John Keith Fraser | |
---|---|
Born | |
Nationality | Canadian |
Alma mater | Clark University |
Known for | President of the Canadian Association of Geographers; Executive secretary, publisher and general manager of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society |
Awards | Award for Service to the Profession of Geography |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Physical geographer |
Institutions | Geographical Branch, Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, Ottawa |
John Keith Fraser (born February 18, 1922) is a Canadian physical geographer. He served as president of the Canadian Association of Geographers, as well as the executive secretary, publisher and general manager of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society.
Fraser was born in Ottawa, Ontario on February 18, 1922. [1] Fraser is a veteran of World War II, serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force/Royal Air Force. [2]
In 1955, he received a M.A. degree from the University of Toronto. He received his Ph.D. in 1964 from Clark University; his dissertation was entitled The physiography of Boothia Peninsula, Northwest territories a study in terrain analysis and air photo interpretation of an Arctic area.
After the war, Fraser had a career as a Canadian government employee with the Geographical Branch, Department of Mines and Technical Surveys, Ottawa, publishing articles after many of his field assignments.
One of his first assignments, in the late 1940s, was as an observer on tugs in the Mackenzie River, and on Hudson's Bay Company vessels in the western Arctic Ocean.
In 1951, he assisted geomorphologist J. Ross Mackay in investigating Amundsen Gulf's Darnley Bay area. After reviewing recent aerial photographs and old maps, Fraser determined that the Rivière La Roncière-le Noury, charted by French Missionary Oblate Émile Petitot in 1875 but considered nonexistent decades later by explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson, did exist. Though there were errors in the placement of the Roncière's mouth at Franklin Bay, the Roncière was the same river as the partially mapped Hornaday River by Andrew J. Stone in 1899. [3] [4] [5]
The following year, he participated in the Canadian Ice Distribution Survey. In 1953, Fraser studied the central Arctic coast around the Boothia Isthmus. In 1954, he was the department's representative to the Aklavik Relocation Survey team in the Mackenzie Delta, and in 1955, he studied the southeastern coastline of Victoria Island. 1956 found him studying the south coast of King William Island and Sherman Inlet. [4]
Fraser became a Fellow and director of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in 1959. In 1982, he was appointed executive secretary, publisher and general manager. A new publisher arrived in 1988, but Fraser continued in his other two roles until 1990. [6] In that same year, the Society established the Fraser Lectureship in Northern Studies program in his honor. [7]
He became a Fellow of the Arctic Institute of North America in 1960. [8]
In 1975, Fraser received the Award for Service to the Profession of Geography from the Canadian Association of Geographers. [9] Six years later, he served as president of the Association. [10]
In 1992, Fraser was award the Camsell Medal by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society in honour of his service to the Society. [11]
Somerset Island is a large, uninhabited island of the Arctic Archipelago, that is part of the Canadian territory of Nunavut. The island is separated from Cornwallis Island and Devon Island to the north by the Parry Channel, from Baffin Island to the east by Prince Regent Inlet, from the Boothia Peninsula to the south by Bellot Strait, and from Prince of Wales Island to the west by Peel Sound. It has an area of 24,786 km2 (9,570 sq mi), making it the 46th largest island in the world and Canada's twelfth largest island.
The Centre for Geography and Exploration, located at 50 Sussex Drive in Ottawa, is headquarters to the Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) and home to Canadian Geographic magazine, as well as Can Geo Education and special project departments.
King William Island is an island in the Kitikmeot Region of Nunavut, which is part of the Arctic Archipelago. In area it is between 12,516 km2 (4,832 sq mi) and 13,111 km2 (5,062 sq mi) making it the 61st-largest island in the world and Canada's 15th-largest island. Its population, as of the 2021 census, was 1,349, all of whom live in the island's only community, Gjoa Haven.
Henry Asbjørn Larsen was a Norwegian-Canadian Arctic explorer. Larsen was born on a small island, Herføl, south of Fredrikstad in Norway. Like his hero, Roald Amundsen, he became a seaman. Larsen immigrated to Canada, and became a British subject in 1927. In 1928, he joined the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).
Canadian Geographic is a magazine published by the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, (RCGS) based in Ottawa, Ontario.
Boothia Peninsula is a large peninsula in Nunavut's northern Canadian Arctic, south of Somerset Island. The northern part, Murchison Promontory, is the northernmost point of mainland Canada.
George Francis Lyon was an English naval officer and explorer of Africa and the Arctic. While not having a particularly distinguished career, he is remembered for the entertaining journals he kept and for the pencil drawings he completed in the Arctic; this information was useful to later expeditions.
The Royal Canadian Geographical Society is a Canadian nonprofit educational organization. It has dedicated itself to spreading a broader knowledge and deeper appreciation of Canada, including its people, places, natural and cultural heritage, as well as its environmental, social and economic challenges.
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Pierre Francis Camu, was a Canadian geographer, civil servant, academic, and transport executive.
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Captain George Comer was considered the most famous American whaling captain of Hudson Bay, and the world's foremost authority on Hudson Bay Inuit in the early 20th century.
Émile-Fortuné Petitot, a French Missionary Oblate, was a notable Canadian northwest cartographer, ethnologist, geographer, linguist, and writer.
Donat Savoie is a Canadian anthropologist, was the interim Executive Director of Canada's Inuit Relations Secretariat and chief federal negotiator for Nunavik self-government before his retirement in 2006.
Hornaday River is a waterway located above the Arctic Circle on the mainland of Northern Canada.
Darnley Bay is a large inlet in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is a southern arm of the Amundsen Gulf. The bay measures 45 km (28 mi) long, and 32 km (20 mi) wide at its mouth.
The Canadian Association of Geographers is an educational and scientific society in Canada aimed at advancing the understanding of, study of, and importance of geography and related fields. CAG publishes the quarterly peer-reviewed journal The Canadian Geographer.
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Johnny Nurraq Seotaituq Issaluk is an Inuk actor, athlete, and cultural educator from Nunavut. He is best known for his roles in AMC's The Terror, the film Indian Horse, and in the BBC program The Misadventures of Romesh Ranganathan. In May 2019 he was named Royal Canadian Geographical Society's Explorer-in-Residence.