The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS; French: Société géographique royale du Canada) is a Canadian nonprofit educational organization. It has dedicated itself to spreading a broader knowledge and deeper appreciation of Canada, including its people, places, natural and cultural heritage, as well as its environmental, social and economic challenges.
History The Royal Canadian Geographical Society was founded in 1929 by a group of eminent Canadians, including Marius Barbeau, an ethnographer and folklorist who is today considered a founder of Canadian anthropology, the Hon. A.E. Arsenault, Premier of Prince Edward Island and justice of the province's supreme court, Lawrence J. Burpee, Secretary for Canada of the International Joint Commission, John Wesley Dafoe, managing editor of the Winnipeg Free Press, the Hon. Albert Hudson, a justice of the Supreme Court of Canada, and Dr. O.D. Skelton, Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs. The Rt. Hon. Viscount Willingdon, Governor-General of Canada, was the founding patron. J.B. Joseph Tyrrell, a geologist and cartographer whose exploits included the discovery of Albertosaurus bones in Alberta's Badlands, and making first contact with the Ihalmiut ("People from Beyond") of the Keewatin district of Canada's Northwest Territories, served as founding Honorary President. Arthur Philemon Coleman, a geologist and explorer who between 1884 and 1908 made eight trips of discovery to the Canadian Rockies, was named Honorary Vice-president. At its first meeting, Charles Camsell said the society was formed "purely for patriotic purposes", and he hoped it would "be a unifying influence upon the life of Canada." A report by the acting secretary, E.S. Martindale, stated the intention of the founders: "The work of making the resources and other geographic factors of each part of the Dominion more widely known and more clearly understood is one of the best educational services that can be undertaken—and one that cannot be rendered except through a geographic organization animated by a broad national purpose." Among those who have addressed meetings of the RCGS over the years are Sir Francis Younghusband, Sir Hubert Wilkins, Maj. L.T. Burwash, Dr. Isaiah Bowman, Dr. Wade Davis, Sir Michael Palin, Dr. Phil Currie, and Sir Christopher Ondaatje. The RCGS publishes an award-winning English-language magazine, Canadian Geographic, which has been published continuously since 1930 (then called Canadian Geographical Journal). The society also publishes Canadian Geographic Travel quarterly. The society's French-language magazine, Géographica, which is published in collaboration with La Presse, was introduced in 1997. Alan Beddoe designed the coat of arms for the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, and his fonds includes a black and white photograph of the letters patent. In October 2016, it was announced that the society's new home would be an "iconic" building at 50 Sussex Drive in Ottawa. The society moved into its new headquarters in Spring 2018, and it debuted two exhibitions – Explore by Chris Cran and Lessons From the Arctic: How Roald Amundsen Won the Race to the South Pole. In May 2019, the prime minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, attended the official opening ceremony of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society's headquarters at 50 Sussex Drive.
Programs The Royal Canadian Geographical Society helps fund education, expeditions, research and lectures programs. Notably, it was a partner in the 2014 Victoria Strait Expedition that located HMS Erebus, one of two exploration vessels lost on the British Arctic Expedition led by Sir John Franklin. Each fall, the society hosts the annual College of Fellows Annual Dinner, with notable past speakers include Sir Francis Younghusband, Major General Sir James Howden MacBrien, Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek, artist Robert Bateman, actor Dan Aykroyd, ethnobotanist Wade Davis, Climate Canada's senior climatologist David Phillips, storm chaser George Kourounis, and award-winning author Margaret Atwood. In addition, the dinner has been attended by both Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Governor General David Johnston in the past. In June 2017, it was granted $2,084,000 in funding from the Government of Canada to develop the educational resource, a portion of which was drawn from the Canada 150 fund. This resulted in the creation of the Indigenous Peoples Atlas of Canada, developed with input from a number of groups and organizations representing indigenous peoples in Canada, including the Assembly of First Nations, Indspire, Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, the Métis National Council, and the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation. An issue of each of Canadian Geographic and Géographica were dedicated to the project.
College of Fellows
The society's board of governors and its program committees are made up entirely of volunteers, who are members of the College of Fellows. Traditionally, Fellows were elected "in recognition of outstanding service to Canada." Fellows are entitled to use the post-nominal letters FRCGS (Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society). Past Fellows of the society include eminent names such as:
painter A.Y. Jackson, explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, mariner and explorer Capt. Joseph-Elzéar Bernier, journalist Agnes C. Laut, American businessman and explorer Fenley Hunter, Nobel Prize recipient Prof. F.G. Banting, Edward Shackleton, Baron Shackleton, geographer and son of Sir Ernest Shackleton, composer Sir Ernest MacMillan, broadcaster and traveller Lowell Thomas, businessman James Armstrong Richardson Sr., Saskatchewan Premier T.C. Tommy Douglas, explorer Henry Larsen, historian L'abbé Arthur Maheux anthropologist Diamond Jenness, businessman E.P. Taylor, Canadian prime ministers R.B. Bennett, Louis St. Laurent, and Lester B. Pearson, hotelier Conrad Hilton, former Conservative leader and Nova Scotia premier Robert Stanfield, and geographer and GIS originator Roger Tomlinson. Current Fellows include:
Gilbert M. Grosvenor, of the National Geographic Society, ethnobotanist Wade Davis, astronauts Steve MacLean, Jeremy Hansen and Jerry M. Linenger, and businessman and author Sir Christopher Ondaatje. Besides regular Fellows, the society elects Honorary Fellows, people recognized for special or outstanding achievements. The president, and other members of the executive, are elected by the College of Fellows at the society's annual general meeting. Honorary Fellows include:
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