Best Activist

Winner of the 2002 Harkin Conservation Award for lifetime achievement in promoting the protection of Canada’s wilderness areas. Namesake of Dalhousie’s Women’s Health and Environment Chair. Key player in the establishment of no fewer than five national parks and conservations areas. Executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada. Hunger striker. Elizabeth May’s activism may not be local so much as national, but this native of Connecticut has called Cape Breton home for 30 years now and has worked pretty damn hard this last year to get those tar ponds some much needed attention—as good a reason as any for a best activist nod.

Runner-up: Anne Derrick