Jun 14, 2021 6:45 PM
Bob Burgar
"Family Agent: A World War One Trench Watch"

Bob Burgar was the senior archaeologist for the Toronto and Region Conservation Authority for twenty-five years. From 1982 to 2005, Bob was responsible for the TRCA’s archaeological unit. Some of the programmes’ notable accomplishments during that time was the development of the province’s first proponent funded archaeological resource management program of public lands, and the designation of the Humber River as a Canadian Heritage River. For three decades one of Bob’s tasks was to act as the senior archaeologist of Canada’s longest-running high school archaeological field school. It was through his experiences at the Boyd Archaeological Field school that he developed his love of teaching – so much so that Bob went back to school (in the evenings for two years at Trent University in Peterborough), obtained his BEd, retired from the Conservation Authority and started working for the York Region District School Board. After teaching for a decade at Aurora High School (his alma mater), Bob retired in 2015.  Bob has gone back to school in his retirement and is working on his PhD at York University, looking at the data collected during the field schools. Bob is an avid plastic modeler with an interest in WW2 aircraft and has had a long association with the 48thHighlanders of Canada as an Officer and a member of the Officer’s Association. Bob’s talk today is based on an essay he prepared for a course in his doctoral programme.