Charles Sauriol

Sauriol was fluently bilingual. He worked for 30 years as an advertising manager for French language publishing companies such as Poirier Bessette and Le Samedi. Sauriol married Simonne Menard (1911-July 22, 2005) in 1931. They raised four children – three daughters Denise, Monique, Marcelle and one son, Claude.

In addition to the Charles Sauriol Conservation Reserve four other natural areas have been named for him: the Charles Sauriol Conservation Area on the Credit River, the John M. Cape/Charles Sauriol Biological Studies Area at the Lake Opinicon site of Queen’s University, the Charles Sauriol Parkette in the former Borough of East York, and the Charles Sauriol Carolinian Forest in Norfolk County. Starting in 1995, the MTRCA and the Oak Ridges Moraine Land Trust host the Charles Sauriol Environmental Dinner, an annual fundraising event.

Sauriol died of natural causes in 1995 at the age of 91.

In 1991 he helped to found the Todmorden Mills Wildflower Preserve which still maintains a small forested area in the Lower Don.

In 1989, in appreciation for his conservation work and especially his advocacy for the Don, a section of the Don Valley along the East Branch of the Don River from the forks up to Lawrence Avenue East was named the Charles Sauriol Conservation Reserve.

His life work as a conservationist was recognized by many. Known as Mr. Conservation he was made a Member of the Order of Canada on April 12, 1989. He received 40 other awards and citations including the Governor General’s Conservation Award in 1980 and the Parks Canada Heritage Award in 1991.

In 1966 Sauriol joined the Nature Conservancy of Canada (NCC), which had been established in 1962. He worked as administrative director and assisted the NCC in acquiring natural areas. In 1971, he left the MTRCA to work for the NCC. In 1982, he became executive director of the Conservancy, until his retirement in 1987. During his time with the NCC, he was responsible for raising funds and acquiring natural areas across Canada. He helped acquire 500 properties in Ontario alone.

In 1957, he joined the Metropolitan Toronto and Region Conservation Authority (MTRCA) (known today as the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority). Sauriol served on the MTRCA’s executive committee and as chairman of the Conservation Areas Advisory Board. It was during the 1950s and 1960s that MTRCA was responsible for acquiring most of the valley and ravine lands in the Toronto area. This was a direct result of the damage caused by Hurricane Hazel.

In 1946, he was co-founder of the Don Valley Conservation Association (DVCA) whose mission was to preserve the Don Valley as a woodland park. Sauriol edited and published the DVCA newsletter called The Cardinal from 1951–1956. The Association organized steam locomotive trips for the DVCA called The Conservation Special as fundraisers from 1951–1961. These trips began at the Don River station near Queen St. in the Don Valley. These excursions attracted upwards of 1000 people and traveled to such destinations as Cobourg, Lindsay, and Niagara Falls.

During his boyhood he camped out in the Don Valley with the 45th East Toronto Troop of the Boy Scouts. At this time the Don was mostly woods and farmland that remained mostly in its natural state. It was during these trips that he fell in love with the outdoors and especially the Don. This inspired his commitment to help protect the Don Valley for future generations.

In 1927 he purchased a 40 hectare property at the Forks of the Don. He used this as a cottage and every year moved his family to stay there during the summer months. Part of the land was expropriated in 1958 to build the Don Valley Parkway. In 1968, the MTRCA expropriated the rest of his property as part of a larger program to acquire most of the private property in the Don Valley.

Charles Joseph Sauriol, CM (May 3, 1904 – December 16, 1995) was a Canadian naturalist who was responsible for the preservation of many natural areas in Ontario and across Canada. He owned property in the Don River valley and was an advocate for the valley’s preservation. As a member of the Metropolitan Toronto and Region Conservation Authority, he was responsible for much of the Don Valley’s conservation. A section of the valley is a conservation reserve named in his honour and four other locations in Canada are named in his honour.

Charles Sauriol was born in Toronto, Ontario. He was the youngest of seven children. His father, Joseph Sauriol, had moved to Toronto in 1882 to work on a project that involved straightening the lower portion of the Don River. Charles was an eighth-generation Canadian. An ancestor of his had emigrated to New France from Brittany in 1705.