Richard Finnie

Richard Finnie a noted writer, photographer and film-maker, was born in 1906 in Dawson City, Yukon. His early career achievements included five seaborne expeditions to the eastern Arctic and the first flight made over the North Magnetic Pole.

He served as assistant radio operator under Captain J.E. Bernier, on board the Canadian government ship, Arctic. The official record of the Arctic's expedition in 1928 would be Finnie's first professional film. His book, Canada Moves North, was described by Vilhjalmur Stefansson as "the best general book about northern Canada".

In 1939, he produced a film in Fort Rae entitled Dogrib Treaty. In 1942, he produced two films while hired to work on the Canol pipeline Canol and The Alaska Highway, both of which gained much acclaim.

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Click for a brief (1:36) clip of an interview with Richard Finnie originally featured on the CBC Northern Service radio program "The Days Before Yesterday". Les McLaughlin produced. Ray Stone hosted.
Finnie intro (CBC/NWT Archives/N-1998-030: 0203):
Quicktime
Windows Media

Listen to the entire interview (10:49), in which Finnie describes his involvement in the origins of the Canol Project in 1942.
Finnie complete (CBC/NWT Archives/N-1998-030: 0203):
Quicktime
Windows Media