Farley McGill Mowat (May 12, 1921 – May 6, 2014) was a Canadian writer and environmentalist. His books were translated into 52 languages, and he sold over 17 million books. He became famous for writing books about the Canadian north, like People of the Deer (1952) and Never Cry Wolf (1963). Never Cry Wolf, which tells about his time with wolves in the Arctic, became a movie in 1983 with the same name. He won the Vicky Metcalf Award for Children's Literature in 1970 for his writing.
Mowat supported environmental causes, which earned him praise. However, after some of his book claims were proven wrong, he said, "I never let the facts get in the way of the truth," which led to criticism. His supporters said that the exaggerated stories in his books helped raise awareness about the Inuit people and environmental problems, leading to changes in Ottawa's policies. People describe Mowat as having a strong commitment to his beliefs and using poetic and vivid descriptions. His strong dislikes sometimes caused ridicule, jokes, and even criticism from religious groups.
Early life and education
Mowat was born on May 12, 1921, in Belleville, Ontario, and grew up in Richmond Hill, Ontario. His great-great-uncle was Sir Oliver Mowat, a leader of Ontario, and his father, Angus Mowat, worked as a librarian. During World War I, Angus fought in the Battle of Vimy Ridge. His mother was Helen Lilian Thomson, the daughter of Henry Andrew Hoffman Thomson and Georgina Phillips Farley Thomson from Trenton, Ontario. Mowat began writing, mostly poems, when his family lived in Windsor from 1930 to 1933.
In the 1930s, the Mowat family moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. As a teenager, Mowat wrote about birds in a column for the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. During this time, he also created his own newsletter called Nature Lore. In the 1930s, Mowat studied the science of animals at the University of Toronto but did not finish a degree. In the summer of 1939, he went on his first trip to collect samples with a fellow zoology student, Frank Banfield. Banfield collected data about mammals, while Mowat focused on birds. They sold their collections to the Royal Ontario Museum to pay for their trip. Before joining the military during World War II, Banfield published his field notes in the Canadian Field-Naturalist. Mowat published his notes after returning from service in Europe.
War service
During World War II, Mowat joined the Canadian Army and became a second lieutenant in the Second Battalion, The Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment (known as the Hasty Ps) on July 19, 1940. He traveled to the United Kingdom as a reinforcement officer for that regiment. On July 10, 1943, he led a rifle platoon and took part in the first landings of Operation Husky, the Allied invasion of Sicily.
Mowat remained in the campaign as a platoon commander and moved to Italy in September 1943. He continued to fight in battles until December 1943. During the Moro River Campaign, part of the Italian Campaign, he experienced stress after an event on Christmas Day during the Battle of Ortona, known as the "Italian Stalingrad." At that time, he was seen crying at the feet of an unconscious friend, Lieutenant Allan (Al) Park, who had been shot in the head. Later, he became an Intelligence Officer at battalion headquarters and then moved to Brigade Headquarters. He stayed in Italy with the 1st Canadian Infantry Division for most of the war and was eventually promoted to the rank of captain.
In early 1945, Mowat joined the division in northwest Europe. There, he worked as an intelligence agent in the Netherlands and crossed enemy lines to begin secret talks about food drops with General Blaskowitz. These food drops, which happened in the final 10 days before Nazi Germany surrendered, were called Operations Manna (by Commonwealth air forces) and Chowhound (by American forces). They helped save thousands of Dutch lives.
Mowat also helped create the 1st Canadian Army Museum Collection Team, as described in his book My Father's Son. He arranged for the transport of several tons of German military equipment to Canada, including the piloted V1 rocket Fieseler Fi 103R Reichenberg and several armored vehicles. Some of these items are now displayed at Canadian Forces Base Borden’s tank museum and the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
Mowat was discharged from the army at the end of World War II with the rank of captain. He was considered for promotion to major but refused because it would have required him to stay in the Army until "no longer needed," which he believed meant serving with the Canadian Army Occupation Force (CAOF). He received the following medals for his service: the 1939–1945 Star, the Italy Star, the France and Germany Star, the Defence Medal, the Canadian Volunteer Service Medal, and the War Medal 1939–1945.
Post-war
In 1947, Mowat was hired as a field technician for American naturalist Francis Harper’s study of the barren-ground caribou in the Nueltin Lake area, which is now part of Nunavut’s Kivalliq Region. This work led to the publication of Harper’s book, Caribou of Keewatin. Two young Inuit, fifteen-year-old Luke Anoteelik (also known as Luke Anowtalik) and his sister Rita, joined the team. They were the only survivors after their village faced starvation. Luke Anowtalik later became well known for his unique carvings made from antler and bone, which are now part of the National Gallery of Canada’s permanent collection. Due to differences in personality, Mowat conducted his own explorations. Harper later made a promise that neither he nor Mowat would mention each other in future writings. This same promise was later made by Mowat to his field companions as well.
In the late 1940s, Mowat was hired by Frank Banfield, who was then the Chief Mammalogist of the newly formed Canadian Wildlife Service, to assist in Banfield’s long-term study of the barren-ground caribou. This research resulted in Banfield’s important 1951 book, The Barren-ground Caribou. Mowat was part of a team of four researchers, but he was fired by the Canadian Wildlife Service’s chief due to complaints from local people and the lack of proper permission for certain activities.
Literary career
After World War II, Mowat went to the University of Toronto. His first book, People of the Deer (1952), was inspired by a trip to the Canadian Arctic he took while studying at the university. Mowat was angry about the difficult living conditions faced by the Inuit people in northern Canada. This book made him a well-known but controversial figure.
