how to separate salt from seawater, and work on finding alternative fuels.

Bell worked extensively in medical research and invented techniques for teaching speech to the deaf. During his Volta Laboratory period, Bell and his associates considered impressing a magnetic field on a record as a means of reproducing sound. Although the trio briefly experimented with the concept, they could not develop a workable prototype. They abandoned the idea, never realizing they had glimpsed a basic principle which would one day find its application in the tape recorder, the hard disc and floppy disc drive and other magnetic media.

Bell’s own home used a primitive form of air conditioning, in which fans blew currents of air across great blocks of ice. He also anticipated modern concerns with fuel shortages and industrial pollution. Methane gas, he reasoned, could be produced from the waste of farms and factories. At his Canadian estate in Nova Scotia, he experimented with composting toilets and devices to capture water from the atmosphere. In a magazine interview published shortly before his death, he reflected on the possibility of using solar panels to heat houses.

Photophone

Main article: Photophone
Photophone receiver, one half of Bell’s wireless optical communication system, ca. 1880

Bell and his assistant Charles Sumner Tainter jointly invented a wireless telephone, named a photophone, which allowed for the transmission of both sounds and normal human conversations on a beam of light.[123][124] Both men later became full associates in the Volta Laboratory Association.

On June 21, 1880, Bell’s assistant transmitted a wireless voice telephone message a considerable distance, from the roof of the Franklin School in Washington, D.C., to Bell at the window of his laboratory, some 213 metres (700 ft) away, 19 years before the first voice radio transmissions.[113][125][126][127]

Bell believed the photophone’s principles were his life’s “greatest achievement”, telling a reporter shortly before his death that the photophone was “the greatest invention [I have] ever made, greater than the telephone”.[128] The photophone was a precursor to the fiber-optic communication systems which achieved popular worldwide usage in the 1980s.[129][130] Its master patent was issued in December 1880, many decades before the photophone’s principles came into popular use.

Metal detector

Bell’s voice, from a Volta Laboratory recording in 1885. Restored by the Smithsonian in 2013.

Bell is also credited with the invention of the metal detector in 1881. The device was quickly put together in an attempt to find the bullet in the body of U.S. President James Garfield. According to some accounts, the metal detector worked flawlessly in tests but did not find the assassin’s bullet partly because the metal bed frame on which the President was lying disturbed the instrument, resulting in static.[131] The president’s surgeons, who were skeptical of the device, ignored Bell’s requests to move the president to a bed not fitted with metal springs.[131] Alternatively, although Bell had detected a slight sound on his first test, the bullet may have been lodged too deeply to be detected by the crude apparatus.[131]

Bell’s own detailed account, presented to the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1882, differs in several particulars from most of the many and varied versions now in circulation, most notably by concluding that extraneous metal was not to blame for failure to locate the bullet. Perplexed by the peculiar results he had obtained during an examination of Garfield, Bell “…proceeded to the Executive Mansion the next morning…to ascertain from the surgeons whether they were perfectly sure that all metal had been removed from the neighborhood of the bed. It was then recollected that underneath the horse-hair mattress on which the President lay was another mattress composed of steel wires. Upon obtaining a duplicate, the mattress was found to consist of a sort of net of woven steel wires, with large meshes. The extent of the [area that produced a response from the detector] having been so small, as compared with the area of the bed, it seemed reasonable to conclude that the steel mattress had produced no detrimental effect.” In a footnote, Bell adds that “The death of President Garfield and the subsequent post-mortem examination, however, proved that the bullet was at too great a distance from the surface to have affected our apparatus.”[132]

Hydrofoils

Main article: HD-4

Bell HD-4 on a test run ca. 1919

The March 1906 Scientific American article by American pioneer William E. Meacham explained the basic principle of hydrofoils and hydroplanes. Bell considered the invention of the hydroplane as a very significant achievement. Based on information gained from that article he began to sketch concepts of what is now called a hydrofoil boat. Bell and assistant Frederick W. “Casey” Baldwin began hydrofoil experimentation in the summer of 1908 as a possible aid to airplane takeoff from water. Baldwin studied the work of the Italian inventor Enrico Forlanini and began testing models. This led him and Bell to the development of practical hydrofoil watercraft.

During his world tour of 1910–11, Bell and Baldwin met with Forlanini in France. They had rides in the Forlanini hydrofoil boat over Lake Maggiore. Baldwin described it as being as smooth as flying. On returning to Baddeck, a number of initial concepts were built as experimental models, including the Dhonnas Beag, the first self-propelled Bell-Baldwin hydrofoil.[133] The experimental boats were essentially proof-of-concept prototypes that culminated in the more substantial HD-4, powered by Renault engines. A top speed of 54 miles per hour (87 km/h) was achieved, with the hydrofoil exhibiting rapid acceleration, good stability and steering along with the ability to take waves without difficulty.[134] In 1913, Dr. Bell hired Walter Pinaud, a Sydney yacht designer and builder as well as the proprietor of Pinaud’s Yacht Yard in Westmount, Nova Scotia to work on the pontoons of the HD-4. Pinaud soon took over the boatyard at Bell Laboratories on Beinn Bhreagh, Bell’s estate near Baddeck, Nova Scotia. Pinaud’s experience in boat-building enabled him to make useful design changes to the HD-4. After the First World War, work began again on the HD-4. Bell’s report to the U.S. Navy permitted him to obtain two 350 horsepower (260 kilowatts) engines in July 1919. On September 9, 1919, the HD-4 set a world marine speed record of 70.86 miles per hour (114.04 kilometres per hour),[135] a record which stood for ten years.

Aeronautics

Main articles: Aerial Experiment Association and AEA Silver Dart

AEA SilverDart ca. 1909

In 1891, Bell had begun experiments to develop motor-powered heavier-than-air aircraft. The AEA was first formed as Bell shared the vision to fly with his wife, who advised him to seek “young” help as Alexander was at the age of 60.

In 1898, Bell experimented with tetrahedral box kites and wings constructed of multiple compound tetrahedral kites covered in maroon silk.[N 29] The tetrahedral wings were named Cygnet I, II and III, and were flown both unmanned and manned (Cygnet I crashed during a flight carrying Selfridge) in the period from 1907–1912. Some of Bell’s kites are on display at the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site.[137]

Bell was a supporter of aerospace engineering research through the Aerial Experiment Association (AEA), officially formed at Baddeck, Nova Scotia, in October 1907 at the suggestion of his wife Mabel and with her financial support after the sale of some of her real estate.[138] The AEA was headed by Bell and the founding members were four young men: American Glenn H. Curtiss, a motorcycle manufacturer at the time and who held the title “world’s fastest man”, having ridden his self-constructed motor bicycle around in the shortest time, and who was later awarded the Scientific American Trophy for the first official one-kilometre flight in the Western hemisphere, and who later became a world-renowned airplane manufacturer; Lieutenant Thomas Selfridge, an official observer from the U.S. Federal government and one of the few people in the army who believed that aviation was the future; Frederick W. Baldwin, the first Canadian and first British subject to pilot a public flight in Hammondsport, New York, and J.A.D. McCurdy —Baldwin and McCurdy being new engineering graduates from the University of Toronto.[139]

The AEA’s work progressed to heavier-than-air machines, applying their knowledge of kites to gliders. Moving to Hammondsport, the group then designed and built the Red Wing, framed in bamboo and covered in red silk and powered by a small air-cooled engine.[140] On March 12, 1908, over Keuka Lake, the biplane lifted off on the first public flight in North America.[N 30] [N 31] The innovations that were incorporated into this design included a cockpit enclosure and tail rudder (later variations on the original design would add ailerons as a means of control). One of the AEA’s inventions, a practical wingtip form of the aileron, was to become a standard component on all aircraft. [N 32] The White Wing and June Bug were to follow and by the end of 1908, over 150 flights without mishap had been accomplished. However, the AEA had depleted its initial reserves and only a $15,000 grant from Mrs. Bell allowed it to continue with experiments.[141]

Their final aircraft design, the Silver Dart, embodied all of the advancements found in the earlier machines. On February 23, 1909, Bell was present as the Silver Dart flown by J.A.D. McCurdy from the frozen ice of Bras d’Or, made the first aircraft flight in Canada.[142] Bell had worried that the flight was too dangerous and had arranged for a doctor to be on hand. With the successful flight, the AEA disbanded and the Silver Dart would revert to Baldwin and McCurdy who began the Canadian Aerodrome Company and would later demonstrate the aircraft to the Canadian Army.[143]

Eugenics

Bell was connected with the eugenics movement in the United States. In his lecture Memoir upon the formation of a deaf variety of the human race presented to the National Academy of Sciences on November 13, 1883 he noted that congenitally deaf parents were more likely to produce deaf children and tentatively suggested that couples where both parties were deaf should not marry.[144] However, it was his hobby of livestock breeding which led to his appointment to biologist David Starr Jordan‘s Committee on Eugenics, under the auspices of the American Breeders Association. The committee unequivocally extended the principle to man.[145] From 1912 until 1918 he was the chairman of the board of scientific advisers to the Eugenics Record Office associated with Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, and regularly attended meetings. In 1921, he was the honorary president of the Second International Congress of Eugenics held under the auspices of the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Organisations such as these advocated passing laws (with success in some states) that established the compulsory sterilization of people deemed to be, as Bell called them, a “defective variety of the human race”. By the late 1930s, about half the states in the U.S. had eugenics laws, and California’s compulsory sterilization law was used as a model for that of Nazi Germany.[146]

Legacy and honors

Main articles: Volta Laboratory and Bureau and Alexander Graham Bell honors and tributes

Bell statue by A.E. Cleeve Horne, similar in style to the Lincoln Memorial, in the front portico of the Bell Telephone Building of Brantford, Ontario, The Telephone City.[N 33] (Courtesy: Brantford Heritage Inventory, City of Brantford, Ontario, Canada)

Honors and tributes flowed to Bell in increasing numbers as his most famous invention became ubiquitous and his personal fame grew. Bell received numerous honorary degrees from colleges and universities, to the point that the requests almost became burdensome.[149] During his life he also received dozens of major awards, medals and other tributes. These included statuary monuments to both him and the new form of communication his telephone created, notably the Bell Telephone Memorial erected in his honor in Alexander Graham Bell Gardens in Brantford, Ontario, in 1917.[150]

A large number of Bell’s writings, personal correspondence, notebooks, papers and other documents[151] reside at both the United States Library of Congress Manuscript Division (as the Alexander Graham Bell Family Papers), and at the Alexander Graham Bell Institute, Cape Breton University, Nova Scotia; major portions of which are available for online viewing.

A number of historic sites and other marks commemorate Bell in North America and Europe, including the first telephone companies of the United States and Canada. Among the major sites are:

  • The Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site, maintained by Parks Canada, which incorporates the Alexander Graham Bell Museum, in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, close to the Bell estate Beinn Bhreagh[152]
  • The Bell Homestead National Historic Site, includes the Bell family home, “Melville House”, and farm overlooking Brantford, Ontario and the Grand River. It was their first home in North America;
  • Canada’s first telephone company building, the “Henderson Home” of the late 1870s, a predecessor of the Bell Telephone Company of Canada (officially chartered in 1880). In 1969 the building was carefully moved to the historic Bell Homestead National Historic Site in Brantford, Ontario and was refurbished to become a telephone museum. The Bell Homestead, the Henderson Home telephone museum, and the National Historic Site’s reception centre are all maintained by the Bell Homestead Society;[153]
  • The Alexander Graham Bell Memorial Park, which features a broad neoclassical monument built in 1917 by public subscription. The monument graphically depicts mankind’s ability to span the globe through telecommunications;[154]
  • The Alexander Graham Bell Museum (opened in 1956), part of the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site which was completed in 1978 in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. Many of the museum’s artifacts were donated by Bell’s daughters;
    The Bell Museum, Cape Breton, part of the Alexander Graham Bell National Historic Site.

In 1880, Bell received the Volta Prize with a purse of 50,000 francs (approximately US$250,000 in today’s dollars[155]) for the invention of the telephone from the Académie française, representing the French government. Among the luminaries who judged were Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas. The Volta Prize was conceived by Napoleon Bonaparte in 1801, and named in honor of Alessandro Volta, with Bell receiving the third grand prize in its history.[156][157][158][159][160][161][162][163] Since Bell was becoming increasingly affluent, he used his prize money to create endowment funds (the ‘Volta Fund’) and institutions in and around the United States capital of Washington, D.C.. These included the prestigious ‘Volta Laboratory Association’ (1880), also known as the Volta Laboratory and as the ‘Alexander Graham Bell Laboratory’, and which eventually led to the Volta Bureau (1887) as a center for studies on deafness which is still in operation in Georgetown, Washington, D.C. The Volta Laboratory became an experimental facility devoted to scientific discovery, and the very next year it improved Edison’s phonograph by substituting wax for tinfoil as the recording medium and incising the recording rather than indenting it, key upgrades that Edison himself later adopted.[164] The laboratory was also the site where he and his associate invented his “proudest achievement”, “the photophone“, the “optical telephone” which presaged fibre optical telecommunications, while the Volta Bureau would later evolve into the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (the AG Bell), a leading center for the research and pedagogy of deafness.

In partnership with Gardiner Hubbard, Bell helped establish the publication Science during the early 1880s. In 1888, Bell was one of the founding members of the National Geographic Society and became its second president (1897–1904), and also became a Regent of the Smithsonian Institution (1898–1922). The French government conferred on him the decoration of the Légion d’honneur (Legion of Honor); the Royal Society of Arts in London awarded him the Albert Medal in 1902; the University of Würzburg, Bavaria, granted him a PhD, and he was awarded the Franklin Institute‘s Elliott Cresson Medal in 1912. He was one of the founders of the American Institute of Electrical Engineers in 1884, and served as its president from 1891–92. Bell was later awarded the AIEE’s Edison Medal in 1914 “For meritorious achievement in the invention of the telephone”.[165]

The bel (B) and the smaller decibel (dB) are units of measurement of sound intensity invented by Bell Labs and named after him.[166] [N 34][167] Since 1976 the IEEE‘s Alexander Graham Bell Medal has been awarded to honor outstanding contributions in the field of telecommunications.

 ~ A.G. Bell issue of 1940 ~

In 1936 the US Patent Office declared Bell first on its list of the country’s greatest inventors,[168] leading to the US Post Office issuing a commemorative stamp honoring Bell in 1940 as part of its ‘Famous Americans Series’. The First Day of Issue ceremony was held on October 28 in Boston, Massachusetts, the city where Bell spent considerable time on research and working with the deaf. The Bell stamp became very popular and sold out in little time. The stamp became, and remains to this day, the most valuable one of the series.[169]

The 150th anniversary of Bell’s birth in 1997 was marked by a special issue of commemorative £1 banknotes from the Royal Bank of Scotland. The illustrations on the reverse of the note include Bell’s face in profile, his signature, and objects from Bell’s life and career: users of the telephone over the ages; an audio wave signal; a diagram of a telephone receiver; geometric shapes from engineering structures; representations of sign language and the phonetic alphabet; the geese which helped him to understand flight; and the sheep which he studied to understand genetics.[170] Additionally, the Government of Canada honored Bell in 1997 with a C$100 gold coin, in tribute also to the 150th anniversary of his birth, and with a silver dollar coin in 2009 in honor of the 100th anniversary of flight in Canada. That first flight was made by an airplane designed under Dr. Bell’s tutelage, named the Silver Dart.[171] Bell’s image, and also those of his many inventions have graced paper money, coinage and postal stamps in numerous countries worldwide for many dozens of years.

Alexander Graham Bell was ranked 57th among the 100 Greatest Britons (2002) in an official BBC nationwide poll, and among the Top Ten Greatest Canadians (2004), and the 100 Greatest Americans (2005).[172][173] In 2006 Bell was also named as one of the 10 greatest Scottish scientists in history after having been listed in the National Library of Scotland‘s ‘Scottish Science Hall of Fame’.[174] Bell’s name is still widely known and used as part of the names of dozens of educational institutes, corporate namesakes, street and place names around the world.

Bell, an alumnus of the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, receiving an honorary Doctor of Laws degree (LL.D.) at the university in 1906.

See also: Bell Telephone Memorial

Honorary degrees

Alexander Graham Bell, who could not complete the university program of his youth, received at least a dozen honorary degrees from academic institutions, including eight honorary LL.D.s (Doctorate of Laws), two Ph.D.s, a D.Sc. and an M.D.:[175]

This list is may be incomplete; you can help by expanding it.

Death

Bell died of complications arising from diabetes on August 2, 1922, at his private estate, Beinn Bhreagh, Nova Scotia, at age 75.[1] Bell had also been afflicted with pernicious anemia.[181] His last view of the land he had inhabited was by moonlight on his mountain estate at 2:00 A.M.[N 35][184][N 36] While tending to him after his long illness, Mabel, his wife, whispered, “Don’t leave me.” By way of reply, Bell traced the sign for “no” in the air —and then he died.[158][185]

On learning of Bell’s death, the Canadian Prime Minister, Mackenzie King, cabled Mrs. Bell, saying:

[The Government expresses] to you our sense of the world’s loss in the death of your distinguished husband. It will ever be a source of pride to our country that the great invention, with which his name is immortally associated, is a part of its history. On the behalf of the citizens of Canada, may I extend to you an expression of our combined gratitude and sympathy.[158]

Bell’s coffin was constructed of Beinn Bhreagh pine by his laboratory staff, lined with the same red silk fabric used in his tetrahedral kite experiments. To help celebrate his life, his wife asked guests not to wear black (the traditional funeral color) while attending his service, during which soloist Jean MacDonald sang a verse of Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Requiem”:[186]

Under a wide and starry sky,

Dig the grave and let me lie.
 Glad did I live and gladly die

And I laid me down with a will.

