Showing 25 results

Authority record
Person
Addison, William
Person · 1939-2017

William (Bill) Addison was born in Toronto but lived most of his life in the Thunder Bay region. While teaching sciences at Westgate High School for nearly 30 years, he also engaged in geological research and fought for the preservation of natural areas. The records held by Lakehead document his work with the Save Quetico Committee, the Coalition for Wilderness, and Parks for Tomorrow. His travels and work in the Nahanni River area are documented in the Northwest Territories Archives.

Bill was married to Wendy for 51 years, and they had two children.
Allen, Albert E.
Person · [1915?]-1966

Dr. Albert E. Allen was a pathologist from Fort William. He was born in Hampton, Ontario. He graduated with a bachelors of biology from Victoria College in Toronto in 1929, and went on to obtain a doctoral degree in medicine from the University of Toronto in 1932. He worked at McGill University before accepting a position as Director of Pathology for the Ontario Health Regional Laboratory in Fort William in 1943. He was also the pathologist for St. Joseph’s Hospital until 1950, and for McKellar General Hospital until 1954.

Dr. Allen was known for his extensive knowledge of natural history. He was a contributor to many natural history publications, and was an avid outdoorsman. He was a founding member of the Toronto Ornithological Club; a trustee of the Ontario Waterfowl Research Federation; a member on the advisory board of the Lakehead Region Conservation Authority, a member of the Minnesota Ornithological Union; and was a president of the Thunder Bay Field Naturalists from 1943-47, and 1951-53. Dr. Allen was an avid bird watcher and regularly recorded notes of his observations. He also kept journals related to his activities on the study of nature, and of local events. Dr. Allen passed away in 1966 at the age of 60.
Angus, Iain
Person · 1947-

Iain Angus is a Thunder Bay politician associated with the NDP.

He was NDP MPP for Fort William 1975-1977. He was NDP MP for Thunder Bay-Atikokan, 1984-1993. He also served as a Thunder Bay City Councillor, 2003-2018 and ran for Mayor in 2018.

In years since his service on City Council, Angus has also been involved with Friends of Chippewa Park.
Armson, Kenneth Avery
Person · 1927-2024

Ken Armson was born in Canada, and educated in England, before returning to study Forestry at the University of Toronto. He joined the faculty shortly after graduation, teaching from 1952 to 1978. He also began working for the Ontario Government through the 1970s, performing a review of forest management practices and playing a key role in establishing Forest Management Agreements between private industry and the Province. Ken’s career with the Ministry of Natural Resources culminated with his appointment as Provincial Forester. In retirement, Ken became involved in forest history work, including founding the Forest History Society of Ontario, and writing a memoir. Ken was awarded an honourary doctorate by Lakehead in 1992, and was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2016.
Barr, Elinor
Person · 1933-2025

Elinor Barr was a historian, author, and publisher, who researched and wrote Northwestern Ontario history. She was born in Ignace, Ontario, and initially trained and worked as a registered nurse. After receiving a degree in History from Lakehead University in 1974, she dedicated the rest of her life to that pursuit.

Some of her published works include: Thunder Bay to Gunflint: The Port Arthur, Duluth & Western Railway; Silver Islet: Striking it Rich in Lake Superior; The Frontier as Experienced on the Pre-Cambrian Shield: A Study of Ignace, Ontario from 1883-1908; and Swedes in Canada: Invisible Immigrants.

Elinor Barr's archives are held by the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society.
Bartley, Melville William
Person

Dr. Melville (Mel) William Bartley was a geologist in Northwestern Ontario. His contribution to the development of the mining sector within the region was very influential. He graduated from the University of Manitoba with a Bachelor of Science degree in 1934, as well as obtaining the degree of Doctor of Philosophy from the University of Toronto in 1940. He was the founding Principal of Lakehead University Technical Institute, and was the first chair of the Lakehead University Board of Governors from 1965 to 1969.
Burney, Derek
Person · 1939-

Derek Burney was born in 1939 in Fort William, Canada, and graduated from Queen’s University with a BA and MA in Political Science. He was a Canadian diplomat and served in federal public service (1963-1993). Burney was a member of the Progressive Conservative Party of Canada. Burney’s first posting was in Japan. Returning to Ottawa from Japan, he served as senior departmental assistant to the Secretary of State for External Affairs. He served as an Ambassador to the Republic of South Korea (1978-1980). Returning to Ottawa from South Korea, he served as Assistant Undersecretary for Trade and Economic Policy. He served as Ambassador to the United States (1989-1993). Burney played an integral role during the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement (1989) and the North American Free Trade Agreement (signed 1992). Burney was Canada’s first Chief of Staff to Prime Minister Brian Mulroney (1987-1989).