Mowat became an author with McClelland and Stewart when they published his book The Regiment in 1955. Jack McClelland, who supported Canadian writers, became both Mowat’s publisher and a lifelong friend. His next book, the children’s story Lost in the Barrens (1956), won a Governor General’s Award.
In 1963, Mowat wrote Never Cry Wolf (1963), a book that may have been based on his experiences in the Canadian Arctic with Arctic wolves.
In 1985, Mowat began a book tour in the United States to promote Sea of Slaughter. He was not allowed to enter Canada at Pearson International Airport in Toronto because U.S. customs officials believed he might support communism. He thought gun lobbyists were involved in this decision and spoke publicly about it. The law allowing such denials was changed in 1990. Mowat wrote about this experience in My Discovery of America (1985).
Mowat became interested in Dian Fossey, an American scientist who studied gorillas and was killed in Rwanda in 1985. His biography of her was published in 1987. In Canada, it was called Virunga: The Passion of Dian Fossey, and in the United States, it was titled Woman in the Mists: The Story of Dian Fossey and the Mountain Gorillas of Africa. This title refers to Fossey’s own book, Gorillas in the Mist (1983).
Many of Mowat’s books are based on his own life. These include Owls in the Family (1962, about his childhood), The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float (1969, one of three books about his time in Newfoundland), and And No Birds Sang (1979, about his experience fighting in Italy during World War II).
In 1965, Mowat published Westviking. Thirty years later, he wrote The Farfarers, which suggests that a group he called the Albans may have arrived in the High Arctic and along the Labrador and Newfoundland coasts before the Norse people.
Criticism
In 1964, Frank Banfield, a scientist from the National Museum of Canada, wrote a review in Canadian Field-Naturalist comparing Mowat’s 1963 book Never Cry Wolf to the fairy tale Little Red Riding Hood. He said, "I hope readers of Never Cry Wolf understand that both stories share similar facts." Mowat replied to Banfield’s criticism in a letter to Canadian Field-Naturalist, signing it "Mowat’s wolf Uncle Albert." L. David Mech, a wolf expert, was quoted by Warner Shedd, a former leader of the National Wildlife Federation, as stating that no scientist, including Mowat, has ever found a wolf population that mainly eats small animals, as Mowat claimed. Mech also said, "Mowat is not a scientist, and his book, though presented as true, is fiction."
In 1952, The New York Times Book Review published a negative review of People of the Deer. The Beaver magazine was also critical in its first review. A second review by A. E. Porsild was equally negative, questioning the existence of the Ihalmiut people. Despite these harsh reviews, People of the Deer was generally well received, appearing in The Atlantic Monthly and receiving many positive reviews from international readers.
Duncan Pryde, a Hudson’s Bay Company trader who studied Inuit languages, criticized Mowat’s claim that he learned the language quickly enough in two months to discuss complex ideas like shamanism. Pryde explained that the Inuit language is very difficult for Europeans to learn, requiring at least a year to master basic skills. He noted that when Mowat visited his post at Baker Lake in 1958, ten years after his earlier trip, Mowat could barely speak any Inuit words.
Canadian Geographic published parts of The Farfarers with the comment that it is "a mix of guesses and facts from history and archaeology." In the book, Mowat uses Norse sagas, Irish monk records, Roman traveler accounts, and modern historian and archaeologist works. The text is detailed, but history from this time has few written records and limited archaeological evidence. The magazine noted that while no professional archaeologists support Mowat’s ideas, he is happy to challenge academics and inspire debate with his strong and passionate writing.
Awards and honours
In 1981, Mowat was named an Officer of the Order of Canada. Before this, he had received the Canadian Centennial Medal in 1967 and the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977.
As a recipient of the Order of Canada, he was automatically eligible for the 125th Anniversary of the Confederation of Canada Medal in 1992, the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal in 2002, and the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2012.
(ribbon bar, as it would appear on the day he died, including war service medals)
Farley is also the namesake of a beloved sheepdog character in the comic strip For Better or For Worse, created by Lynn Johnston. Johnston and Mowat were close friends for many years.
Affiliations
Mowat supported the Green Party of Canada and was a close friend of the party's leader, Elizabeth May. In June 2007, the Green Party sent a fundraising letter by mail in Mowat's name. That same year, Mowat became a supporter of the Nova Scotia Nature Trust by giving over 200 acres (0.81 km²) of his land in Cape Breton Island to the trust. He also held the title of honorary director of the North American Native Plant Society. Mowat was described as "a life-long socialist."
Farley Mowat Library
In 2012, a Canadian publisher named Douglas & McIntyre announced they had started a new series called the Farley Mowat Library. They planned to make available again many of Mowat's most popular books, with new covers and introductions, in both print and e-book formats.
The archives containing Mowat's work are kept at the William Ready Division of Archives and Research Collections at McMaster University, located in Hamilton, Ontario.
Later life
Mowat and his second wife, Claire, spent their later years together in Port Hope, Ontario, and spent their summers on a farm in Cape Breton Island. They attended a local Anglican church in Port Hope about once a month. Claire said that Mowat was more spiritual than religious. Mowat once said that he probably believed in God the same way his dog did, and that ceremonies helped connect people to each other and the world.
Some people think of Mowat as a saint. He is considered a saint by the God's Gardeners, a fictional religious group in Margaret Atwood's 2009 novel The Year of the Flood.
Mowat died on May 6, 2014, at the age of 92. He always cared about Canada's wilderness areas. A few days before his death, he was heard on the CBC Radio One program The Current speaking against providing Wi-Fi service in national parks. He is buried at the historic St. Mark's Anglican Church cemetery in Port Hope.