Upon the conclusion of Bell’s funeral, “every phone on the continent of North America was silenced in honor of the man who had given to mankind the means for direct communication at a distance”.[117][187]

Dr. Alexander Graham Bell was buried atop Beinn Bhreagh mountain, on his estate where he had resided increasingly for the last 35 years of his life, overlooking Bras d’Or Lake.[158] He was survived by his wife Mabel, his two daughters, Elsie May and Marian, and nine of his grandchildren.[158][188][189]

Quotations

  • “In scientific researches, there are no unsuccessful experiments; every experiment contains a lesson. If we don’t get the results anticipated and stop right there, it is the man that is unsuccessful, not the experiment.”[32]
  • “We are all too much inclined, I think, to walk through life with our eyes closed… We should not keep forever on the public road, going only where others have gone; we should leave the beaten track occasionally and enter the woods. Every time you do that you will be certain to find something that you have never seen before…. Follow it up, explore all around it; one discovery will lead to another, and before you know it you will have something worth thinking about to occupy your mind, for all really big discoveries are the results of thought.”[32]
  • “God has strewn our paths with wonders, and we shall certainly not go through Life with our eyes shut.” (1872)[190]
  • “To ask the value of speech is like asking the value of life.”[191]
  • “The inventor is a man who looks around upon the world and is not contented with things as they are. He wants to improve whatever he sees, he wants to benefit the world; he is haunted by an idea. The spirit of invention possesses him, seeking materialization.” (1891)[32]
  • “I have always considered myself as an Agnostic, but I have now discovered that I am a Unitarian Agnostic.” (1901)[192]
  • “The day will come when the man at the telephone will be able to see the distant person to whom he is speaking” (c.1906)[193]
  • “[It will not be long until] a man can take dinner in New York and breakfast the next morning in Liverpool” (1907). “The nation that secures control of the air will ultimately rule the world” (1908).[32]
  • “Every town or city has a vast expanse of roof exposed to the sun. There is no reason why we should not use the roofs of our houses to install solar apparatus to catch and store the heat received from the sun. Solar heat [can be used]…. to heat a liquid and store the liquid in an insulated tank… applying even the Thermos bottle principle of a partial vacuum around the tank.” (1914)[190]
  • “Coal and oil are……strictly limited in quantity. We can take coal out of a mine but we can never put it back.” “What shall we do when we have no more coal or oil?”[194] “[The unchecked burning of fossil fuels] would have a sort of greenhouse effect.” “The net result is the greenhouse becomes a sort of hot-house.”(1917).[32][194]
  • “Self-education is a lifelong affair. There cannot be mental atrophy in any person who continues to observe, to remember what he observes, and to seek answers for his unceasing hows and whys about things.”[195]

Wayne Gretzky

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Wayne Gretzky
CC
Hockey Hall of Fame, 1999
Wayne Gretzky, 2006
Born (1961-01-26) January 26, 1961 (age 53)
Brantford, ON, CAN
Height 6 ft 0 in (183 cm)
Weight 185 lb (84 kg; 13 st 3 lb)
Position Centre
Shot Left
Played for WHA
Indianapolis Racers
Edmonton Oilers
NHL
Edmonton Oilers
Los Angeles Kings
St. Louis Blues
New York Rangers
National team  Canada
Playing career 1978–1999
Website Official website

Wayne Douglas Gretzky, CC (/ˈɡrɛtski/; born January 26, 1961) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey player and former head coach. He played 20 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for four teams from 1979 to 1999. Nicknamed “The Great One”, he has been called “the greatest hockey player ever”[1] by many sportswriters, players, and the NHL itself. He is the leading point-scorer in NHL history, with more assists than any other player has points, and is the only NHL player to total over 200 points in one season – a feat he accomplished four times. In addition, he tallied over 100 points in 16 professional seasons, 14 of them consecutive. At the time of his retirement in 1999, he held 61 NHL records: 40 regular-season records, 15 playoff records, and six All-Star records.[1] As of 2009, he still holds 60 NHL records.[2]

Born and raised in Brantford, Ontario, Gretzky honed his skills at a backyard rink and regularly played minor hockey at a level far above his peers.[3] Despite his unimpressive stature, strength and speed, Gretzky’s intelligence and reading of the game were unrivaled. He was adept at dodging checks from opposing players, and he could consistently anticipate where the puck was going to be and execute the right move at the right time. Gretzky also became known for setting up behind his opponent’s net, an area that was nicknamed “Gretzky’s office”.[4]

In 1978, he signed with the Indianapolis Racers of the World Hockey Association (WHA), where he briefly played before being traded to the Edmonton Oilers. When the WHA folded, the Oilers joined the NHL, where he established many scoring records and led his team to four Stanley Cup championships. His trade to the Los Angeles Kings on August 9, 1988, had an immediate impact on the team’s performance, eventually leading them to the 1993 Stanley Cup Finals, and he is credited with popularizing hockey in California.[5] Gretzky played briefly for the St. Louis Blues before finishing his career with the New York Rangers. Gretzky captured nine Hart Trophies as the most valuable player, ten Art Ross Trophies for most points in a season, two Conn Smythe Trophies as playoff MVP, and five Lester B. Pearson Awards (now called the Ted Lindsay Award) for most outstanding player as judged by other players. He won the Lady Byng Trophy for sportsmanship and performance five times,[6] and often spoke out against fighting in hockey.[7]

After his retirement in 1999, he was immediately inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame, making him the most recent player to have the waiting period waived. The NHL retired his jersey number 99 league-wide, making him the only player to receive this honour. He was one of six players voted to the International Ice Hockey Federation‘s (IIHF) Centennial All-Star Team. Gretzky became executive director for the Canadian national men’s hockey team during the 2002 Winter Olympics, in which the team won a gold medal. In 2000, he became part owner of the Phoenix Coyotes, and following the 2004–05 NHL lockout he became the team’s head coach. In 2004, he was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame.[8] In September 2009, following the franchise’s bankruptcy, Gretzky resigned as coach and relinquished his ownership share.

Early years

Prior to the Russian Revolution, Gretzky’s paternal grandfather Anton (Tony) Gretzky, born in Grodno, fled the Russian Empire along with his family to Canada via the United States from what is now Ukraine.[9] Following World War I, Anton would marry his wife, Mary, who immigrated from Pidhaitsi, interwar Poland (also now in Ukraine).[10] Tony and Mary owned a 25-acre (10 ha) cucumber farm in Canning, Ontario[11] where Walter Gretzky was born and raised and where he met Wayne’s mother, Phyllis Leone (née Hockin).[12][13][14] They married in 1960, and lived in an apartment in Brantford, Ontario, where Walter worked for Bell Telephone Canada.[10] The family moved into a house on Varadi Avenue in Brantford seven months after Wayne was born, chosen partly because its yard was flat enough to make an ice rink on every winter.[15] Wayne was joined by a sister, Kim (b. 1963), and brothers Keith, Glen and Brent. The family would regularly visit Tony and Mary’s farm and watch Hockey Night in Canada together. By age two, Wayne was trying to score goals against Mary using a souvenir stick.[16] The farm was where Wayne skated on ice for the first time, aged two years, 10 months.[16]

Gretzky’s mother was of English descent,[17] and was related to British General Sir Isaac Brock, a hero of the War of 1812.[12] Gretzky’s father’s ancestry is typically described as either Belarusian or Ukrainian.[18] In 1982, during a Ukrainian Heritage Day festival at Ontario Place, he sent his best wishes and memorabilia to be included in a photo exhibit on Ukrainian Canadian athletes;[19] in 2014, he was a special guest speaker for the ‘United for Ukraine Gala’ in Toronto,[20] and mentioned learning to speak Ukrainian growing up and having “a lot of Ukrainian influence in our family.”[21][22] Gretzky’s father Walter grew up in a Ukrainian-speaking family,[17] and in interviews has mentioned his parents’ Belarusian origins,[23] while Anton Gretzky has been described as having “been born in Russia with Ukrainian forebears”.[17]

Gretzky’s first pair of skates, worn when he was three years old.

Walter taught Wayne, Keith, Brent, Glen and their friends hockey on a rink he made in the back yard of the family home, nicknamed the “Wally Coliseum”.[24] Drills included skating around Javex bleach bottles and tin cans, and flipping pucks over scattered hockey sticks to be able to pick up the puck again in full flight.[25] Additionally, Walter gave the advice to “skate where the puck’s going, not where it’s been”.[25] Wayne was a classic prodigy whose extraordinary skills made him the target of jealous parents.[26]

Gretzky’s first team, at age six, was a team of ten-year-olds, starting a pattern where Gretzky always played at a level far above his peers through his minor hockey years.[27] His first coach, Dick Martin, remarked that he handled the puck better than the ten-year-olds.[28] According to Martin, “Wayne was so good that you could have a boy of your own who was a tremendous hockey player, and he’d get overlooked because of what the Gretzky kid was doing.”[29] The sweaters for ten-year-olds were far too large for Gretzky, who coped by tucking the sweater into his pants on the right side. Gretzky continued doing this throughout his NHL career.[30]

By the age of ten, Gretzky had scored an astonishing 378 goals and 139 assists in just one season with the Brantford Nadrofsky Steelers.[31] His play now attracted media attention beyond his hometown of Brantford, including a profile by John Iaboni in the Toronto Telegram in October 1971.[32] By age 13, he had scored over 1,000 goals.[33] His play attracted considerable negative attention from other players’ parents, including those of his teammates, and he was often booed.[34] According to Walter, the “capper” was being booed on “Brantford Day” at Toronto’s Maple Leaf Gardens in February 1975.[33]

When Gretzky was 14, his family arranged for him to move to and play hockey in Toronto, partly to further his career, and partly to remove him from the uncomfortable pressure he faced in his hometown. The Gretzkys had to legally challenge the Canadian Amateur Hockey Association to win Wayne the right to play elsewhere, which was disallowed at the time.[35] The Gretzkys won, and Wayne played Junior B hockey with the Toronto Nationals. He earned Rookie of the Year honours in the Metro Junior B Hockey League in 1975–76, with 60 points in 28 games. The following year, as a 15-year-old, he had 72 points in 32 games with the same team, then known as the Seneca Nationals.[36] That year, he also played three games with the Peterborough Petes in the Ontario Hockey Association as an emergency call-up, and even then the Great One impressed scouts with his abilities despite his small stature and youth. In addition, he signed with his first agent, Bob Behnke.

Despite his offensive statistics, two teams bypassed him in the 1977 OMJHL Midget Draft of 16-year-olds. The Oshawa Generals picked Tom McCarthy, and the Niagara Falls Flyers picked Steve Peters second overall. With the third pick, the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds selected Gretzky, even though Walter Gretzky had told the team that Wayne would not move to Sault Ste. Marie, a northern Ontario city that inflicts a heavy traveling schedule on its junior team. The Gretzkys made an arrangement with a local family they knew and Wayne played a season in the Ontario Hockey League at the age of 16 with the Greyhounds.[37] It was with the Greyhounds that Wayne first wore the number 99 on his jersey. He originally wanted to wear number 9—for his hockey hero Gordie Howe—but it was already being worn by teammate Brian Gualazzi. At coach Muzz MacPherson‘s suggestion, Gretzky settled on 99.[38]

At 16, in his single year at the major junior level, Gretzky surpassed the OMJHL single-season scoring record, winning the OMJHL Rookie of the Year and Most Sportsmanlike awards.

World Hockey Association

In 1978, the World Hockey Association (WHA) league was in competition with the established NHL. The NHL did not allow the signing of players under the age of 20, but the WHA had no rules regarding such signings. Several WHA teams courted Gretzky, notably the Indianapolis Racers and the Birmingham Bulls. Birmingham Bulls owner John F. Bassett wanted to confront the NHL by signing as many young and promising superstars as possible and saw Gretzky as the most promising young prospect,[39] but it was Racers owner Nelson Skalbania who, on June 12, 1978, signed 17-year-old Gretzky to a seven-year personal services contract worth $1.75 million US.[40][41] Gretzky scored his first professional goal against Dave Dryden of the Edmonton Oilers[42] in his fifth game, and his second goal four seconds later.[43] Skalbania opted to have Gretzky sign a personal-services contract rather than a standard player contract in part because he knew a deal to take some WHA teams into the NHL was in the works. He also knew that the Racers could not hope to be included among those teams, and hoped to keep the Racers alive long enough to collect compensation from the surviving teams when the WHA dissolved, as well as any funds earned from selling the young star.[44]

Gretzky only played eight games for Indianapolis. The Racers were losing $40,000 per game. Skalbania told Gretzky he would be moved, offering him a choice between the Edmonton Oilers and the Winnipeg Jets. On the advice of his agent, Gretzky picked the Oilers, but the move was not that simple. On November 2, Gretzky, goaltender Eddie Mio and forward Peter Driscoll were put on a private plane, not knowing where they would land and what team they would be joining.[40] While in the air, Skalbania worked on the deal. Skalbania offered to play a game of backgammon with Winnipeg owner Michael Gobuty, the stakes being if Gobuty won, he would get Gretzky and if he lost, he had to give Skalbania a share of the Jets. Gobuty turned down the proposal and the players landed in Edmonton.[45] Mio paid the $4,000 bill for the flight with his credit card.[46] Skalbania sold Gretzky, Mio and Driscoll to his former partner, and then-owner of the Edmonton Oilers, Peter Pocklington. Although the announced price was $850,000, Pocklington actually paid $700,000.[42] The money was not enough to keep the Racers alive; they folded that December.[44]

One of the highlights of Gretzky’s season was his appearance in the 1979 WHA All-Star Game. The format was a three-game series between the WHA All-Stars and Dynamo Moscow played at Edmonton’s Northlands Coliseum.[47] The WHA All-Stars were coached by Jacques Demers, who put Gretzky on a line with his boyhood idol Gordie Howe and Howe’s son, Mark.[48] In game one, the line scored seven points, and the WHA All-Stars won by a score of 4–2.[48] In game two, Gretzky and Mark Howe each scored a goal and Gordie Howe picked up an assist as the WHA won 4–2.[48] The line did not score in the final game, but the WHA won by a score of 4–3.[49]

On Gretzky’s 18th birthday, January 26, 1979, Pocklington signed him to a 10-year personal services contract (the longest in hockey history at the time) worth C$3 million, with options for 10 more years.[50] Gretzky finished third in the league in scoring at 110 points, behind Robbie Ftorek and Réal Cloutier.[51] Gretzky captured the Lou Kaplan Trophy as rookie of the year,[42] and helped the Oilers to first overall in the league.[52] The Oilers reached the Avco World Trophy finals, where they lost to the Winnipeg Jets in six games.[53] It was Gretzky’s only year in the WHA, as the league folded following the season.[54]

NHL career

Edmonton Oilers (1979–1988)

After the World Hockey Association folded in 1979, the Edmonton Oilers and three other teams joined the NHL.[55] Under the merger agreement the Oilers, like the other surviving WHA teams, were to be allowed to protect two goaltenders and two skaters from being reclaimed by the established NHL teams. Under normal circumstances, Gretzky would have been removed from the Oilers and placed in the pool for the 1979 NHL Entry Draft, but his personal services contract prevented this.[56]

Gretzky’s success in the WHA carried over into the NHL, despite some critics suggesting he would struggle in what was considered the bigger, tougher, and more talented league.[57]

A statue, located outside Rexall Place in Edmonton, of Gretzky hoisting the Stanley Cup, which the Oilers won four times with him. Sculpted by John Weaver.

In his first NHL season, 1979–80, Gretzky was awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy as the League’s Most Valuable Player (the first of eight in a row) and tied for the scoring lead with Marcel Dionne with 137 points.[58][59] Although Gretzky played 79 games to Dionne’s 80, Dionne was awarded the Art Ross Trophy since he scored more goals (53 vs. 51).[60] The season still stands as the highest point total by a first year player in NHL history. Gretzky became the youngest player to score 50 goals but was not eligible for the Calder Memorial Trophy, given to the top NHL rookie, because of his previous year of WHA experience.[61] The Calder was awarded to Boston Bruins defenceman Ray Bourque.[62]

In his second season, Gretzky won the Art Ross (the first of seven consecutive) with a then-record 164 points, breaking both Bobby Orr‘s record for assists in a season (102) and Phil Esposito‘s record for points in a season (152).[38] He won his second straight Hart Trophy.[58] In the first game of the 1981 playoffs versus the Montreal Canadiens, Gretzky had five assists. This was a single game playoff record.[63]

During the 1981–82 season, he surpassed a record that had stood for 35 years: 50 goals in 50 games. Set by Maurice “Rocket” Richard during the 1944–45 NHL season and tied by Mike Bossy during the 1980–81 NHL season, Gretzky accomplished the feat in only 39 games. His 50th goal of the season came on December 30, 1981 in the final seconds of a 7–5 win against the Philadelphia Flyers and was his fifth of the game.[64] Later that season, Gretzky broke Esposito’s record for most goals in a season (76) on February 24, 1982, scoring three goals to help beat the Buffalo Sabres 6–3.[65] He ended the 1981–82 season with records of 92 goals, 120 assists, and 212 points in 80 games, becoming the only player in NHL history to break the two hundred-point mark.[66] That year, Gretzky became the first hockey player and first Canadian to be named Associated Press Male Athlete of the Year.[67] He was also named 1982 “Sportsman of the Year” by Sports Illustrated.[68] The Canadian Press also named Gretzky Newsmaker of the Year in 1982.

The following seasons saw Gretzky break his own assists record three more times (125 in 1982–83, 135 in 1984–85, and 163 in 1985–86); he also bettered that mark (120 assists) in 1986–87 with 121 and 1990–91 with 122, and his point record one more time (215, in 1985–86).[69][70] By the time he finished playing in Edmonton, he held or shared 49 NHL records, which in itself was a record.

The Edmonton Oilers finished first overall in their last WHA regular season. The same success was not immediate when they joined the NHL, but within four seasons, the Oilers were competing for the Stanley Cup.[71] The Oilers were a young, strong team featuring, in addition to Gretzky, future Hall of Famers including forwards Mark Messier, Glenn Anderson and Jari Kurri, defenceman Paul Coffey, and goaltender Grant Fuhr. Gretzky was its captain from 1983–88. In 1983, they made it to the Stanley Cup Final, only to be swept by the three-time defending champion New York Islanders.[72] The following season, the Oilers met the Islanders in the Final again, this time winning the Stanley Cup, their first of five in seven years.[73]

Gretzky was named an officer of the Order of Canada on June 25, 1984, for outstanding contribution to the sport of hockey. Since the Order ceremonies are always held during the hockey season, it took 13 years and 7 months—and two Governors General—before he could accept the honour.[74] He was promoted to Companion of the Order of Canada in 2009 “for his continued contributions to the world of hockey, notably as one of the best players of all time, as well as for his social engagement as a philanthropist, volunteer and role model for countless young people”.[75] The Oilers also won the Cup with Gretzky in 1985, 1987 and 1988.[76]

When the Oilers joined the NHL, Gretzky continued to play under his personal services contract with Oilers owner Peter Pocklington. This arrangement came under increased scrutiny by the mid-1980s, especially following reports that Pocklington had used the contract as collateral to help secure a $31 million loan with the Alberta government-owned Alberta Treasury Branches.[77] Amid growing concern around the league that a financial institution might be able to lay claim to Gretzky’s rights in the event the heavily-leveraged Pocklington were to declare bankruptcy, as well growing dissatisfaction on the part of Gretzky and his advisers, in 1987 Gretzky and Pocklington agreed to replace the personal services contract with a standard NHL contract.[78]

The Gretzky rule

In June 1985, as part of a package of five rule changes to be implemented for the 1985–86 season, the NHL Board of Governors made a decision to introduce offsetting penalties, where neither team lost a man when coincidental penalties were called. The effect of calling offsetting penalties was felt immediately in the NHL, because during the early 1980s, when the Gretzky-era Oilers entered a four-on-four or three-on-three situation with an opponent, they frequently used the space on the ice to score one or more goals.[79][80] Gretzky held a press conference one day after being awarded the Hart Memorial Trophy, criticizing the NHL for punishing teams and players who previously benefited. The rule change became known as the Gretzky rule.[79][81] The rule was changed back for the 1992–93 season.[82]

“The Trade”

Two hours after the Oilers won the Stanley Cup in 1988, Gretzky learned from his father that the Oilers were planning to deal him to another team.[83] Walter Gretzky had known for months, but kept it from Wayne so as not to upset him. According to Walter, Wayne was being “shopped” to Los Angeles, Detroit, and Vancouver, and Pocklington needed money as his other business ventures were not doing well.[84] At first, Wayne did not want to leave Edmonton, but he later received a call while on his honeymoon from Los Angeles Kings owner Bruce McNall asking permission to meet and discuss the deal. Gretzky informed McNall that his prerequisites for a deal to take place were that Marty McSorley and Mike Krushelnyski join him as teammates in Los Angeles. After the details of the trade were finalized by McNall and Pocklington, one final condition had to be met: Gretzky had to call Pocklington and request a trade.[85] When Pocklington told Oilers general manager and head coach Glen Sather about his plans to trade Gretzky to L.A., Sather tried to stop the deal, but when he found out that Gretzky had been involved in the negotiations, he changed his attitude and requested Luc Robitaille in exchange. The Kings refused, instead offering Jimmy Carson.[86]

