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Last May, they launched their canoe in the Bow River, two blocks from their home in Canmore, Alta., and paddled across the Prairies, then north to Hudson Bay and the community of Arviat, Nunavut. They crossed Eastern Canada by train and sailboat before landing on the northern coast of Cape Breton Island.

Why embark on such an odyssey? “We really wanted to pay a fitting tribute to a man who has written more than 40 books that have shaped so many people’s visions of Canada,” says Heuer, a biologist and park warden who has undertaken some epic expeditions with Allison, a filmmaker. In 2003, the couple followed the Porcupine caribou herd’s migration on foot across the Yukon and Alaska (see “Being caribou,” Canadian Geographic, March/April 2006). Their quest to meet Mowat received an expeditions grant from The Royal Canadian Geographical Society.

The young family had an unnerving encounter with a polar bear and endured a gutwrenching three-day sail to Newfoundland. But “the most memorable part of the trip,” says Allison, “was arriving at Hudson Bay.” At the mouth of the Churchill River, they watched beluga whales swim playfully around their canoe.

While canoeing with a toddler was at times demanding and worrisome, Heuer and Allison say that Zev adapted remarkably well. Alone in the wilderness for long stretches, “we were forced to bond,” says Heuer, “in a way that most families don’t have the opportunity to do.”

Monique Roy-Sole

Semple of Malagash, N.S., teaches at Mount Allison University. In 1993, he helped found the Canadian Council for Geographic Education to promote and improve the teaching of geography in Canada. He was also instrumental in creating the Geography Challenge in 1994. Since then, about 2.5 million students have participated in the competition.

Historical geographer Brian Osborne, an adjunct professor emeritus at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ont., served the RCGS for 20 years, on the Board of Governors and most RCGS committees, including Research & Grants, Awards and Canadian Geographic’s Editorial Advisory Committee.

“A sense of place is so important,” says Twerdoclib. “As a councillor, you’re looking at human interactions and opportunities in the places that we live. It’s truly geography in action.”

For more than 20 years, “Mr. Geography,” as he’s affectionately called by his peers, has worked tirelessly to advance geographical studies in the Alberta curriculum, which does not offer a dedicated course in the subject.

Twerdoclib, who teaches grade-nine social studies in Spruce Grove, says his most rewarding experiences have come from his students.

“Sometimes we take trips to the Rocky Mountains, and for some of them, it’s their first visit,” he says. “They stand in awe of the things I’ve tried to describe in the classroom.”

Geoff Dembicki

Pin on a mission Astronaut Steve MacLean (LEFT) presents RCGS President Gisèle Jacob with the Society pin he took on the space shuttle Atlantis in 2006. The pin orbited the Earth 186 times and travelled 7.84 million kilometres, says MacLean, who was guest speaker at the annual RCGS College of Fellows dinner in November. He will share stories of his mission with the public during the Society’s Speaker Series in April.