Post Burney’s public service career, he worked for Bell Canada (1993-1999), deviated for a short period to federal government service for Stephen Harper’s team (2006), and then served as Chancellor of Lakehead University (2013-2017). As Chancellor of Lakehead University, Burney was an extreme fundraiser, which supported student scholarships and University economy. Burney, and his wife, Joan Burney, donate funds to Lakehead University to enrich new research. Their donations created the The Derek and Joan Burney Postdoctoral Fellowship.
Davidson, Moira
Person

Moira Davidson worked as a Librarian at Lakehead University, with responsibility for Technical Services. She was also active in the Lakehead University Faculty Association. She retired from Lakehead in 2021.
Fisher, Douglas
Person · 1919-2009

Douglas Fisher was born in 1919 in Sioux Lookout, Ontario, and graduated from the University of Toronto with a degree in library science. Fisher worked in various fields throughout his life: including as a miner, teacher, librarian, politician, and journalist. During the Second World War, Fisher served in the Canadian military. Additionally, he served as chairman of Hockey Canada. Primarily, Fisher is known for being a political journalist and politician.

After graduating from the University of Toronto, Fisher taught history at the Port Arthur Collegiate Institute. In 1957, Fisher was elected as Member of Parliament for the Port Arthur District, beating the long-time incumbent C.D. Howe. He sat from 1957 to 1965. Fisher represented the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) and then the New Democratic Party (NDP), as the party's name and identity changed. Fisher’s political service is known for his involvement in the transportation and shipbuilding industries in the Ontario northwestern region.

In 1965, Fisher began working as a columnist in Ottawa for the Toronto Sun and retired by 2006, after 46 years. As a journalist, Fisher was known for his political coverage and was praised by various politicians. Douglas Fisher passed away in 2009.

Sources
Garton, Claude E.
Person · 1906-1996

Claude Garton was born in 1907 in Aylmer, Ontario, and graduated from London Normal School in 1926. In 1928, he moved to Port Arthur to work as a teacher at the St. James Street, Pine Street, and Current River schools. Current River School promoted Garten to principal. In 1933, Garton began his work as a botanist, collecting plants. During WWII, from 1942-1946, Garton paused his career to serve in the Canadian forces, and by 1951, he began collecting plants again. In 1967, Garton retired as principal at Current River School, now known as Claude E. Garton School, to work as a botanist full-time. Upon his retirement, Garton also collected specimens for the Canadian Museum of Nature in Ottawa, Ontario.

Garten donated approximately 14,000 specimens to Lakehead University’s Herbarium, which became the Claude E. Garton Herbarium. Garton was appointed the curator at the Herbarium, and was a frequent informal mentor for students. He taught one botany class at Lakehead University. Garton curated for the Herbarium until his retirement in 1990. In 1996, Garton passed away. As well as at Lakehead, Garton’s specimens can be seen at the National Museum of Canada, the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM), and across North America.

Sources
Juhtund, Nigel
Person

Nigel Juhtund was born in the Baltic region of Europe. He immigrated to Terrace Bay, Ontario, and worked in a lumber mill. Juhtund was a naturalist and active bird watcher. From 1952-1985, Juhtund recorded bird sightings in the Schreiber area. In 1990, The Federation of Ontario Naturalists, in Thunder Bay, granted him an award for his bird observations. Juhtund’s bird observation collections currently reside at Lakehead University’s Library Archives.

Source
Kannasto, Sanna
Person · 1878-1968

Sanna Kannasto was born in Ylihärmä, Finland, and educated at Finlandia University. In 1899, she immigrated to the United States and continued her education at Suomi College in Hancock, Michigan. By 1901, she had relocated to Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada. Kannasto assisted in founding the Canadan Suomalainen Järjestö (Finnish Organization of Canada (FOC)) and worked closely within the organization.

Kannasto, and the FOC, were associated with the Socialist Party of Canada (1904-1925) and the Socialist Democratic Party (1911). Kannasto worked as an organizer, encouraging Finnish Canadians to join the Socialist Party of Canada and the FOC. She traveled across the nation gathering support, and fought for workers' and women’s rights in Northwestern Ontario. Kannasto particularly raised awareness of women’s rights in labour, marital issues, and contraception.

Kannasto was considered a threat to Canada by the RCMP. She was arrested in the early 1920s trying to reach Alberta (Canada), and in 1925 trying to reach Montana (United States). Due to government aggression, by the mid-1930s Kannasto retreated from her political pursuits. Kannasto spent her remaining decades working on a homestead just outside of Port Arthur.

Sources
Mantis, Steve
Person · 1950-

Stephen (Steve) Mantis was born in 1950 in Reading, Pennsylvania, and immigrated to Canada in 1972. After settling near Thunder Bay, Ontario, Mantis worked as a carpenter and established his own construction company. A workplace injury in 1978 resulted in the loss of his left arm. Employment in vocational rehabilitation followed, including work as an employment services manager with the Ontario March of Dimes.

