Bruce MacKinnon
Memorial Scholarship

Bruce MacKinnon passed away on July 6, 2008.  A memorial service was held on July 14, 2008 in Ottawa.

Bruce MacKinnon Memorial Scholarship

We have decided to set up the Bruce MacKinnon Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship aim is to remember Bruce MacKinnon and continue to bring education and awareness in the field that he loved.  

Pacific Northwest Planners will be collecting any contributions.  If you would like to contribute, any amount is appropriate.  This scholarship information will be posted on this website in the future once everything is defined.

Please forward cheques with donation form to:  
Pacific Northwest Planners
250-3651 Moncton St.
Richmond, BC V7E 3A5
Canada  

Donation Form

Please complete this form and attach it with your cheque so we can keep track of the donations.  

We think this is an excellent way to remember Bruce each year and his contributions to the industry.  

A beautiful tribute (below) about Bruce's life and accomplishments has been written by Kristi Quinn, Terry Kelly and Stewart Dudley.

Bruce MacKinnon

Program Manager, Wildlife Control

Transport Canada

Bruce MacKinnon was quiet yet effective, unassuming yet determined. He was a results-oriented professional who was not content with simply seeking improvements to Canada’s civil aviation system—he had to know that his efforts led to results, and that these results improved safety.

In September of 1993, after 22 years with Parks Canada, Bruce became Transport Canada’s Wildlife Control Specialist. From then on, he was responsible for managing the National Airport Wildlife Control Program, including the National Bird Strike database. Much of his vision has been realized in initiatives that far exceed not only the demands of his position, but also the expectations of the aviation industry. In fact, in his years at Transport Canada, Bruce’s contributions to aviation safety eclipsed what many dedicated safety professionals could only hope to achieve during a full and rewarding career.

Bruce’s aviation-safety legacy includes a long list of successful and, in some cases, extraordinary accomplishments that attest to his exceptional professionalism, boundless personal energy and unflagging commitment to aviation safety. He was responsible for the development and implementation of Canada’s wildlife-management training program, as well as numerous bulletins and videos that have clearly advanced awareness of wildlife hazards to aviation.

Bruce chaired 12 meetings of Bird Strike Committee Canada, and four meetings of the combined U.S. and Canada Bird Strike Committees. He also prepared and presented numerous technical papers to these committees, and to the International Bird Strike Committee.    

Bruce spent three years leading a team of industry experts, designers and writers in the creation of Sharing the Skies—An Aviation Industry Guide to the Management of Wildlife Hazards. The book, which exceeds 300 pages in length, was published in early 2001 and is now in its second edition. Considered by many to be the seminal treatise on wildlife management for aviation worldwide, its unique scope reflects Bruce’s commitment to comprehensive and proactive system safety. Like Bruce, Sharing the Skies is eminently practical, targeting airport operators and airline managers, pilots and vehicle operators, air traffic controllers and scientists, city planners and lawyers. Bruce’s determination made possible a book that is now read and relied on by aviation professionals around the world—a testament to his dedication and professionalism.

Perhaps Bruce’s most rewarding professional accomplishment was a proactive, performance- and safety-risk based approach to wildlife management and planning that he unveiled in 2001. A brilliant example of Bruce’s ability to translate government policy and Transport Canada goals into practical results, the initiative came into force as part of the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CARs) in 2006. It is the first regulation of its kind in the world, enabling airport authorities to demonstrate how they are actively managing and measuring the hazardous wildlife issues that are unique to their sites. The new CAR is delivering efficiencies for both industry and Transport Canada, and helping to achieve improved system-wide safety performance.

Over the last five years Bruce managed the long-term development of comprehensive regulatory and non-regulatory programs to manage land use outside airport authorities’ jurisdictions. This work is being watched closely by both the FAA and ICAO, and is sure to influence aviation safety worldwide. He recently played the principal role in developing a partnership between a research group in the United States and a large Canadian airport authority. The project promises to be the single largest technological advance in wildlife strike reduction in decades, applying state-of-the-art, radar-based tools to predict in real time the degree of bird-related risk to aircraft operating to and from airports.

Bruce’s Ottawa Citizen obituary is titled “Flying was his life”—a quote from his wife Sylvie. In fact, Bruce’s professional expertise was firmly rooted in, and always informed by, his skill and enthusiasm as a pilot. He found some of his greatest joy in building and flying his RV3. Much of the rest of his joy came from his wife and his daughter, Maxine. Bruce once commented that his dad had “scored top marks as a father.” Although he came to fatherhood relatively late in life, Bruce appeared to blossom in the role as well. He was always quick to convey his pride and delight in watching Maxine grow up, in her academic accomplishments, her gymnastic skills and, recently, her quirks as she approaches her teenager years.

Bruce’s influence extends well beyond the boundaries of Canada’s wildlife control program, and even farther across international borders. His influence and his achievements truly defy description and bring credit to Transport Canada, and to the nation. He has raised professional awareness of wildlife control issues for the benefit of all, and in ways that will be measured for years to come.

In doing so he touched the lives of many with his enthusiasm and good humour. He will long be remembered by those of us in the industry as a consummate professional, an exemplary civil servant and a steadfast friend.