Historical Timeline

Frederick Gage Todd prepares the first comprehensive report for the National Capital Region.

Québec’s Architects’ Act is altered to allow landscape architects to use the word “architect” in their title. This achievement is largely credited to Frederick Gage Todd.

In March, at the Royal York Hotel in Toronto, the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects and Town Planners is formed with Gordon Culham (President), Howard Dunington-Grubb (Vice president), Frances Steinhoff (Secretary-Treasurer) and Carl Borgstrom and Edwin Kay (Councilors). Also present: Laurie Dunington-Grubb, Humphrey Carver, J.V. Stensson, and Helen Kippax.

In 1947, the Board of Directors of the CSLA bestowed honorary membership on The Honourable T. B. McQuesten. T.B. McQuesten was appointed chairman of the Niagara Parks Commission in 1934 and introduced a new wave of changes, many of which were led by landscape architects. McQuesten came from a political background but appreciated and understood the skills of landscape architects and involved them in realizing his goals of showcasing Canadian art, architecture and landscapes. The NPC and McQuesten worked together with Canadian landscape architecture pioneers Howard Dunington-Grubb, Lorrie Alfreda Dunington-Grubb and Carl Borgstrom to transform the parkway.

Learn more about CSLA's Honorary Members

Learn more about the Niagara Parks Commission in LP Magazine 

IFLA was founded at Cambridge, England, in 1948 with Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe as its first president, representing 15 countries from Europe and North America. Canada is a founding member.

Picture of IFLA Presidents, from left to right: Geoffrey Jellicoe (1948-1952); Walter Leder (1952-1956); René Pechère (1956-1958); Sidney Shurcliff (1958-1962); Francisco C. Cabral (1962-1966); Richard Schreiner (1966-1968). Source : Harvard University, Graduate School of Design, Archival Collections, Frances Loeb Library.
 

Niagara Falls, Ontario, and guests from the Upstate New York Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (1956) 

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J. Austin Floyd prepares the profession’s first Schedule of Fees and Agreements between clients and landscape architects. 

Donald W. Graham of Ottawa founded the Canadian Landscape Architect magazine and edited it for its entire period of publication from 1960 to 1966. 

The first class of CSLA Fellows was invested in 1964. They were: Otis Bishopric, Gordon Culham, Howard B. Dunnington-Grubb, Maurice H. Howitt and Edward I. Wood. Learn more about the Fellows.

In 1950, prior to the establishment of the first landscape architectural practices in British Columbia, ‘landscape architecture’ was practiced by individuals with diverse backgrounds in horticulture, contracting and nursery production.   In 1961 the B.C. Chapter of the American Institute of Landscape Architects (AILA) was established.  In 1964 the decision was made by the B.C. Chapter of the AILA to incorporate a sister organization as the British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects under the B.C. Societies Act.  The BCSLA was established with a constitution and bylaws modeled upon those of the AILA.  The charter for the new Society was granted on April 21st, 1964 with a total of 20 members. On April 6, 1968, the Act Respecting Landscape Architects was given Royal Assent.

University of Guelph BLA program

csla-aapc.ca/fellows

The Association des architectes paysagistes du Québec (AAPQ) was founded in 1965. The first meeting was held at the Hélène de Champlain restaurant on Île Ste-Hélène, in Montréal. Read an article by Ron Williams published in the AAPQ's anniversary publication

University of Toronto adds a landscape architecture division (a four-year BLA) to its programs. The BLA will be phased out in 1999. History

In 1968, the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects was founded as a self-regulating association with the goal of the improvement, advancement, and promotion of the profession of landscape architecture. The association maintained standards of professional practice and conduct to serve and protect the public interest, and, as of 1984, administered the Ontario Association of Landscape Architects Act, 1984.

Ground magazine that includes a timeline of the history of the OALA

The School of Architecture at l’Université de Montréal

The graduate program in Landscape Architecture at the University of Manitoba was Canada's first of its kind. It resulted from the vision of the late Dean of Architecture, John A. Russell. Its establishment was facilitated by the appointment of Alexander Rattray as Head of the program in July 1969. The initial three-year graduate course of study was offered through the University's Natural Resource Institute in 1970. The Master of Landscape Architecture program was formally accepted by the Province of Manitoba in 1972. Program history

In 1969, the CSLA introduced a program of Lifetime Membership, which recognizes highly respected, retired members no longer active in the field. Recipients of lifetime membership are no longer required to pay membership fees but continue to have all the rights and privileges of full membership. The first CSLA members to receive lifetime membership were:

• Otis Bishopric
• Frances V. Blue
• Gordon Culham
• Maurice Howitt
• Edward I. Wood

CSLA is restructured into a federation of provincial and regional component associations. Edwin Skapsts, Jack Walker and Clive Justice lead the restructuring.

