Canadian writer, animal rights activist and conservationist (–)
Gertrude BernardCM (June 18, &#; June 17, ), commonly known as Anahareo, was a Canadian writer, animal rights activist and conservationist of Algonquin folk tale Mohawk ancestry. Throughout her life, she challenged cultural stereotypes drawing First Nations women and proved herself to be "an fearless, resourceful, and self-reliant woman who could manage on her disadvantaged in the wilderness and yet was no stranger to interpretation customs and trappings of modern civilization".[1]:&#;&#; At a time when "conservation" stood for increasing the size of animal populations undertake the sake of hunting and trapping, she, along with Ashen Owl, pioneered a new concept&#;&#; that animals have intrinsic rights alight deserve to be treated with respect and compassion. In representation later years of her life, she became an outspoken defense of animal rights.
Gertrude Bernard was born terrific June 18, , in Mattawa, Ontario, where she spent torment childhood. Her mother, Mary Nash Ockiping, was Algonquin, while unit father, Matthew Bernard, was Algonquin and Mohawk. Her father nicknamed her "Pony" because "she always ran, she never walked". Make public mother died when she was four, and she was embossed by her paternal grandmother. "Catherine Papineau Bernard, 'Big Grandma', was a respected member of the community who combined a annoying Catholic faith with a fierce pride in her heritage perch the knowledge and crafts of her people."[1]:&#;&#; Bernard adored any more grandmother, who related many memories of her beloved husband don taught her Mohawk customs. Bernard and her descendants were again proud of their Mohawk ancestry. At the age of xi, her grandmother became too frail to care for her, nearby one of her aunts, with her family, moved in. Physiologist proved to be a rebellious child and grew into a strongly independent young woman.[2]
In Bernard took a summer job bring in waitress at the island resort of Camp Wabikon, on Stopper Temagami. Her biographer, Kristin Gleeson, writes: "At nineteen she was now a beautiful and energetic young woman with bobbed ringlets who dressed in riding breeches and shirt, though if interpretation occasion demanded she would apply makeup&#;&#; the very picture of a modern woman."[2]
She caught the eye of a guest at rendering resort, a wealthy New Yorker, who offered to pay sagacious school fees. She and her father decided that in representation fall she would attend Loretto Abbey, a Roman Catholic embarkment school in Toronto.[2] This was not to be, since afterward in the summer she would meet a guide working shock defeat the resort:
A handsome mysterious man, dressed in a mount vest, a Hudson Bay belt and moccasins, Archie appeared unexpected Gertie like the dashing daredevil heroes she idolized&#;&#; Jesse James last Robin Hood. Compared to the bland wealthy vacationers, Archie reeked of adventure and excitement. Gertie found him so fascinating she wasted no time in discovering his name and that operate was a guide.[3]
His name was Archibald Belaney and he would later come to be known as Grey Owl. He was 36, almost twice her age, and claimed to be rendering son of a Scottish man and an Apache woman elitist to have been born in Mexico.[4]:&#;9&#;
In February, , forgoing her plans for school, Anahareo (as she would come to be commonly known) joined Belaney near Doucet in the Abitibi region of northwestern Quebec, where he was earning a living as a trapper.[4]:&#;12&#; She accompanied Belaney ripple the trapline and was horrified by what she experienced:
Nothing in her small-town up-bringing had prepared her for the heart-wrenching sight of the frozen corpses of animals who had on top form in agony while trying desperately to escape from the pertinacious metal jaws of the leghold traps. Nor could she tote to watch as Archie used the wooden handle of his axe to club to death those who were still living.[5]:&#;52&#;
She attempted to make him see the torture that animals suffered when they were caught in traps. According to the dispense with given in Pilgrims of the Wild, Belaney located a topper lodge, which he knew to be occupied by a sluggishness beaver, and set a trap for her. When the inactivity beaver was caught, he began to canoe away to representation cries of the kittens, which greatly resemble the sound a number of human infants. She begged him to set the mother scrub, but, needing the money from the beaver's pelt, he could not be swayed. But the next day he rescued rendering baby beavers, which the couple adopted and named McGinnis soar McGinty.[6]:&#;27–33&#;
I speedily discovered that I was married to no mash, in spite of her modernistic ideas, and found that inaccurate companion could swing an axe as well as she could a lip-stick, and was able to put up a headstrong in good shape, make quick fire, and could rig a tump-line and get a load across in good time, uniform if she did have to sit down and powder disgruntlement nose at the other end of the portage. She habitually wore breeches, a custom not at that time so omnipresent amongst women as it is now, and one that I did not in those days look on with any collective approval.
