Janet Barkhouse has published stories, poems, non-fiction and children’s literature in journals, anthologies, and books, including two about Sable Island: a children’s “chapter book” (Sable Island – Imagine!) and a collection of poems with photographs by Zoe Lucas (Sable Island Fieldnotes).

Before her connection began with the Sable Island Institute (SII), Janet was Vice-President on the Board of the Friends of the  Green Horse Society (FGHS). Her interest in Sable Island dates back to her childhood, thanks to her mother, Joyce Barkhouse, CM, ONS.

Janet first went to Sable Island as Joyce’s proxy. Joyce met Zoe Lucas because of her children’s book, Pit Pony, which had been made into a movie and a television series. Pit Pony told of a Sable Island horse working with a youngster in a Cape Breton mine. The FGHS was inviting people with close connections to Sable Island to fly to Sable as an outreach project. Joyce felt she was too old, and Janet, who wrote the text for Pit Pony: The Picture Book, went in her stead.

Janet was enthralled, and, as an amateur mycophile, went back to Sable Island to help begin a list of the island’s fungi. The study that evolved, “Contributions to the study of higher fungi on Sable Island, Nova Scotia”, by Keith Williams and Zoe Lucas, was published in Proceedings of the Nova Scotia Institute of Science, vol. 50, no. 2 (2021).

A retired educator who wrote and piloted English Language Arts curricula for the Province of Nova Scotia, Janet has for the past four years helped organize the SII’s Sable in Words, a writing contest for youth. She is a member of The Writers’ Union of Canada, the League of Canadian Poets, and the Writers’ Federation of Nova Scotia.

Pierre-Yves Daoust is Professor Emeritus of Anatomic Pathology and Wildlife Pathology at the Atlantic Veterinary College (AVC), University of Prince Edward Island, and former coordinator of the Atlantic regional node of the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperative (CWHC; www.cwhc-rcsf.ca). It was his interest for wildlife and the environment that led him to choose veterinary science as a career. His professional activities have centered around diagnostic work as a tool to investigate causes of natural and human-related mortality in free-living wildlife. In this context, Pierre-Yves has dealt with a very wide variety of animal species, mainly, but not exclusively, birds and mammals. Through the many years that he has spent at the AVC, he has developed a particular interest in marine mammals and birds and in the marine ecosystem in general. As a pathologist, he has also been extensively involved in assessing hunting methods for seals and other mammals from an animal welfare perspective.

Thanks to a good working relationship with colleagues at Fisheries and Oceans Canada and, especially, with his friend and colleague, Zoe Lucas, Pierre-Yves has had a few occasions to work on Sable Island. These few occasions have been more than enough to convince him of the remarkable uniqueness of that Island with respect to its beauty, its tremendously dynamic geography, and its rich biodiversity. He has since continued his collaboration with Zoe through a project on plastic ingestion and causes of mortality in pelagic birds, primarily those of the family Procellariidae.

“I consider it a great privilege to contribute my knowledge and experience to the mission of the Sable Island Institute. In particular, I will continue to promote the Institute’s collaboration with the CWHC’s regional node at the AVC in order to better understand causes of mortality in wildlife.”

Jordan was born and raised on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, where his research interests in coastal geomorphology and Quaternary geology developed. Jordan’s research has until recently been focussed on the coastal areas of BC, where he worked up and down the coast in areas such as Haida Gwaii, the Hakai Protected Area, and western Vancouver Island. His focus was sediment budgets for coastal restoration projects, climate change adaptation, coastal erosion, and late Quaternary reconstruction and paleogeography. He did a postdoc at the University of Calgary where he acted as a project manager/science advisor for UAV application development.

From there, Jordan took a bit of a turn (east, to be precise) and joined the federal Public Service with Parks Canada Agency in 2017, working for the Sable Island National Park Reserve. While there, he worked in operations: landing planes, forecasting storms, and fixing buildings. Notably, he was gifted the incredible opportunity to spend 8-10 weeks at a time out on Sable. He frequently had his eye on the interesting science that could be done out there and was always keen to discuss his observations with Zoe at the Institute. In 2019 Jordan joined the Geological Survey of Canada at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography in Dartmouth to further his career in the geosciences.

“Sable Island gives us a unique opportunity to explore the geomorphology of a sandy barrier island that isn’t a barrier at all – with open ocean on both sides and nary an outcrop of bedrock to be found, it’s as if Sable is a purpose-built laboratory for coastal geoscientists. I am grateful to be given the opportunity to share my knowledge and experience with the Sable Island Institute to help further the understanding of this unique geological setting.”

