Dr. Stephen Hardy had an academic career spanning a number of western Canadian universities and culminating in the position of Professor of Engineering Science at Simon Fraser University. He also had a concurrent career in industrial research involving various aspects of electrical engineering, from electrical power generation and distribution to microelectronics, culminating in the position of University – Industry Liaison Officer at Simon Fraser University.
Stephen comes from a long family of Métis indigenous people originating in the Red River Métis of southern Manitoba. His direct ancestors are the Tourond, Boyer, and Paul families who are French Métis and the Fisher family who are Scottish Métis. Stephen’s grandmother, Marie Tourond, lived through the Battle of Tourond’s Coulee, the first battle between the Canadian Militia and the Red River Métis, during the 1885 North-West Resistance. Stephen’s great-grandfather, David Tourond, was one of Louis Riel’s bodyguards throughout that same resistance and was a signatory to Riel’s Declaration of War at the beginning of the 1885 Resistance.