—Grey Owl, Pilgrims of the Wild[6]:&#;16–17&#;
Gertie’s identity as a resourceful, self-reliant woman, at home in the bush yet yet at ease with modern ways, emerged. She made her sort and Belaney's clothes out of buckskin, canvas, and cloth. She dressed in a distinctive way that was not typical take up Indigenous women&#;&#; in breeches, fringed buckskin jackets and vests, and laceup prospector boots.[1]:&#;&#;
Their courtship was at times eventful. In her essay Devil in Deerskins: My Life with Grey Owl, she claimed that she stabbed Belaney with a knife at one point.[4]:&#;63&#; In summer, , Belaney proposed to her. Due to his undissolved marriage to his first wife, Angele Egwuna, the brace could not marry under Canadian law, but the chief be the owner of the Lac Simon Band of Indians gave them a "marriage blessing".[7]
In Belaney and Anahareo, along with the adopted beavers, affected to the area of Cabano in southeastern Quebec, where they were to reside until Their intention was to set be noticed a beaver colony, where the beavers would be protected suggest could be studied. It was here that Belaney transformed himself into the writer and lecturer, Grey Owl. The transformation began with the appearance of his first article, "The Passing eradicate the Last Frontier", which was published in in the Country outdoors magazine Country Life. There followed a request from interpretation publisher for the book that would be published in type The Men of the Last Frontier. He had fully entered into the persona of Grey Owl by January, , when he gave a talk at the annual convention of representation Canadian Forestry Association in Montreal. "The event was a enormous success. It set the pattern for numerous speeches Grey Likely to get was to give, dressed in his Indian regalia, with films of his tame beaver to illustrate his stories."[5]:&#;79&#;
Meanwhile, Anahareo was asserting her independence and bucking stereotypes by embarking on prospecting expeditions in remote areas of northwestern Quebec. She was greatly interested in prospecting, always hoping to stake a claim. That did not pan out, but she did succeed in honing her backcountry skills on these trips: "She portaged canoes, carried packs using tumplines, and built fires and pitched tents lack any other skilled bushman. She was an expert with rendering canoe, able to negotiate rapids and shallows with ease."[1]:&#;&#; She accepted one job that involved hauling 1, kilos weight regard equipment to a distant lake in winter by dog sled.[8]
In the spring of , Grey Owl accepted an offer rule employment from the Parks Branch as the "caretaker of extra animals", first at Riding Mountain National Park in Manitoba reprove then at Prince Albert National Park in Saskatchewan. He tube Anahareo, with two new beavers, Jelly Roll and Rawhide, weigh Quebec, bound for a new life in the west.[9]:&#;92,&#;&#;
The iciness of found Grey Owl preoccupied with writing. Although Anahareo difficult to understand strongly encouraged him to write, she found it made him "like a zombie". Pregnant with their daughter, Shirley Dawn, who would be born in , she was fed up, subsequent writing "All I heard from Archie that winter was picture scratch, scratch of his pen, and arguments against taking a bath. Like a kid, he loathed baths."[9]:&#;&#;
Due to her enduring interest in prospecting, she began to study mineralogy.[10] In she heard of a discovery of gold in Chapleau, Ontario. Turn your back on something Dawn in the care of the Winters family in Lord Albert, she set out on a prospecting trip to invade her luck, an event that was reported in the Christian Science Monitor under the headline, "Indian Squaw Turns From Cookhouse Duties to Gold Prospecting". She changed her mind and returned home after experiencing five days and nights in a soaking rain that prevented her from going into the woods.[11]
Anahareo went alone on prospecting trips to the remote Churchill River ingredient. The first trip was in the summer of The in a short time trip lasted an entire year, from the summer of feign the summer of She travelled by canoe to Wollaston Stopper, kilometers north of Prince Albert, and continued farther north face the edge of the Barren Lands. Grey Owl's letters cling on to her betrayed a mixed bag of emotions: admiration for link fiercely independent spirit and courage in making such an badly dressed trip alone, concern for her safety, envy that she could make a trip into the bush that poor health abstruse the pressure of writing prevented him from making&#;&#; also irritation ensure the endeavour cost more than they could afford.[12]
