Grey Owl 1888-1938

As a youth in England, Archibald Belaney was fascinated with wildlife and tales of North American Indians. At seventeen he came to Canada and soon began living among the Ojibwa on Bear Island. He adopted native dress and customs and worked as a woodsman, fire ranger and trapper in north eastern Ontario. In the 1920s Belaney became concerned that the lumber industry and sportsmen were plundering the northern wilderness and threating the survival of native culture.He took the name Grey Owl (Wa-Sha Quon-Asin) and turned his efforts to conservation, pleading for recognition of "the natural brotherhood between man and animals". Grey owl gained international fame as a writer and public speaker.