This episode: About the Whale Society of Edmonton (or Don't Go Anywhere Without a Porpoise)
A story about the people who decided to run a save-the-whales group from the prairies, and the splash they made in the media. This episode is a live show recorded on March 3, 2026 at the City of Edmonton Archives.
From 1979 – 1984, the Whale Society of Edmonton led public education programs about whales and dolphins and advocated for their protection. Listen to learn what drove these Edmontonians in a time of hope and crisis.
Celebrated author and activist Candas Jane Dorsey shared stories about her late sister Jaclyn Dorsey, who helped lead the Whale Society as its secretary.
City Archivist Kathryn Ivany introduced listeners to the Whale Society’s files at the City of Edmonton Archives, and showed them how to can explore your own questions at the archives.
This is the conclusion to our mini-series about Albertan environmental groups and journalists in the 1970s: You Can Change the World! or Why Would I Talk to You?
Head to our website to see pictures from the event and archival images, like the fan art sent to the Whale Society by children like Judith Taylor.
The Whale Society of Edmonton was founded by a group of Edmontonians in 1979. They attracted about 200 members all around Canada, but the core volunteers were less than a dozen people, mostly connected to the University of Alberta.
Thousands of kilometres from the nearest coastline, they led public education programs about whales and dolphins and advocated for their protection.
Their president, Dennis Wighton, told the Edmonton Journal: “A lot of people here haven’t ever seen a whale, but they have a feeling, ‘for God’s sake, leave them alone, I want them to be there’.”
Dennis Wighton was an administrator for the genetics department at the U of A. The U of A’s campus paper, The Gateway, did a profile on him in 1979. Dennis really wanted the university to be a leader in reducing pollution – stuff like not putting mercury in the river.
He told the Gateway: “If we’re not first in the community, who will be?”
“It was very simple in the Sixties to bang people over the head and get them moving. It seems too easy to criticize today; now you’ve got to suggest alternatives.”
Many of the Whale Society's records are preserved at the City of Edmonton Archives.
Three younger women look closely at papers spread out on a table at the archivesListeners looking through Whale Society files
Soon after the Whale Society launched in March 1979, they were “plunged full-tilt” into trying to change the world. Media outreach was part of their approach.
Canada had stopped commercial whaling, but the Whale Society wanted Canada to support a global moratorium against whale killings. The place to do that would be at the International Whaling Commission (IWC). The Whale Society believed that public pressure could influence the Canadian delegation’s position at an IWC meeting that summer.
That message was shared on by radio host Bill Coull on Alberta-wide radio station CKUA. Dennis Wighton also spoke to the Edmonton Journal about the campaign.
Whale Society members wrote about their own work in smaller publications like their newsletter and the NPPAC’s Park News. In general, they seemed to recognize they had a friendlier audience and more control of the narrative. They used those advantages to explore the science, and wonder, and outrage that drove their campaigns.
Every issue of their newsletter was named after a different whale. Issue 3 was the Grey Whale News, and Chris Hanslik wrote a 4-page story about grey whales.
Whale Society Secretary Jaclyn Dorsey wrote for Interface Magazine in 1980 about her week at “Whale School” in Washington State’s San Juan Islands, learning from experts in orca and minke whale research.
She also wrote back to a CKUA listener about the Whale Society's strategy.
Shout-outs in this episode to the
Taproot Event Calendar, and to the City of Edmonton Archives' Tim O'Grady and Dylan Bremner. Research for this episode was supported by the Whyte Museum of the Canadian Rockies'
Lillian Agnes Jones Scholarship. Credit to Nathan Binnema for this episode's alternate title. Thanks to the
Edmonton Heritage Council for lending audio equipment for the show!