The Alberta Association of Landscape Architects was registered with the Province of Alberta in 1970, after several years of lobbying and pursuit. The very first executive board included Hugh Knowles, Randy Mitchell, Ren Settle, John Burrows, Don Sigsby and Pat Butler. 

Students from the University of Guelph and the University of Toronto establish LA Bash, the annual international student conference.

University of Manitoba MLA program

University of Guelph MLA

On April 28, 1973 the inaugural meeting of the Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects was held at the Westminster Motor Hotel in Winnipeg. This meeting was the result of several informal planning sessions at the home of Douglas Paterson, then Senior Design Planner with Lombard North. At the Westminster Hotel meeting an interim slate of officers was installed: Douglas Paterson, President; Jack Walker, Vice- President; Gunter A. Schoch, Vice-President; Kenneth Pugh, Secretary; and Garry Hilderman, Treasurer. The first annual general meeting took place on March 19, 1974 at the Granite Curling Club and was admitted as a Canadian Society of Landscape Architects component association the same year.

On August 23rd, 1974, the CSLA approved a motion moved by Doug Paterson and seconded by A. Budrevics to recognize APALA as a component association.

In 1973, Reinhart started his own business in Halifax and became the first landscape architect in Atlantic Canada to make a living from his profession. The following year, the CSLA asked him to start an association in the Maritimes. With the help of Fellow Estyl Mooney, he founded the Atlantic Provinces Association of Landscape Architects and served as President for the first four years.

In 1975, Moura Quayle, a BLA graduate of the University of Guelph, eventual Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President, Academic Affairs at UBC and a former Deputy Minister of the B.C. Ministry of Advanced Education, initiated the CSLA's official publication entitled Landscape Architecture in Canada.  It appeared quarterly and was a bilingual publication. Moura Quayle edited the magazine from August 1975 to October 1977.  Involved with the publication from its inception, Owen Scott assumed editorial duties in 1977, and with his wife Barbara, their firm (Owen R. Scott & Associates Limited) became publisher in August 1978 until 1981, when a proposal to continue the publication was rejected by the Board of the CSLA in December 1980. 

Visit l'École d’architecture de paysage's website and read an article on its history written by Nicole Valois and Ron Williams: Histoire de la formation en architecture de paysage à l’Université de Montréal (openedition.org)

University of British Columbia BLA program

The first indication of an awards program in the profession appears in the 1969 minutes of the CSLA Board of Directors. It mentions that at the October Annual Meeting in Ottawa, 3 Awards of Excellence and 4 Awards of Merit were presented. The committee that organized this “Design Competition” consisted of Norman P. Fodchuck (Chair), Donald W. Pettit, FCSLA and Henry Stengel, while the jury was made up of Otis Bishopric, FCSLA and Roderick Clack. Regional awards programs began to emerge in the early 1980s. The CSLA established its awards program in 1982, with the first awards being made at CSLA Congress ‘83 in Edmonton. Following the 1983 Awards, the decision was made to have a national awards program which would evaluate submissions for “Regional” merit and secondly for “National” merit. At the 1985 Board of Governors meeting in Saskatoon, approval was granted, formally incorporating all regional awards programs into one national CSLA program. From 1984 to 1986, Arnis Budrevics, OALA, FCSLA, served as Awards Chair. At the Board of Governors meeting held on March 19, 1986, in Halifax, he presented a 7-page report which clearly and comprehensively stated all the goals, objectives and operating procedures under which the Awards Committee would operate. The proposal was accepted and the necessary funds were included in CSLA’s annual budgets. The administration of the awards program was entrusted to the University of Manitoba’s Landscape Architecture Department to administer on behalf of the CSLA until 2022, when the administration reverted to the CSLA head office. An archive of award-winning projects can be viewed here.

In November, the CSLA publishes the Landscape Architectural Review (LA Review) “to provide a forum for the presentation and promotion of landscape architecture” under the CSLA aegis and every CSLA member receives a copy.
 

In the early 1980s, the idea of a plaque was first proposed by Gene Riesman, president of the Montreal development company First Quebec Corporation. The City of Montreal agreed to the proposal and provided the site - originally at the top of chemin Olmsted - and placed a large rock for the installation of the plaque. The preliminary design was provided by Ron Williams, reviewed by the Association des architectes paysagistes du Québec, the City of Montreal and Mr. Reisman before it was casted. The plaque was installed and dedicated in early May 1984, as part of the 3-day colloquium and celebration for the celebration of the Université de Montréal's landscape architecture program 15th anniversary celebration. In 1992, the monument was relocated to its present site.

View the plaque

CSLA Publishes Fifty Years of Landscape Architecture: The Canadian Society of Landscape Architects 1934-1984, by Cecelia Paine, ed.

