Terry Glavin

Terry Glavin – Life, Career, and Famous Quotes

Explore the life and career of Canadian author and journalist Terry Glavin (born 1955). Read his biography, achievements, philosophy, and famous quotes — and how his work continues to influence Canadian and global discourse.

Introduction

Terry Glavin is a distinguished Canadian author, journalist, and public intellectual whose work spans natural history, politics, culture, and human rights. Born in 1955, Glavin has become well known in Canadian media and literary circles for his incisive commentary, exploration of environmental issues, and deep engagement with Indigenous histories. His voice remains relevant today as he addresses issues of justice, identity, and global crises through both reportage and long-form narrative.

In this article, we chart the life of Terry Glavin, his career, his worldview, and some of his most memorable quotes — with lessons we can draw from his work for our own time.

Early Life and Family

Terry Glavin was born in 1955 in the United Kingdom to Irish parents. This move would shape his identity as a Canadian writer with a transnational sensibility — rooted in Canada, but aware of global dynamics.

While detailed public records of his childhood are limited, Glavin’s early years in Canada unfolded amid the complexities of identity, belonging, and culture that often accompany the immigrant experience. This background likely contributed to his openness to multiple perspectives and his interest in both local and international affairs.

Youth and Education

Although specifics about Glavin’s formal education are not widely documented in publicly available sources, his later academic roles suggest strong preparation in writing and the humanities.

Later in life, he served as a sessional instructor in the Writing Department at the University of Victoria and as an adjunct professor in the Department of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia. These academic appointments reflect the recognition of his experience and expertise in writing, journalism, and narrative craft.

His early immersion in journalism and the publishing world may have offered practical learning that complemented or exceeded formal university training.

Career and Achievements

Journalism & Column Writing

Glavin’s career in journalism spans multiple decades and media outlets. Over the years he has been a columnist, reporter, and commentator for publications such as:

• The Other Press, where he worked as a copy editor in his early days

• The Daily Columbian (reporter, columnist, assistant city editor)

• The Vancouver Sun, The Globe and Mail, The Georgia Straight, The Tyee, and National Post

• Since 2011, he has been a columnist with the Ottawa Citizen.

His journalistic output covers local Canadian issues — especially in British Columbia and Western Canada — as well as global topics such as conflict zones, environmental crises, and Indigenous rights.

Glavin also founded Transmontanus Books, an imprint of New Star Books, providing a platform for regional voices and independent publishing.

Books and Nonfiction

Terry Glavin has authored seven books on his own, plus three collaborative works. His writing often weaves together history, ecology, Indigenous perspectives, and political insight.

Some notable titles:

• A Death Feast in Dimlahamid (1990) — explores the oral traditions and history of the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en peoples.

• Nemiah: The Unconquered Country (1992) — a cultural and historical study of British Columbia’s Chilcotin District, including the Tsilhqot’in perspective on the Chilcotin War of 1864.

• Ghost in the Water (1994) — a look at the giant green sturgeon in BC rivers.

• Dead Reckoning: Confronting the Crisis in Pacific Fisheries (1996)

• This Ragged Place: Travels Across the Landscape (1996)

• The Last Great Sea: A Voyage Through the Human and Natural History of the North Pacific Ocean (2000) — perhaps his best-known work; it was nominated for the Bill Duthie Booksellers’ Choice Award and the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize, and won the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize.

• Waiting for the Macaws: And Other Stories from the Age of Extinctions (2006)

• Come From the Shadows: The Long and Lonely Struggle for Peace in Afghanistan (2011)

• Sturgeon Reach: Shifting Currents at the Heart of the Fraser (2011, co-authored with Ben Parfitt)

His works often cross boundaries: they are part travelogue, part environmental history, part social critique, part advocacy.

Awards and Recognition

Glavin’s writing and journalism have earned him significant recognition:

• In 2009, he received the Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary Excellence in British Columbia.

• He has also won numerous National Magazine Awards, Western Magazine Awards, the Jack Webster Award for science and technology journalism, and other honors.

• His book The Last Great Sea won the Hubert Evans Non-Fiction Prize.

These honors reflect both the literary and journalistic impact of his work.

Historical Milestones & Context

Terry Glavin’s career has unfolded alongside major shifts in Canadian and global affairs, and his writing often responds to these broader contexts.

• Canadian environmental and Indigenous policy debates. His early books engage directly with British Columbia’s land, First Nations histories, and resource controversies — at a time when Canada was wrestling with reconciliation, land claims, and environmental governance.

• Post-Cold War and conflict zones. Glavin traveled and reported from regions such as Afghanistan, China, the Russian Far East, Israel, Syria, Turkey, and Central America. He writes with firsthand insight into geopolitical tensions, human rights crises, and the consequences of war.

• Media transformation and the “crisis of truth.” In his more recent essays, Glavin has critiqued how narrative, ideology, and media pressures distort fact-based thinking. He has sounded warnings about the erosion of trust in journalism.