On August 9, 1988, in a move that heralded significant change in the NHL, the Oilers traded Gretzky, along with McSorley and Krushelnyski, to the Kings for Carson, Martin Gelinas, $15 million in cash, and the Kings’ first-round draft picks in 1989 (later traded to the New Jersey Devils – New Jersey selected Jason Miller), 1991 (Martin Rucinsky), and 1993 (Nick Stajduhar).[70] “The Trade”, as it came to be known,[87] upset Canadians to the extent that New Democratic Party House Leader Nelson Riis demanded that the government block it,[88] and Pocklington was burned in effigy outside the Northlands Coliseum.[26] Gretzky himself was considered a “traitor” by some Canadians for turning his back on his adopted hometown, and his home country; his motivation was widely rumoured to be the furtherance of his wife‘s acting career.[89]

In Gretzky’s first appearance in Edmonton after the trade—a game that was nationally televised in Canada—he received a four-minute standing ovation.[90] The arena was sold out, and the attendance of 17,503 was the Oilers’ biggest crowd ever to that date.[90] Large cheers erupted for his first shift, his first touch of the puck, his two assists, and for Mark Messier‘s body check of Gretzky into the boards.[90] After the game, Gretzky took the opportunity to confirm his patriotism: “I’m still proud to be a Canadian. I didn’t desert my country. I moved because I was traded and that’s where my job is. But I’m Canadian to the core. I hope Canadians understand that.”[90] After the 1988–89 season, a life-sized bronze statue of Gretzky was erected outside the Northlands Coliseum, holding the Stanley Cup over his head (picture shown above, to the right).[91]

Los Angeles Kings (1988–1996)

The Kings named Gretzky their alternate captain. He made an immediate impact on the ice, scoring on his first shot on goal in the first regular-season game.[92] The Kings got off to their best start ever, winning four straight on their way to qualifying for the playoffs. Despite being underdogs against the defending Stanley Cup Champion Edmonton Oilers in the Smythe Division semifinals, Gretzky led the Kings to a shocking upset of his old squad, spearheading the Kings’ return from a 3–1 series deficit to win the series 4–3. He was nervous that Edmonton would greet him with boos, but they were eagerly waiting for him.[93] For only the second time in his NHL career, Gretzky finished second in scoring, but narrowly beat out Pittsburgh‘s Mario Lemieux (who scored 199 points) for the Hart Trophy as MVP.[94] In 1990, the Associated Press named him Male Athlete of the Decade.[95]

Gretzky’s first season in Los Angeles saw a marked increase in attendance and fan interest in a city not previously known for following hockey. The Kings now boasted of numerous sellouts.[96] Many credit Gretzky’s arrival with putting non-traditional U.S. hockey markets on “the NHL map”; not only did California receive two more NHL franchises (the Mighty Ducks of Anaheim and San Jose Sharks) during Gretzky’s tenure in L.A., but his popularity in Southern California proved to be an impetus in the league establishing teams in other parts of the U.S. Sun Belt.[97]

Gretzky was sidelined for much of the 1992–93 regular season with an upper back injury, the only year in which he did not lead his team in scoring.[98] However, he performed very well in the playoffs, notably when he scored a hat trick in game seven of the Campbell Conference Finals against the Toronto Maple Leafs.[38] This victory propelled the Kings into the Stanley Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history, where they faced the Montreal Canadiens. After winning the first game of the series by a score of 4–1, the team lost the next three games in overtime, and then fell 4–1 in the deciding fifth game where Gretzky failed to get a shot on net.[99]

The next season, Gretzky broke Gordie Howe‘s career goal-scoring record and won the scoring title,[38] but the team began a long slide, and despite numerous player and coaching moves, they failed to qualify for the playoffs again until 1998.[100] Long before then, running out of time and looking for a team with which he could win again, Gretzky had been traded from the Kings at his request.

During the 1994–95 NHL lockout, Gretzky and some friends (including Mark Messier, Marty McSorley, Brett Hull, and Steve Yzerman) formed the Ninety Nine All Stars Tour and played some exhibition games in various countries.

St. Louis Blues (1996)

On February 27, 1996, Gretzky joined the St. Louis Blues in a trade for Patrice Tardif, Roman Vopat, Craig Johnson, and two draft picks (Peter Hogan and Matt Zultek).[70] He partially orchestrated the trade after reports surfaced that he was unhappy in Los Angeles.[101] At the time of the trade, the Blues and New York Rangers emerged as front-runners, but the Blues met his salary demands.[102] Gretzky was immediately named the team’s captain. He scored 37 points in 31 games for the team in the regular season and the playoffs,[69] and the Blues came within one game of the Conference Finals.[103] However, the chemistry that everyone expected with winger Brett Hull never developed, and coach Mike Keenan publicly criticized him.[104] Gretzky rejected a three-year deal worth $15 million with the Blues, and on July 21, he signed with the New York Rangers as a free agent, rejoining longtime Oilers teammate Mark Messier for a two-year $8 million (plus incentives) contract.[105]

New York Rangers (1996–1999)

Gretzky in a New York Rangers uniform in 1997

Gretzky ended his professional playing career with the New York Rangers, where he played his final three seasons and helped the team reach the Eastern Conference Finals in 1997.[106] The Rangers were defeated in the Conference Finals in five games by the Philadelphia Flyers, despite Gretzky leading the Rangers in the playoffs with 10 goals and 10 assists.[69] For the first time in his NHL career, Gretzky was not named captain,[107] although he briefly wore the captain’s ‘C’ in 1998 when captain Brian Leetch was injured and out of the lineup.[108] After the 1996–97 season, Mark Messier signed a free agent contract with the Vancouver Canucks, ending the brief reunion of Messier and Gretzky after just one season.[109] The Rangers did not return to the playoffs during the remainder of Gretzky’s career.[110]

In 1997, prior to his retirement, The Hockey News named a committee of 50 hockey experts (former NHL players, past and present writers, broadcasters, coaches and hockey executives) to select and rank the 50 greatest players in NHL history. The experts voted Gretzky number one.[31] Gretzky said that he would have voted Bobby Orr or Gordie Howe as the best of all time.[111]

Gretzky in 1997 with New York Rangers

The 1998–99 season was his last season. He reached one milestone in this last season, breaking the professional total (regular season and playoffs) goal-scoring record of 1,071, which had been held by Gordie Howe. Gretzky was having difficulty scoring this season and finished with only nine goals, contributing to this being the only season in which he failed to average at least a point per game, but his last goal brought his scoring total for his combined NHL/WHA career to 1,072, one more than Howe.[112] As the season wound down, there was media speculation that Gretzky would retire, but he refused to announce his retirement. His last NHL game in Canada was on April 15, 1999, a 2–2 tie with the Ottawa Senators, the Rangers’ second-to-last game of the season.[113] Following the contest, instead of the usual three stars announcement, Gretzky was named as all three stars.[114] It was only after this game, after returning to New York that Gretzky announced his retirement, before the Rangers’ last game of the season.[115]

The final game of Gretzky’s career was a 2–1 overtime loss to the Pittsburgh Penguins on April 18, 1999, in Madison Square Garden. Although the game involved two American teams, both national anthems were played, and with the lyrics slightly adjusted to accommodate Gretzky’s departure. In place of the lyrics “O Canada, we stand on guard for thee”, Bryan Adams ad-libbed, “We’re going to miss you, Wayne Gretzky”.[116] The Star-Spangled Banner, as sung by John Amirante, was altered to include the words “in the land of Wayne Gretzky”.[117] Gretzky ended his career with a final point, assisting on the lone New York goal scored by Brian Leetch.[116] At the time of his retirement, Gretzky was the second-to-last WHA player still active in professional hockey, Mark Messier, who himself attended the game along with other representatives of the Edmonton dynasty, being the last.[118]

Gretzky told Scott Morrison that the final game of his career was his greatest day.[119] He recounted:

My last game in New York was my greatest day in hockey…Everything you enjoy about the sport of hockey as a kid, driving to practice with mom [Phyllis] and dad [Walter], driving to the game with mom and dad, looking in the stands and seeing your mom and dad and your friends, that all came together in that last game in New York.[119]

International play

Medal record
Representing  Canada
Ice hockey
World Cup
Silver 1996 Canada
Canada Cup
Gold 1991 Canada
Gold 1987 Canada
Gold 1984 Canada
Silver 1981 Canada
World Championships
Bronze 1982 Finland
World Junior Championships
Bronze 1978 Canada

Gretzky made his first international appearance as a member of the Canadian national junior team at the 1978 World Junior Championships in Montreal, Quebec. He was the youngest player to compete in the tournament at the age of 16. He went on to lead the tournament in scoring with 17 points to earn All-Star Team and Best Forward honours.[120] His 17 points remain the most scored by a 16-year old in the World Junior Championships.[121] Canada finished with the bronze medal.[120][122]

Gretzky debuted with the Team Canada’s men’s team at the 1981 Canada Cup. He led the tournament in scoring with 12 points en route to a second-place finish to the Soviet Union,[120] losing 8–1 in the final. Seven months later, Gretzky joined Team Canada for the 1982 World Championships in Finland. He notched 14 points in 10 games, including a two-goal, two-assist effort in Canada’s final game against Sweden to earn the bronze.[120] Gretzky did not win his first international competition until the 1984 Canada Cup, when Canada defeated Sweden in a best-of-three finals. He led the tournament in scoring for the second consecutive time and was named to the All-Star Team.[120]

Gretzky’s international career highlight arguably came three years later at the 1987 Canada Cup. Gretzky has called the tournament the best hockey he had played in his life.[123] Playing on a line with Pittsburgh Penguins superstar Mario Lemieux, he recorded a tournament-best 21 points in nine games. After losing the first game of a best-of-three final series against the Soviets, Gretzky propelled Canada with a five-assist performance in the second game, including the game-winning pass to Lemieux in overtime, to extend the tournament.[123] In the deciding game three, Gretzky and Lemieux once again combined for the game-winner. With the score tied 5–5 and 1:26 minutes to go in regulation, Lemieux one-timed a pass from Gretzky on a 3–on–1 with defenceman Larry Murphy. Lemieux scored to win the tournament for Canada; the play is widely regarded as one of the most memorable plays in Canadian international competition.[124]

The 1991 Canada Cup marked the last time the tournament was played under the “Canada Cup” moniker. Gretzky led the tournament for the fourth and final time with 12 points in seven games. He did not, however, compete in the final against the United States due to a back injury.[120] Canada nevertheless won in two games by scores of 4–1 and 4–2. Five years later, the tournament was revived and renamed the World Cup in 1996. It marked the first time Gretzky did not finish as the tournament’s leading scorer with seven points in eight games for fourth overall.[120] The 1996 World Cup also ended Canada’s winning streak at the tournament (including the Canada Cups), losing in three games of a best-of-three final.

Leading up to the 1998 Winter Olympics in Nagano, Japan, it was announced that NHL players would be eligible to play for the first time. Gretzky was named to the club on November 29, 1997.[120] However, Gretzky, was passed over for the captaincy, along with several other Canadian veterans including Steve Yzerman and Ray Bourque in favour of the younger Eric Lindros.[125] Expectations were high for the Canadian team, but the team lost to the Czech Republic in the semi-finals.[126] The game went to a shootout with a 1–1 tie after overtime, but Gretzky was controversially not selected by coach Marc Crawford as one of the five shooters.[127] Team Canada then lost the bronze medal game 3–2 to Finland to finish without a medal.[128] The Olympics marked Gretzky’s eighth and final international appearance, finishing with four assists in six games. He retired from international play holding the records for most goals (20), most assists (28), and most overall points (48) in best-on-best hockey.[129]

Strategy and effect on NHL play

Gretzky had a major influence on the style of play of the Edmonton Oilers and in the NHL as a whole, helping to inspire a more team-based strategy. Using this approach, the Oilers, led by Gretzky, became the highest scoring team in league history.[130]

“He was, I think, the first Canadian forward to play a true team game,” said hockey writer and former NHL goalie Ken Dryden. The focus of the game prior to Gretzky’s arrival, he said, especially among the Canadian teams, was on the player with the puck—in getting the puck to a star player who would make the big play. “Gretzky reversed that. He knew he wasn’t big enough, strong enough, or even fast enough to do what he wanted to do if others focused on him. Like a magician, he had to direct attention elsewhere, to his four teammates on the ice with him, to create the momentary distraction in order to move unnoticed into the open ice where size and strength didn’t matter. . . . Gretzky made his opponents compete with five players, not one, and he made his teammates full partners to the game. He made them skate to his level and pass and finish up to his level or they would be embarrassed.”[131]

Between 1982 and 1985, the Edmonton Oilers averaged 423 goals a season, when no previous team had scored 400, and Gretzky on his own had averaged 207 points, when no player before had racked up more than 152 in one year. “In the past, defenders and teams had learned to devise strategies to stop opponents with the puck. Without the puck, that was interference. But now, if players without the puck skated just as hard, but faster, dodged and darted to open ice just as determinedly, but more effectively, as those with the puck, how do you shut them down?”[130]

In this, Gretzky added his considerable influence as the preeminent NHL star of his day to that of the Soviets, who had also developed a more team-style of play, and had successfully used it against the best NHL teams, beginning in the 1972 Summit Series. “The Soviets and Gretzky changed the NHL game,” says Dryden. “Gretzky, the kid from Brantford with the Belarusian name, was the acceptable face of Soviet hockey. No Canadian kid wanted to play like Makarov or Larionov. They all wanted to play like Gretzky.”[132]

At the same time, Gretzky recognizes the contributions of their coach in the success of the Oilers: “Under the guidance of Glen Sather, our Oiler teams became adept at generating speed, developing finesse, and learning a transition game with strong European influences.”[133]

Gretzky explains his style of play further:

People think that to be a good player you have to pick the puck up, deke around ninety-three guys and take this ungodly slap shot. No. Let the puck do all the moving and you get yourself in the right place. I don’t care if you’re Carl Lewis, you can’t outskate that little black thing. Just move the puck: give it up, get it back, give it up. It’s like Larry Bird. The hardest work he does is getting open. The jumpshot is cake.

That’s all hockey is: open ice. That’s my whole strategy: Find Open Ice. Chicago coach Mike Keenan said it best: “There’s a spot on the ice that’s no-man’s land, and all the good goal scorers find it.” It’s a piece of frozen real estate that’s just in between the defense and the forward.[134]

Influences and skills

Gretzky was certainly not the biggest or the strongest, but he was widely considered the smartest player in the history of the game.[135][136][137] His intelligence and reading of the game were unrivaled, and he could consistently anticipate where the puck was going to be and execute the right move at the right time.[37] His former Edmonton Oilers coach Glen Sather said, “He was so much more intelligent. While they were using all this energy trying to rattle his teeth, he was just skating away, circling, analyzing things.”[138] Hall of Fame defenceman Bobby Orr said of Gretzky, “He passes better than anybody I’ve ever seen. And he thinks so far ahead.”[139]

He was also considered one of the most creative players in hockey. “You never knew what he was going to do,” said hockey Hall of Famer Igor Larionov. “He was improvising all the time. Every time he took the ice, there was some spontaneous decision he would make. That’s what made him such a phenomenal player.”[140] Gretzky’s ability to improvise came into the spotlight at the 1998 Olympics in Japan. Then an older player in the sunset of his career, he had been passed over for the captaincy of the team. But as the series continued, his unique skills made him a team leader.

The Canadians had trouble with the big ice. They had trouble with the European patterns and the lateral play and the endless, inventive cycling. . . . . Slowly, as game after game went by and the concern continued to rise, Wayne Gretzky began climbing through the lineup. He, almost alone among the Canadians, seemed to take to the larger ice surface as if it offered more opportunity instead of obligation . . . . His playing time soared, as he was being sent on not just for power plays but double shifts and even penalty kills. By the final round . . . it was Wayne Gretzky who assumed the leadership both on and off the ice.[141]

In addition to being a superb passer, he had a deadly shot on goal. In his first two seasons in the NHL, he had become known chiefly as a playmaker, and so opposing defensemen focused their efforts on foiling his attempts to pass the puck to other scorers. In response, Gretzky started shooting himself—and with amazing accuracy.[142] “Wayne Gretzky was one of the most accurate scorers in NHL history,” said one biography.[143] This is supported by statistics: for example, Phil Esposito, who set the previous goal-scoring record, needed 550 shots to score 76 goals, whereas Gretzky netted his 76th after only 287 shots—about half as many. He scored his all-time record of 92 goals with just 369 shots.[142] He could also shoot the puck hard. Because he was so light compared to other players, goalies were often surprised by how hard Gretzky’s shot was. Goalies called his shots “sneaky fast.” He also had a way of never hitting the puck with the same rhythm twice, making his shots harder to time and block.[144]

His size, strength, and basic athletic abilities were not considered impressive. As an 18-year-old NHL rookie in 1979, his weight was 160 pounds (73 kg), significantly below the NHL average of 189 pounds.[145] Critics at that time opined that Gretzky was “too small, too wiry, and too slow to be a force in the NHL”.[146] But that year, Gretzky tied for first place in scoring, and won the Hart trophy for the league’s most valuable player.[147] In his second year in the league, weighing just 165 pounds, he broke the previous single-season scoring record, racking up 152 points.[148] The next year (1981–82), at 170 pounds—still “a wisp compared to the average NHL player”—he set the all-time goal-scoring record, putting 92 pucks in the net.[149] He weighed “about 170 pounds” for the better part of his career.[150] According to some sources, he managed to increase his weight to 185 pounds (84 kg) by his last playing year, in 1999,[151] while others report that he weighed 175 pounds (79 kg) in his final years (the 1999 NHL average was 201 pounds).[145][152][153] During his time with the Oilers, the team conducted individual strength and stamina tests twice per year. According to Gretzky himself, he always finished dead last in peripheral vision, flexibility and strength, and could only bench press 140 pounds (64 kg).[154]

Commentators say a major key to his success lay in an uncanny ability to judge the position of the other players on the ice—so much so that many suspected he enjoyed some kind of extrasensory perception. Sports commentators said that he played like he had “eyes in the back of his head.”[155] Gretzky said he sensed other players more than he actually saw them. “I get a feeling about where a teammate is going to be,” he said. “A lot of times, I can turn and pass without even looking.”[3] One author said, “He could envision the whole rink in his mind and how players were moving within it.” Because of this “vision,” Gretzky was sometimes called the “Einstein of Hockey.”[156]

Veteran Canadian journalist Peter Gzowski says that Gretzky also seemed to be able to, in effect, slow down time. Gzowski explains that the most elite athletes have “more room in the flow of time” than ordinary athletes.[157] Of Gretzky he said, “There is an unhurried grace to everything Gretzky does on the ice. Winding up for the slapshot, he will stop for an almost imperceptible moment at the top of his arc, like a golfer with a rhythmic swing.” “Gretzky uses this room to insert an extra beat into his actions. In front of the net, eyeball to eyeball with the goaltender . . . he will . . . hold the puck one . . . extra instant, upsetting the anticipated rhythm of the game, extending the moment. . . He distorts time, and not only by slowing it down. Sometimes he will release the puck before he appears to be ready, threading the pass through a maze of players precisely to the blade of a teammate’s stick, or finding a chink in a goaltender’s armour and slipping the puck into it . . . before the goaltender is ready to react.”[158]

However, Gretzky denied that he had any exotic innate abilities. He said that many of his advantages were a result of his father’s brilliant coaching.