The CSLA had developed an accreditation policy in the form of a 16-page brochure as early as 1979, when the accreditation of schools of landscape architecture at Canadian universities was provided exclusively by ASLA's Landscape Architecture Accreditation Board (LAAB). At the 1985 CSLA Congress in Saskatoon (July 4-6), Bradley R. Johnson, FCSLA was appointed the first Chair of the CSLA Accreditation Council and given the task of establishing the Council and accreditation program. In October 1985, the “Manual of Accreditation Standards and Procedures” was prepared. The first meeting was conducted on June 6, 1986, in Ottawa with Peter Jacobs, Brad Johnson, Don Pettit and Jim Stansbury in attendance and Doug Paterson present via telephone. The first Accreditation Team visit took place on November 23-24, 1987, at the University of Manitoba and accreditation of its program was approved in March 1988. This was followed by visits to the University of Toronto (in conjunction with the LAAB) on March 19-22, 1989, and the Université de Montréal on April 3-5, 1989. 

In January of 1985, the LA Review becomes a bilingual publication and is renamed Landscape Architecture Review/Revue d’architecture de paysage. It will be published until 1993.

Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation (LACF)

CSLA publishes "Portrait of a Profession: Landscape Architecture in 1988" by Moura Quayle, Neil Guppy and Luc Roberge

On September 14th, 1990, the Northwest Territories Association of Landscape Architects was incorporated and the following year, was accepted as a component of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects, having participated in board meetings as an observer the previous year.

In 1992 the British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects became the first Canadian jurisdiction to adopt the Landscape Architect Registration Examination as a condition of membership and became a member of the Council for Landscape Architectural Registration Boards. Until then, the BCSLA had applied the Uniform National Examination and its own BCSLA examinations. The Ontario Association of Landscape Architecture adopted the LARE in 1993 and became CLARB members in 1994. The Alberta Association of Landscape Architects followed in 2013 and the Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects instituted the exam in 2015 and became CLARB members in 2021.

In 1992, the President's Award of Excellence (later renamed the President's Award) was established and presented at the 1992 Congress held in Waskesiu, Saskatchewan. It was intended for members of long standing who had provided exceptional meritorious services to the CSLA, as selected by the president. In 1992, the inaugural President's Award was bestowed on Donald W. Graham, Clive L. Justice, André Sauvé, and James R. Taylor. In 2020, it was combined with the Schwabenbauer Award and renamed the Schwabenbauer President's Award.

In 1992 the British Columbia Society of Landscape Architects became the first Canadian jurisdiction to adopt the Landscape Architect Registration Examination as a condition of membership and became a member of the Council for Landscape Architectural Registration Boards. Until then, the BCSLA had applied the Uniform National Examination and its own BCSLA examinations. The Ontario Association of Landscape Architecture adopted the LARE in 1993 and became CLARB members in 1994. The Alberta Association of Landscape Architects followed in 2013 and the Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects instituted the exam in 2015 and became CLARB members in 2021.

Read more about Lawrence

In 1994, the CSLA established the Community Service Award, to be presented to non-member individuals or agencies who had displayed an exceptional awareness of environmental issues and responsibility in their community. The inaugural award was bestowed on the General Motors of Canada Ltd. Company in recognition of their contribution to a stormwater management project in partnership with CSLA, the federal Department of Public Works, the National Research Council and the Canadian Stormwater Society.

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CSLA publishes "Glimpses of CSLA-AAPC History" written by Gunter A. Schoch 

CSLA publishes "Changing the Face of Canada: Profiles of Landscape Architects" written by Linda M. Le Geyt. Click here to find the audio links of interviews conducted by Linda LeGeyt.

In the Fall, the first Issue of LANDSCAPES | PAYSAGES, magazine, edited by Cecilia Paine, is published, with the help of funds from the LACF.
 

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Following a career in the arts in costume design and construction  with international theatre and ballet companies as well as positions as Director of Marketing and General Manager, Fran Pauzé worked with the CSLA for 8 years as Executive Director (2000-2009). She was pleased  to assist  the organization in  achieving financial stability and worked with the board to firmly establish Landscapes Paysages as the publication showcasing the profession in Canada .  The annual CSLA awards program was expanded and became a regular part of the benefits enjoyed by members.

Semi retirement followed as part time administrator for The Universities Art Association .  With UAAC the organization grew in numbers and in stature thanks in large part to her guidance.  Annual conferences in particular were highly successful and UAAC’s communication tools were digitised and became accessible to a much larger audience.

After 12 years with UAAC, retirement beckoned and Fran now enjoys spending time with her husband Alain at their Muskoka cottage and their  home in Victoria.
 

