OTTAWA—Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada and patron of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, will award the 2009 Massey Medal to Mr. Michael Church, professor emeritus at the University of British Columbia, during a ceremony at Rideau Hall, on Friday November 6, at 3 p.m.
Mr. Michael Church is a fluvial geomorphologist, a specialist in how rivers and streams shape the landscape. He has lent his expertise to numerous resource management debates. In the 1990s, he helped write a new forest practices code for British Columbia, which, at the time, was regarded as one of the most progressive pieces of environmental legislation in the world. For 40 years, he has studied the effects of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam on the Peace River in northern British Columbia.
Each year, the Massey Medal is awarded in recognition of outstanding career achievement in the exploration, development or description of the geography of Canada. Awarded for the first time by Governor General Vincent Massey in 1959, the medal is administered by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.
For further information about the Massey Medal, please visit the Royal Canadian Geographical Society’s Web site at www.rcgs.org.
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Members of the media wishing to attend this event should contact the Rideau Hall Press Office and arrive at Princess Anne Entrance no later than 2:30 p.m. on the day of the event.
Media Information
Julie Rocheleau
Rideau Hall Press Office
613-998-7280
jrocheleau@gg.ca
www.gg.ca
www.citizenvoices.gg.ca
Sandra Smith
613-745-4629, poste 121
Royal Canadian Geographical Society
smith@rcgs.org
www.rcgs.org