Mantis founded the Thunder Bay Injured Workers Support Group in 1984. Further organizational work led to the establishment of the Ontario Network of Injured Workers Groups and the Canadian Injured Workers Alliance (CIWA), the latter formed following the 1990 National Conference on Re-Employment of Injured Workers. Mantis served as CIWA’s national coordinator from 1996 to 2002, working to build collaboration among provincial groups and trade unions. From 1991 to 1994, Mantis was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Ontario Workers’ Compensation Board.

Additional public service included membership on local roads boards and representation of rural residents on the Lakehead Planning Board. Later efforts focused on education and social inclusion through the creation of the Speakers School in Thunder Bay, a program designed to support civic engagement among marginalized populations, including people with disabilities, First Nations and Métis individuals, single parents, and those living in poverty.

Awards recognizing Mantis’s contributions include the Judge George Ferguson Award for advancing disability rights, the Ron Ellis Award for work in workers’ compensation law, the Credit Union Central of Ontario Social Responsibility Award, and the Canada 125th Anniversary Medal for service to the community and country.

Sources:
McPherson, Dennis
Person

As a faculty member at Lakehead University, Dennis McPherson was instrumental in establishing Native Studies/Indigenous Learning at Lakehead, and also in critiquing Lakehead's lack of support of Indigenous faculty and students.

He is well known for visibly protesting systemic racism at Lakehead University in 1995, first by camping on the lawn on campus near the administrative headquarters, and then by walking to Ottawa. This work also served as a research project under the title "Indian on the Lawn." Prior to this protest, he had co-created the first Indigenous philosophy course in Canada, and may have been the first Indigenous person to present a paper on Indigenous philosophy at an academic conference in Canada.

McPherson is Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), a member of the Couchiching First Nation at Fort Frances, Ontario.
Momot, Walter
Person · 1938-

Dr. Walter Thomas Momot has been a Professor of Ichthyology at Lakehead University since 1975 and was Chair of the Department of Biology, 1996-2003. He was born in 1938, Hamtramck, Michigan, USA. He graduated with an Honours Bachelors of Science from the Wayne State University of Detroit, Michigan in 1960, a Masters degree in 1961 and Doctoral degree in fisheries in 1964 from the University of Michigan, Flint Michigan in 1961. He began his career in fisheries at the Sandy Hook Marine Lab in New Jersey. Later he moved to a position of assistant professor of zoology at the University of Oklahoma in 1964. He advanced from instructor to Associate professor of Ohio State University from 1964-1975. He worked as a visiting professor at the Louisiana State University 1981-1982, University of Hawaii & Western Australian Marine research lab, 1990-1991 and the University of Alabama 1996-1997. Dr. Momot is known for his extensive knowledge of crayfish and passion for the biogeography of fish and invertebrates in the Boreal lakes and rivers. Dr. Walter Momot retired in 2003 but continues to lecture, biology of fishes, as a Professor Emeritus. Dr. Momot is an honourary member of the International Association of Astacology, American Fisheries Society; Canadian Society of Limnology, and the North American Benthological Society. He is a fellow of the American Institute of Fishery Research Biologists.

Research Interests: Fish Ecology. Production ecology, zoogeography, and population dynamics of fish and invertebrates in boreal lakes.
Pajala, Toivo
Person · 1903-1972

Toivo Pajala was born in 1903 in Vimpeli, Finland and educated at Western Bible College in Winnipeg. At age 19, Pajala migrated to Canada; by 1923, he migrated to Port Arthur, Ontario. Originally Pajala worked as a bushworker. Pajala is known as a preacher: first Laestadian and then Pentecostal. He was ordained in Toronto, in 1946. In 1949, Pajala married his wife, Sylvia.

In Port Arthur, Pajala served as the pastor of Saalem Finnish Pentecostal Church (1949-1963). By 1951, Pajala founded a Finnish-language Pentecostal radio program; it reached the rural areas of the Lakehead, including the camps of bushworkers. In 1936, Pajala migrated to Waukegan, Illinois; he worked as a pastor until retiring in 1967. Upon retirement, Pajala returned to Port Arthur. He remained active in the church until his passing in 1972.
Phillips, Alexander
Person · -1978

Alexander Phillips was born in Milton, Ontario, and spent most of his life in Northwestern Ontario. He began his working life as a journalist: particularly writing for the Fort William Times-Journal, and becoming its News Editor in 1939. He also wrote as a correspondent for TIME and other national and international magazines and newspapers. He continued to write articles and columns throughout the second half of his career with the Northwestern Ontario Development Association/Northwestern Ontario Development Council.

Phillips began his work as General Manager of the Northwestern Ontario Development Association in 1955, and continued with that organization until its dissolution at the end of 1972. As General Manager, he supported local business and industry through advocacy and information sharing, and advocated for Northwestern Ontario at provincial and national stages.