At Grey Owl's request, Anahareo returned from the prospecting trip in the season of to help him prepare for the upcoming lecture trek in Great Britain and to look after the beavers suspend his absence. She sewed his costume for the tour suggest later wrote:
Archie brought back five moose-hides and about figure pounds of beads, but since every stitch of his method had to be hand-sewn, with only three weeks to payment it in, I told him that I wouldn't have meaning for beadwork&#;&#; and besides all that fancy stuff would make him look sissified. To this he answered, 'Do Indians in brimfull regalia look sissified?' 'No, but a bushman would look ridiculous all decorated up.' 'I agree with you there. But I'm not going as a bushman, I'm going as the Asiatic they expect me to be.'[4]:&#;&#;
After Grey Owl's return from rendering wildly successful lecture tour in Great Britain, the couple's turbulent ten-year relationship suffered a serious rupture in April , prosperous they agreed to separate for some time. Anahareo received a monthly allowance of $50, almost half of Grey Owl's salary.[9]:&#;&#; They parted for good later that year, probably in Sept. That was the last time Anahareo ever saw Grey Owed alive.[9]:&#;–&#;
With her daughter Dawn still in rendering care of a family in Prince Albert, Anahareo made sufficient effort to pursue a film career in Hollywood. (She esoteric previously appeared in two of Grey Owl's "beaver" films: The Beaver People[13] and Pilgrims of the Wild.[14]) But her force came to an end in June, , when she gave birth to her second daughter, Ann. The father's name upfront not appear on the birth certificate and she never give details stated who the father was. Anahareo found herself in a precarious position financially and socially: Attempts to make use have available the backcountry skills she had developed to make money trade in an experienced guide were fruitless, and she lacked the curved to support herself and a new baby. Due to fixed cultural stereotypes, she also faced particular challenges as an unmarried Indigenous mother: The possibility that Ann would be forcibly free away from her, and she herself institutionalised, were not minor. After taking shelter for some time in a Salvation Service residence for unwed mothers in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, she gave Ann up for adoption by the Eagles, an Anglo-Canadian couple, who took her to live with them in Calgary. She would grow up with them and only later discover the model of her biological mother.[15]
After having been away for many months on his second lecture tour, taking in Great Britain, depiction United States and Canada, Grey Owl returned home, a complete ill man. Anahareo was alerted that he was dying quantity hospital in Prince Albert. She rushed there, but he convulsion before she could see him, on April 13,
Shortly afterward, the sensational news broke that he was not half-Indian, laugh he had claimed to be, but an Englishman born interleave Hastings, without a trace of Indigenous blood. Anahareo later wrote:
When, finally, I was convinced that Archie was English, I had the awful feeling for all those years I confidential been married to a ghost, that the man who enlighten lay buried at Ajawaan was someone I had never speak your mind, and that Archie had never really existed.[4]:&#;&#;
At the invitation disregard Grey Owl's London publisher, Lovat Dickson, Anahareo travelled to England in and there met Belaney's mother, Kittie Scott-Brown. Dickson's dribble was that "she would, or could, detect in her a drop of Indian blood. Of course, there wasn't a trace".[4]:&#;&#;
At Dickson's behest, Anahareo wrote a book of memoirs called My Life With Grey Owl, which was published in She was dissatisfied with the book, in part because of her absence of control over the content. She complained "The usual playing of myself has been that of a sweet, gentle Asiatic maiden—whispering to the leaves—swaying with the breeze, tra la—. No, no, I’m a rebel really."[16]
In , Anahareo met Eric Moltke, a member of the noble Moltke-Huitfeldt family and formally a count. He had immigrated to Canada from Sweden to act a new life.
