20 — Friday, April 16, 1999 — North Shore News Frol Bob Mackin News Reporter Bob Hunter’s life has been filled with coinci- dences that the affable writer and broadcaster just cannot explain. Many of those coinci- dences have been of the life- saving variety and involved Native Indians, And thev're the fodder for his Tatest book, Red Blood: One (Mostly) White Guy's Enconaters With the Native World. Hunter, born 57 vears ago in St. Boniface, Man., decid- ed at age of 10 he wanted to be a writer, At the back of the schoolroom he'd seribble away, filling up notebooks with science fiction stories. He dropped out of school in Grade 11 to experience life, but he almost dida’t live past 18. A Huron man stum- bled across the ill-prepared Hunter in the woods of west- ern Ontario and saved him from the certain death of hypothermia. “About 20 interesting jobs later” he marched into the Winnipeg Tribune and impressed the editor with his prolific writing. “He looked at the stuff and said you’re hired.” Little did he know the job was copy boy, not reporter. He eventually got his chance and moved his way up the newsroom ladder, In his spare time he wrote his first novel and scored a job at a newspa- per in Singapore. But the island nation split from Malaysia in 1965 and closed entry to foreigners. He got hired by the Vanconver Sun and moved to the west coast. “If Singapore hadn’t have broken away from Malaysia, I Whaling for sushi Ar the heart of Bob Hunter’s Red Blood is the hilarious 1992 protest against a recre- ation of Christopher Columbus’ trans-Atlantic trek to the Americas. Hunter accompanied Sea Shepherd captain Paul Watson, B.C. Indian chiefs and environmentalists to intercept replicas of the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria. They eventually elicit- ed an apology from a Spanish diplomat for 500 years of oppression against the Native Indians of North America. Hunter’s most recent expedition with Watson, his former Greenpeace comrade, was last fall off the coast of Washington state. They were protesting the resumption of whaling by the Makaw Indian band. The 60-page portion was cut from Red Blood, but Hunter says it could be the foundation for a future book. “You can’s tell me on that Makaw reserve in Washington state, where everybody’s driving around in their four-wheel drives and living completely American lifestyles with cowboy hats and Coors beer, that this is a subsistence situation at all,” he says. “Behind closed doors these guys were cutting deals with Norweigians and Japanese. Each one of those whales is worth a million bucks, and it will all go to sushi bars in Tokyo.” Gr RD UP BOB ‘HU would've gone to Singapore. TP certainly wouldn't have been around for the Greenpeace stuff. H's all too mysterious te me.” That Greenpeace stuff brought him to the North Shore News tor the first time. Hunter was the first president and chairman of a ragtag group thar gave birth to the world’s mast paweriul non-governmental environ- ment organization, When it became a serious concern, serious cash was needed to keep it afloac. Hunter said News’ photogra- pker Rex Wyler introduced him to publisher Peter Speck. Speck, Hunter says, “was the only guy we knew who knew anything about making and managing money.” The paper’s Lonsdale offices became the mecting place for Greenpeace’s finance committee. The core group put together a fancy cashflow chart for a presenta- tion to the Royal Bank, but it didn’t matter. “The head of the Royal Bank here in Vancouver, who was head for all of Western Canada, he sat down and looked at the chart and says, right, PH give you a $200,000 line of credit. We thought, wow, that really worked. Then he opened the bar and started passing out drinks. “Ic had nothing do to with our cashflow projection chart. It turned out he believed himself to be a rein- carnated Indian chiefl “OK, that works for me.” Greenpeace became the first, and only, environmental organization in history to employ deficit financing, Hunter says. The group quickly made an international reputation for media savvy stunts to save whales and seals, among other causes. It grew beyond the control of Hunter and his cohorts, even- tually moving headquarters trom Kitsilano to Amsterdam. “Lit started in any other country than Canada, the head office would still be there. The Brits, Germans or Americans would never have given it up. But we did to our credit.” As his role in Greenpeace diminished, Hunter says he became gripped by depression and thoughts of suicide. He even had a rifle ready to do the deed at his home across Indian Arm. “We weren’t winning on the seal front, we weren't winning on the whale front or the nuclear front, or any- thing as far as I could sce. The whole thing was rapidly going down the tubes. | don’t know if I would've pulled the trigger or not. As far as I knew I was going to.” Then another coincidence. A747 flew overhead, causing Our North Shore News carrier Roberto Pinares, one of fifteen winners in the lower mainland, proudly displays the Supercycle Storm bike that he won from Canadian Tire. Roberto is one of 500 North Shore carciers that delivered the 1999 Canadian Tire Catalogue. All carriers were eligible to enter the contest designed specifically for Van Net Publications and Distribution caitiers. Mark Jarman (far right) Manager of the Canadian Tire store on Marine was pleased to present the prize to Roberto and surprised Roberto's mom, Emma, with a box of Belgian chocolates and a certificate for a free oil and lube service for the farnily car. Roberto's father and Barb Emo, Distribution Manager for the North Shore News, were also on hand to congratulate Roberto. enpeace to Hunter to reconsider ending his life. “I never had betare or after seen one go Over Anmore, he said. “That's good enough. [If take it.” He returned to journal- ism, writing columns for the News from the fate "70s to the mid-“90s. Abour 10 years ago he moved to Toronto to become CityT V's environ- ment reporter and newspaper critic. Next Thursday, Earth Day, he'll be honored with the Eco Pioneer Award trom the Wyiand Foundation in Los Angeles, Hunter is impressed with Greenpeace’s evolution inte 2 force to be reckoned with in the corridors of power. The sophistication comes trom lobbying key decision- makers, something Hunter wasn’t keen on initially. “When we were doing it we were small. People would call up from all over the world and say, geez, the three-legged purple salaman- der is disappearing from Uganda, do something! Well, we didn’t have the resources. Now they've got the resources to do a lor of that stuff and they do a hell of a lot of good work and they’re quite sophisticated.” NEWS photo Bred FORMER News’ columnist fab Hunter returned to the North Shore receri#ly to promote his book Red Blood. enjoy melting ricotta, - parmesan & mozzarella _ cheeses blended with oregano, basil, mushrooms, onions & twisty rotini in a garlic cream sauce. Served casserole style with our garden salad of mixed Teteuce, garden vegetables & tomate.