OC Online - For Better or For Worse

text by Outdoor Canada editors
photos courtesy of individuals

For Better Or Worse (part 5)

Lest you think we’re being boastful by including our fishing editor, Gord Pyzer, on this list, consider: besides delivering helpful and insightful angling information in these pages since 1983, Pyzer has also hosted numerous television and radio programs—including his current gig with Bob Izumi on Real Fishing Radio. More importantly, however, he’s been helping shape Canadian angling policy for nearly three decades, largely through his work with Ontario’s Ministry of Natural Resources. His contributions are so significant that in 1999 The Fishing News named him one of Canada’s most influential people. Until his recent retirement, Pyzer, 54, oversaw the management of much of northwestern Ontario’s fish and wildlife, a position that gave him significant input into both provincial and federal policies—and local conservation measures.

Andy Russell is a living legend. Born in 1915 at the end of the frontier era, he was raised on a ranch in southern Alberta and grew up trapping, hunting and guiding all over the West. In 1960 his outfitting business dried up due to the encroachment of oil and gas development, so he began to shoot grizzly bears with a movie camera rather than a gun. To raise money for his film-making pursuits, Russell wrote the best-selling book Grizzly Country in 1967, giving readers unprecedented insight into the world of the solitary, misunderstood predator. In the years since, Russell’s stories and conservation efforts have gone on to help change the way society thinks about wild animals and wild places.

One of the few pro anglers in Quebec, Patrick Campeau has been at the forefront of promoting and teaching fishing in la belle province for the past 20 years. The 39-year-old angler can be seen, heard and read just about anywhere in Quebec through his numerous television appearances, daily radio spots and articles in French-language publications. The author of four books on sportfishing, Campeau also appears regularly at sportsmen’s shows and conducts training seminars for employees of Quebec’s fishing industry—the only angler to do so. What’s more, Campeau launched the Web’s first French-language sportfishing site and was one of the founding organizers of Pêche en Ville, an annual fishing festival aimed at getting kids involved in the sport.

As a full-time staff member and director of the Animal Alliance of Canada, Liz White is widely regarded as Canada’s most prominent anti-hunter. According to the Alliance, White’s “forte is legislative and media matters, and her primary issues include municipal animal control bylaw matters, endangered species legislation, hunting issues and fundraising.” Among her various initiatives, 53-year-old White has passionately lobbied for federal legislation to protect endangered species. She’s also been a vocal opponent of the bear hunts in B.C. and Ontario, and was instrumental in the development of Environment Voters, an organization that encourages voters to back politicians who support green policies—and animal rights.