Topic: “A Life At Sea”

Lillian Kluka grew up on a farm near Blenheim, Ontario. With no marine background, she never expected to spend her working life at sea. A week after finishing high school, she boarded her first cargo vessel and it was love at first sight. She attended Georgian College of Applied Arts and Technology in Owen Sound, in the Marine Navigation Technology programme and worked on the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence Seaway system, the Atlantic coast, and in the Arctic. In 1995, she moved to the Great Lakes Pilotage Authority, becoming the first female marine pilot in Canada.

Location: Centennial Hall, 550 Wellington St., London ON