Louis-Edmond Hamelin, (21 March 1923 – February 11, 2020) was a Canadian geographer, professor, and author born in

Saint-Didace, Quebec Saint-Didace is a parish municipality in the D'Autray Regional County Municipality in the Lanaudière region of Quebec, Canada. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Saint-Didace had a population of ...

, Canada, best known for his studies of

Northern Canada Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three territories of Canada: Yukon, Northwest Territories an ...

. Hamelin created the Centre for Northern Studies at the

Université Laval Université Laval is a public research university in Quebec City, Quebec, Canada. The university was founded by royal charter issued by Queen Victoria in 1852, with roots in the founding of the Séminaire de Québec in 1663 by François de Montm ...

in Québec and was rector of the

Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières The Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) (''English: University of Quebec in Trois-Rivières''), also known as "l'université du peuple", established in 1969 and mainly located in Trois-Rivières, Quebec, Canada, is a public unive ...

from 1978 to 1983. He was also a member of the Northwest Territories Legislative Council. Hamelin specialized in

Northern Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a r ...

and

Aboriginal peoples Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

studies. He coined several words concerning the North, some of which (such as

Nordicity Nordicity () is the degree of northernness. The concept was developed by Canadian geographer Louis-Edmond Hamelin in the 1960s based on previous work done in the Soviet Union. Hamelin's system defined northern territories – like northern Canada ...

) came to enter the English vocabulary. His seminal work was the 1958 ''Nordicité Canadienne'' (translated 1979 as ''Canadian Nordicity: It's Your North, Too''). He was an influence on proposals initiated in the 1960s for a massive development in Northern Canada called the Mid-Canada Corridor.

Honours

* 1962 – Fellow of the

Royal Society of Canada The Royal Society of Canada (RSC; french: Société royale du Canada, SRC), also known as the Academies of Arts, Humanities and Sciences of Canada (French: ''Académies des arts, des lettres et des sciences du Canada''), is the senior national, bil ...

* 1972 –

Léo-Pariseau Prize The Léo-Pariseau Prize is a Québécois prize which is awarded annually to a distinguished individual working in the field of biological or health sciences. The prize is awarded by the Association francophone pour le savoir ( Acfas), and is named ...

* 1972 –

Pierre Chauveau Medal The Pierre Chauveau Medal is a biennial award of the Royal Society of Canada "for a distinguished contribution to knowledge in the humanities other than Canadian literature and Canadian history". The award consists of a silver medal and is named ...

* 1974 – Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada (french: Ordre du Canada; abbreviated as OC) is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the cen ...

* 1975 –

Governor General's Award The Governor General's Awards are a collection of annual awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, recognizing distinction in numerous academic, artistic, and social fields. The first award was conceived and inaugurated in 1937 by th ...

* 1976 – Royal Canadian Geographical Society's

Massey Medal The Royal Canadian Geographical Society (RCGS) awards the Massey Medal annually to recognize outstanding personal achievement in the exploration, development or description of the geography of Canada. The award was established in 1959, by the M ...

* 1982 – Gloire de l'Escolle Medal * 1982 –

Molson Prize The Thomas Henry Pentland Molson Prize for the Arts is awarded by the Canada Council, Canada Council for the Arts. Two prizes are awarded annually to distinguished individuals. One prize is awarded in the arts, one in the social sciences and human ...

* 1987 – Léon-Gérin Prize * 1989 – Correspondent of

Académie des Sciences Morales et Politiques An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosop ...

(France) * 1994 – Ordre des francophones d'Amérique * 1998 – Grand officer of the

National Order of Quebec The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as ''l'Ordre national du Québec'', and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is an order of merit in the Canadian province of Quebec. Instituted in 1984 when Lieutenant Govern ...

* 2014 – Hubert Reeves Award

References

External links

Louis-Edmond Hamelin's Site

Honours

References

External links

Further reading