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GOLD MEDAL
Among map-makers, James White was a trailblazer. A slight man with a handlebar moustache, Canada's first chief geographer published the inaugural edition of the Atlas of Canada in 1906, the second national atlas in the world (after Finland). In his 10 years as chief geographer, White also produced a standard base map of Canada and a 50-sheet set of topographical maps of the settled areas of the country. This year, the institution he launched celebrates 100 years of depicting our nation's storied geography through cartography.
The evolution of the atlas mirrors the country's development and Canadian ingenuity and innovation in cartography. The 1906 edition, for instance, focused on transportation and communication networks to entice European investment and immigration to Canada. Knowledge of Canada's remote regions was still sketchy at the time, which accounts for many missing or inaccurately rendered Arctic islands. Rising concern for the environment and interest in socioeconomic matters, such as the national labour force, were reflected in the 1974 edition, which received the RCGS Gold Medal in 1976. In the early 1990s, digital cartography and the collection of data through remote sensing revolutionized the way maps were created. The internet spelled the end of the atlas in book form; in 1994, The Atlas of Canada went online, one of the first online atlases in the world. On its 100th birthday, the atlas "is at a crucial moment in its history" and is pondering its future, says Denis Hains, director of the EOGD. Keeping up with the staggering pace of change in information technology is an important challenge. The organization is looking into improving its online multimedia capabilities, says Hains, and is considering contributions to the atlas's content from the public, similar in concept to Wikipedia, the web-based encyclopedia. As for future editions of the atlas? "I don't think there will be a new edition but, rather, a continual update of the online atlas," says Hains. "The online atlas of the future will be very dynamic." Monique Roy-Sole BEHIND THE SCENES
"This is an exciting moment in our history," says Gisèle Jacob, president of the RCGS. "I am confident that Canadian Geographic will continue to build on its many strengths." Helping the magazine build on those strengths is André Préfontaine, the new president of Canadian Geographic Enterprises and publisher of CG. Préfontaine is the former president of Transcontinental Media, the fourth largest publishing company in Canada. "Canadian Geographic and its new-media extensions play a unique role in fostering a greater understanding of the country," says Préfontaine. "I look forward to working with the team that has made it one of the most widely read publications in Canada." Préfontaine takes over from John Thomson, who has joined the team at Key. Monique Roy-Sole LECTURES
Over two decades and 7,000 kilometres, Kobalenko has skied, hiked and snowshoed his way into Canadian history, joining an elite circle of explorers whose passion lies in icy landscapes. This past summer, the Canmore, Alta.-based Kobalenko ventured to Labrador once again, this time to research an upcoming story on Torngat Mountains National Park Reserve. And in September, he will share stories and photographs from his extreme adventures during The Royal Canadian Geographical Society's fall lecture. Kobalenko speaks in Halifax on Sept. 25 and in St. John's on Sept. 26. READER FEEDBACK Brian Payton's story about dwindling owl habitat in British Columbia ("Last call for the spotted owl," Canadian Geographic, May/June 2006) inspired a group of students at Our Lady of the Assumption School in New Lowell, Ont., to lend their creativity to the cause. The 18 students in Sara Benjamin's grade five/six class were studying a science unit on renewable and non-renewable resources and a social science unit on democracy. After reading Payton's story, says Benjamin, the students wanted to make signs and protest. "But I explained that we are in a small town — how many people were going to see that?" Instead, she had them draw posters describing what they'd learned. Benjamin sent half of the posters to B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell and half to Canadian Geographic. "Please stop the logging of the spotted owl's habitat," Benjamin wrote in a letter to Campbell. "Driving a species to extinction to make a profit is an unforgivable act." Greg MacCormack MAGAZINE
CG is one of a handful of Canadian publications to go treeless using the Zinio publishing platform. For more information visit www.canadiangeographic. ca/digital. Greg MacCormack
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