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Gil Waugh
Gil was born in Callander, a small town on Lake Nipissing in Northern Ontario. He is a classically trained trumpet player and electric bassist who toured as a rock musician in the 1970s. In the ear...view moreGil was born in Callander, a small town on Lake Nipissing in Northern Ontario. He is a classically trained trumpet player and electric bassist who toured as a rock musician in the 1970s. In the early 1980s after leaving fulltime music, he trained as a commercial pilot, worked as a licensed Private Investigator, and eventually ended up returning to university to studying Criminology, and then college to study computer programming. He is avidly interested in cognitive science and neural network applications, and for many years now, has designed, secured and maintained corporate networks. In the late 1990s, Gil wrote the Karen Simpson Sandalwood Detective agency series novels Mind Surfing and Evening Song – Òran Feasgair, which are still in print and which were originally published in 1999 went into a 2nd print edition in 2008. He has appeared on countless radio shows, was a feature guest on Global Television’s Mystery Ink and The Destiny Files, and in 2002 was a keynote speaker at the AMEC conference at the University of Mexico in Mexico City. In 1997, Gil co-founded Round the World Challenge (RWC) with Scottish-born World Cup ski champion and James Bond stuntman, Mike Nemesvary, who lives with quadriplegia after a training accident in the mid1980s. The goal of RWC was for Mike to drive his specially equipped truck around the world to raise funds and awareness of the abilities of people with disabilities. Mike and actor Christopher Reeve officially launched RWC in the spring of 2001, and in October of 2001, Mike succeeded in becoming the first quadriplegic to circumnavigate the globe. The trip won media attention all around the world, raised an estimated 1.5 million dollars, won Mike a Governor General’s meritorious service medal, and was captured in a feature-length documentary film.
Gil hails from a proud mix of Highland and Lowland Scottish heritage which has strongly motivated him to embrace, support, and promote Gaelic language, music and culture. In February 2009, he rallied a core group of directors together and incorporated Comunn Gàidhlig Ottawa. In June of 2009, he formed the Ar n-Òran Gaelic choir which recorded their first CD only three months later. He continued to spearhead the Gaelic movement in Ottawa by organizing and holding the first-ever Mòd Canada in November 2009. Gil has completed an array of Gàidhlig courses at Atlantic Gaelic Academy, St. Ann’s Gaelic College, and Sabhal Mòr Ostaig in Scotland and currently teaches the Gàidhlig course in the Celtic Studies program of the University of Ottawa and runs the West-End Studio of the Ottawa City Piping College.view less