Some say I have a ‘sixth sense‘ . . . Baloney. I’ve just learned to guess what’s going to happen next. It’s anticipation. It’s not God-given, it’s Wally-given. He used to stand on the blue line and say to me, ‘Watch, this is how everybody else does it.’ Then he’d shoot a puck along the boards and into the corner and then go chasing after it. Then he’d come back and say, ‘Now, this is how the smart player does it.’ He’d shoot it into the corner again, only this time he cut across to the other side and picked it up over there. Who says anticipation can’t be taught?[154]

Gretzky learned much about hockey from his father on a backyard rink at his home. Walter Gretzky had been an outstanding Junior B hockey player, but was slowed by chicken pox and failed in a tryout for the Junior A Toronto Marlboros, ending his playing career.[159] Walter cultivated a love of hockey in his sons and provided them with a backyard rink and drills to enhance their skills.[25] On the backyard rink, nicknamed the “Wally Coliseum”, winter was total hockey immersion with Walter as mentor-teacher as well as teammate. According to Brent Gretzky, “It was definitely pressed on us, but we loved the game. Without the direction of the father, I don’t know where I’d be.”[160]

Wayne also salutes Glen (“Slats”) Sather, his coach at the Edmonton Oilers, as an important influence in his development as a hockey player. Gretzky played for 10 years with the Oilers, with Sather as coach. “It’s as if my father raised me until age 17, then turned me over to Slats and said, ‘You take him from here.'”[133]

The rink itself was built so that Walter could keep an eye on his boys from the warmth of his kitchen, instead of watching them outdoors on a neighbourhood rink, as Wayne put in long hours on skates.[161]

Where Gretzky differed from others in his development was in the extraordinary commitment of time on the ice. “From the age of three to the age of 12, I could easily be out there for eight to 10 hours a day,” Gretzky has said.[162] In his autobiography, he wrote:

All I wanted to do in the winters was be on the ice. I’d get up in the morning, skate from 7:00 to 8:30, go to school, come home at 3:30, stay on the ice until my mom insisted I come in for dinner, eat in my skates, then go back out until 9:00. On Saturdays and Sundays we’d have huge games, but nighttime became my time. It was a sort of unwritten rule around the neighbourhood that I was to be out there myself or with my dad.[163]

Gretzky would prod next-door neighbour Brian Rizzetto to play in goal after sundown in order to practice his backhand.[164] He not only enthusiastically practised long hours every day, but he also started working on his skills at an extraordinarily young age. When asked how he managed, at age ten, to score 378 goals in a single season, Gretzky explained,

See, kids usually don’t start playing hockey until they’re six or seven. Ice isn’t grass. It’s a whole new surface and everybody starts from ground zero. . . . By the time I was ten, I had eight years on skates instead of four, and a few seasons’ worth of ice time against ten-year-olds. So I had a long head start on everyone else.[165]

Walter’s drills were his own invention, but were ahead of their time in Canada. Gretzky would later remark that the Soviet National Team’s practice drills, which impressed Canada in 1972, had nothing to offer him: “I’d been doing these drills since I was three. My Dad was very smart.”[164]

In his autobiography, Gretzky describes how at practices, his dad would drill him on the fundamentals of smart hockey:

Him: “Where’s the last place a guy looks before he passes it?”
Me: “The guy he’s passing to.”
Him: “Which means…”
Me: “Get over there and intercept it.”
Him: “Where do you skate?”
Me: “To where the puck is going, not where it’s been.”
Him: “If you get cut off, what are you gonna do?”
Me: “Peel.”
Him: “Which way?”
Me: “Away from the guy, not towards him.”[166]

Much has been written about Gretzky’s highly developed hockey instincts, but he once explained that what appeared to be instinct was, in large part, the effect of his relentless study of the game. As a result, he developed a deep understanding of its shifting patterns and dynamics. Peter Gzowski says that elite athletes in all sports understand the game so well, and in such detail, that they can instantly recognize and capitalize upon emerging patterns of play. Analyzing Gretzky’s hockey skills, he says, “What we take to be creative genius is in fact a reaction to a situation that he has stored in his brain as deeply and firmly as his own phone number.” Gzowski presented this theory to Gretzky, and he fully agreed. “Absolutely,” Gretzky said. “That’s a hundred percent right. It’s all practice. I got it from my Dad. Nine out of ten people think it’s instinct, and it isn’t. Nobody would ever say a doctor had learned his profession by instinct; yet in my own way I’ve put in almost as much time studying hockey as a medical student puts in studying medicine.”[167]

But Gretzky’s skill as an athlete was not all mental. He had remarkable stamina, as evidenced by the fact that most of Gretzky’s goals were scored late in the game. In the year he scored 92 goals, for example, 22 of them went in the net during the first period, 30 in the second—and 40 in the third.[142] Like Gordie Howe, he possessed “an exceptional capacity to renew his energy resources quickly.” In 1980, when an exercise physiologist tested the recuperative abilities of all of the Edmonton Oilers, Gretzky scored so high the tester said that he “thought the machine had broken.”[168]

He was, in fact, an exceptional all-around athlete. Growing up, he was a competitive runner and also batted .492 for the Junior Intercounty Baseball League’s Brantford CKCP Braves in the summer of 1980. As a result, he was offered a contract by the Toronto Blue Jays.[168] History repeated itself in June 2011, when Gretzky’s 17-year-old son, Trevor, was drafted by the Chicago Cubs. Trevor signed with the Cubs the next month.[169]

Gretzky also excelled at baseball and box lacrosse, which he played during the summer. At age ten, after scoring 196 goals in his hockey league, he scored 158 goals in lacrosse.[170] According to him, lacrosse was where he learned to protect himself from hard checks: “In those days you could be hit from behind in lacrosse, as well as cross-checked, so you had to learn how to roll body checks for self-protection.”[171] Gretzky, who weighed far less than the NHL average, adroitly applied this technique as a professional player, avoiding checks with such skill that a rumour circulated that there was an unwritten rule not to hit him.[172] But Gretzky himself dispelled the rumor at the end of one grueling season with the Edmonton Oilers, in which he had suffered a mild concussion as a result of what writer Michael Benson called a “cheap shot” from Winnipeg Jets star centre Dale Hawerchuk. “People say there is an unwritten rule that you can’t hit Gretzky,” he said, “but that is not true.”[173]

He received a good deal of cover from burly Oiler defensemen Dave Semenko and Marty McSorley. The latter followed Gretzky to the LA Kings in 1989, where he played the same policeman role for several more years.[174][175] But Gretzky fought back against unfair hits in another way. “If a guy ran him, Wayne would embarrass that guy,” said former Oiler Lee Fogolin, to Sports Illustrated. “He’d score six or seven points on him. I saw him do it night after night.”[175]

Gretzky was a most elusive target. Fellow Hockey Hall of Famer Denis Potvin compared attempting to hit Gretzky to “wrapping your arms around fog. You saw him but when you reached out to grab him your hands felt nothing, maybe just a chill.” The 205-pound (93 kg) Potvin, a three-time winner of the Norris Trophy for best defenceman, added that part of the problem in hitting Gretzky hard was that he was “a tough guy to dislike… what was there to hate about Gretzky? It was like running Gandhi into a corner.”[176]

Gretzky became known for setting up with the puck behind the net, an area that was nicknamed “Gretzky’s Office” because of his great prowess there.[4] He could pass to an open teammate, jump out for his own shot on a wraparound, or even try to shoot the puck over the goal to bounce it off the goaltender’s back and into the net. Gretzky became accustomed to the position after watching and studying Bobby Clarke play in that zone.[177] In honour of his abilities, a large “99” was painted on the ice behind the goal at each end of the rink for his final game.[178]

Post-retirement

Gretzky was inducted into the Hockey Hall of Fame on November 22, 1999, becoming the tenth player to bypass the three-year waiting period.[179] The Hall of Fame then announced that he would be the last player to do so.[180] He was inducted into the IIHF Hall of Fame in 2000.[181] In addition, Gretzky’s jersey number 99 was retired league-wide at the 2000 NHL All-Star Game. The jersey retirement was similar to Major League Baseball‘s retirement of the number 42 worn by Jackie Robinson.[182] In October 1999, Edmonton honoured Gretzky by renaming one of Edmonton’s busiest freeways, Capilano Drive – which passes by Rexall Place – to “Wayne Gretzky Drive”.[183] Also in Edmonton, the local transit authority assigned a rush-hour bus route numbered No. 99 which also runs on Wayne Gretzky Drive for its commute.[184] In 2002, the Kings held a jersey retirement ceremony and erected a life-sized statue of Gretzky outside the Staples Center; the ceremony was delayed until then so that Bruce McNall, who had recently finished a prison sentence, could attend.[185] His hometown of Brantford, Ontario, renamed Park Road North to “Wayne Gretzky Parkway” as well as renaming the North Park Recreation Centre to The Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre. Brantford further inducted Gretzky into its “Walk of Fame” in 2004.[186] On May 10, 2010, he was awarded The Ambassador Award of Excellence by the LA Sports & Entertainment Commission.[187]

Phoenix Coyotes

Almost immediately after retirement, several NHL teams approached him about an ownership role.[188] In May 2000, he agreed to buy a 10% stake in the Phoenix Coyotes in a partnership with majority owner Steve Ellman, taking on the roles of alternate governor, managing partner and head of hockey operations.[189] The Coyotes were in the process of being sold and Ellman convinced Gretzky to come on board, averting a potential move to Portland, Oregon.[189] The sale was not completed until the following year, on February 15, 2001, after two missed deadlines while securing financing and partners before Ellman and Gretzky could take over. The sale completed with the addition to the partnership of Jerry Moyes.[190] Gretzky convinced his long-time agent Michael Barnett to join the team as its General Manager.[191]

In 2005, rumors began regarding Gretzky becoming the head coach of the team, but were denied by Gretzky and the Coyotes.[192] He agreed to become head coach on August 8, 2005.[193] Gretzky made his coaching debut on October 5,[194] and won his first game on October 8 against the Minnesota Wild.[195] He took an indefinite leave of absence on December 17 to be with his ill mother. Phyllis Gretzky died of lung cancer on December 19.[196] Gretzky resumed his head-coaching duties on December 28.[197] The Coyotes’ record at the end of the 2005–06 season was 38–39–5, a 16-win improvement over 2004–05; they were 36–36–5 in games Gretzky coached.[198]

In 2006, Moyes became majority owner of the team.[199] There was uncertainty about Gretzky’s role[200] until it was announced on May 31, 2006 that he had agreed to a five-year contract to remain head coach.[201] The Coyotes’ performance declined in 2006–07, as the team ended the season 15th in their conference. During Gretzky’s coaching tenure, the Coyotes did not reach the postseason, and their best finish in the Western Conference standings was 12th.[198]

On May 5, 2009, the Coyotes’ holding company, Dewey Ranch Hockey LLC, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. An ownership dispute involving Research in Motion‘s Jim Balsillie (with the intention of relocating the team) and the NHL itself arose, which eventually ended up in Court. Gretzky did not attend the Coyotes’ training camp, leaving associate head coach Ulf Samuelsson in charge, due to an uncertain contractual status with the club, whose bankruptcy hearings were continuing. Bidders for the club had indicated that Gretzky would no longer be associated with the team after it emerged from bankruptcy, and on September 24, 2009, Gretzky stepped down as head coach and head of hockey operations of the Coyotes. Gretzky’s final head coaching record was 143–161–24.[198]

Winter Olympics

Gretzky was Executive Director of the Canadian men’s hockey team at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah. On February 18, he lashed out at the media at a press conference, frustrated with media and fan comments regarding his team’s uninspiring 1–1–1 start.[202] His temper boiled over after Canada’s 3–3 draw versus the Czech Republic, as he launched a tirade against the perceived negative reputation of Team Canada amongst other national squads, and called rumours of dissent in the dressing room the result of “American propaganda”. “They’re loving us not doing well”, he said, referring to American hockey fans.[202] American fans online began calling Gretzky a “crybaby”; defenders said he was merely borrowing a page from former coach Glen Sather to take the pressure off his players. Gretzky addressed those comments by saying he spoke out to protect the Canadian players, and the tirade was not “staged”.[203] The Canadian team won the gold medal, its first in 50 years.[204]

Gretzky again acted as Executive Director of Canada’s men’s hockey team at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, though not with the success of 2002; the team was eliminated in the quarterfinals and failed to win a medal.[205] He was asked to manage Canada’s team at the 2005 Ice Hockey World Championships, but declined due to his mother’s poor health.[206]

In 2010, Gretzky, Steve Nash, Nancy Greene and Catriona LeMay Doan participated in the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. In this photo, they finish lighting up the cauldron before the Games begin.

Gretzky also served as an ambassador and contributor in Vancouver winning the bidding process to host the 2010 Winter Olympics. He went to Prague, Czech Republic and was part of the presentation team.[207]

Gretzky was the final Olympic torchbearer at the 2010 Winter Olympics. He was one of four who lit the cauldron at BC Place Stadium during the opening ceremony (although one was unable to due to technical difficulties with one of the cauldron’s “arms” which failed to raise) and then jogged out of the stadium, where he was then driven by police escorts through the streets of downtown Vancouver to light a second, outdoor cauldron near the Vancouver Convention Centre located in the city’s downtown waterfront district.[208] Under IOC rules, the lighting of the Olympic cauldron must be witnessed by those attending the opening ceremony, implying that it must be lit at the location where the ceremony is taking place. Although another IOC rule states that the cauldron should be witnessed outside by the entire residents of the entire host city, this was not possible since the ceremony took place indoors. However, VANOC secretly built a second outdoor cauldron next to the West Building of the Vancouver Convention Centre, and Gretzky was secretly chosen to light this permanent cauldron.[209] Quickly word spread through the downtown Vancouver area that Gretzky was indeed the final torchbearer, and very soon a crush of people came running after the police escort to cheer Gretzky on and hopefully catch a glimpse of him carrying the torch to the outdoor cauldron.[210]

For the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, he was named Special Advisor to the Canada men’s national ice hockey team.[211]

Heritage Classic

Main article: 2003 Heritage Classic

Although Gretzky had previously stated he would not participate in any “old-timers exhibition games”,[212] on November 22, 2003, he took to the ice one last time to help celebrate the Edmonton Oilers’ 25th anniversary as an NHL team. The Heritage Classic, held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, was the first regular season NHL game to be played outdoors.[213] It was preceded by the Mega Stars game, which featured Gretzky and many of his Oiler Dynasty teammates against a group of retired Montreal Canadiens players (whose likes included Claude Lemieux, Guy Lafleur and others). Despite frigid temperatures, the crowd numbered 57,167, with an additional several million watching the game on television.[214] The Edmonton alumni won the Megastars game 2–0,[215] while Montreal went on to win the regular season game held later that day, 4–3.[213]

Personal life

Gretzky has made several TV appearances, including a Dance Fever celebrity judge, and an ‘unforgettable appearance’, acting in a dramatic role alongside Victor Newman in The Young and The Restless in 1981.[216] In 1984, he travelled to the Soviet Union to film a television program on Russian goaltender Vladislav Tretiak.[217] Gretzky hosted the Saturday Night Live comedy program in 1989.[218] A fictional crime-fighting version of him served as one of the main characters in the cartoon ProStars in 1991.[219][220] Gretzky has made over 60 movies, network television and video appearances as himself, according to IMDB, as of February 2012.[221]

Family

Janet & Wayne Gretzky in December 2013

While serving as a judge on Dance Fever, Gretzky met actress Janet Jones.[222] According to Wayne, Janet does not recall him being on the show.[222] They met regularly after that, but did not become a couple until 1987 when they ran into each other at a Los Angeles Lakers game that Wayne and Alan Thicke were attending.[223] Wayne proposed in January 1988,[224] and they were married on July 16, 1988 in a lavish ceremony the Canadian press dubbed “The Royal Wedding”.[225] Broadcast live throughout Canada from Edmonton’s St. Joseph’s Basilica, members of the Fire Department acted as ceremonial guards. The event reportedly cost Gretzky over US$1 million.[226] Gretzky obtained US citizenship after he was traded to the Kings, but retains his Canadian citizenship.[227]

He and Jones have five children: Paulina, Ty, Trevor, Tristan, and Emma. Paulina and golfer Dustin Johnson announced their engagement on August 18, 2013.[228] Ty played hockey at Shattuck-Saint Mary’s,[229] but quit the sport, and now attends Arizona State University. Trevor signed a letter of intent in 2010 to play baseball for San Diego State University,[230] but decided to turn pro after he was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in the 2011 MLB draft;[231] his $375,000 signing bonus was negotiated by then-Cubs GM Jim Hendry and Wayne himself.[232] He was traded to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim on March 20, 2014 for Matt Scioscia, son of Angels’ manager Mike Scioscia.[233] In June, he was named by manager Dave Stapleton to the roster of the Orem Owlz.[234]

Business ventures

Gretzky has owned or partnered in the ownership of two sports teams before becoming a partner in the Phoenix Coyotes. In 1985, Gretzky bought the Hull Olympiques of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League for $175,000 CA.[235] During his ownership, the team’s colours were changed to silver and black, presaging the change in team jersey colours when he played for the Los Angeles Kings. For the first season that Gretzky played in Los Angeles, the Kings had their training camp at the Olympiques’ arena.[236] Gretzky eventually sold the team in 1992 for $550,000 CA.[237]

In 1991, Gretzky purchased the Toronto Argonauts of the Canadian Football League with Bruce McNall and John Candy. The club won the Grey Cup championship in the first year of the partnership but struggled in the two following seasons, and the partnership sold the team before the 1994 season. Only McNall’s name was engraved on the Grey Cup as team owner, but in November 2007, the CFL corrected the oversight, adding Gretzky’s and Candy’s names.[238] In 1992, Gretzky and McNall partnered in an investment to buy a rare Honus Wagner T206 cigarette card for $451,000 US, later selling the card. It most recently sold for $2.8 million US.[239] Gretzky was a board member and executive officer of the Hespeler Hockey Company.[240]

As of May 2008, Gretzky’s current business ventures include the “Wayne Gretzky’s” restaurant in Toronto near the Rogers Centre in downtown Toronto, opened in partnership with Tom Bitove in 1993.[241] Gretzky is also a partner in First Team Sports, a maker of sports equipment and Worldwide Roller Hockey, Inc., an operator of roller hockey rinks.[242][243] He has endorsed and launched a wide variety of products, from pillow cases to insurance.[244][245] Forbes estimates that Gretzky earned US$93.8 million from 1990–98.[3]

Transactions

Source:[246]

Career statistics

Playing career

Figures in boldface italics are NHL records.

