Phil Nuytten - North Vancouver

Phil Nuytten is a businessman, sub-sea engineer, diver, marine archeologist, author, carver and native advocate.

He was born in Vancouver and has lived all his life there. He started on a business career right out of high school opening a SCUBA store in 1958. Eight years later he founded Can-Dive Service Ltd.

As an acknowledged expert in underwater technology and enterprise, Phil Nuytten has helped put British Columbia on the map as a centre of high-tech underwater development.

His internationally acclaimed "Newt Suit" - often called the submarine you can wear - has given divers a way to work underwater longer without fear of "the bends".

As an author, carver, and Native advocate, Phil Nuytten is devoted to Northwest Coast Native art and culture. He has carved totem poles, masks, jewelry and full size canoes.

In his book "The Totem Carvers," Phil Nyutten has documented the lives of three prominent "Kwakwaka 'wakw" carvers and their role in preserving traditional totemic art.

He has promoted recognition and marketing of the art of British Columbia's First Peoples and has an ongoing program of repatriating artistic pieces of significant historical importance and donating them to museums in this province.

The "Kwakwaka 'waka" have given him the name of Tlaxan, which means Red Snapper.