Jane Fairburn

Lawyer, writer and environmental advocate M. Jane Fairburn is deeply connected to the landscapes, history, people and stories of Canada’s Great Lakes region.

A close, intense, and unanticipated encounter with Lake Ontario cemented this relationship and set her on a journey of discovery — a journey that continues to this day.

More than twenty years ago, Jane slipped on the ice near the top of the Scarborough Bluffs in Toronto, Ontario and hurtled down a slope aptly known as Killer Hill. Stranded on the hillside some two hundred and fifty feet above the water’s edge, she had a rare opportunity to contemplate the lake that she loved so much. Read more

PRAISE FOR Along the Shore

“Jane Fairburn has produced an extraordinary account of Toronto’s waterfront experience. Creatively drawing from new primary research and the gleanings of oral tradition, she has provided us with an accessible, informative, and compelling story which not only reconnects us to our shared waterfront heritage but prompts us to re-imagine its future possibilities.”
— David Crombie, former Mayor of Toronto

“Jane Fairburn’s work is a powerful gift of hope for Lake Ontario. Through it, she has found a way to reengage us with our shorelines, our water, our communities. She reminds us not only of what our connection to Lake Ontario is, but what it has been — and most excitingly, what it can be again.”
— Mark Mattson, President and Waterkeeper for Lake Ontario Waterkeeper

“the quasi-visionary feeling of this broad compendium of waterfront lore…”
— Spacing, 29, (Fall 2013), Sarah Hood

FROM Along the Shore

“I was breathing to the east and I could see traces of light, streaks of light at first, in the sky … gradually I could see more light, more light, and that’s when I realized, “Oh, my God, the night is almost over, I’ve swum all night! … and I’ve never ever forgotten the joy that I felt at that particular time, it was just so beautiful …”
― Marilyn Bell De Lascio, speaking of her historic swim across Lake Ontario

“… and again, it was the Lake that pulled us together”.
― Norman Jewison, Film Director, Producer, and founder of the Canadian Film Centre