I've been a reporter or editor for
30 years. I started at the Ottawa Citizen, then moved
to Yellowknife where I lived for four years in the latter
1970s. I worked there as editor of a weekly called News
of the North, then, freelanced and, finally, edited another
weekly called Northern News Report. I travelled extensively
throughout the North and covered most of the Berger hearings
on the Mackenzie Valley pipeline.
From Yellowknife, I moved to Fort MacMurray
where, with two partners, I launched and ran a successful
weekly newspaper called the Express. Following that, I
was in Edmonton, where I was legislature columnist and
reporter for the Sun.
In 1984, I came back to Toronto for a
year at United Press Canada. UPC was purchased by Canadian
Press in 1985. I worked at CP mainly as environment reporter
and Queen's Park bureau chief.
In 1989, I was hired by the Star as a
business reporter. I switched to environment, then did
a series of editing jobs culminating in three years as
insight editor. For the past six years I have been a feature
writer, covering a wide range of topics but with a heavy
and increasing emphasis on environment issues.
I have also written several major stories
for Canadian Geographic and have edited a couple of books.
Over the years, I have won many accolades and a few awards,
most notably a Canadian Forestry Service prize for a Canadian
Geographic story, and a National Newspaper Award nomination
for a Star feature on asbestos.
I am an avid canoeist and love being
anywhere north. (Since leaving Yellowkinfe I have gone
back to the NWT four times. most recently last June, when
I spent two weeks in Yellowknife, Rae-Edzo and Tuktoyaktuk
to research a series of stories for the Star.
I also do some painting -- mainly abstract
-- and have taken courses at OCAD and the Toronto School
of Art. I'm a native of Toronto and have a B.A. in political
science from York University. I went to Carleton, in Ottawa,
to continue my studies but was seduced by the student
paper and never looked back. |