In 2001, John Laird, Chris Grosset, Richard Wyma, and Heather Gosselin began discussing ways to promote the profession in Nunavut in a manner that recognized and reflected its unique cultural and natural environments; enhanced the knowledge, education, and skill in the art and science of landscape architecture throughout Nunavut by fostering public, government, and industry interests in landscape architecture; and provided a “voice” for Nunavut’s landscapes. This led to the Nunavut Association of Landscape Architects being granted association status in Nunavut and being recognized as a CSLA Component Association in 2002. From July 14th to 17th, 2011 NuALA hosted the CSLA Congress in Iqaluit. The theme was “On the Land”.

Catherine MacDonald authors Making a Place: A History of Landscape Architects and Landscape Architecture in Manitoba

In 2004, a proposal was discussed by the Board of Directors regarding enhanced awards to recognize CSLA members' contributions and accomplishments. In 2006, John Neill was awarded the inaugural Teaching Medal (later renamed the Teaching Award), Gunter Schoch was awarded the inaugural Schwabenbauer Award (later renamed the Schwabenbauer Presidents' Award) and Cornelia Hahn Oberlander was awarded the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award.

James R. Taylor publishes the first edition of The Practice of Landscape Architecture in Canada. The second edition is published in 2010.

"A Pocket History"

From May 2011 to March 2012, the CSLA approached Elizabeth Sharpe of the Association Management Company (AMC) to ask for support in the operations and governance of CSLA on an interim basis and to fill the role of Interim Executive Director.  The AMC team of specialists and association volunteers, led by Kip Sharpe, moved forward to organize and present the 2011 Annual General Meeting and Conference in Iqaluit, Nunavut for mid-July of that year and continued to support the day-to-day requirements over the following nine months.   

As a Certified Association Executive, Elizabeth founded and operated a nationally and internationally recognized association management company in Canada with offices in Ottawa and Calgary Alberta for 15 years.  She co-founded with her husband Kip, tAMc in 2006 and continues with a successful operation to the present, currently operating out of Invermere BC.

According to Elizabeth, "Serving the CSLA was an honour.  The professionalism shown and support given by so many members during this challenging time in the life of CSLA was exemplary. We hold lifelong fond memories of meeting so many world-renowned landscape architects still doing the important work of caring for our land and the people who benefit from it."

Michelle Legault is the Executive Director of both the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects (CSLA) and the Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation (LACF). 

Following her graduation from Laurentian University in 1996 with a Master’s degree in history, Ms. Legault began her career administering a scholarly publishing program and yearly awards program at the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada’s Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme. In 1999, she accepted a position as an Information Officer with the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2003, she became Head of the Canada Council for the Arts’ Arts Services Unit and, from 2007 to 2012, was the Executive Secretary of the Public Lending Right Commission, where she managed the $10M national Public Lending Right Programme. Since 2012, she has been at the helm of the Canadian Society of Landscape Architects. Ms. Legault brings key leadership strengths to the role of the CSLA’s Executive Director in the areas of communication, governance, project management, volunteer and member support and business and financial management. She is responsible for increasing the awareness and promoting CSLA’s goals and objectives, celebrating its members’ achievements, supporting education and research, developing policy, ensuring strong Board governance and enhancing the organization’s profile.

CSLA brokers a Reciprocity Agreement which is signed by 8 of 9 component associations; that agreement is renewed in 2020 with all component associations as signatories.

In 2014, the CSLA Board of Directors established the Emerging Professionals Award to recognize exceptional landscape architects in the early years of their careers. The inaugural award was bestowed on Mike Teed at the 2014 CSLA Congress in Ottawa.

Ron Williams publishes Landscape Architecture in Canada and, with the LACF, the CSLA organizes and funds a cross-Canada book tour.

The University of Calgary Master of Landscape Architecture was established in 2015 and received its accreditation in June 2018.  On April 1^st, 2019, the name of the faculty where the program resides changed from the Faculty of Environmental Design (EVDS) to the School of Architecture, Planning, and Landscape. (History)

csla-aapc.ca/charter

Administered by the Association Media and Publishing, the EXCEL awards are the largest and most prestigious award program that exclusively recognizes excellence and leadership in non-profit association media, publishing, marketing, and communications. The magazine will win the award again in 2016, 2018 and 2019.
 

In cooperation with the Canadian Nursery Landscape Association, the CSLA published the first edition of the Canadian Landscape Standard, based on the British Columbia Landscape Standard.

Cornelia Hahn Oberlander (2016)

Administered by the Association Media and Publishing, the EXCEL awards are the largest and most prestigious award program that exclusively recognizes excellence and leadership in non-profit association media, publishing, marketing, and communications. The L|P Award was in the category of general excellence.