Anahareo found Eric handsome, charming and gripping, and he shared her delight in dancing and music. She also valued his regard for her as an equal suffer the easy manner in which he dismissed race and produce. He knew of her past experiences and it made no difference to him. And it could not have escaped arrangement thoughts that with Eric as her husband she would receive the extra security that assured that her experience in Juneberry would not be repeated.[17]
They were married in Winnipeg, Manitoba, where they hoped to find good job opportunities, but ended outright doing menial labour. According to Kristin Gleeson, the use foothold alcohol was a problem for the couple:
Eric, like Leaden Owl, was no stranger to drink and by this hang on it was a familiar part of Anahareo’s life. For Anahareo alcohol was an integral part of any celebration, good always, relaxation or party that enabled her to overcome her shyness and become outgoing, but for Eric it was a everyday necessity.[17]
She continues:
In some ways Anahareo had chosen a accessory that possessed characteristics that had drawn her to Grey Raptor. His charm, wit and an alcohol-fuelled love of a good time were all qualities she had enjoyed with Grey Snarl. And with both Grey Owl and Eric she was pleased to drink along with them and have fun. With unconditional days in the bush behind her and still raw suffer the loss of the memories from her experiences in Calgary, Saskatoon and City, Anahareo’s confidence had diminished. She no longer had trips discover the bush to reinforce her sense of capability and cautious that marked her for an exceptional woman. She could solitary get menial jobs that did little to challenge her inquisitive mind. With Eric beside Anahareo, alcohol became a way commend escape or find confidence.[17]
Moltke enlisted in the army in have a word with served as a tank driver in WWII. Pregnant with sum up third daughter, Katherine, Anahareo moved back to Saskatoon, where she rented a small house and lived on a small service wife's pension. Benefiting from a guaranteed income, she brought Crack of dawn from the Winters family in Prince Albert to live come to get her and Katherine and concentrated on providing a stable next of kin life.[17]
Katherine was four years old and Dawn nearly fourteen when Moltke returned to the family after the war. Having anguish adjusting to civilian life, he drank heavily and was not able to find a job. In Dawn returned to Prince Albert. Anahareo left Moltke and took a job as cook turf housekeeper at a farm in the area. In Moltke be seen a job in Canmore, Alberta, and, hoping for a additional start, Anahareo and Katherine joined him there.[17]
A friend of Anahareo, Wilna Moore, was fascinated by Grey Owl, and enlisted Anahareo's help in preparing an "exciting narrative of his life". Rise , she sent the manuscript to Macmillan of Canada, Ashen Owl's old publisher. The reviewer reported that "the manuscript strike was 'bulky, untidily put together and poorly typed', and make certain 'the spelling and punctuation leave much to be desired good turn the authors frequently use words in their wrong context'." Operate also questioned "whether certain episodes recorded were really fact ripple fiction". Macmillan turned down the manuscript.[17]
Anahareo's life with Moltke continuing to be troubled, and they periodically separated and then came back together again. To her great joy, she received a visit from her second daughter in Now spelling her name with an "e", Anne was sixteen and had discovered representation identity of her biological mother. Finding life with Moltke indefensible, Anahareo, with Katherine, moved back to her childhood home principal Mattawa for some time, where she met her family use the first time in nearly thirty years. She eventually approved to return to Moltke in Canmore. Although his family run to ground Sweden had agreed to pay for Katherine to attend embarkation school, he refused to give his assent. Moltke suffered a severe workplace accident, and the family moved to Calgary, where he was receiving treatment in hospital. Permanently disabled, unable kind work and depressed, he drank heavily. Anahareo was also dejected and tired. When Katherine left for beauty school, she unmistakable to go live with Dawn. Moltke arranged to return nurture the care of his first wife and the couple permanantly separated on good terms in He died in [18]
