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Trapper

-His earlier mindset surrounding trapping will be discussed in greater depth, as not much is discussed with regards to how he viewed trapping before his switch to conservationism. - His work with the Ojibwa Indians / Guppy Family will be explored as they were critical in his development as a trapper that understood the fragility of the animal ecosystem (Smith, 41). - The time of his life spent working and living at the Temagami Inn as a chore-boy will be mentioned as this was one of the events in which Archie first became an observer of the Objibwa way of life. (Smith, 40) - His love interest, Angele will also be discussed as she also introduced Archie to influential figures within the Objibwa community, providing Archie with plenty of sketches for his infamous notebooks. (Smith, 42)

Braz, Albert. “St. Archie of the Wild. Grey Owl’s Account of His ‘Natural’ Conversion,” in Other Selves: Animals in the Canadian Literary Imagination. ed. Janice Fiamengo, 206-226. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2007.

Grey Owl. Pilgrims of the Wild. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2010.

Smith, Donald B. From the Land of Shadows: the Making of Grey Owl. Saskatoon: Western Prairie Books, 1990.

Early Conservation Work

-From the section on his life as a trapper, we will discuss the impact of Anahareo on his switch from trapper to Conservationist. -The transformation of his own personal views of conservationism will be explored through his writings in Pilgrims of the wild. -His initial desires to write will also be explored, this section then ending with the completion of his first book “The Men of the Last Frontier” which can be seen as one of the starting points of his public conservation career.

Braz, Albert. “St. Archie of the Wild. Grey Owl’s Account of His ‘Natural’ Conversion,” in Other Selves: Animals in the Canadian Literary Imagination. ed. Janice Fiamengo, 206-226. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2007.Grey Owl. Pilgrims of the Wild. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2010.

Grey Owl. Pilgrims of the Wild. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2010.

Smith, Donald B. From the Land of Shadows: the Making of Grey Owl. Saskatoon: Western Prairie Books, 1990.

Conservation Work with Parks Board Canada -Source matter in this subheading will discuss Grey Owl’s beginning with Parks Board Canada through meeting James Harkin, covering material surrounding the films he made with their support, and his placement as a caretaker of park animals at Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba. -His relationship with W. J. Oliver regarding his being commissioned by Parks Board Canada to make films of Grey Owl will also be explored. -Delving further into his later life as a conservationist and his role in Prince Albert National park-

Lanken, Dane. “The Vision of Grey Owl.” Canadian Geographic 119 (1999): 74-80.

Smith, Donald B. From the Land of Shadows: the Making of Grey Owl. Saskatoon: Western Prairie Books, 1990.

Conservationist Views

-His outlook on conservationism will be explored, using both Tina Loo’s “States of Nature” Conserving Canada’s Wildlife in the Twentieth Century, and Donald Smith’s “From the Land of Shadows,” and Grey Owl’s “Pilgrims of the Wild” as sources which deal with his mindset of conservationism in detail.

Loo, Tina. States of Nature: Conserving Canada’s Wildlife in the Twentieth Century. Vancouver: UBC Press ,2006.

Smith, Donald B. From the Land of Shadows: the Making of Grey Owl. Saskatoon: Western Prairie Books, 1990.

Conservation of Legacy

Grey Owl, when growing up in England as an English boy, had had an unpleasant childhood, which led him to spend most of his time with animals and in nature and helped him to develop a completely new set of values and attitudes involving the development of nature’s conservation. Grey Owl became a pioneer of environmental conservation, which had a significant effect not only on Canada’s environmental conservation issues but also on the world’s.

While Grey Owl was not the first person to introduce conservation initiatives to preserve Canada's wilderness, he was the first to reach people en masse through his numerous lectures and articles as well as by means of his books and films. With his extensive influence, he successfully inspired significant numbers of people to perform greater conservation of the natural resources and to more greatly appreciate the importance of the natural wilderness. He inspired the theory of conservation to become a popular public concern. His message has illuminated how humankind’s utilizing nature's resources to generate profit is responsible for the destruction of nature (Loo, p. 113). Aside from his controversial identity, his ideas about conservation were extensively promoted by later environmentalists and began later to be widely practiced in Canada, especially in the national parks. In 1938, in remembering Grey Owl’s contributions to conservation, Lovat Dickson published a tribute to honour him as a great writer and conservationist (Smith, 213).

Half a century after his passing away, during the 1960s and 1970s, conservationism became a popular cultural trend, stimulating a renewed wave of interest in Grey Owl. Contemporary scholars and media revisited Grey Owl’s works, which came to be represented again in both popular and academic discourses. His works were published in the Canadian Geographical Journal, and interviews with his close friends were screened on CBC television (Smith, 217). Revisiting his studies created a space for other scholars to rethink the notion of conservation.

An environmental scholar, Dawson looks into how earlier environmentalists had an impact on later ones. Dawson reiterates Atwood’s suggestion that white Canadians, "Should not become less like Grey Owl and Black Wolf, but more like them" (6o) [quote from Dawson]. Grey Owl’s ideas about conservation were the springboard for Margaret Atwood’s observation that white Canadians should love and conserve nature just as the natives do; her statement is ironic when one considers Grey Owl’s actual identity. Regardless of his image as a Native imposter, his legendary life and powerful messages on the interconnections between nature and humans, and humans’ need to respect the environment (Loo, p. 113), are still as relevant today as they were when he was alive.

What is more, an interesting angle from which to view Grey Owl’s taking on the identity of a Native person is that Canada’s original culture is Native, and had the European colonizers not imposed their dominance upon this land, they might instead have come here merely as immigrants and “guests”. In that case, as foreigners generally tend to do to some extent or other whenever they sojourn or migrate to another land and society, they would have adapted themselves into the Native culture rather than imposing their own norms onto it. Grey Owl was among the extreme minority of Europeans who did respect and admire the Native culture, despite its lower status in its own land, taking on a Native identity and adopting Native values, including its traditional respect for nature. European interpretation of Grey Owl in the light of its own social mores is that he was an “imposter”, but perhaps he merely had a greater degree of insight and respect than other non-Native Canadians. Billinghurst, Jane. Grey Owl: The Many Faces of Archie Belaney. Vancouver: Greystone Books, 1999.

Chapin, David. “Gender and Indian Masquerade in the Life of Grey Owl “ American Indian Quarterly 24 (2000): 91-109.

Dawson , Carrie . “Never Cry Fraud: Remebering Grey Owl, Rethinking imposture.” Essays on Canadian Writing 65 (1998): 120-140.

Smith, Donald B. From the Land of Shadows: the Making of Grey Owl. Saskatoon: Western Prairie Books, 1990.

Death

-His relationships with Parks Board Canada prior to his death will be explored, delving into such aspects as how his increased use of alcohol, and absence from the park due to his touring prior to his death impacted his relationship with Parks Board.

Loo, Tina. States of Nature: Conserving Canada’s Wildlife in the Twentieth Century. Vancouver: UBC Press ,2006.

Smith, Donald B. From the Land of Shadows: the Making of Grey Owl. Saskatoon: Western Prairie Books, 1990.