GP = Games played; G = Goals; A = Assists; Pts = Points; PIM = Penalty minutes; +/– = Plus/minus; PP = Powerplay goals; SH = Shorthanded goals; GW = Game-winning goals

Regular season Playoffs
Season Team League GP G A Pts PIM +/– PP SH GW GP G A Pts PIM
1975–76 Toronto Nationals MetJHL 28 27 33 60 7 — — — — — — — — —
1976–77 Seneca Nationals MetJHL 32 36 36 72 35 — — — — 23 40 35 75 —
1976–77 Peterborough Petes OMJHL 3 0 3 3 0 — — — — — — — — —
1977–78 Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds OMJHL 64 70 112 182 14 — — — — 13 6 20 26 0
1978–79 Indianapolis Racers WHA 8 3 3 6 0 −3 0 — — — — — — —
1978–79 Edmonton Oilers WHA 72 43 61 104 19 +23 9 — — 13 10 10 20 2
1979–80 Edmonton Oilers NHL 79 51 86 137 21 +15 13 1 6 3 2 1 3 0
1980–81 Edmonton Oilers NHL 80 55 109 164 28 +41 15 4 3 9 7 14 21 4
1981–82 Edmonton Oilers NHL 80 92 120 212 26 +81 18 6 12 5 5 7 12 8
1982–83 Edmonton Oilers NHL 80 71 125 196 59 +60 18 6 9 16 12 26 38 4
1983–84 Edmonton Oilers NHL 74 87 118 205 39 +76 20 12 11 19 13 22 35 12
1984–85 Edmonton Oilers NHL 80 73 135 208 52 +98 8 11 7 18 17 30 47 4
1985–86 Edmonton Oilers NHL 80 52 163 215 46 +71 11 3 6 10 8 11 19 2
1986–87 Edmonton Oilers NHL 79 62 121 183 28 +70 13 7 4 21 5 29 34 6
1987–88 Edmonton Oilers NHL 64 40 109 149 24 +39 9 5 3 19 12 31 43 16
1988–89 Los Angeles Kings NHL 78 54 114 168 26 +15 11 5 5 11 5 17 22 0
1989–90 Los Angeles Kings NHL 73 40 102 142 42 +8 10 4 4 7 3 7 10 0
1990–91 Los Angeles Kings NHL 78 41 122 163 16 +30 8 0 5 12 4 11 15 2
1991–92 Los Angeles Kings NHL 74 31 90 121 34 −12 12 2 2 6 2 5 7 2
1992–93 Los Angeles Kings NHL 45 16 49 65 6 +6 0 2 1 24 15 25 40 4
1993–94 Los Angeles Kings NHL 81 38 92 130 20 −25 14 4 0 — — — — —
1994–95 Los Angeles Kings NHL 48 11 37 48 6 −20 3 0 1 — — — — —
1995–96 Los Angeles Kings NHL 62 15 66 81 32 −7 5 0 2 — — — — —
1995–96 St. Louis Blues NHL 18 8 13 21 2 −6 1 1 1 13 2 14 16 0
1996–97 New York Rangers NHL 82 25 72 97 28 +12 6 0 2 15 10 10 20 2
1997–98 New York Rangers NHL 82 23 67 90 28 −11 6 0 4 — — — — —
1998–99 New York Rangers NHL 70 9 53 62 14 −23 3 0 3 — — — — —
WHA career totals (1 season) 80 46 64 110 19 +20 9 — — 13 10 10 20 2
NHL career totals (20 seasons) 1,487 894 1,963 2,857 577 +518 204 73 91 208 122 260 382 66

International performance

Year Event Team GP G A Pts PIM Medal
1978 World Junior Championships Canada 6 8 9 17 2 Bronze
1981 Canada Cup Canada 7 5 7 12 2 Silver
1982 World Championships Canada 10 6 8 14 0 Bronze
1984 Canada Cup Canada 8 5 7 12 2 Gold
1987 Rendez-vous ’87 NHL All-Stars 2 0 4 4 0 N/A
1987 Canada Cup Canada 9 3 18 21 2 Gold
1991 Canada Cup Canada 7 4 8 12 2 Gold
1996 World Cup Canada 8 3 4 7 2 Silver
1998 Winter Olympics Canada 6 0 4 4 2 none
Junior international totals 6 8 9 17 2 1
Senior international totals 57 26 60 86 12 6
International totals 63 34 69 103 14 7

Coaching record

Team Year Regular Season Post Season
G W L OTL Pts Finish Result
PHX 2005–06 82 38 39 5 81 5th in Pacific Missed playoffs
PHX 2006–07 82 31 46 5 67 5th in Pacific Missed playoffs
PHX 2007–08 82 38 37 7 83 4th in Pacific Missed playoffs
PHX 2008–09 82 36 39 7 79 4th in Pacific Missed playoffs
Total 328 143 161 24 Points %: .473

See also

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Portal icon Canada portal

 

 

Terry Fox

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Terry Fox
A young man with short, curly hair and an artificial right leg runs down a street. He wears shorts and a T-shirt that reads "Marathon of Hope"

Terry Fox in Toronto during his Marathon of Hope cross-country run (July 1980)
Born Terrance Stanley Fox
(1958-07-28)July 28, 1958
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Died June 28, 1981(1981-06-28) (aged 22)
New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada
Cause of death
 Metastatic osteosarcoma
Education Simon Fraser University
Known for Marathon of Hope
Title Companion of the Order of Canada

Terrance Stanley “Terry” Fox CC OD (July 28, 1958 – June 28, 1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. In 1980, with one leg having been amputated, he embarked on a cross-Canada run to raise money and awareness for cancer research. Although the spread of his cancer eventually forced him to end his quest after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 mi), and ultimately cost him his life, his efforts resulted in a lasting, worldwide legacy. The annual Terry Fox Run, first held in 1981, has grown to involve millions of participants in over 60 countries and is now the world’s largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research; over C$600 million has been raised in his name.[1]

Fox was a distance runner and basketball player for his Port Coquitlam, British Columbia, high school and Simon Fraser University. His right leg was amputated in 1977 after he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, though he continued to run using an artificial leg. He also played wheelchair basketball in Vancouver, winning three national championships.

In 1980, he began the Marathon of Hope, a cross-country run to raise money for cancer research. He hoped to raise one dollar for each of Canada’s 24 million people. He began with little fanfare from St. John’s, Newfoundland in April and ran the equivalent of a full marathon every day. Fox had become a national star by the time he reached Ontario; he made numerous public appearances with businessmen, athletes, and politicians in his efforts to raise money. He was forced to end his run outside of Thunder Bay when the cancer spread to his lungs. His hopes of overcoming the disease and completing his marathon ended when he died nine months later.

He was the youngest person ever named a Companion of the Order of Canada. He won the 1980 Lou Marsh Award as the nation’s top sportsman and was named Canada’s Newsmaker of the Year in both 1980 and 1981. Considered a national hero, he has had many buildings, roads and parks named in his honour across the country.

Early life and cancer

Terry Fox was born on July 28, 1958, in Winnipeg, Manitoba, to Rolland and Betty Fox. Rolland was a switchman for the Canadian National Railway.[2] Terry had an elder brother, Fred, a younger brother, Darrell and a younger sister, Judith.[3]

His family moved to Surrey, British Columbia in 1966, then settled in Port Coquitlam in 1968.[3] His parents were dedicated to their family, and his mother was especially protective of her children; it was through her that Fox developed his stubborn dedication to whatever task he committed to do.[4] His father recalled that he was extremely competitive, noting that Terry hated to lose so much that he would continue at any activity until he succeeded.[5]

He was an enthusiastic athlete, playing soccer, rugby and baseball as a child.[6] His passion was for basketball and though he stood only five feet tall and was a poor player at the time, Fox sought to make his school team in grade eight. His physical education teacher and basketball coach at Mary Hill Junior High School felt he was better suited to be a distance runner and encouraged him to take up the sport. Fox had no desire for cross-country running, but took it up because he respected and wanted to please his coach.[7] He was determined to continue playing basketball, even if he was the last substitute on the team. Fox played only one minute in his grade eight season but dedicated his summers to improving his play. He became a regular player in grade nine and earned a starting position in grade ten.[8] In grade 12, he won his high school’s athlete of the year award jointly with his best friend Doug Alward.[3]

Though he was initially unsure if he wanted to go to university, Fox’s mother convinced him to enrol at Simon Fraser University, where he studied kinesiology as a stepping stone to becoming a physical education teacher.[9] He tried out for the junior varsity basketball team, earning a spot ahead of more talented players due to his determination.[3]

On November 12, 1976, as Fox was driving home to Port Coquitlam, he became distracted by nearby bridge construction, and crashed into the back of a pickup truck. While his car was left undriveable, Fox emerged with only a sore right knee. He again felt pain in December, but chose to ignore it until the end of basketball season.[10] By March 1977, the pain had intensified and he finally went to a hospital, where he was diagnosed with osteosarcoma, a form of cancer that often starts near the knees.[3] Fox believed his car accident weakened his knee and left it vulnerable to the disease, though his doctors argued there was no connection. [11] He was told that his leg had to be amputated, he would require chemotherapy treatment, and that recent medical advances meant he had a 50 percent chance of survival. Fox learned that two years before the figure would have been only 15 percent; the improvement in survival rates impressed on him the value of cancer research.[12]

With the help of an artificial leg, Fox was walking three weeks after the amputation.[3] He then progressed to playing golf with his father.[13] Doctors were impressed with Fox’s positive outlook, stating it contributed to his rapid recovery.[14] He endured sixteen months of chemotherapy and found the time he spent in the British Columbia Cancer Control Agency facility difficult as he watched fellow cancer patients suffer and die from the disease.[15] Fox ended his treatment with new purpose: he felt he owed his survival to medical advances and wished to live his life in a way that would help others find courage.[16]

In the summer of 1977 Rick Hansen, working with the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association, invited Fox to try out for his wheelchair basketball team.[17] Although he was undergoing chemotherapy treatments at the time, Fox’s energy impressed Hansen.[3] Less than two months after learning how to play the sport, Fox was named a member of the team for the national championship in Edmonton.[18] He won three national titles with the team,[3] and was named an all-star by the North American Wheelchair Basketball Association in 1980.[19]

Marathon of Hope

Terry Fox statue in Beacon Hill Park, Victoria, British Columbia

The night before his cancer surgery, Fox had been given an article about Dick Traum, the first amputee to complete the New York City Marathon.[3] The article inspired him; he embarked on a 14-month training program, telling his family he planned to compete in a marathon himself.[2] In private, he devised a more extensive plan. His hospital experiences had made Fox angry at how little money was dedicated to cancer research. He intended to run the length of Canada in the hope of increasing cancer awareness, a goal he initially only divulged to his friend Douglas Alward.[20]

Fox ran with an unusual gait, as he was required to hop-step on his good leg due to the extra time the springs in his artificial leg required to reset after each step.[21] He found the training painful as the additional pressure he had to place on both his good leg and his stump led to bone bruises, blisters and intense pain. Fox found that after about 20 minutes of each run, he crossed a pain threshold and the run became easier.[22]

In August 1979, Fox competed in a marathon in Prince George, British Columbia. He finished in last place, ten minutes behind his closest competitor, but his effort was met with tears and applause from the other participants.[3] Following the marathon, he revealed his full plan to his family.[23] His mother discouraged him, angering Fox, though she later came to support the project. She recalled, “He said, ‘I thought you’d be one of the first persons to believe in me.’ And I wasn’t. I was the first person who let him down”.[24] Fox initially hoped to raise $1 million,[24] then $10 million, but later sought to raise $1 for each of Canada’s 24 million people.[25]

Preparation

On October 15, 1979, Fox sent a letter to the Canadian Cancer Society in which he announced his goal and appealed for funding. He stated that he would “conquer” his disability, and promised to complete his run, even if he had to “crawl every last mile”. Explaining why he wanted to raise money for research, Fox described his personal experience of cancer treatment:

I soon realized that that would only be half my quest, for as I went through the 16 months of the physically and emotionally draining ordeal of chemotherapy, I was rudely awakened by the feelings that surrounded and coursed through the cancer clinic. There were faces with the brave smiles, and the ones who had given up smiling. There were feelings of hopeful denial, and the feelings of despair. My quest would not be a selfish one. I could not leave knowing these faces and feelings would still exist, even though I would be set free from mine. Somewhere the hurting must stop….and I was determined to take myself to the limit for this cause.[26]

Fox made no promises that his efforts would lead to a cure for cancer, but he closed his letter with the statement: “We need your help. The people in cancer clinics all over the world need people who believe in miracles. I am not a dreamer, and I am not saying that this will initiate any kind of definitive answer or cure to cancer. I believe in miracles. I have to.”[26] The Cancer Society was skeptical of his dedication, but agreed to support Fox once he had acquired sponsors and requested he get a medical certificate from a heart specialist stating that he was fit to attempt the run. Fox was diagnosed with left ventricular hypertrophy – an enlarged heart – a condition commonly associated with athletes. Doctors warned Fox of the potential risks he faced, though they did not consider his condition a significant concern. They endorsed his participation when he promised that he would stop immediately if he began to experience any heart problems.[27]

A second letter was sent to several corporations seeking donations for a vehicle, running shoes and to cover the other costs of the run.[28] Fox sent other letters asking for grants to buy a running leg. He observed that while he was grateful to be alive following his cancer treatment, “I remember promising myself that, should I live, I would rise up to meet this new challenge [of fundraising for cancer research] face to face and prove myself worthy of life, something too many people take for granted.”[28] The Ford Motor Company donated a camper van,[4] while Imperial Oil contributed fuel, and Adidas his running shoes.[29] Fox turned away any company that requested he endorse their products and refused any donation that carried conditions as he insisted that nobody was to profit from his run.[4]

Trek across Canada

Fox’s path across eastern Canada. He began at St. John’s on the east coast and ran west.

The Marathon began on April 12, 1980, when Fox dipped his right leg in the Atlantic Ocean near St. John’s, Newfoundland, and filled two large bottles with ocean water. He intended to keep one as a souvenir and pour the other into the Pacific Ocean upon completing his journey at Victoria, British Columbia.[25] Fox was supported on his run by Doug Alward, who drove the van and cooked meals.[29]

Fox was met with gale force winds, heavy rain and a snowstorm in the first days of his run.[2] He was initially disappointed with the reception he received, but was heartened upon arriving in Port aux Basques, Newfoundland, where the town’s 10,000 residents presented him with a donation of over $10,000.[29] Throughout the trip, Fox frequently expressed his anger and frustration to those he saw as impeding the run, and he fought regularly with Alward. By the time they reached Nova Scotia, they were barely on speaking terms, and it was arranged for Fox’s brother Darrell, then 17, to join them as a buffer.[24] Fox left the Maritimes on June 10 and faced new challenges entering Quebec due to his group’s inability to speak French[30] and drivers who continually forced him off the road.[31] Fox arrived in Montreal on June 22, one-third of the way through his 8,000-kilometre (5,000 mi) journey, having collected over $200,000 in donations.[21] Around this time, Terry Fox’s run caught the attention of Isadore Sharp who was the founder and CEO of Four Seasons Hotel and Resorts – and who had lost a son to melanoma in 1978 just a year after Terry’s diagnosis.[32] Sharp was intrigued by the story of a one-legged kid “trying to do the impossible” and run across the country; so he offered food and accommodation at his hotels en route. When Terry was discouraged because so few people were making donations, Sharp pledged $2 a mile [to the run] and persuaded close to 1,000 other corporations to do the same.[33] Sharp’s encouragement persuaded Terry to continue with the Marathon of Hope. Convinced by the Canadian Cancer Society that arriving in Ottawa for Canada Day would aid fundraising efforts, he remained in Montreal for a few extra days.[31]

Memorial at Mile 0 in St. John’s

Fox crossed into Ontario at the town of Hawkesbury on the last Saturday in June. He was met by a brass band and thousands of residents who lined the streets to cheer him on, while the Ontario Provincial Police gave him an escort throughout the province.[34] Despite the sweltering heat of summer, he continued to run 26 miles (42 km) per day.[30] On his arrival in Ottawa, Fox met Governor General Ed Schreyer and Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and was the guest of honour at numerous sporting events in the city.[34] In front of 16,000 fans, he performed a ceremonial kickoff at a Canadian Football League game and was given a standing ovation. Fox’s journal reflected his growing excitement at the reception he had received as he began to understand how deeply moved Canadians were by his efforts.[35]

On July 11, a crowd of 10,000 people met Fox in Toronto, where he was honoured in Nathan Phillips Square.[36] As he ran to the square, he was joined on the road by many people, including National Hockey League star Darryl Sittler, who presented Fox with his 1980 All-Star Game jersey. The Cancer Society estimated it collected $100,000 in donations that day alone.[3] As he continued through southern Ontario, he was met by Hockey Hall of Famer Bobby Orr who presented him with a cheque for $25,000. Fox considered meeting Orr the highlight of his journey.[3]

“Everybody seems to have given up hope of trying. I haven’t. It isn’t easy and it isn’t supposed to be, but I’m accomplishing something. How many people give up a lot to do something good. I’m sure we would have found a cure for cancer 20 years ago if we had really tried”

Fox speaking outside of Ottawa[5]

As Fox’s fame grew, the Cancer Society scheduled him to attend more functions and give more speeches.[37] Fox attempted to accommodate any request that he believed would raise money, no matter how far out of his way it took him. [38] He bristled, however, at what he felt were media intrusions into his personal life, for example when the Toronto Star reported that he had gone on a date.[39] Fox was left unsure whom he could trust in the media after negative articles began to emerge, including one by the Globe and Mail that characterized him as a “tyrannical brother” who verbally abused Darrell and claimed he was running because he held a grudge against a doctor who had misdiagnosed his condition, allegations he referred to as “trash”.[40]

The physical demands of running a marathon every day took its toll on Fox’s body. Apart from the rest days in Montreal taken at the request of the Cancer Society, he refused to take a day off, even on his 22nd birthday.[41] He frequently suffered shin splints and an inflamed knee. He developed cysts on his stump and experienced dizzy spells.[42] At one point, he suffered a soreness in his ankle that would not go away. Although he feared he had developed a stress fracture, he ran for three more days before seeking medical attention, and was then relieved to learn it was tendonitis and could be treated with painkillers.[43] Fox rejected calls for him to seek regular medical checkups,[44] and dismissed suggestions he was risking his future health.[40]

In spite of his immense recuperative capacity,[45] Fox found that by late August he was exhausted before he began his day’s run.[46] On September 1, outside of Thunder Bay, he was forced to stop briefly after he suffered an intense coughing fit and experienced pains in his chest. Unsure what to do, he resumed running as the crowds along the highway shouted out their encouragement.[47] A few miles later, short of breath and with continued chest pain, he asked Alward to drive him to a hospital. He feared immediately that he had run his last kilometer.[48] The next day, Fox held a tearful press conference during which he announced that his cancer had returned and spread to his lungs. He was forced to end his run after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres (3,339 mi).[49] Fox refused offers to complete the run in his stead, stating that he wanted to complete his marathon himself.[3]

National response

Terry Fox statue in Ottawa

Fox had raised $1.7 million by the time he was forced to abandon the Marathon. He realized that the nation was about to see the consequences of the disease, and hoped that this might lead to greater generosity.[50] A week after his run ended, the CTV Television Network organized a nationwide telethon in support of Fox and the Canadian Cancer Society.[51] Supported by Canadian and international celebrities, the five-hour event raised $10.5 million.[3] Among the donations were $1 million each by the governments of British Columbia and Ontario, the former to create a new research institute to be founded in Fox’s name, and the latter an endowment given to the Ontario Cancer Treatment and Research Foundation.[52] Donations continued throughout the winter, and by the following April, over $23 million had been raised.[53]

Supporters and well wishers from around the world inundated Fox with letters and tokens of support. At one point, he was receiving more mail than the rest of Port Coquitlam combined.[54] Such was his fame that one letter addressed simply to “Terry Fox, Canada” was successfully delivered.[55]

In September 1980 he was invested in a special ceremony as a Companion of the Order of Canada; he was the youngest person to be so honoured.[56][57] The Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia named him to the Order of the Dogwood, the province’s highest award.[58] Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame commissioned a permanent exhibit,[59] and Fox was named the winner of the Lou Marsh Award for 1980 as the nation’s top athlete.[60] He was named Canada’s 1980 Newsmaker of the Year. The Ottawa Citizen described the national response to his marathon as “one of the most powerful outpourings of emotion and generosity in Canada’s history”.[61]

Death

In the following months, Fox received multiple chemotherapy treatments; however, the disease continued to spread.[62] As his condition worsened, Canadians hoped for a miracle and Pope John Paul II sent a telegram saying that he was praying for Fox.[63] Doctors turned to experimental interferon treatments, though their effectiveness against osteogenic sarcoma was unknown.[64] He suffered an adverse reaction to his first treatment,[65] but continued the program after a period of rest.[66]