Records of his other activities are integrated through the records of the Northwestern Ontario Development Association. These include his writing, and work with other organizations such as: the Lake Superior International Highway Association; the Mississippi River Parkway Commission; the Ontario Alcoholism and Drug Addiction Foundation; the Quetico Centre; the Quetico Provincial Park Advisory Committee; the Thunder Bay Press Club; and the Twin City Gas Division of Northern and Central Gas Corporation.

He enjoyed a long marriage to Lillian, and had two daughters and one son.
Phillips, Margaret
Person · 1931-2015

Margaret Phillips was born in 1931, in Ottawa, Ontario, and spent much of her life in Northwestern Ontario. Phillips is known as a feminist and social activist, also credited for her anti-racist activism. Beginning her career in organized recreation, Phillips became the first Canadian woman to work as an arena manager (Iroquois Falls 1957-1960), and then as municipal recreation director (Kenora, 1960-1967). Furthermore, Phillips was the first woman President of the Society of Directors of Municipal Recreation of Ontario.

Phillips worked with numerous social activist organizations. She served the Lakehead Social Planning Council as Executive Director (1971-1981), participated in founding the Thunder Bay Women's Centre (1973), was a member of the Northern Woman's Journal Collective (1982-1992), served as a board member of the Canadian Council on Social Development and the Ontario Welfare Council, and co-founded (with Anna McColl) the Northern Women's Bookstore (1984). Notably, the Northern Women’s Bookstore supported local Indigenous and Northern women with various women’s literature, writing groups, and social gatherings, such as book clubs and potlucks. Philips advocated for education around violence against women, lesbian issues, and women’s health.

City of Thunder Bay. Margaret Phillips. https://www.thunderbay.ca/en/city-hall/margaret-phillips.aspx
Lakehead University Archives. Margaret Phillips fonds. https://archives.lakeheadu.ca/index.php/margaret-phillips-fonds
The Chronicle Journal. Margaret Alberta Phillips: 1931-2015. https://www.legacy.com/ca/obituaries/chroniclejournal/name/margaret-phillips-obituary?id=42970445
Robinson, Frederick O.
Person · 1903-1969

Frederick O. Robinson was born in 1903 in Port Arthur, Ontario, and was educated through a machinist trade apprenticeship. Robinson worked at the Canadian National Railway (CNR) for 25 years before being elected to the Ontario Legislature in 1943, representing the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) party. Despite his election win, Robinson continued working as a machinist at the CNR.

From 1943 to 1945, Robinson served on the Board of Education. In this role, Robinson pushed to establish a university in Northwestern Ontario; this work led to the founding of the Lakehead Technical Institute (1946), which later became Lakehead University.

From 1946-1949, Robinson served on the Port Arthur City Council. From 1949-1955, Robinson was elected the Mayor of Port Arthur. His time in office is remembered for the founding of new schools, new health and welfare offices, and a new fire hall; and improving infrastructure, such as sidewalks and storm sewers. After 1955, Robinson served as a Personnel and Public Relations Officer for the Port Arthur Public Utilities Commission. Robinson retired in 1966 and passed away in 1969.
Soloway, Beverly
Person

Bev Soloway is a faculty member at Lakehead University, in the Department of History. She specializes in Canadian history, with an interest in environmental history, the history of science and technology, and the interactions between gender and history.
Whalen, James
Person · 1869-1929

James Whalen was born in Collingwood, Ontario in 1869. In 1875, at the age of six, his family moved to Port Arthur, Ontario. Not long after the Whalens' arrival in Port Arthur, James' father drowned and he was left as the sole provider for his mother and younger siblings.

Once out of public school Whalen entered the logging and railway contracting business with a very strong drive for achievement. He cared deeply for the city of Port Arthur and wished to develop the city as much as possible. The empire which he eventually built included logging, pebble, dredging, shipbuilding, insurance, and real estate companies. For his involvement with the dredging and shipping industries, Whalen came to be known as the man who "put the Port in Port Arthur." One of his great accomplishments was the construction of the Whalen Building in 1913, which still stands today as the Thunder Bay Hydro Building. When it opened in 1914 it was said to be "the finest between Toronto and Winnipeg."

James Whalen married Laurel Conmee, the daughter of James Conmee, Member of Parliament. Together James and Laurel had five children, Hazel, Edward, Jim, Loley, and
Margaret.

During his last years, Whalen moved to the West coast to continue working with the pulp and paper industries. Within a few years he was diagnosed with Bright's Disease, affecting his kidneys. He passed away on June 4, 1929, while being treated in a Duluth, MN hospital. In recognition of this man and his accomplishments, the city of Port Arthur honoured him with a half-day holiday.