On April 11, 2008, Howard White, owner of Harbour Publishing, will receive the country's highest honour, the Order of Canada, from Governor General Michaelle Jean in an Ottawa ceremony.
A crowd of his closest friends and fans couldn't wait for that moment to celebrate. Last weekend, they hosted an evening fundraiser for the Arts Council - part roast, part toast - for White at the Sunshine Coast Arts Centre as a fitting tribute to his renown in the publishing business. The publisher and author joined the party along with wife and colleague Mary White, father Frank White and stepmother Edith Iglauer. Son Silas White was also in the audience to give a musical tribute to his father.
Despite writer Shane McCune's jests, he kicked off the tribute by calling White "the best regional publisher in Canada," and referred to the Raincoast Chronicles, the anthologies of B.C. stories that White has been producing since 1972.
Booksellers, publishers and industry reps stepped forward to tell a few tales. CBC's Mark Forsythe and Paul Grant, among others who could not be there, sent their written greetings. Author Mike McCardle wrote: "From the seat of a bulldozer to the Order of Canada, that is one heck of a self-propelled ride."
Author and raconteur Andreas Schroeder donned a sou'wester to give a humorous account of how White could have been a contender if he had not let books drag him into a life of futility.
"First you borrow a book, then you buy them, then you want to make 'em - pretty soon you're dealing 'em!" said Schroeder who is noted for his own huge book collection. Schroeder pointed out that White could have maintained his job as dump supervisor or truck operator, as he had done in the past. His various jobs have been immortalized in many of his works, particularly a children's book, Patrick and the Backhoe, and a famous short story, Morts, about hauling dead fish to the dump.
Over the evening, the audience was reminded that White has also received other honours, notably the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour for his collection of stories, Writing in the Rain (Harbour, 1990) and an honourary doctorate from the University of Victoria. Born in Abbotsford in 1945, White lived in a logging camp near Pender Harbour as a boy and has made the area his stomping ground ever since. In his colourful career, he once edited the local newspaper, Peninsula Voice, ran for provincial election in 1990 for the NDP, worked to save the area known as Francis Point Park and has captured the voices of hundreds of West Coast oldtimers in some quiet best sellers.
Old friend Roger Walker went the farthest down memory lane to describe the days when the two young guys from Pender Harbour shared a flat in Vancouver's Kitsilano and drove a pink, push-button-transmission Plymouth. John Rees, Pender Harbour Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) director presented White with a congratulatory letter from the SCRD on his Order of Canada. Poet John Pass, who has also received a Governor General's award, read one of White's lesser known poems, The Word, in a solemn, thoughtful manner.
And it was up to Daniel Francis and, ultimately, to the honoured guest himself, to cap the evening. Francis, who edited the Encyclopedia of B.C., told the audience that White "took a tremendous risk with this project. It had the potential to ruin the company."
All attempts at encyclopaedias in Canada had failed, and the decision to print in colour and to take an extra year for accuracy's sake added to the costs. The Encyclopedia was published in 2000 to immediate success.
"This is fun," said White when he finally took the stage, "sort of like being at your own wake."
He didn't mind the insults. "In my day job, I get insulted by some of the most gifted word slingers in the province. Most people have no idea what I do " he went on. "Including some of your staff," came the riposte from the audience. "In 37 years of being asked that, I've never come up with a good answer."
He honoured his long time colleague Mary White for her work. "I did the dreaming; she did the doing," he said.
Overall, White is proud of the 500 B.C. stories he has saved over the years. "The writers of this place made me do it. The people recorded their own stories and validated their lives," he said. "Art is present everywhere, in all soils, like traces of gold, even here in the thin soil of our rainy Coast."
