People & Culture
The Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s 95th annual Geographica dinner celebrated the impact of geography and exploration and the achievements of the past year
It was a night that provoked both reflection and inspiration as hundreds of Fellows and friends of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society gathered at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que. for the 95th annual Geographica Dinner (formerly the College of Fellows Annual Dinner) on Nov 6.
Notable guests included Ambassadors Alfredo Martínez Serrano of Spain, John Concannon of Ireland and Michel Miraillet of France; Nellie Kusugak, former Commissioner of Nunavut and Society Governor; National Chief of the Assembly of First Nations Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak; Chief Perry Bellegarde, the Society’s Honorary President; David Prodger, Deputy Head of Mission for the British High Commission in Ottawa; Senator Karen Sorensen; Member of Parliament Seamus O’Regan; and Fredrik Eaton, head of the Catherine and Fredrik Eaton Charitable Foundation.
Here are 10 highlights from geography’s biggest night.
Last year’s Grand Entry was so incredible, we decided to do it again! The gala kicked off with a Grand Entry led by Greg Dreaver and announced by Donnie Spiedel. Leading the procession were two RCMP flag bearers, both in red serge: Cpl. Jennifer Demers, who carried the RCGS flag, and Sgt. Eric Rajah, who carried the Canadian flag. Chief Perry Bellegarde, Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak, Society President Lois Mitchell, and CEO John Geiger led the board of governors, ambassadors, and Fellows of the RCGS into the museum’s Grand Hall. As a First Nations cultural protocol, a Grand Entry typically happens at the beginning of a pow wow or another significant gathering, and is generally led by the Chiefs in headdress. This powerful entrance set the tone for the evening as a night of celebration and friendship.
The renowned astronomer and MIT professor Sara Seager is perhaps most well known for her work on exoplanets — planets that exist outside our solar system — but her latest project, which she described in exciting detail for Geographica guests, is focused a little closer to home. In 2025, the Morning Star Missions, a series of astrobiology-focused missions to Venus, will commence. The goal is to study the clouds of Venus, the morning star planet, in order to determine their ability to support microbial life forms and to search for signs of life or life itself. “We’re going [to Venus] within a year,” said Seager, who received the Society’s Gold Medal in 2021. “Space is for everyone. It is literally our frontier. If we do find signs of life, it will literally mean our own galaxy is teeming with life.”
Canadian test pilot and fighter pilot Jameel Janjua took to the stage to reflect on the life lessons he’s learned in a career that’s seen him serve with the Royal Canadian Air Force, fly with the Royal Air Force and U.S. Air Force, and, as of this June, become only the second Canadian to pilot a spaceflight. Janjua flew Virgin Galactic’s VSS Unity on the Galactic 07 mission and described viewing our planet from beyond the atmosphere as transformational. Out one window of the spacecraft was the blackest black imaginable; out the other, a technicolor world of dazzling beauty. “I looked out the window in moments I had between doing ‘spaceship stuff,’ and I felt overcome with humility. I felt so small, so insignificant,” Janjua said.
RCGS CEO John Geiger awarded Janjua with the Society’s Gold Medal “in recognition of his accomplishments to date, and his inspiring commitment to ‘never stop looking up.’”
The highlight of 2024 for the RCGS was undoubtedly the finding of the wreck of Quest, the last ship of Antarctic explorer Sir Ernest Shackleton and ship on which he died, in the Labrador Sea this past June. With several members of the Shackleton Quest Expedition team looking on from their tables, expedition leader John Geiger, search director David Mearns, and research director Antoine Normandin took guests through the thrilling story of the expedition, which saw them successfully find the lost ship against numerous odds with only a 24-hour search window to work with. Geiger awarded Mearns the Capt. Joseph-Elzéar Bernier Medal, named for a great Arctic navigator and founding Fellow of the Society, before leaving the audience with an exciting reveal: “Our plan is to go back to Quest, do a complete scan of the vessel, and tell a story that is so riveting that it will inspire young people.”