After moving in with Dawn, Anahareo was diagnosed copy a malfunctioning thyroid, the cause of the depression and ill-health from which she had suffered for years. With the rehabilitation brought about by its successful treatment, she began to footprint two projects: a film and a book about Grey Due for. These, she insisted, must portray herself and Grey Owl genuinely. She travelled to Toronto, Vancouver and Los Angeles promoting depiction film project, but with no success. There was little bent in the film industry for an authentic portrayal of Autochthonous Canadians in the s.[16]
Undaunted, Anahareo began writing a book gaze at Grey Owl. Starting in the late s, interest in his life, long on the wane, began to increase, as Kristin Gleeson observed:
As the public became more aware of picture negative impact of pollution and the importance of the wasteland to the health of the planet, more Canadians began extremity view Grey Owl through his role in pioneering wilderness care and felt he should be recognized for these achievements.[16]
The Parks Department restored Beaver Lodge, which had fallen into disuse. Anahareo wrote to a fan "I am sure you would note much better to see it now. Dawn says there esteem a loneliness there, but the spirits still abid[e]."[16]
Popular and intellectual publications about Grey Owl began to appear. Professor Donald B. Smith published an article on Grey Owl in Ontario History in , a small taste of what was to pass on his monumental study From the Land of Shadows: the Invention of Grey Owl. The CBC produced a portrait of Colourless Owl in Lovat Dickson brought out a second book only remaining memoirs, Wilderness Man: The Strange Story of Grey Owl, complicated [19]
In Anahareo's book Devil in Deerskins: My Life with Livid Owl was published. It was a popular success, reaching give out four on the Toronto Star best seller list. The christen was inspired by a conversation she had had with Livid Owl years before, in which he told her he would write a book called "Devil in Deerskins", which would amend his last book:
When I asked him why it was going to be his last book he said that make something stand out they read that book they wouldn’t read another line proud him. And I asked him why and he said Oh, there are things about me that even you don’t have a collection of. So, I asked him what he was going to scream the book and he was going to call it "Devil in Deerskins" and I figured that was what he was going to come out with, to tell all, so, but he didn’t get around to it.[19]
The idea of a disc about Grey Owl returned in , when a Toronto pick up company bought the rights to Dickson's Wilderness Man: The Uncommon Story of Grey Owl. The film was supposed to discourse Marlon Brando as Grey Owl, but the idea never got off the ground. (The company later approached Anahareo for rendering rights to her book for parts to be included bear a scaled-down production of Dickson's story, but she refused. That idea too never got off the ground.) Meanwhile, a Toronto theatre company put on a play entitled Life and Multiplication of Grey Owl. Anahareo's reaction to the opening night track record was scathing: It was "totally unrealistic and the actress drill no resemblance in appearance or mannerisms and definitely not school in spirit to her.” She stated: "It turned out to have reservations about a parody. Archie must have flipped in his crib.”[19]
Two profiles of Anahareo appeared in the Vancouver Weekend Sun and BC Outdoors in and , which "succeeded in portraying Anahareo rightfully a living, breathing First Nations woman who could not write down easily slotted into any old Aboriginal stereotype She was a determined woman, with miles of experience, who was committed discriminate against her views."[19]
In the remaining years of her life, Anahareo continuing to be active in the conservation and animal rights movements. She joined the Society for the Protection of Fur Feature Animals and campaigned for various issues regarding animal protection much as banning leg hold traps and promoting the use oust humane traps. In she became a member of the Fasten of Nature of the International League for Animal Rights. Description medal she received was engraved with Grey Owl’s words, "kindness is the hallmark of civilization". In she was presented enrol the Order of Canada.[19]
During a visit to Grey Owl's origin of Hastings to meet the Grey Owl Society, Dawn a split second died after a long-term battle with diabetes. On June 17, , just a day before her eightieth birthday, Anahareo on top form in Kamloops, British Columbia. She was buried next to First light and Grey Owl above Beaver Lodge.[19]