UNews - Nature Conservancy of Canada

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ saddened by passing of Jim Coutts

trevor.kenney — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 17:42:27 +0000

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge community offers its deepest condolences to the friends and family of Dr. James Allan Coutts (LLD 2012) who passed away peacefully in Toronto on December 31, 2013.

"Jim Coutts was an incredibly generous person and an outstanding Canadian who made great contributions in public life to our country and was incredibly generous and supportive of our ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. We will miss him greatly," says Dr. Mike Mahon, President and Vice-Chancellor.

Jim Coutts was an icon in Canadian political circles.

"Jim entrusted the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ with a significant part of his life's work and passion through gifting his art collection and family homestead in Nanton to the stewardship and care of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. We were humbled to receive that gift at the time and remain grateful to Jim for leaving such a legacy to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ with the expressed desire to see it benefit Canadians. Jim was very interested in the continued success of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and dedicated significant amounts of his time in recent years connecting the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ to others and sharing the story of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ."

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge flag has been lowered to half mast in Jim's honour.

Coutts, James Allan, C.M. - Passed away peacefully on December 31, 2013 after a long illness bravely fought. Survived by his sister Jean (Wayne) Moore, his nephews Greg (Cathrine) and Michael (Yehudit), his nieces Pat (Owen) and Laurie, his great nieces and nephews Heather, Jessica, Darren, Liam and Emily.

Jim had a tremendous gift in friendship and will be sorely missed by his many close friends across Canada, in the United States and throughout Europe, and by his devoted assistants Anne Drakes and Sukhlal Patel.

Coutts was most at peace while walking the gardens of his homestead property in Nanton.

Born in High River, Alberta, on May 16, 1938, to Ewart and Alberta (Allan) Coutts, Jim grew up in his beloved Nanton. He received a BA and LLB from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta and an MBA from Harvard Business School.

Though he practised as a lawyer and business consultant, his great love since the age of 14 was politics in general and the Liberal Party of Canada in particular. From 1963 to 1966 he was Appointment Secretary to the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Lester B. Pearson. From 1975 to 1981 he served as Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister of Canada, the Right Honourable Pierre Elliott Trudeau.

From 1970 to 1975, Jim was a Founding Partner, Canada Consulting Group, where he helped Maurice Strong organize the Stockholm Environment Conference and establish the UN’s Environment headquarters in Nairobi, Kenya. In 1982 he became a principal of Lowther Consultants Limited and subsequently Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, CIC Canadian Investment Capital Limited.

Jim’s business success seemed merely a means by which he could undertake his highly activist philanthropy as a generous donor, a relentless fundraiser and a dedicated mentor to countless young people and more than 17 god children. Jim served with exceptional distinction as a founder and chairman of the Lester B. Pearson United World College of the Pacific Foundation Board; a co-founder with The Writers’ Trust of Canada of the W.O. Mitchell Literary Prize for Writers and Mentors; a director of The Hospital for Sick Children Board and Foundation for 17 years; a National Chair of the Nature Conservancy of Canada, where he took the lead in organizing two campaigns that raised over $700 million for conservation in Canada; and a member of the board of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation.

In recognition of his service to others and to his country, he was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2001. In 2012 he donated his family homestead, which he so passionately restored to renowned gardens with native grasses, to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. In addition, Jim donated more than 300 works of art to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge. Later he was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ.

Jim was a man of many interests. He was a voracious reader and art collector, an avid bird-watcher and gardener, a keen traveler and essayist, a family historian and social analyst. Though he failed in his attempts to become a Member of Parliament, his wise counsel was constantly sought by prime ministers, federal and provincial MPs and party officials to his very last days. He was an unfailing advocate for social justice, education and youth employment. Jim was a true and giving friend to many, from all walks of life, who will miss his stories, his wit, his knowledge, his guidance and his loyalty.

Celebrations of Jim’s life – both in Toronto and in Nanton, Alberta, will be announced at a later date.

Co-op interns show off creative side

trevor.kenney — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 16:33:55 +0000

While Statistics Canada reported a 17 per cent unemployment rate for 15-24 year-old students this past summer, Faculty of Arts and Science co-op students told a different story, as they were all too happy to flash evidence of their impressive co-op work term experiences.