Fox was re-admitted to the Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster on June 19, 1981, with chest congestion and developed pneumonia.[67] He fell into a coma and died at 4:35 a.m. PDT on June 28, 1981, with his family by his side.[68][69] The Government of Canada ordered flags across the country lowered to half mast, an unprecedented honour that was usually reserved for statesmen.[70] Addressing the House of Commons, Trudeau said, “It occurs very rarely in the life of a nation that the courageous spirit of one person unites all people in the celebration of his life and in the mourning of his death … We do not think of him as one who was defeated by misfortune but as one who inspired us with the example of the triumph of the human spirit over adversity”.[71]

His funeral, attended by 40 relatives and 200 guests,[71] was broadcast on national television; hundreds of communities across Canada also held memorial services,[72] a public memorial service was held on Parliament Hill in Ottawa,[73] and Canadians again overwhelmed Cancer Society offices with donations.[74]

Legacy

Participants of the 2007 Terry Fox Run in Milan, Italy

Fox remains a prominent figure in Canadian folklore. His determination united the nation; people from all walks of life lent their support to his run and his memory inspires pride in all regions of the country.[75] A 1999 national survey named him as Canada’s greatest hero,[76] and he finished second to Tommy Douglas in the 2004 Canadian Broadcasting Corporation program The Greatest Canadian.[77] Fox’s heroic status has been attributed to his image as an ordinary person attempting a remarkable and inspirational feat.[78][79] Others have argued that Fox’s greatness derives from his audacious vision, his determined pursuit of his goal, his ability to overcome challenges such as his lack of experience and the very loneliness of his venture.[78][80] As Fox’s advocate on The Greatest Canadian, media personality Sook-Yin Lee compared him to a classic hero, Phidippides, the runner who delivered the news of the Battle of Marathon before dying, and asserted that Fox “embodies the most cherished Canadian values: compassion, commitment, perseverance”. She highlighted the juxtaposition between his celebrity, brought about by the unforgettable image he created, and his rejection of the trappings of that celebrity.[81] Typically amongst Canadian icons, Fox is an unconventional hero, admired but not without flaws.[82] An obituary in the Canadian Family Physician emphasized his humanity and noted that his anger – at his diagnosis, at press misrepresentations and at those he saw as encroaching on his independence – spoke against ascribing sainthood for Fox, and thus placed his achievements within the reach of all.[78]

In September 2013, Dr. Jay Wunder, a sarcoma specialist at Mount Sinai Hospital, Toronto, noted that survival rates for osteosarcoma have increased dramatically since Fox’s death. Most patient “get limb-sparing or limb-reconstructive surgery. Now the cure rate’s almost up to 80 per cent in younger patients. In older patients it’s more like 70 per cent. … So that’s a pretty big turnaround in a couple of decades.”[83] These advances in treatment might be partly attributable to the $650 million raised since Terry Fox started his Marathon of Hope.[83]

Attitudes to disability

Fox expressed a robust attitude to his situation: he refused to regard himself as disabled,[84] and would not allow anyone to pity him, telling a Toronto radio station that he found life more “rewarding and challenging” since he had lost his leg.[78] His feat helped redefine Canadian views of disability and the inclusion of the disabled in society.[85][86] Fox’s actions increased the visibility of people with disabilities,[86][87] and in addition influenced the attitudes of those with disabilities, by showing them disability portrayed in a positive light.[86] Rick Hansen commented that the run challenged society to focus on ability rather than disability. “What was perceived as a limitation became a great opportunity. People with disabilities started looking at things differently. They came away with huge pride”, he wrote.[88]

In contrast, the narrative surrounding Fox has been critiqued as illustrating the media’s focus on stereotyped portrayals of the heroic and extraordinary achievements of people with disabilities, rather than more mundane accomplishments.[89][90][91] Actor Alan Toy noted “Sure, it raised money for cancer research and sure it showed the human capacity for achievement. But a lot of disabled people are made to feel like failures if they haven’t done something extraordinary. They may be bankers or factory workers – proof enough of their usefulness to society. Do we have to be ‘supercrips’ in order to be valid? And if we’re not super, are we invalid?”[89] The media’s idealization of Fox has also been critiqued for emphasizing an individualistic approach to illness and disability, in which the body is a machine to be mastered, rather than the social model of disability, where societal attitudes and barriers to inclusion play a prominent role in determining who is disabled.[92][93]

Terry Fox Run

Main article: Terry Fox Run

One of Fox’s earliest supporters was Isadore Sharp, founder of the Four Seasons Hotels. Sharp had lost his own son to cancer and offered Fox and his companions free accommodation at his hotels.[3] He donated $10,000 and challenged 999 other businesses to do the same.[94] Sharp also proposed an annual fundraising run in Fox’s name. Fox agreed, but insisted that the runs be non-competitive. There were to be no winners or losers, and anyone who participated could run, walk or ride.[95] Sharp faced opposition to the project. The Cancer Society feared that a fall run would detract from its traditional April campaigns, while other charities believed that an additional fundraiser would leave less money for their causes.[96] Sharp persisted, and he, the Four Seasons Hotels and the Fox family organized the first Terry Fox Run on September 13, 1981.[95]

Over 300,000 people took part and raised $3.5 million in the first Terry Fox Run.[94] Schools across Canada were urged to join the second run, held on September 19, 1982.[97] School participation has continued since, evolving into the National School Run Day.[98] The runs, which raised over $20 million in its first six years,[96] grew into an international event as over one million people in 60 countries took part in 1999, raising $15 million that year alone.[99] By the Terry Fox Run’s 25th anniversary, more than three million people were taking part annually. Grants from the Terry Fox Foundation, which organizes the runs, have helped Canadian scientists make numerous advances in cancer research.[100] The Terry Fox Run is the world’s largest one-day fundraiser for cancer research,[101] and over $600 million has been raised in his name.[1] The 30th Terry Fox Run was held September 19, 2010.[102]

Honours

Memorial erected outside of Thunder Bay on the Trans-Canada Highway near the spot where Fox was forced to end his marathon.

The physical memorials in Canada named after Fox include:[103]

  • Approximately 32 roads and streets, including the Terry Fox Courage Highway near Thunder Bay, near where Fox ended his run and where a statue of him was erected as a monument;[104]
  • 14 schools, including a new school in a suburb of Montreal that was renamed Terry Fox Elementary School shortly after he died,[105] and the Port Coquitlam high school, from which he had graduated, which was renamed Terry Fox Secondary School on January 18, 1986;[106]
  • 14 other buildings, including many athletic centres and the Terry Fox Research Institute in Vancouver;
  • Seven statues, including the Terry Fox Monument in Ottawa, which was the genesis of The Path of Heroes, a federal government initiative that seeks to honour the people that shaped the nation;[107]
  • nine fitness trails;
  • A previously unnamed mountain in the Canadian Rockies in the Selwyn range, which was named Mount Terry Fox by the government of British Columbia;[108] the area around it is now known as Mount Terry Fox Provincial Park;
  • The Terry Fox Fountain of Hope was in 1982 installed on the grounds of Rideau Hall;[109]
  • The Canadian Coast Guard icebreaker CCGS Terry Fox, which was commissioned in 1983; and[110]
  • In 2011, a series of bronze sculptures of Fox in motion, designed by author Douglas Coupland and depicting Fox running toward the Pacific Ocean, was unveiled outside of BC Place in downtown Vancouver.[111]
  • In 2012, Fox was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame in the Builder category in recognition of his public service in the name of research fundraising.[112]

Shortly after his death, Fox was named the Newsmaker of the Year for 1981,[113] and Canada Post announced the production of a commemorative stamp in 1981, bypassing its traditionally held position that stamps honouring people should not be created until ten years after their deaths.[114] British rock star Rod Stewart was so moved by the Marathon of Hope that he was inspired to write and dedicate the song “Never Give Up on a Dream” – found on his 1981 album Tonight I’m Yours – to Fox. Stewart also called his 1981–1982 tour of Canada the “Terry Fox Tour”.[115]

The Terry Fox Hall of Fame was established in 1994 to recognize individuals that have made contributions that improved the quality of life of disabled people.[107][116] The Terry Fox Laboratory research centre was established in Vancouver to conduct leading edge research into the causes and potential cures for cancer.

The Royal Canadian Mint produced a special dollar coin in 2005 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Marathon of Hope. It was their first regular circulation coin to feature a Canadian.[117]

In 2008, Terry Fox was named a National Historic Person of Canada, a recognition given by the Canadian government to those persons who are considered to have played a nationally significant role in the history of the country. Fox’s designation was due to his status as an “enduring icon”, his personal qualities, and for the manner in which the Marathon of Hope had captivated the country and resonated deeply with Canadians.[118]

Fox’s mother, Betty Fox, was one of eight people to carry the Olympic Flag into BC Place Stadium at the opening ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.[119] The games saw the Terry Fox Award bestowed on Olympic athletes who embodied Fox’s characteristics of determination and humility in the face of adversity.[120]

Films

Fox’s story was dramatized in the 1983 biopic The Terry Fox Story. Produced by Home Box Office, the film aired as a television movie in the United States and had a theatrical run in Canada.[121] The film starred amputee actor Eric Fryer and Robert Duvall, and was the first film made exclusively for pay television.[122] The movie received mixed but generally positive reviews.[121] However, it was criticized by Fox’s family over how it portrayed his temper.[123] The Terry Fox Story was nominated for eight Genie Awards, and won five, including Best Picture and Best Actor.[124]

A second movie, titled Terry, focused on the Marathon of Hope, was produced by the CTV Television Network in 2005. Fox was portrayed by Shawn Ashmore. He is not an amputee; digital editing was used to superimpose a prosthesis over his real leg. The film was endorsed by Fox’s family, and portrayed his attitude more positively than the first movie.[123] Canadian National Basketball Association star Steve Nash, who himself was inspired by Fox when he was a child, directed a 2010 documentary Into the Wind, which aired on ESPN as part of its 30 for 30 series.[125][126]

Steve Fonyo and Rick Hansen

Terry Fox was not the first person to attempt to run across Canada. Mark Kent crossed the country in 1974 as he raised money for the Canadian team at the 1976 Summer Olympics.[2][127] While he lived, Fox refused to let anyone else complete the Marathon of Hope, having promised to finish it himself once he recovered.[95] Steve Fonyo, an 18-year-old who suffered from the same form of cancer and who also had a leg amputated, sought in 1984 to duplicate Fox’s run, calling his effort the “Journey for Lives”.[128] After leaving St. John’s on March 31, Fonyo reached the point where Fox was forced to end his marathon at the end of November,[129] and completed the transcontinental run on May 29, 1985.[130] The Journey for Lives raised over $13 million for cancer research.[131]

Canadian Paralympic athlete Rick Hansen, who had recruited Fox to play on his wheelchair basketball team in 1977, was similarly inspired by the Marathon of Hope.[132] Hansen, who first considered circumnavigating the globe in his wheelchair in 1974, began the Man in Motion World Tour in 1985 with the goal of raising $10 million towards research into spinal cord injuries.[133] As Fonyo had, Hansen paused at the spot Fox’s run ended to honour the late runner.[104] Hansen completed his world tour in May 1987 after 792 days and 40,073 kilometres (24,900 mi);[134] he travelled through 34 countries and raised over $26 million.[135]

See also

Portal icon History of Canada portal
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David Suzuki

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David Suzuki
Suzuki in 2009
Born David Takayoshi Suzuki
(1936-03-24) March 24, 1936 (age 78)
Vancouver, British Columbia
Residence Vancouver, British Columbia
Institutions University of British Columbia
Alma mater Amherst College, B.A. (1958)
University of Chicago, Ph.D. (1961)
Notable awards Order of Canada, (1976, 2006)
UNESCO‘s Kalinga Prize (1986)
Right Livelihood Award (2009)
Signature

David Takayoshi Suzuki, CC OBC (born March 24, 1936) is a Canadian academic, science broadcaster and environmental activist. Suzuki earned a Ph.D in zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961, and was a professor in the genetics department at the University of British Columbia from 1963 until his retirement in 2001. Since the mid-1970s, Suzuki has been known for his TV and radio series, documentaries and books about nature and the environment. He is best known as host of the popular and long-running CBC Television science program, The Nature of Things, seen in over forty nations. He is also well known for criticizing governments for their lack of action to protect the environment.

A long time activist to reverse global climate change, Suzuki co-founded the David Suzuki Foundation in 1990, to work “to find ways for society to live in balance with the natural world that does sustain us.” The Foundation’s priorities are: oceans and sustainable fishing, climate change and clean energy, sustainability, and Suzuki’s Nature Challenge. The Foundation also works on ways to help protect the oceans from large oil spills such as the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.[1] Suzuki has also served as a director of the Canadian Civil Liberties Association from 1982 to 1987.

Suzuki was awarded the Right Livelihood Award in 2009. His 2011 book, The Legacy, won the Nautilus Book Award. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada. In 2004, David Suzuki ranked fifth on the list of final nominees in a CBC Television series that asked viewers to select the greatest Canadian of all time. Suzuki was the top finalist still alive.

Early life

Suzuki has a twin sister named Marcia, as well as two other siblings, Geraldine (now known as Aiko) and Dawn. They were born to Setsu Nakamura and Kaoru Carr Suzuki in Vancouver, Canada. Suzuki’s maternal and paternal grandparents had emigrated to Canada at the beginning of the 20th century from Hiroshima and Aichi Prefecture respectively.[2]

A third-generation Japanese-Canadian (“Canadian Sansei“), Suzuki and his family suffered internment in British Columbia from early during the Second World War until after the war ended in 1945. In June 1942, the government sold the Suzuki family’s dry-cleaning business, then interned Suzuki, his mother, and two sisters in a camp at Slocan in the British Columbia Interior.[3] His father had been sent to a labour camp in Solsqua two months earlier. Suzuki’s sister Dawn was born in the internment camp.[4]

After the war, Suzuki’s family, like other Japanese Canadian families, were forced to move east of the Rockies. The Suzukis moved to Islington, Leamington, and London, Ontario. Suzuki, in interviews, has many times credited his father for having interested him in and sensitized him to nature.

Suzuki attended Mill Street Elementary School and Grade 9 at Leamington Secondary School before moving to London, Ontario, where he attended London Central Secondary School, eventually winning the election to become Students’ Council President in his last year there by more votes than all of the other candidates combined.[5]

Academic career

Suzuki received his B.A. in Biology in 1958 from Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he first discovered genetics study,[6] and his Ph.D. in Zoology from the University of Chicago in 1961.

Early in his research career he studied genetics using the popular model organism Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies). To be able to use his initials in naming any new genes he found, he studied dominant temperature-sensitive (DTS) phenotypes. (As he jokingly noted at a lecture at Johns Hopkins University, the only alternative subject was “(damn) tough skin”.) He was a professor in the genetics department (stated in his book Genethics: The Ethics of Engineering Life, 1988) at the University of British Columbia for almost forty years, from 1963 until his retirement in 2001, and has since been professor emeritus at a university research institute.[7]

Broadcasting career

Suzuki in 2006

Suzuki began in television in 1970 with the weekly children’s show Suzuki on Science. In 1974, he founded the radio program Quirks and Quarks, which he also hosted on CBC AM radio (the forerunner of CBC Radio One) from 1975 to 1979. Throughout the 1970s, he also hosted Science Magazine, a weekly program geared towards an adult audience.

Since 1979, Suzuki has hosted The Nature of Things, a CBC television series that has aired in nearly fifty countries worldwide.[8] In this program, Suzuki’s aim is to stimulate interest in the natural world, to point out threats to human well-being and wildlife habitat, and to present alternatives for achieving a more sustainable society. Suzuki has been a prominent proponent of renewable energy sources and the soft energy path.

Suzuki was the host of the critically acclaimed 1993 PBS series The Secret of Life.[9] His 1985 hit series, A Planet for the Taking, averaged more than 1.8 million viewers per episode and earned him a United Nations Environment Programme Medal. His perspective in this series is summed up in his statement: “We have both a sense of the importance of the wilderness and space in our culture and an attitude that it is limitless and therefore we needn’t worry.” He concludes with a call for a major “perceptual shift” in our relationship with nature and the wild.

Suzuki’s The Sacred Balance, a book first published in 1997 and later made into a five-hour mini-series on Canadian public television, was broadcast in 2002.[10][11] Suzuki is now taking part in an advertisement campaign with the tagline “You have the power”, promoting energy conservation through various household alternatives, such as the use of compact fluorescent lightbulbs.

For the Discovery Channel, Suzuki also produced “Yellowstone to Yukon: The Wildlands Project” in 1997. The conservation-biology based documentary focused on Dave Foreman‘s Wildlands Project, which considers how to create corridors between and buffer-zones around large wilderness reserves as a means to preserve biological diversity. Foreman developed this project after leaving Earth First! (which he co-founded) in 1990. The conservation biologists Michael Soulé and Reed Noss were also directly involved.

Climate change activism

David in conversation with Silver Donald Cameron about his work.
At the 2007 Global Day of Action event in Vancouver, B.C.. The sign in the background refers to the Greater Vancouver Gateway Program.

In recent years, Suzuki has been a forceful spokesperson on global climate change. In February 2008, he urged McGill University students to speak out against politicians who fail to act on climate change, stating “What I would challenge you to do is to put a lot of effort into trying to see whether there’s a legal way of throwing our so-called leaders into jail because what they’re doing is a criminal act.”[12][13]

Suzuki is unequivocal that climate change is a very real and pressing problem and that an “overwhelming majority of scientists” now agree that human activity is responsible. The David Suzuki Foundation website has a clear statement of this:

“ The debate is over about whether or not climate change is real. Irrefutable evidence from around the world – including extreme weather events, record temperatures, retreating glaciers, and rising sea levels – all point to the fact climate change is happening now and at rates much faster than previously thought.The overwhelming majority of scientists who study climate change agree that human activity is responsible for changing the climate. The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) is one of the largest bodies of international scientists ever assembled to study a scientific issue, involving more than 2,500 scientists from more than 130 countries. The IPCC has concluded that most of the warming observed during the past 50 years is attributable to human activities. Its findings have been publicly endorsed by the National Academies of Science of all G8 nations, as well as those of China, India and Brazil.[14] ”

Suzuki says that despite this growing consensus, many in the public and the media seemed doubtful about the science for many years. The reason for the confusion about climate change, in Suzuki’s view, was due to a well-organized campaign of disinformation about the science involved. “A very small number of critics” denies that climate change exists and that humans are the cause. These climate change “skeptics” or “deniers”, Suzuki claims, tend not to be climate scientists and do not publish in peer-reviewed scientific journals but rather target the media, the general public, and policy makers. Their goal: “delaying action on climate change.” According to Suzuki, the skeptics have received significant funding from coal and oil companies, including ExxonMobil. They are linked to “industry-funded lobby groups”, such as the Information Council on the Environment (ICE),[15] whose aim is to “reposition global warming as theory (not fact).”[14]

Social commentary

Immigration

In L’Express, the French news magazine, Suzuki called Canada’s immigration policy “disgusting” (We “plunder southern countries to deprive them of their future leaders, and wish to increase our population to support economic growth”) and insisted that “Canada is full” (“Our useful area is reduced”).[16] This prompted Canada’s Immigration Minster, Jason Kenney, to denounce Suzuki as “xenophobic”, labelling his comments as “toxic”.[16][17]

Canadian Justice System

While being interviewed by Tony Jones on Australia’s ABC TV network in September 2013, Suzuki alleged that the Harper government is building prisons even though crime rates are declining in Canada. He concluded that the prisons were being built so that Stephen Harper can incarcerate environmental activists.[18][19] Jean-Christophe De Le Rue, a spokesman for Public Safety Minister Steven Blaney, refuted the claims, emphasizing that the Canadian government is not building any prisons, nor do they have plans to build any.[18] There was, however, an increase in federal spending on prisons, which included expanding existing prisons, in order to accommodate the growing inmate population. This is thought to be due to legislation such as the Tackling Violent Crimes Act which increases the length of sentences. [20][21] In 2010-2011, $517-million was “spent on prison construction”. [22]

Carbon footprint

Suzuki himself laments that in traveling constantly to spread his message of climate responsibility, he has ended up “over his [carbon] limit by hundreds of tonnes.” He has stopped vacationing overseas and taken to “clustering” his speaking engagements together to reduce his carbon footprint. He would prefer, he says, to appear solely by video conference.[23]

Personal life

David Suzuki married his high school sweetheart Joane,[24] fathered several children and went on to have five grandchildren.[25]

Publications

Suzuki signing a copy of his work.

