Charles Sauriol

An ancestor of his had emigrated to New France from Brittany in 1705.

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.

Charles Joseph Sauriol, (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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

During his tenure he was responsible for acquiring land to create conservation areas in the Toronto area.

His notable acquisitions included Bruce's Mill, Claremont, Glen Haffy, Cold Creek, and Black Creek Pioneer Village.

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.

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.

Part of the land was expropriated in 1958 to build the Don Valley Parkway.

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 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.

While his conservation work frequently took him outside Toronto, his original love was the Don Valley.

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.

After leaving NCC, he co-founded another organization called Trees for Today and Tomorrow which planted trees to restore degraded areas.

He continued working as a consultant, lending his expertise to conservation authorities throughout Ontario with land acquisitions.

Sauriol married Simonne Menard (1911-July 22, 2005) in 1931.