Brenna is interested in the use of genetic analyses to better understand species history, evolution, diversity, and status of a variety of species but especially marine mammals. Primarily, though not exclusively, her research involves the assessment of genetic diversity within historic (using ancient DNA) and contemporary marine mammal populations that have been reduced by hunting/whaling activities. In addition, her interests lie in the use of ancient DNA analysis to explore and elucidate species demographic history as it relates to historical climate change. Understanding of species history, current status, and recovery, is essential to optimize use of resources and strategies for conservation and management of marine mammals. Using ancient DNA analysis, Brenna led the study of the extirpated Maritimes walrus, a population that had existed on Sable Island (and around the Maritimes) until the early 1700s. She is also a co-researcher with Tim Frasier and Zoe Lucas on several genetic studies of the Sable Island horses.

Brenna has a PhD. in Environment and Life Science from Trent University (Peterborough, Ontario) and a Professional Specialization Certificate in Collections Management from the University of Victoria (Victoria, BC). She is the Curator of Zoology for the Nova Scotia Museum and a research associate with the Frasier Lab of Molecular Biology and Evolution at Saint Mary’s University. With a particular interest in education and outdoors adventure outreach, she coordinates two SMU summer camps for teens (Marine Mammal and Forensic Science), hosts a year-round Outdoor Adventure group for families, and is on the Board of Directors of Roots and Boots Forest School Society.

“My interest in working with the Sable Island Institute is threefold. First, the beauty and wonder of Sable Island’s natural and cultural history is enchanting and awe-inspiring to me and I think that bringing diverse opportunities for individuals to experience the wonder and beauty of Sable Island (even remotely) is an exceptional endeavour. Second, Sable Island offers a unique and rare opportunity to study biological and ecosystem processes in isolation. Third, as a curator of Nova Scotia’s zoology and natural history, I think it is important to protect and capture the unique and diverse qualities of Sable Island so that they can be studied for generations to come.”

Tim is an Associate Professor at Saint Mary’s University (Halifax, Nova Scotia), in the department of Biology and the Forensic Science Program. As a biologist, he is primarily involved in using genetics to better understand the biology of populations, with an emphasis on marine mammals and conservation issues facing small and/or endangered populations. Tim is particularly interested in the ways in which genetic characteristics influence the fitness of individuals, and how these individual-based patterns scale-up to influence population-wide trends and extinction probabilities. He has been conducting genetic analyses on the North Atlantic right whale since 1999, when he began his graduate work at McMaster University (Hamilton, Ontario), a program that continues. Tim is also involved in genetic studies of several other whale species (including the St. Lawrence beluga, and eastern North Pacific gray whales). His other interests include forensic DNA typing, computer programming, and developing new statistical and analytical methods to study populations.

A few years ago, Tim and Zoe Lucas began collaborating on research projects relating to Sable Island, including studies of the Sable Island horses and the extinct walruses. Recently, Tim was accepted into the Marine Mammal Subcommittee of the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC), a group that decides whether (and to what degree) species are endangered in Canada.

Tim is particularly interested in education and public outreach, and, with Brenna McLeod/Frasier, leads Saint Mary’s Marine Mammal Summer Camp. This ten-day overnight camp offers youth ages 14 to 17 the opportunity to learn about the biology and evolution of marine mammals and to participate in the daily operations of scientific fieldwork and field-camp life. The program is a partnership of Saint Mary’s University and the Canadian Whale Institute. In August 2018, the program included an afternoon workshop at the Sable Island Institute.

Susan’s practice includes painting, illustration, animation and media arts. She received her BFA from the Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, with post-graduate studies in Media from the New School for Social Research in New York. Selected by the Centre for Art Tapes (Halifax) for a Media Arts Scholarship, Susan is currently working with sound, video and sensors to create a virtual environments based on endangered spaces. Focusing on environmental issues around the preservation of wilderness, Susan received the prestigious Established Artist Recognition Award in 2015 in acknowledgement of the artistic contribution she has made to the province of Nova Scotia. Susan is a four-time winner of the Lillian Shepherd Award for Excellence in Illustration for her contributions to children’s literature.

Her volunteer work includes Past President of CARFAC National (Canadian Artists’ Representation/Le Front des artistes canadiens), board member of the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, and member of the Creative Nova Scotia Leadership Council, an advisory board on arts policy to the Nova Scotia government. As a founding member of the Sable Island Institute, Susan served as Vice President until October 2018.

Susan visited Sable Island in August 2009 when she and fellow artist the late Richard Rudnicki organized a 10-day field trip for a group of visual artists and writers.

Kelly Toughill is an associate professor in the School of Journalism at the University of King’s College, Halifax. She was a reporter and then deputy executive editor of The Toronto Star prior to joining King’s in 2006, and served as director of the School of Journalism from 2010 to 2016. Kelly has judged regional, national, and international journalism awards, and has received several journalism honours, including a National Newspaper Award. Kelly’s primary areas of research are immigration policy and journalism economics; however, she has published widely on contemporary issues with an emphasis on Atlantic Canada.

Kelly feels privileged to have visited Sable Island twice, during winter and summer, and in 1999 wrote a lengthy article for The Toronto Star. She has an enduring interest in the island.