A graduate of the Univeristy of Toronto (B.Sc.) and the University of Calgary (Ph.D.), Jon's first experience in the Canadian Arctic was as a field assistant with the Institute of Arctic and Alpine Research on Baffin Island in the 1970's. Subsequent fieldwork with the Geological Survey of Canada included Melville Peninsula and Kluane National Park.
Following retirement from a 26 year career in the Calgary oil industry he continues his Earth science outreach activities as a guide and instructor for the Burgess Shale Geoscience Foundation, a member of the Canadian Geoscience Education Network, and as a lecturer on small expedition cruises in the Arctic.
He is currently a volunteer assistant to an Inuit Elder - driven initiative, Tusaqtuut, documenting the core knowledge of the few remaining Elders born on the land of South Baffin prior to relocation to Arctic settlements. This includes planning a southern knowledge-sharing visit to the University of Calgary hosted by the Arctic Institute. This will provide opportunity to review the Arctic Institute archives with the Inuit Elders thereby initiating a project to increase the value of the Institute's Arctic photographic collection by identifying some of the Nunavumiut in the photos.