About Grey Owl
Archibald Belaney was born on Sept. 18, 1888 in Hastings, England and was raised by his two aunts.
A herd of wild bison roam in the enclosure near Lake Audy.
hike stretching out 17 km. Jack pine forests, aspens, pop- lars and balsam line this well-travelled path which is also suitable for mountain bikes. Give yourself at least five hours to complete the hike. Archie Belaney, better known as Grey Owl, lived in the Beaver Lake Lodge for six months in 1931 with his two beavers, Jelly Roll and Rawhide. He was hired by the park in an early conservation effort to re-establish beaver colonies in areas where they had been heavily trapped. Tere is much controversy surrounding Grey Owl, but he was one of Canada’s first conservationists and became a major historical figure and legend, beloved by many for the great work he did. He was one of the greatest Canadian writers of his time and a pioneer of Canadian conservation.
Captivated by tales of the Canadian wilderness, he left England in 1906 and settled in northern Ontario where he married an Ojibwa woman four years later and had two daughters.
In 1912, he claimed to be an Aboriginal and learned to live off the land. The Ojibwa Indians gave him the name Wa-Sha-Quon-Asin, which means Grey Owl or He-Who-Flies-By-Night.
He served in World War I as a sniper with the 13th (Montreal) Battalion of the Black Watch.
He married Anahareo in 1925, after leaving his first wife. That same year, he stopped trapping animals after killing a mother beaver and discovering she had two babies. He and Anahareo adopted the babies and called them Jelly Roll and Rawhide; they followed the couple everywhere.
In 1931 he settled in Prince Albert National Park in Saskatchewan where he served as a beaver conservation officer.
Grey Owl published many short stories about the Canadian wilderness and First Nations culture. He travelled the world lecturing on conservation, even returning to England and lecturing before the royal family. He was very well-known and became a major spokesperson for Canada.
He died suddenly in 1938 of pneumonia. After his death, it was discovered that he was an Englishman, not a native of Canada, nor of Aboriginal descent. People highly criticized his fraudulent representation of himself, his alcoholism and multiple marriages and relationships. Despite the scandal, Grey Owl was a highly influential conservationist, writer and speaker.
Grey Owl’s cabin in Riding Mountain National Park.
thehubwinnipeg.com Spring 2015 • 37
Photo by David Moffat.
Photo by David Moffat.
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