Suzuki is the author of 52 books (fifteen for children), including David Suzuki: The Autobiography, Tree: A Life Story, The Sacred Balance, Genethics, Wisdom of the Elders, Inventing the Future, and the best-selling Looking At Senses a series of children’s science books. This is a partial list of publications[26] by Suzuki:

Awards and honours

Suzuki receives the Right Livelihood Award from Jakob von Uexkull

  • In 2004, Suzuki was nominated as one of the top ten “Greatest Canadians” by viewers of the CBC. In the final vote he ranked fifth, making him the greatest living Canadian.[34] Suzuki said that his own vote was for Tommy Douglas who was the eventual winner.
  • In 2006, Suzuki was the recipient of the Bradford Washburn Award presented at the Museum of Science in Boston, Massachusetts.[35]
  • In 2007, Suzuki was honoured by Global Exchange, with the International Human Rights Award.
  • As of 2012, Suzuki had received 16 significant academic awards and over 100 other awards.[37]

Honorary degrees

Suzuki has received numerous honorary degrees from over two dozen universities around the world.[38]

See also

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Portal icon Global Warming portal
Portal icon Renewable energy portal
Portal icon Sustainable development portal

Sport in Canada

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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sports in Canada consists of a wide variety of games. There are many contests that Canadians value, the most common sports are ice hockey, soccer, lacrosse, Canadian football, basketball, curling and baseball, with ice hockey and lacrosse being the official winter and summer sports.

Ice hockey, referred to as simply “hockey”, is Canada’s most prevalent winter sport,[1] its most popular spectator sport, and its most successful sport in international competition. It is Canada’s official national winter sport.[1] Lacrosse, a sport with Native American origins, is Canada’s oldest and official summer sport.[1] Canadian football is Canada’s second most popular spectator sport,[2] being the most popular in the prairie provinces. The Canadian Football League‘s annual championship, the Grey Cup, is one of the country’s largest annual sports events.[3] While other sports have a larger spectator base, Association football, known in Canada as soccer in both English and French, has the most registered players of any team sport in Canada.[4] Professional teams exist in many cities in Canada. Statistics Canada[5] reports that the top ten sports that Canadians participate in are golf, ice hockey, swimming, soccer, basketball, baseball, volleyball, skiing (downhill and alpine), cycling and tennis.[6]

As a country with a generally cool climate, Canada has enjoyed greater success at the Winter Olympics than at the Summer Olympics, although significant regional variations in climate allow for a wide variety of both team and individual sports. Major multi-sport events in Canada include the 2010 Winter Olympics. Great achievements in Canadian sports are recognized by Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame, while the Lou Marsh Trophy is awarded annually to Canada’s top athlete by a panel of journalists. There are numerous other Sports Halls of Fames in Canada.

History

Main article: History of Canadian sports

The history of Canadian sports falls into five stages of development: early recreational activities before 1840; the start of organized competition, 1840-1880; the emergence of national organizations, 1882-1914; the rapid growth of both amateur and professional sports, 1914 to 1960; and developments of the last century [7] Some sports, especially hockey, lacrosse and curling enjoy an international reputation as particularly Canadian.[8]

Governance

Main article: Sport Canada

Federal and provincial governments are both actively involved in sports each has areas of jurisdiction which overlap sports. Sport Canada generally directs (or at least co-ordinates) federal activity in sports. While the federal government generally tries to take a leadership role in areas of international competition (where its jurisdiction is clearest) some provinces, especially Quebec, are actively involved in sports at all levels, even with elite international athletes. Provinces will often focus on student athletics, as it falls more clearly in an area of provincial jurisdiction (that being education).[9]

University and collegiate sport

Canadian Interuniversity Sport (CIS) is the national governing body for university sports, while the Canadian Colleges Athletic Association governs college sports. A factor which affects athletic participation levels in CIS member institutions is the CIS restriction that scholarships cover tuition only, drawing many of Canada’s best student athletes to the United States where organizations such as the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) allow “full ride” scholarships which include tuition, books, housing, and travel. Another is the popular Canadian Hockey League (for male hockey players aged 15 to 20), which effectively serves as the primary development league for the professional National Hockey League, although CHL teams offer financial support for players who choose to play CIS hockey after leaving the CHL.

Official sports

Since its founding, Canada’s official sport was lacrosse. In 1994, First Nations groups objected to a government bill that proposed establishing ice hockey as Canada’s national sport, arguing that it neglected recognition of the game of lacrosse, a uniquely Native contribution. In response, the House of Commons amended a bill “to recognize hockey as Canada’s Winter Sport and lacrosse as Canada’s Summer Sport,” although lacrosse is played all year, in all seasons, indoor and outdoors. On May 12, 1994, the National Sports of Canada Act came into force with these designations.[10]

Ice hockey

Main articles: Canada national ice hockey team and Canada women’s national ice hockey team

The modern form of ice hockey began in Canada in the late 19th century, and is widely considered Canada’s national pastime, with high levels of participation by children, men and women at various levels of competition. The Stanley Cup, considered the premiere trophy in professional ice hockey, originated in Canada in 1893. Prominent trophies for national championships in Canada are the Memorial Cup for the top junior-age men’s team and the Allan Cup for the top men’s senior team. There are national championships in several other divisions of play. Hockey Canada is the sport’s official governing body in Canada and is a member of the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF). A Canadian national men’s team, composed of professionals, competes in the annual IIHF Men’s World Championship and in the Olympics.

In terms of spectators National Hockey League, which has seven teams in Canada: the Calgary Flames, Edmonton Oilers, Montreal Canadiens, Ottawa Senators, Toronto Maple Leafs, Vancouver Canucks, and the Winnipeg Jets. The Canadian NHL presence peaked with eight teams in the mid-1990s, before the Quebec Nordiques relocated to Denver, Colorado in 1995 and a previous incarnation of the Winnipeg Jets relocated to Phoenix, Arizona in 1996. The NHL returned to Winnipeg in 2011 when the Atlanta Thrashers relocated and became the current Jets. The league, founded in Canada, retains a substantial Canadian content as roughly half of its players are Canadian. Hockey Night in Canada is a longtime national Saturday night television broadcast featuring Canadian NHL teams. Junior-age ice hockey is also a popular spectator sport. The junior-age Canadian Hockey League is broadcast nationally and its annual championship is a popular television event. The annual IIHF Men’s Junior World Championship, played during December and January, is popular among Canadian television viewers and has been held in Canada numerous times due to its popularity.

Lacrosse

Main article: Lacrosse in Canada
A Calgary Roughnecks lacrosse game at Pengrowth Saddledome.

The First Nations began playing the sport more than 500 years ago. Today lacrosse not only remains an integral part of native culture, but is played by tens of thousands of people across Canada and the north eastern United States. From its origin as ‘The Creator’s Game’ to the overwhelming popularity of the Toronto Rock and the modern game, lacrosse has survived the test of time after treading down a long, controversial path that led it to become recognized as Canada’s official national sport.

The Canadian Lacrosse Association, founded in 1925, is the governing body of lacrosse in Canada. It conducts national junior and senior championship tournaments for men and women in both field and box lacrosse. It also participated in the inaugural World Indoor Lacrosse Championship in 2003. The National Lacrosse League is a professional box lacrosse league, with franchises in Canada and the United States. Major League Lacrosse is a professional field lacrosse league, with seven U.S. franchises and one Canadian franchise. The 2006 World Lacrosse Championship was held in London, Ontario. Canada beat the United States 15-10 in the final to break a 28-year U.S. winning streak. One of the best lacrosse players of all time, Gary Gait was born in Victoria, British Columbia and has won every possible major lacrosse championship. Great achievements in Canadian Lacrosse are recognized by the Canadian Lacrosse Hall of Fame.

Professional sports

Main article: Professional sports in Canada

There are Canada-based teams in several top-level professional sports leagues.

Soccer

Main article: Soccer in Canada
A match between Impact de Montréal and New York Red Bulls at Saputo Stadium in 2012.

While association football, known as soccer in Canada in both English and French, has been played in the country since 1876, the Dominion of Canada Football Association was inaugurated on May 24, 1912, and initially became a member of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association on Dec. 31, 1912. Today, Canada’s governing body for Association Football (both professional and amateur) is known as the Canadian Soccer Association.

Canada’s annual professional competition is known as the Amway Canadian Championship. The five competing teams are Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps FC, Impact de Montréal, FC Edmonton, and Ottawa Fury FC. The national champion qualifies for the CONCACAF Champions League from which a confederation champion then qualifies for the annual FIFA Club World Cup.

In league competition, Toronto FC, Vancouver Whitecaps FC and Impact de Montréal all play in the USA-based Major League Soccer. Meanwhile, FC Edmonton and Ottawa Fury FC play in the USA-based North American Soccer League.

Canada’s best soccer players – male and female – play in professional leagues around the world. Players are called into the national program at different times of the year, primarily in conjunction with the FIFA International Calendar (when professional clubs are required to release players for national duty).

Canada’s national teams compete in CONCACAF, the Confederation of North, Central American and Caribbean Association Football. Canada’s national “A” team has won two CONCACAF championships: in 1985 to qualify for the FIFA World Cup and in 2000 to qualify for the FIFA Confederations Cup.

Canada’s women’s “A” team has also won two CONCACAF championships: in 1998 and 2010. The Canadian women have participated in five FIFA Women’s World Cups (Sweden 1995, USA 1999, USA 2003, China 2007 and Germany 2011) and two Women’s Olympic Football Tournaments (Beijing 2008 and London 2012), winning a bronze medal in London. Canada will also host the next FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2015. The country has also hosted four age-grade World Cups—the FIFA U-17 World Cup in 1987 (when the age limit was 16 instead of the current 17), the inaugural FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup in 2002 (when the age limit was 19 instead of 20), the FIFA U-20 World Cup in 2007, and the U-20 Women’s World Cup for a second time in 2014.

Baseball

Main article: Baseball in Canada

The world’s first documented baseball game took place in Beachville, Ontario on June 4, 1838. Although more strongly associated with the United States, baseball has existed in Canada from the very beginning. The world’s oldest baseball park still in operation is Labatt Park in London, Ontario. It is home to the London Majors of the semi-pro Intercounty Baseball League and the London Rippers of the Frontier League.

A Toronto Blue Jays baseball game at Rogers Centre in Toronto.

The Toronto Blue Jays are Canada’s only Major League Baseball team, founded in 1977. The Montreal Expos club played in Montreal from 1969 until 2004 when they moved to Washington, D.C. and became the Washington Nationals. The Blue Jays were the first non-American team to host a World Series Game (in 1992) and the only non-American team to win the World Series (back to back in 1992 and 1993). The Blue Jays had the highest attendance in Major League Baseball during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Professional baseball has a long history in Canada, beginning with teams such as the London Tecumsehs, Montreal Royals, and Toronto Maple Leafs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. All three were included on the National Baseball Association’s top 100 minor league teams.

A number of Canadians have played in the major leagues, and several have won the highest honours in baseball. Ferguson Jenkins won the National League Cy Young Award in 1971 as the best pitcher in the league, and in 1991 became the first Canadian inducted in the (U.S.) Baseball Hall of Fame. Larry Walker was National League MVP for the 1997 season and was the league’s batting champion 3 times. Since 2000, Éric Gagné won the National League Cy Young Award in 2003, Jason Bay was the first Canadian to be named rookie of the year in 2004, and Justin Morneau (American League, 2006) and Joey Votto (National League, 2010) have won MVP honours.

Canada participated in the 2006 World Baseball Classic, in which it upset Team USA in first-round play,[11] which some people in Canada call the “Miracle on Dirt” (a play on the phrase “Miracle on Ice” for the 1980 U.S. Olympic Hockey team). There are a number of minor league, semi-professional and collegiate baseball teams in Canada (see List of baseball teams in Canada). Great achievements in Canadian baseball are recognized by the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Football

Main article: Professional Football in Canada
An Edmonton Eskimos football game at Commonwealth Stadium.

In Canada, the term “football” is used to refer to a version of Gridiron football with several significant rule differences from the version played in the USA, hence it is known as Canadian football. The first documented football game was played at University College, University of Toronto on November 9, 1861. One of the participants in the game involving University of Toronto students was (Sir) William Mulock, later Chancellor of the school. A football club was formed at the university soon afterward, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear.

In 1864, at Trinity College, Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland and Frederick A. Bethune devised rules based on rugby football. However, modern Canadian football is widely regarded as having originated with a game of rugby played in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club was formed in 1868, the first recorded non-university football club in Canada.

Both the Canadian Football League (CFL), the sport’s only professional league, and Football Canada, the governing body for amateur play, trace their roots to 1884 and the founding of the Canadian Rugby Football Union. Currently active teams such as the Toronto Argonauts and Hamilton Tiger-Cats have similar longevity. The CFL’s championship game, the Grey Cup, is the country’s single largest sporting event and is watched by nearly one third of Canadian television households.[3] The nine CFL teams are the B.C. Lions, Calgary Stampeders, Edmonton Eskimos, Saskatchewan Roughriders, Winnipeg Blue Bombers, Toronto Argonauts, Hamilton Tiger-Cats, Montreal Alouettes, and Ottawa Redblacks.

Basketball

A packed ACC in a Toronto Raptors game against the Milwaukee Bucks.

Basketball was invented by a Canadian named James Naismith while teaching in Massachusetts. Most of the players in that very first basketball game were students from Quebec. Basketball has been part of Canada’s sporting landscape ever since.

The National Basketball Association (NBA) recognizes its first ever game as being a contest between the New York Knickerbockers and Toronto Huskies at Toronto‘s Maple Leaf Gardens on November 1, 1946.[12] The NBA expanded into Canada in 1995 with the addition of the Toronto Raptors and Vancouver Grizzlies. The Grizzlies moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 2001, but the Raptors continue to draw healthy crowds at the Air Canada Centre. The 2005 and 2006 NBA MVP, Los Angeles Lakers point guard Steve Nash, is from Victoria, British Columbia and has played in international competitions for Canada’s national team.

Eight Canadians—six born in the country, one naturalized, and one U.S.-born dual citizen—were on NBA rosters at the start of the 2013–14 season.[13] The Canadian-born players are Montreal native Joel Anthony with the Miami Heat; Toronto natives Anthony Bennett and Cory Joseph, respectively with the Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs; Mississauga native Andrew Nicholson with the Orlando Magic; Kelly Olynyk, a Toronto native raised both there and in Kamloops, with the Boston Celtics; and Brampton native Tristan Thompson with the Cavaliers. The naturalized Canadian is the South Africa-born Nash. The remaining Canadian, Robert Sacre of the Lakers, was born in Baton Rouge to an American father and Canadian mother and raised in North Vancouver.

The 2013 NBA draft saw two Canadians, both Toronto natives who moved from the city as children, selected in the first round. Bennett, who developed as a player in Brampton, became the first Canadian ever to be picked first overall when he was chosen by the Cavaliers. Later in the round, Olynyk, who moved to Kamloops after his father became athletic director at Thompson Rivers University, was chosen by the Dallas Mavericks at #13 and immediately traded to the Celtics. This marked the first time two Canadians had been lottery picks in the same draft.

In 2014, the draft saw two Canadians, also Toronto-area natives, selected in the top 10 for the first time. Andrew Wiggins, born in Toronto and raised in Thornhill, a neighbourhood of Vaughan, was chosen first overall by the Cavaliers. Mississauga native Nik Stauskas went to the Sacramento Kings at #8.

Amateur sports

Canadian athletes are world-ranked in many amateur sports. These include the ‘winter’ sports of alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, figure skating, freestyle skiing, snowboarding, speed skating and biathlon. In ice hockey, Canada supports national teams in under-20 and under-18 categories. In ‘summer’ sports, Canadians participate in rugby, soccer, disc ultimate, track and field among most sports presented in the Summer Olympics. There are sports federations for most sports in Canada. Funding for amateur athletics is provided by governments, private companies and individual citizens through donation.

Team sports

Baseball

Main article: Baseball in Canada

Basketball

Main article: Basketball in Canada
Toronto Raptors player Chris Bosh shoots at a National Basketball Association game

Basketball has very strong roots in Canada. The inventor, James Naismith, was Canadian; born in Almonte, Ontario, he was working as a physical education instructor in Massachusetts when he created the game in 1891. As many as 10 of the players in that first game were Canadian students from Quebec.[citation needed]

Basketball is a popular sport in parts of Canada, especially in Nova Scotia, Southern Alberta, and more recently Southern Ontario.

The popularity of basketball in Nova Scotia is at the high school and college level. Nova Scotia is home to three perennially strong college basketball programs. Saint Mary’s University, Acadia University, and St. Francis Xavier University have made 22, 21, and 13 appearances in the Canadian University championship, respectively. Carleton University has dominated the Canadian University championship in recent years, winning six titles in seven years from 2003 to 2009.

Four Canadian-born individuals have been inducted to the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame—Naismith and longtime U.S. college coach and instructor Pete Newell as contributors; Ernie Quigley, who officiated over 1,500 U.S. college games, as a referee; and Bob Houbregs, a superstar at the University of Washington in the early 1950s who went on to a career in the NBA. Newell is also separately recognized by the Hall as the head coach of the 1960 USA Olympic team, which won a gold medal in overwhelming fashion and was inducted as a unit in 2010.

Football

Main article: Canadian football

Football in Canada has its origins in Rugby football beginning in the early 1860s,[14] but, over time, a unique code known as Canadian football developed. The first documented football match was a game played at University College, University of Toronto on November 9, 1861. A football club was formed at the university soon afterwards, although its rules of play at this stage are unclear.

In 1864, at Trinity College, Toronto, F. Barlow Cumberland and Frederick A. Bethune devised rules based on rugby football. However, modern Canadian football is widely regarded as having originated with a game of rugby played in Montreal, in 1865, when British Army officers played local civilians. The game gradually gained a following, and the Montreal Football Club was formed in 1868, the first recorded non-university football club in Canada.

This rugby-football soon became popular at Montreal’s McGill University. McGill challenged Harvard University to a game, in 1874. The game grew in parallel from this point onward in the USA and Canada.

Canadian football is also played at the high school, junior, collegiate, and semi-professional levels: the Canadian Junior Football League and Quebec Junior Football League are for players aged 18–22, many post-secondary institutions compete in Canadian Interuniversity Sport for the Vanier Cup, and senior leagues such as the Alberta Football League have grown in popularity in recent years. Great achievements in Canadian football are recognized by the Canadian Football Hall of Fame which is located in Hamilton, Ontario.

