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Canadian environmentalist, journalist, author and politician (1941 – 2005)
Robert Lorne Hunter (October 13, 1941 – May 2, 2005) was a Canadian environmentalist, journalist, author and politician. He was a member of the
Don't Make a Wave Committee in 1969, and a co-founder of
Greenpeace in 1971 and its first president. He led the first on-sea anti-whaling campaigns in the world, against Russian and Australian whalers, which helped lead to the ban on commercial
whaling. He campaigned against nuclear testing, the Canadian seal hunt and later, climate change with his book Thermageddon: Countdown to 2030. He was named by Time as one of the "Eco-Heroes" of the 20th century.
Biography
Born in
St. Boniface,
Manitoba, Hunter's career in journalism began in the 1960s at the Winnipeg Tribune and the Vancouver Sun, where he focused on the counterculture as well as environmental issues. Beginning in 1988, he worked as a commentator and reporter for Toronto's
Citytv and, since its launch, its all-news sister channel
CP24. He created many documentaries about Canada's north that are still often aired on CP24 during off-peak hours. He was also the longtime "Enviro" columnist in
Toronto's eye weekly.
In 1975 Robert Hunter led the Greenpeace expedition against the Soviet whaling fleet, along with lifelong friend and activist
Paul Watson and
Patrick Moore. The expedition chartered the Phyllis Cormack again, and pioneered using inflatable zodiacs as a shield between the harpoon and the whale.[citation needed]
Hunter surprised many when he entered politics as a candidate for the
Ontario Liberal Party in a 2001 provincial by-election in
Beaches—East York. Hunter's environmentalism had led many to assume that his politics were more in line with the
New Democratic Party or the
Greens, and he had frequently criticized Liberal politicians in his columns. The by-election campaign became bitter in its final days when sections of Hunter's 1988 travelogue On the Sky were faxed to Hunter's opponents. (The origin of the fax was never confirmed.) The excerpt were used by a New Democratic opponent, Marilyn Churley, to attack Hunter's personal integrity.
In the end, Hunter lost by almost 4,000 votes to
Michael Prue of the NDP. However, despite these results, Hunter in 2002 called for the Liberals and the
Green Party of Ontario to form an electoral alliance.
Author
Hunter wrote numerous books on environmental subjects. In 1991, he won the
Governor General's Award for literature for his book Occupied Canada: A Young White Man Discovers His Unsuspected Past. He also wrote on matters relating to
aboriginal rights in Canada and remained in contact with Greenpeace and other environmental groups until his death.
Death
Hunter was diagnosed with
prostate cancer in 1998. After his doctor told him that his prostate cancer was incurable, Hunter went to the Hospital Santa Monica, in Mexico, founded by
Kurt Donsbach, an American
naturopathic doctor and
chiropractor. Hunter started treatment in December 2004, and reported progress, but died on May 2, 2005.[2]
His ashes were scattered in northern Canada near the Arctic on a canoeing trip, at
Tortuga Bay in the
Galapagos Islands, and on top of an Antarctic iceberg during the 2005/2006 Sea Shepherd campaign against whaling by the Japanese whaling fleet in the
Southern Ocean Whale Sanctuary.
He is survived by his wife Bobbi, and his four children
Emily, Will, Conan and Justine.[3] Hunter had four grandchildren at the time of his death.
Legacy
In 2015 a documentary film was released at
Sundance Film Festival titled How to Change the World, directed by Jerry Rothwell. The film is about the legacy of Robert Hunter and the origins of Greenpeace. A review by
IndieWire says, "In How to Change The World, director Jerry Rothwell unearths extraordinary footage to tell a story about fighting for a cause — both by outlining the terms of the fight and the people engaged in it."
Bob Hunter Memorial Park in
Markham was named in his honour. Part of the
Rouge Park system, the park is bounded by a rail corridor, west of Ninth Line and east of Reesor Road, south of
Highway 407 and north of
Steeles Avenue East.
The park was opened by his family and Premier
Dalton McGuinty on August 21, 2006.
Books by Hunter
Hunter, Robert (1968). Erebus. New York, Grove Press.