Josie Gonzalez and the National Roundtable on the Environment

Josie Gonzalez is from the Philippines. She wanted to be a doctor, but her father thought that was not practical, so she became a Chemical Engineer and worked for the Forest Products Research Institute at the University of the Philippines before coming to Canada. She completed graduate studies in Forestry in the United States, and eventually came to Canada and worked with the federal Department of Agriculture and Forestry (and later Forintek when it was privatized). She also worked as an electron microscopist with a focus on wood identification, and was sometimes called upon to be an expert witness in cases involving murder and theft.  In 1988, she was invited to become a member of the Society for Canadian Women in Science and Technology. She participated in a national roundtable on the environment. Josie was interviewed with her husband Jess.

Josie Gonzalez studied  chemical engineering in the Philippines, and completed a Master’s degree in forestry in the United States. She came to Canada with her family in 1966, and worked with the Federal Department of Agriculture and Forestry (later Forintek) until her retirement. She is an expert in the micro-cellular structure of wood. She became a charter member of the National roundtable on the Environment in 1989 and travelled to various parts of the country for meetings, including the Yukon, where they visited the Windy Craggy Copper Mine by helicopter.

Josie Gonzalez, arrived from the Philippines, 1966. Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 [14.02.26JJG].