Who invented the first real walkie-talkie radio in the world? Donald Lewis Hings, who worked for the Cominco smelter in Trail.
Who designed the largest steam whistle in Canada? That would be Robert Eugene Swanson of East Wellington (outside Nanaimo), who worked at the Chemainus sawmill. His whistle, used at the mill until 1983, weighed a whopping 2,000 pounds.
Did you know Harlequin Books, the romance novel company that’s sold more than four billion books, is Canadian? Yep. And did you know that in 1955, Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children used monkey lungs to maintain blood circulation during operations on babies?
I’ll bet you didn’t.
One of my favourites is the fact Pamela Anderson was the first baby in Canada to be born on our country’s centenary in 1967. This earned Pamela the proud title of the Centennial Baby before the Ladysmith native posed for Playboy and became a celebrity/ master thespian/animal advocate.
All these are entries from a new six-volume set, Uniquely Canadian, written by a Victoria man named Donald Allan Gillmore. To say it’s a singular achievement is an understatement. The hard-cover magnum opus totals 2,440 pages. Each entry was sourced at least five times. Gillmore, a 67-year-old former financial analyst, did all the research, writing, editing — even the typesetting. His self-published project took him 17 years to complete.
Uniquely Canadian retails for $489 (shipping included) and can be purchased only from firstincanada.ca.
It’s his first book (Gillmore calls it a “book,” although it’s really six). The object was to compile Canadian firsts and significant Canadian accomplishments. Gillmore intends Uniquely Canadian to be a boon for teachers, students or those who just want something fun to read. He’s tried to make it entertaining as well as informative.
“I didn’t want it to be a textbook. Bor-ring!” he said.
What kind of man undertakes such a project, anyway? Gillmore, grey-bearded and wearing a sports jacket, turned out to be affable, pleasant and well-spoken. When he first dropped off Uniquely Canadian at the office, I couldn’t quite believe it. Lugging the six volumes home to read was a sweat-popping exertion.
Gillmore got the idea for Uniquely Canadian while working in Toronto. He walked by a Hudson’s Bay store and noticed a plaque. It said Hudson’s Bay was the “oldest incorporated joint-stock merchandising company in the English-speaking world.”
It made Gillmore wonder how many other Canadian firsts there were. “I thought, ‘I’d like to buy a pocket-book,’” he said.
When he visited a public library to see what existed on the subject [“there was squat”] the librarian said the world could use a good book on Canadian firsts. Students kept asking for it. So Gillmore decided he’d write it.
For the first three years of researching, Gillmore didn’t say a peep about what he was working on. He didn’t even tell his family. He didn’t want anyone to steal his idea.
In researching Uniquely Canadian, Gillmore said he read six books a day. Back then, working as a business consultant, he’d put in a day-shift on weekdays, then research from 6 p.m. to 11:30 p.m. On Saturdays and Sundays he’d clock up to 14 hours a day.
Did his wife complain? No. Gillmore, who has since married, was single at the time.
When I said the scale of Uniquely Canadian reminds me of The Canadian Encyclopedia, Gillmore told me he read that one “from A to Z” as part of his research. It took three months.
What spurred him on? Passion.
“If I read a book and it had Canadian content and it was a first, I was interested. Period,” he said. “The more I discovered, the more excited, the more passionate I became.”
Born in Hamilton, Ont., Gillmore studied business administration at Athabasca University. His career includes working as a senior financial analyst for Transport Canada in Ottawa for 12 years. His father was the late Allan Gillmore, who was executive director of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada before retiring in Victoria. He was named to the Order of Canada for his work in shaping higher education.
Through his father’s connections, a young Donald Gillmore was able to meet outstanding achievers such as Minoru Yamasaki, the American architect who designed the World Trade Center. Gillmore said such exceptional folk provided direct inspiration for Uniquely Canadian.
As well as offering the books on his website, Gillmore is approaching distributors who supply libraries. Bookstores are lower down on his list. He has no immediate plans to create an electronic version of Uniquely Canadian.
He’s had 1,500 copies printed. Ironically, Uniquely Canadian was printed in Taipei (where Gillmore lives part-time) because the costs in Canada were too high.
Asked to price-tag his investment, he replied: “If you add up all the costs, probably a couple of hundred thousand dollars.” But mostly, Uniquely Canadian is a labour of love.
“I love my country,” said this unique Canadian. “What can I say? I get excited about it.”