Australian rules football

Main article: Australian rules football in Canada

Australian rules football in Canada is a fast-growing team and spectator sport. The governing body for the sport in the country is AFL Canada. The sport has been played in the country since 1989 when the first league was formed. The sport is quickly becoming popular with the Ontario Australian Football League being the biggest outside of Australia. There are Canadian national teams with the Canada national Australian rules football team the men’s team, and a women’s national team both who regularly play international matches and play in the Australian Football International Cup which is essentially a World Cup for all countries apart from Australia which is the only place where the sport is played professionally. Mike Pyke, a native of Victoria, British Columbia and a former Canada Rugby International, became the first Canadian to play in the Australian Football League when he was drafted by the Sydney Swans in 2008. Pyke went on to become the first Canadian to play on an AFL premier (championship-winning team) when the Swans won the 2012 AFL Grand Final.

Cricket

Main article: Cricket in Canada

While Canada is not sanctioned to play Test matches, the national team does take part in One Day International (ODI) matches (there are a few grounds in Canada that are sanctioned to host ODI’s by the International Cricket Council or ICC) and also in first-class games (in the ICC Intercontinental Cup) against other non-Test-playing opposition, with the rivalry against the United States being as strong in cricket as it is in other team sports. The match between these two nations is in fact the oldest international fixture in cricket, having first been played in 1844. This international fixture even predates the Olympics by over 50 years.

The most famous Canadian cricketer is John Davison, who was born in Canada and participated in the Cricket World Cup in 2003, 2007 and 2011. At the 2003 World Cup, Davison hit the fastest century in tournament history against the West Indies in what was ultimately a losing cause. In that World Cup he also smashed a half-century at a strike rate of almost 200 against New Zealand. One year later, in the ICC Intercontinental Cup against the USA, he proved the difference between the two sides, taking 17 wickets for 137 runs as well as scoring 84 runs of his own. In the 2007 Cricket World Cup in the West Indies, Davison scored the second-fastest half-century against New Zealand. Canada has participated in the 1979, 2003 and 2007 Cricket World Cups. It also participated most recently in the ICC Cricket World Cup in 2011.

Canada Senior Men’s team qualified in April 2009 at the ICC World Cup qualifier held in South Africa to compete in 2011 World Cup, their third World Cup appearance in a row.[15]

The 2005 Tim Hortons Brier.

Curling

Curling is most popular in the prairie provinces with the most competitive teams in recent years coming from the provinces of Alberta and Manitoba. However, curling has a degree of popularity across the country. For example, a team from Quebec, which is not a traditional hotbed of curling, won the Tim Hortons Brier (national men’s championship) in 2006. The Scotties Tournament of Hearts is the national women’s championship. The Canadian Curling Association is the sport’s national governing body; great achievements are recognized by the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame.

Quidditch

Main articles: Quidditch in Canada and Quidditch Canada

Quidditch began in the United States in 2007[16][17] and soon spread to Canada by coming to McGill University in 2008.[18] McGill soon went on to compete in the IQA World Cup, making it to the quarterfinal before being knocked out by Middlebury College. Since then, the University of Ottawa, Carleton University and many other universities began creating teams and competing at national and international levels. The West saw a slower rate of expansion, with the University of Victoria being the only Western team to date to ever send a team to the World Cup in 2011. However, the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University both host highly competitive teams, and Burnaby, BC is home to one of Canada’s first community teams,[19][20] and Alberta hosted its first provincial tournament wherein three teams participated: University of Calgary, University of Alberta and Central Alberta Quidditch.[21] Today, there are more than 25 teams across five provinces,[22] with many competing at the highest levels the sport has to offer.[23][24][25] July 2014 will see a national quidditch team represent Canada in Burnaby, BC at the 2014 IQA Global Games, the second time Quidditch Canada has hosted a national team since 2012.[26][27]

Rugby union

Main article: Rugby union in Canada
Canada men’s national team at the 2011 Rugby World Cup

Canada has around 13,000 seniors and twice as many junior players spread across the country. Many of these come from Canada’s rugby stronghold of British Columbia while also being strong in Newfoundland and Ontario. The leading domestic competition is the Americas Rugby Championship (ARC), a competition sponsored by the sport’s world governing body, the International Rugby Board, in which four regionally based Canadian teams take part in the opening phase, with the top two teams advancing to a four-team playoff with teams from Argentina and the United States. When the ARC was established in 2009, the sport’s domestic governing body, Rugby Canada, scrapped its previous national competition, the Rugby Canada Super League, in favour of a new national under-20 league, the Rugby Canada National Junior Championship. Also in 2009, Rugby Canada entered into a partnership with the Welsh Rugby Union by which the new Welsh regional side RGC 1404, created to develop the sport in North Wales, would also include a number of young Canadian players.

The Canadian national side have competed in every Rugby World Cup to date, yet have only won one match each tournament with the exception of the 1991 tournament where they reached the quarter finals and the 2007 tournament when their best result was a draw against Japan in the group stage.

Highlights include famous victories over Scotland and Wales, and regular wins over their North American neighbours, the United States. Known for their trademark “hard nosed” style of play, many Canadian players play their trade professionally in English and French leagues.

Soccer

Main article: Soccer in Canada

While Association football (soccer) has been played in Canada since 1876, the Dominion of Canada Football Association was inaugurated on May 24, 1912, and initially became a member of the Fédération Internationale de Football Association on Dec. 31, 1912. Today, Canada’s governing body for Association Football (both professional and amateur) is known as the Canadian Soccer Association.

Soccer is the highest participation sport in Canada, with 847,616 registered players (according to the Canada Soccer 2012 Yearbook). Male/female participation is split roughly 59/41 percent. There are 1,456 clubs in 139 districts across 12 regions (provincial and territory member associations).

Canada’s annual amateur competition is known as the National Championships. Senior men’s teams play for The Challenge Trophy while senior women’s teams play for The Jubilee Trophy. The men’s national competition was first played in 1913, with the trophy (Connaught Cup) donated by Canadian Governor-General, the Duke of Connaught. The women’s national competition was first played in 1982.

The Canadian Soccer Association’s annual National Championships also feature competitions at the U-18, U-16 and U-14 levels. At all levels, clubs qualify for the National Championships through their respective provincial championships.

From 1967 to 1988, Canada’s best men’s amateur footballers also participated in Olympic Qualifying tournaments (although in the 1980s a number of those players were indeed professional). Canada qualified as host of the Montréal 1976 Olympics and then again for the Los Angeles 1984 Olympics (where it finished fifth overall). Since the early 1990s, the Men’s Olympic Qualifying tournaments have featured U-23 footballers (with a mix of professional and amateur/university players).

At the St. Louis 1904 Olympics, Canada won the gold medal in Association Football. The Canadian team was represented by Galt FC of Ontario.

Ultimate and disc sports (Frisbee)

Main articles: Ultimate Canada and Ken Westerfield
Australia vs Canada, ultimate players at the 2012 WUGC in Japan. Ultimate Canada

In Canada, organized disc sports began in the early 1970s, with promotional efforts from Irwin Toy (Frisbee distributor in Canada), the Canadian Open Frisbee Championships, Toronto (1972–85) and professionals using Frisbee show tours to perform at universities, fairs and sporting events. Disc sports such as disc freestyle, double disc court, disc guts, disc ultimate and disc golf became this sports first events.[28][29] Two sports, the team sport of disc ultimate and disc golf are very popular worldwide and are now being played semi-professionally.[30][31] The World Flying Disc Federation, Professional Disc Golf Association, and the Freestyle Players Association are the rules and sanctioning organizations for flying disc sports worldwide. Ultimate Canada is the rules and sanctioning organization for disc ultimate in Canada.

Disc ultimate is a team sport played with a flying disc. The object of the game is to score points by passing the disc to members of your own team, on a rectangular field, 120 yards (110m) by 40 yards (37m), until you have successfully completed a pass to a team member in the opposing teams end zone. In the 1970s, Ken Westerfield introduced disc ultimate, along with other disc sports, North of the 49th parallel at the Canadian Open Frisbee Championships and by starting the Toronto Ultimate League (Club).[32]

The first Canadian Ultimate Championships (CUC) were held, for the open division, in Ottawa 1987, produced by Marcus Brady and Brian Guthrie. OCUA subsequently hosted the 1993, 1999, 2002 and 2011 Canadian Ultimate Championships.[33]

Canada has been ranked number one in the Ultimate World Rankings several times since 1998 in all the Ultimate Divisions (including Open and Womens) according to the World Flying Disc Federation.[34]

In 2013, as a founding partner, the Toronto Ultimate Club presented Canada’s first semi-professional ultimate team the Toronto Rush, [35][36] to the American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL). They finished their first season undefeated 18-0 and won the AUDL Championships.[37][38][39] The American Ultimate Disc League (AUDL) and Major League Ultimate (MLU) are the first semi-professional ultimate leagues.

Individual sports

Motorsport

Main article: Motorsport in Canada
Jacques Villeneuve at the 2006 Canadian Grand Prix.

The Canadian Grand Prix Formula One auto race had been conducted every year since 1967, and since 1978 had been held at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in Montreal, apart from 2009 when the race was not on the FIA calendar for one year.[40] The track was named for Canada’s first Grand Prix driver, the late Gilles Villeneuve, whose son, Jacques, won the Formula One World championship in 1997.

Several Canadians have starred in American Championship Car Racing, most notably Jacques Villeneuve, who won the 1995 CART championship and Indianapolis 500 before moving to Formula One, and Paul Tracy, who captured the 2003 CART title and collected 31 race wins. Races were held in Mont-Tremblant and Mosport road courses and in street circuits in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver and Edmonton. In 2008, Champ Car merged with its long-time rival, the Indy Racing League, under the banner of the latter body’s top series, the IndyCar Series. The Edmonton was transferred over to the new series immediately, and the Toronto event was added for 2009.

CASCAR (the Canadian Association for Stock Car Auto Racing) was the country’s governing body for amateur and professional stock car racing, and the CASCAR Super Series was the highest-level stock car racing series in the country. In 2006, NASCAR purchased CASCAR and rebranded the Super Series as the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series; nevertheless, the series remains Canada’s top-level stock car racing circuit. In 2007 the Castrol Canadian Touring Car Championship was formed.

Because Canada is NASCAR’s largest market outside the United States, NASCAR brought the NAPA Auto Parts 200 Busch Series (now Nationwide Series) race to Circuit Gilles Villeneuve in 2007.[41] The race remained on the schedule until being discontinued after the 2012 season. Beginning the next year, NASCAR brought the Camping World Truck Series to Mosport with the Chevy Silverado 250.

Canadians have combined to win 53 races in American Championship Car Racing (Including 1 Indianapolis 500), 17 races in Formula 1 and 7 races in NASCAR’s top 3 divisions (1 in Sprint Cup).

Bowling

Main articles: Bowling in Canada and Five-pin bowling

The sport of bowling takes several forms in Canada, including ten-pin and lawn bowling, but most notably Canada has its own version: Five-pin bowling, which was invented circa 1909 by Thomas F. Ryan in Toronto, Ontario, at his Toronto Bowling Club, in response to customers who complained that the ten-pin game was too strenuous. He cut five tenpins down to about 75% of their size, and used hand-sized hard rubber balls, thus inventing the original version of five-pin bowling.[42] Five-pin is played in all parts of Canada, but not played in any other country. Candlepin bowling is played at several centres in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.

Boxing

Main article: Boxing in Canada

The sport of boxing has a long history in Canada. Canada has produced several world champions, including heavyweights Tommy Burns and Lennox Lewis. Boxing is generally learned in independent gyms, located in most large Canadian cities. Canadian boxers compete in the Olympic Games and often then turn professional.

Golf

Main article: Golf in Canada

Golf is a widely enjoyed recreational sport in Canada, and the country boasts several highly rated courses. Golf Canada, historically the Royal Canadian Golf Association, is the governing organization, and has over 1,600 associated member clubs and over 300,000 individual members.[43] Golf Canada also conducts the only PGA Tour and LPGA tour events in Canada, and it also manages the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. PGA Tour Canada, formerly known as the “Peter Jackson Tour” and “Canadian Professional Golf Tour” (or Canadian Tour), owned and operated by the PGA Tour since late 2012, operates an organization that runs a series of tournaments for professional players. In its first season under PGA Tour operation in 2013, it held a qualifying school in California, and followed it with nine tournaments in Canada. The 2014 season saw significant expansion. Three qualifying schools were held—one in California, another in Florida, and finally in British Columbia. The BC qualifier was followed by a series of 12 tournaments, all in Canada. The top five money-winners on the tour earn full membership in the following season of the PGA Tour’s second-level Web.com Tour.

Ontario’s Mike Weir won the 2003 Masters, becoming the first Canadian man to win one of golf’s majors. The first Canadian to win any recognized major championship was Sandra Post, winner of the LPGA Championship in 1968. From 1979 through 2000, the du Maurier Classic (now known as the Canadian Women’s Open) was one of the LPGA’s four majors.

Cycling

Main article: Cycling in Canada

Cycling has increased its participation in the past few years. Several new genres of the sport have become popular in Canada, including slopestyle competition, four cross, downhill racing, dirt jumping, and free-ride. With the sport increasing bikes have also increased in quality and durability.

Wrestling

Wrestling in Canada is very popular both as a recreational and as a competitive sport, and takes a variety of forms, reflecting Canada’s diverse and multicultural makeup. At the middle, high school and collegiate level there is a broad-based varsity participation in Freestyle Wrestling and Greco-Roman Wrestling. Outside of schools among the general population, the dominant forms of wrestling are Judo, Submission Grappling, Brazilian Jiu-jitsu and Sambo. Each of these forms of wrestling was brought to Canada from abroad both by coaches who immigrated to Canada from elsewhere and by students of the sport who studied it overseas and carried enthusiasm for the sport back with them when they returned. Examples of famous Canadian wrestlers among these various wrestling sports are such as Daniel Igali for Freestyle Wrestling, Nicolas Gill, Ron Angus and Keith Morgan for Judo, Marc Bocek for both Submission Grappling and Brazilian Jiu-jitsu. Canada has a strong showing on the international scene, at world championships and at the Olympics in all these wrestling sports.

Mixed martial arts

MMA is a young and growing sport in Canada,[citation needed] which has produced several notable fighters in the UFC and other promotions. Canada is the home of the current UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St-Pierre.

Shooting sports

Main article: Shooting sports in Canada

The shooting sports are a part of Canada’s cultural heritage. Canadians enjoy participating in the various disciplines that make up this broad sport.

At the recreational level individuals and families can be found across the nation improving their marksmanship skills at various private and public shooting ranges. Hunting is also a popular activity due to Canada’s vast wilderness and pioneer past.[44]

At the competitive level, many Canadians train in Olympic events. There are also a variety of other competitive shooting sports that operate provincially, nationally and internationally through their respective organizations.

Judo

Main article: Judo in Canada

The Japanese martial art Judo has been practised in Canada for nearly a century. The first Judo dojo in Canada, Tai Iku Dojo, was established in Vancouver in 1924 by Shigetaka “Steve” Sasaki.[45] Today, an estimated 30,000 Canadians participate in Judo programs in approximately 400 clubs across Canada.[46]

Canadians have won five Olympic medals in Judo since it was added to the Summer games in 1964. Doug Rogers won silver in the +80 kg category in 1964, Mark Berger won bronze in the +95 kg category in 1984, Nicolas Gill won bronze in the 86 kg category in 1992 and silver in the 100 kg category in 2000, and Antoine Valois-Fortier won bronze in the -81 kg category in 2012. The Canadian Judo team trains at the National Training Centre in Montreal under Gill’s direction.[47]

Multi-sport events

Runners at the 2001 Canada Games in London, Ontario.
Adam van Koeverden, Olympic gold medallist in flatwater kayak racing.
Clara Hughes, multiple medallist at both the Summer and Winter Olympics.

Major multi-sport events with Canadian participation, or that have taken place in Canada, are the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, Canada Games, Word Championships in Athletics, Pan American Games, and the Universiade. Others include the North American Indigenous Games, the World Police and Fire Games, and the Gay Games.

Canada Games

Main article: Canada Games

The Canada Games is a high-level multi-sport event with held every two years in Canada, alternating between the Canada Winter Games and the Canada Summer Games. Athletes are strictly amateur only, and represent their province or territory. Since their inception, the Canada Games have played a prominent role in developing some of Canada’s premier athletes, including Lennox Lewis, Catriona LeMay Doan, Hayley Wickenheiser, Sidney Crosby, Martin Brodeur, Steve Nash, Suzanne Gaudet and David Ling. The Games were first held in 1967 in Quebec City as part of Canada’s Centennial celebrations. Similar events are held on the provincial level, such as the annual BC Games.

Commonwealth Games

Main article: Canada at the Commonwealth Games

Canada is one of only six nations to have attended every Commonwealth Games, and hosted the first ever British Empire Games in 1930 in Hamilton, Ontario. Canada also hosted the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver, British Columbia, the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Alberta, and the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, British Columbia. Canada ranks third in the all-time medal tally of Commonwealth Games. Halifax, Nova Scotia had been nominated as Canada’s selection to host the 2014 Commonwealth Games before it withdrew its bid due to unacceptably high cost projections.

Olympic Games

Main articles: Canada at the Olympics, Canada at the Summer Olympics and Canada at the Winter Olympics

Canada has competed at every Olympic Games, except for the first games in 1896 and the boycotted games in 1980. Canada has previously hosted the games three times, at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, and the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

At the summer games, the majority of Canada’s medals come from the sports of athletics, aquatics (swimming, synchronized swimming and diving), rowing and canoeing/kayaking. In the post-boycott era (since 1988), Canada’s medal total ranks 19th in the world, with the highest rank of 11th in 1992 and the lowest of 24th in 2000.

At the winter games, Canada is usually one of the top nations in terms of medals won. Canada is traditionally strong in the sports of ice hockey, speed skating (especially the short track variation), figure skating and every Canadian men’s and women’s curling teams have won medals since the sport was added to the Olympic program.

After Canada failed to win any gold medals at the 1976 Summer and 1988 Winter games, several organizations including Sport Canada and the Canadian Olympic Committee collaborated to launch “Own the Podium – 2010“, a development program to help Canada earn the most medals at the 2010 Games. Canada did not win the most total medals at the Vancouver Olympics (they finished third, behind the United States, whose 37 total medals was the most of any country at a single Winter Olympics, and Germany, with 26), but did win the most gold medals, with 14, the most of any country at a single Winter Olympics.

The National Sport School in Calgary, founded 1994, is the first Canadian high school designed exclusively for Olympic-calibre athletes.

Media

Main article: Sports media in Canada

Major television broadcasters of sports in Canada include the CBC Television, Télévision de Radio-Canada, The Sports Network (TSN), Réseau des sports (RDS), Rogers Sportsnet, and The Score. A consortium led by CTVglobemedia outbid CBC for the broadcast rights to the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2012 Summer Olympics. Major national weekly sports broadcasts include Hockey Night In Canada and Friday Night Football. There are sports radio stations in most major Canadian cities as well as on satellite radio.

Sports Rankings

Sport Men’s Women’s
Baseball (IBAF World Rankings) 6 3
Basketball (FIBA World Rankings) 23 9
Cricket (World Cricket League) 16 –
Curling (WCF World Rankings) 1 2
Soccer (FIFA World Rankings
and FIFA Women’s World Rankings)		 68 7
Ice hockey (IIHF World Ranking) 2 2
Rugby union (IRB World Rankings) 14 –
Tennis (ITF Rankings) 13 21
Ultimate (WFDF World Rankings) 1 3
Volleyball (FIVB World Rankings) 18 22