George Tombs

George Tombs

KEYNOTE SPEAKER

Montreal , Quebec

Knowledge development; knowledge translation; intercultural communication

George Tombs is an artist-historian, award-winning Canadian journalist, author of the unauthorized biography, Robber Baron: Lord Black of Crossharbour. George Tombs served as health and environment journalist, executive director of a health research association, also provides intercultural communication, knowledge development and translation.

GEORGE TOMBS BIOGRAPHY

George Tombs is an award-winning author and filmmaker. As a journalist he reported from six continents, then served as executive director of a medical association, university professor, and then consultant for a wide range of health and science research organizations. George Tombs has a PhD in the History from McGill University, and did a postgraduate year at Oxford University’s Medical Sciences Division. He has written several award-winning books, including Robber Baron: Lord Black of Crossharbour, an unauthorized biography of Conrad Black. In July 2020,

George Tombs completed production of the biographical film The Blinding Sea (108 minutes, original version in English, with French sub-titles). This film has won eleven festival awards around the world so far, and was shot on location on an icebreaker wintering in the Beaufort Sea, on a tall ship on the Southern Ocean, by dog-team in Alaska, the Yukon and the Canadian Arctic Archipelago, and on the glaciers of Antarctica and Norway.

This film focuses on polar explorer Roald Amundsen’s two-year apprenticeship with the Inuit of Gjoa Haven, Nunavut, during which they painstakingly shared with him their intimate knowledge of the polar environment. This led Amundsen to great success: he never ceased praising Inuit for their deep understanding of Nature and their ingenuity. The film combines factual accuracy with bold story-telling, a cross-cultural approach, oral histories whether European or Aboriginal, a focus on physical and psychological health, and the refreshing eye-witness perspective of an acclaimed biographer.

Videos

Podcasts

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George Tombs Topic Presentations

the beauty of inuit traditional knowledge.

  • Keynote Presentation
  • In the aftermath of the Truth and Reconciliation process, Canadians need to know more about the extraordinary knowledge system that Inuit created, and that enabled them to thrive in one of the world’s harshest natural settings.

    During the 20th century, government and church policies of assimilation and particularly residential schools severely undermined the Inuit knowledge system. Many Inuit are now reconnecting with their knowledge traditions. Explorer Roald Amundsen did not just include Inuit knowledge to achieve his objectives: instead, their knowledge and deep understanding of Nature formed the cornerstone of his success. The presentation should accompany screening of the film.

leadership lessons from amundsen’s life.

Testimonials

The Blinding Sea is a beautiful, surprising, thought-provoking film, packed with information. The film investigates the challenges and psychology of Arctic and Antarctic exploration a century and more ago, focusing particularly on how essential Canadian Inuit knowledge and insights were to Roald Amundsen’s expeditions.

Nelson Graburn

Professor Emeritus in Sociocultural Anthropology
University of California, Berkeley, and an authority on Inuit

This film offers many insights into Roald Amundsen’s life; the sharing of knowledge between cultures; the role of Aboriginals in polar exploration; evidence-based nutrition, health and management; and the art of biography. Thanks, George Tombs, for this great work!

Professor R. B. Singh

Secretary General
International Geographical Union, Department of Geography, University of Delhi

My interest in The Blinding Sea, and the reason why I am pleased to offer comments, is because through this film and your work, George, you have documented some vital elements in Inuit history and our relationship with some of the early explorers, especially Roald Amundsen, clearly the most successful Arctic and Antarctic explorer. “This film is important. The Blinding Sea credits Inuit with much of Amundsen’s success It documents his early preparations for lengthy and dangerous Arctic exploration by learning lessons from other explorers and accepting their advice and observations – that those who worked with the Inuit, who befriended them, who earned their trust and sought and...

Mary Simon

former president of the Inuit Circumpolar Conference and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and former Canadian Ambassador for Circumpolar Affairs

No wonder George Tombs called his doc The Blinding Sea. I am in this film along with my late uncle Bob Konana and my uncle Paul Ikuallaq. Good to see my uncles in the film, Bob and Paul, talking about Inuit oral history while Paul translated for Konana. George has taken Inuit oral history and introduced it to the rest of the world in this film, and it will be recorded for generations to come. Thank you, George Tombs. This was an amazing accomplishment for Canadian and Inuit cultural history.

Damien Iquallaq,

great-great-grandson
Koleok

Well, George, it took you a lot of time to finish this film. Making a film is bit like seal-hunting through a breathing hole in the ice. It takes a lot of patience.

Paul Ikuallaq

grandson
Koleok

He is also a white water canoe enthusiast: “As a Norwegian-American, I grew up hearing about Roald Amundsen and his mentor Fridtjof Nansen. While bringing to this film an appreciation for Amundsen’s courage, humility and simplicity, George also demonstrates his own love of Nature and his rigorous attention to historical and scientific detail, without losing the viewer’s interest. But above all, through interviews with key people involved in the story, The Blinding Sea reveals the great respect Amundsen had for the polar peoples – the Inuit of Arctic Canada, the Iñupiat of the Alaska North Slope, and also the Chukchi of northeastern Siberia.”

Peter Agre,

co-winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2003 for discoveries of water channels and aquaporins

Articles & Media

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Books

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