Grey Owl | |
|---|---|
 Portrait by Yousuf Karsh, 1936 | |
| Born | Archibald Stansfeld Belaney September 18, 1888 |
| Died | April 13, 1938 (aged 49) |
| Education | Hastings Grammar School |
| Occupation(s) | Writer, Lecturer, Conservationist |
| Employers | Dominion Parks Service |
| Known for | Environmental conservation |
| Spouses | Angele Egwuna (m. 1910)Ivy Holmes (m. 1917–1922)Yvonne Perrier (m. 1936) |
| Partner | Gertrude Bernard |
| Children | 4 |
Archibald Stansfeld Belaney (September 18, 1888 – April 13, 1938), commonly known as Grey Owl, was a popular writer, public speaker and conservationist. Born an Englishman, in the latter years of his life he passed as half-Indian, claiming he was the son of a Scottish man and an Apache woman.[a] With books, articles and public appearances promoting wilderness conservation, he achieved fame in the 1930s. Shortly after his death in 1938, his real identity as the Englishman Archie Belaney was exposed.[2]: 210ff He has been called one of the first pretendians.[b]
Moving to Canada as a young man, Belaney established himself as a woodsman and trapper, before rising to prominence as an author and lecturer. While working for the Dominion Parks Branch of Canada in the 1930s, Belaney was named the "caretaker of park animals", first at Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba and then at Prince Albert National Park in Saskatchewan.[2]: 92, 108 His views on wilderness conservation, expressed in numerous articles, books, lectures and films, reached audiences beyond the borders of Canada, bringing attention to the negative impact of exploiting nature and the urgent need to develop respect for the natural world. He was particularly concerned about the plight of the beaver (Canada's national animal), which by the 1920s had been hunted almost to extinction.[4]: 113
Recognition of Belaney includes biographies, academic studies, historic plaques in England, Ontario and Quebec, and a film based on his life, directed by Richard Attenborough.
- ^ Dickson, Lovat (1973). Wilderness Man: The Strange Story of Grey Owl. Toronto: The Macmillan Company of Canada. ISBN 9780770510435.
- ^ a b Smith, Donald B. (1990). From the Land of Shadows: the Making of Grey Owl. Saskatoon: Western Producer Prairie Books. ISBN 0888333099.
- ^ Brunet, Jonah (February 14, 2024). "The Great Pretenders: How two faux-Inuit sisters cashed in on a life of deception". Toronto Life. Retrieved May 30, 2024.
- ^ Loo, Tina (2006). States of Nature: Conserving Canada's Wildlife in the Twentieth Century. Vancouver: UBC Press. ISBN 9780774812894.
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