• Canadian foreign relations, especially with China. In his columns, Glavin has critiqued Canada’s stance toward China, including trade, state influence, and human rights, pushing Canadians to reckon with complex geopolitical realities.

Through all this, he situates his work as rooted in both local place and global conscience.

Legacy and Influence

Terry Glavin’s influence is multifaceted:

• Shaping public conversation. His columns and essays reach a wide reading public, stirring debate about Canadian identity, environmental stewardship, and foreign policy.

• Inspiring younger writers. Through his books and academic roles, he contributes to the culture of thoughtful writing in Canada, modeling a blend of narrative, research, and moral seriousness.

• Bridging nature and politics. Few writers combine environmental history, Indigenous perspectives, and global conflict in a single oeuvre as consistently as Glavin. He helps readers see those domains as interconnected rather than separate.

• A voice for reconciliation and justice. His early work on Indigenous histories and land claims remains an important reference point for discussions about colonialism, memory, and equity.

While his influence may be strongest in Canada and British Columbia, his global reporting ensures that he participates in international intellectual currents.

Personality and Talents

From the public record and his writing, several traits emerge in Glavin’s personality and gifts:

• Intellectual fearlessness. He does not shy away from controversial or harsh truths, whether about Canada’s history, international conflict, or media distortions.

• Curiosity across disciplines. He moves fluidly between natural history, anthropology, politics, and culture; his books often mix travel, science, and memoir elements.

• Narrative skill. Even in deeply researched nonfiction, Glavin maintains a compelling storytelling voice — making complex or remote issues accessible and vivid.

• Moral urgency. His writing often carries a sense of responsibility: toward truth, toward marginalized peoples, toward environmental guardianship.

• Regional rootedness. Despite his global scope, he remains anchored in place — particularly in British Columbia and Canada’s Pacific regions — and this sense of rootedness gives his writing texture and authenticity.

Together, these traits make him a distinctive intellectual bridge: someone equally committed to facts, storytelling, and moral clarity.

Famous Quotes of Terry Glavin

Here are several notable quotes that reflect his worldview, concerns, and rhetorical style (from sources such as BrainyQuote, Wikiquote, and collected quote sites).

“The kleptocracy overseen by Chinese President Xi Jinping is more vicious and brutally anti-democratic than any regime run by any clique the Chinese Communist Party’s ruling elite has vomited up since the days of Mao Zedong.”

“Conceived as a short-term remedy to the occasional ailment of acute labour shortages in key industries, the indentured-labour service had to be dismantled by the Conservatives owing to its inevitably scandalous abuse by disreputable employers. By 2012, there were 338,000 temporary foreign workers in Canada.”

“It is from Shiith Ibn Adam that all humankind today is said to descend. It is also said that Balkh, the ‘Mother of All Cities’ … is where Shiith died and was buried.”

“It was less in pity than in anger that the world was moved by the photograph of little Alan Kurdi …”

“It’s known as the Livingstone Formulation. It’s a cunning rhetorical device … to shield … establishment figures from any scrutiny that might expose their ‘anti-Zionist’ obsessions…”

“Afghans long ago resigned themselves to this sort of thing. Compromises must be made. Deals with the devil are better than ceaseless butchery.”

“It should tell you something that Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency invented the Taliban …”

“It’s true that since 9/11, the application of conventional military rules of engagement has gotten a bit foggy. The Taliban were not an ‘enemy state,’ but the Canadian Forces conducted its operations in Afghanistan as though the rules of war applied anyway.”

These quotes reflect Glavin’s willingness to confront power, interrogate narratives, and emphasize moral accountability.

Lessons from Terry Glavin

From Terry Glavin’s life and work, we can draw several lessons that are especially relevant to writers, activists, and engaged citizens:

1. Cross boundaries, don’t stay in silos. Glavin’s writing mixes nature, history, politics, and culture. Real insight often lies at the intersections.

2. Ground global issues in local place. He writes globally but remains rooted in Canadian landscape and communities — reminding us that ideas are richer when anchored in real lives.

3. Use narrative + evidence. Data and research matter, but they become powerful when woven into stories that connect emotionally and morally.

4. Speak truth to power, with nuance. Glavin refuses easy clichés — his critiques are sharp but fact-based, mindful of complexity, and willing to question both left and right.

5. Perseverance across time. His decades-long career shows that influence is cumulative, built through many essays, columns, and books, not just single “big” moments.

6. Responsibility of the public intellectual. Glavin accepts that writers and thinkers have obligations: to accuracy, to marginalized voices, and to accountability.

Conclusion

Terry Glavin is more than a Canadian writer or columnist: he is a moral interlocutor whose work engages with environment, history, justice, and geopolitics. Born in 1955 and having journeyed from immigrant origins to the heart of Canadian intellectual life, he offers a model of how a writer can traverse local specificity and global scope — and how the act of writing can be an act of conscience.

If you’d like, I can also provide a longer list of quotes from Terry Glavin, or an annotated reading guide to his major works. Would you like me to send that?