Students submitted work related pictures for the second year of the Co-operative Education and Internship Programs' photo contest. Arts and science co-op students are voting for this year's winner out of three finalists.

Gavin McAtee, a third-year kinesiology and psychology major, clearly had a lot of fun on his work term at Camp Warwa, west of Edmonton.

"This photo encompasses my entire experience as a summer camp counsellor/outdoor school co-ordinator. Not only did I have the opportunity to work with a variety of different age groups, I also had a blast while doing it," says McAtee.

Co-op student Gavin McAtee alongside a stormtrooper in

He says that the work term has clarified his career aspirations.

"As the result of my co-op experience, it has finally become clear that I wish to use my university education to pursue a career that provides athletic development programs for youth."

Evan Vandervalk, entering his third year in biological sciences, used pictures to compare old and new ways of tracking grizzly bears.

"My job this summer was to set up, bait and re-visit what are called 'hair snag sites'," says Vandervalk. "A bait pile, made up of sticks, moss, and rotten cow's blood serves to draw bears into the corral, over the single strand of wire, on which they snag their fur."

The data collected was used to estimate the grizzly population in the area near Hinton, Alta.

"My supervisor is hoping that these sorts of sites will function as a cheaper and less invasive way to monitor grizzly populations as compared to the collaring and trapping typically done in the past, which causes stress to the animal and costs more money," says Vandervalk.

Other students have focused on the natural beauty of their work settings, including 2011 contest finalist, Lucas Pittman. A fourth-year environmental science student, Pittman did a co-op work term with the Nature Conservancy of Canada and is pictured walking in the direction of Chief Mountain and Waterton Lakes National Park.

"That's me using my hand-made yoke to carry out bags of weeds, which we manually removed from the Shoderee Ranch Property," says Pittman.

An Inuit family jigging for Arctic Char and seals on the broken ice near Cambridge Bay, Nunavut. Photo by Lorin Doerksen

Lorin Doerksen's breathtaking photo in Nunavut was a part of last year's contest. He completed a 16-month co-op work term with Environment Canada before graduating with a Bachelor of Science with Co-operative Education last June. He now works for a small environmental consulting company in the upstream oil and gas industry.

"The experiences gained during the internship have proven useful, not only in getting my resumé noticed, but also in improving my ability to adapt to a new company and new responsibilities," says Doerksen.

Despite appearances to the contrary, Doerksen explains his photo was actually a late night scene taken at 1 a.m. one July morning.

"One evening I caught a ride out along the bay to a fishing spot. Each summer, by about July, the bay ice breaks up and Arctic Char move in to feed," says Doerksen. "Seals also follow the Char into the bay. Inuit families make use of the 24-hour sunlight to fish late into the night."

As a student intern, Doerksen was part of the Contaminated Sites Expert Support Group covering the Prairie and Northern Region.

"Contaminated sites include old mines (gold, uranium and silver), tailings ponds, Distant Early Warning (DEW) line sites in the arctic, and various other contamination sites all over the southern parts of our region."

Jasminn Berteotti, Applied Studies and Co-operative Education co-ordinator for the Faculty of Arts and Science, explains why the photo contest was started.

"We wanted to give our co-op students a creative venue for sharing amazing work term experiences with each other," she says. "We were looking for a 'Wow! Look what I did,' kind of message, and I think it worked. Our students get to do and see remarkable things, and this is the perfect way to showcase it."

Nature Conservancy deadline nears

trevor.kenney — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 17:26:01 +0000

Those interested in helping to protect the environment through a summer internship program have until Friday to apply for various positions with the Nature Conservancy of Canada.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada is a private, non-profit organization working for the direct protection of Canada's biodiversity through the purchase, donation or placing of conservation easements on ecologically significant lands.

A number of positions are available for the summer, including: Summer Conservation Planning Intern; Summer Conservation Intern; Summer Conservation Volunteer Intern and Shell Conservation Internship Program.

Deadline for applications for Nature Conservancy positions is Friday, Jan. 30.

For more information, including full job descriptions, visit the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge's Career & Employment Services online job board through workopolisCampus. Career & Employment Services (CES) at the U of L provides career & employment assistance to students and graduate students for up to two years after graduation, free of charge.

UNews - Nature Conservancy of Canada

��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ saddened by passing of Jim Coutts

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