Laurentians & the NFB

We returned to Canada in 1958. Dad was not welcomed back to the Film Board as he hoped. After a few months in Montreal, staying with friends, my parents found a cottage in St. Sauveur, deep in the Laurentian woods, followed by a log cabin in Ste. Marguerite Station. I spent most of my time there exploring the woods, fields and lakes, sometimes alone or tagging along after my big brothers. We became independent at a very young age.

Dad freelanced as an editor for other NFB producers. Those films included the award winning film "A is for Architecture" and a two part documentary on Glenn Gould, "Off the Record" and "On The Record". For two years he became the Host and Moderator of CBC's Public Affairs Television Series "Let's Face It". Dad forged a new kind of relationship with the NFB as an independent producer and produced a four part Series of the Religions of the World that he co hosted with universal historian Arnold Toynbee, exploring his new world view.

Sometimes my parent's friends from the National Film Board would come to visit. Norman McLaren and Guy Glover stayed with us on the weekends and once stayed for a whole summer. Norman, who was Godfather to my oldest brother Alex, taught us how to use oil pastels. We would draw pictures together. Alex developed a very unique style of drawing with oil pastels and ink as a result.