Donor Spotlight

Rosemary Speirs

Rosemary Speirs has served on the Ontario Nature Board of Directors since 2001. She is a retired journalist who wrote nationally syndicated political columns for The Toronto Star, first a columnist on provincial politics at Queen's Park and then as national affairs columnist in Ottawa. She has been a feature writer and commentator, specializing in Canadian politics at the provincial and federal levels, including environmental policy.

Rosemary is a life member of the Pickering Naturalists and Friends of Second Marsh. She sits on the advisory council to the Altona Forest Stewardship Council, and spends as much time as possible at her remote cottage, on the Wolf River in northern Parry Sound district. She’s an advocate of solar-power in cottage country and promotes hybrid electric cars, like her Toyota Prius, as a personal choice to reduce automobile pollution. In October, 2004 she received a Governor-General's award for advancing the cause of Canadian women in honor of her work as chair of Equal Voice, a national advocacy group for the election of more women to political office.

Rosemary Speirs (left), (then) Ontario Nature executive director Jim Faught (centre) and (then) president Mark Dorfman with Robert Bateman's painting of rough-legged hawk. Photo by S.Lake.

In 2002 Rosemary donated three original Robert Bateman paintings to the Foundation for Ontario Nature. The paintings were donated in the name of the late Dr. J. Murray Speirs, long time naturalist, uncle to Rosemary and friend of Ontario Nature, who passed away in 2001. Dr. Speirs taught zoology at the University of Toronto for 40 years, and was a co-founder of Ontario Nature and several birding clubs. He was appointed to the Order of Canada in 2000. The Foundation intends to offer the paintings for sale to the general public, the proceeds going to support nature protection in Ontario. In addition to her generous gift of art, Rosemary has made donations to Ontario Nature’s Nature Reserves program and to a media campaign to help promote Ontario Nature’s work more broadly.

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