Valerie Joan Haig-Brown (born 1936 in Campbell River, British Columbia) is a Canadian activist, athlete, author, and conservationist.
Haig-Brown was born in 1936 to Roderick Haig-Brown and Ann (Elmore). In high school, Haig-Brown was a champion Track and Field athlete for Campbell River High School on Vancouver Island.[1][2] She was also the president of the Drama Club and a writer for the school annual.[3] During her last year at Campbell River High School and her first year at the University of British Columbia, she was also a member of the Vancouver Olympic Club.[4]
In 1953, she was one of three women members of the Vancouver Olympic Club.[5] From 1953 to 1957, Haig-Brown attended the University of British Columbia.[6] In the mid 1950s, while still attending UBC, Haig-Brown married Joseph J. Cvetkovich.[7] With Joseph, she had a daughter named Ann Luja Cvetkovich in July 1957.[8] Ann has a doctorate in English Language and Literature, and, as of 2020, is the Director of the Pauline Jewett Institute of Women's and Gender Studies at Carleton University.[9]
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Haig-Brown was married to a Mr McGregor.[10][11] While editing a book by her father, that was to be published posthumously in the early 1980s, Haig-Brown visited and spoke with writer Andy Russell in Waterton Park, Alberta. She met his son H. John Russell during her brief time there. She went on to marry John in 1983 and joined him in his conservation battles, particularly in his fight against the Oldman River Dam.[12][13] Haig-Brown climbed Vancouver Island's Mount Haig-Brown, named for her father, when she was 70.[14]
Haig-Brown attended the University of British Columbia from 1953 to 1957. During her first year, in 1954, she ran in the Alma Mater Society election for 2nd member at large, which she lost.[15] Also in 1954, she joined Kappa Kappa Gamma.[16] Beginning in January 1955, she was a writer and editor The Ubyssey.[17] This time as an editor and reporter ended in late 1956.[18] She was also an editor of the Chronicle, published by the UBC Alumni Association, and held membership in the Women's Residence Council and Women's Administration Board.[19][20]
She was an editor with Maclean's and The Canadian magazines.[38][39] In 1969, Haig-Brown, as Valerie McGregor, became the editor of a new free magazine called the "Toronto Calendar," which was distributed to wealthy households in Toronto.[40][41]
In 1978, while working for TVOntario as manager of information services, Haig-Brown was asked by publisher Jack McClelland to edit her father's writings. She ended up discovering enough material for three books after perusing her father's material. Shortly after discovering the amount of work to be done was worth a trilogy of books, she quit TVOntario and devoted herself to the project.[42]