This year, the Society was proud to welcome 30 distinguished individuals into the College of Fellows. Fellows are individuals who have demonstrated an interest in supporting the mandate and programs of the Society and who are contributing to its mission of making Canada better known to Canadians and the world. Among the new Fellows this year are husband and wife documentary filmmakers Zach Melnick and Yvonne Drebert, whose newest project All Too Clear explores the effect of invasive quagga mussels on the Great Lakes ecosystem; Hilde Fålun Strøm, explorer, polar ambassador and citizen scientist; Newfoundland-based, international award-winning photographer Michael Winsor; Ziad Aboultaif, Member of Parliament for Edmonton Manning; Senator Karen Sorensen; and restaurateur Matthew Trebek, son of the late Alex Trebek, former Honorary President of the Society.
Valérie Courtois is an international leader in the movement of Indigenous-led conservation and stewardship and a member of the Innu community of Mashteuiatsh. She spoke of her pride that the Innu-coined term of Guardian has spread widely around the world: “I love that there are now Guardians everywhere, because Guardians are agents of reconciliation.” Courtois is executive director of the Indigenous Leadership Initiative, an organization that supports Indigenous Nations in honouring their responsibility to care for lands and waters. She reiterated the need for more Indigenous-led conservation areas in Canada. “As a country, we’re about halfway to meeting our international targets,” she said. “We’re about an area the size of Manitoba away. And there are hundreds of thousands of square kilometres of protected areas in Canada that have been proposed by Indigenous peoples that add up to, yep, an area about the size of Manitoba.”
Zita Cobb, proud resident of Fogo Island, N.L. and Innkeeper of the iconic Fogo Island Inn, gave a stirring speech on the potential to be found in harnessing the power of place to transform communities and their economies. “First and foremost, we all belong to a place — a physical, geographical place — whether we understand that or not,” said Cobb. “And places are our very own North Star, right here on Earth.” Cobb’s own North Star is Fogo Island; she was part of the eighth generation of her family to call the island home and, following a successful career in telecommunications in Ottawa, established the charity Shorefast to help the community, hard-hit by the cod moratorium, reinvent itself. Cobb shared the fundamental questions of asset-based community development: “What do we have? What do we know? What do we love? What do we miss? And what can we do about it?” Cobb called on Canada and its many thousands of communities to think local and build financial, health and education systems that truly serve people.
Not much can come between Steven Page — singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and founding member of the Barenaked Ladies — and putting on a great show. When a technical blip meant the Canadian rocker’s amplifier wasn’t working, Page wasted no time in putting on a virtuoso unplugged performance, his voice and guitar projecting clearly around the hall. Page’s music has long been suffused with a sense of place, lending a Canadian perspective to the stories his songs tell. For that reason, the Society was proud to award Page the Louie Kamookak Medal. And when his amp was up and running again, he just about blew the roof off the place.
This past summer, Canadian Geographic Challenge alumni Julian Bal, Shannon Tang, Noah Pilnitz and Angad Khattra represented Canada on the world stage at the 20th International Geography Olympiad in Dublin, Ireland. The team ultimately brought home one gold and two bronze medals. Tang, Pilnitz and Khattra took the stage to share their experience and thank the Society for sponsoring their participation in the GeoOlympiad. They spoke about the significance the Olympiad holds in their lives so far, and how the experience has only strengthened their ambitions for the future. “I hope the world is ready for us,” said Tang.
David Gray, a Fellow of the Society and former CBC radio host, spoke words of remembrance in honour of the late Natalie Gillis, a gifted photographer, wilderness guide, pilot, poet and Fellow who passed away in June at only 34 years old. “Two years ago, at this very event, Natalie was named an RCGS Fellow,” said Gray. “She embodied what I think this group is all about. She was brave, she was accomplished, she was fiercely independent, and she loved nature.”
Gray went on to introduce the newly founded Nat Gillis Adventure Photography and Expedition Grant. The grant will support emerging or established adventure photographers with an expedition in mind. Gray and his family have pledged $50,000 to establish the grant, and welcomed others to join them in “encouraging others to follow in the footsteps of one of Canada’s great young talents, taken from us too soon: the memorable, the wonderful, Natalie Gillis.”
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