Sarah Harmer

Sarah Lois Harmer (born November 12, 1970) is a Canadian singer, songwriter and environmental activist.

Early life Born and raised in Burlington, Ontario, Harmer gained her first exposure to the musical lifestyle as a teenager, when her older sister started taking her to Tragically Hip concerts.

Career At the age of 17, Harmer was invited to join a Toronto band, the Saddletramps. For three years, she performed with them while pursuing her studies in philosophy and women's studies at Queen's University.

After leaving the Saddletramps, Harmer put together a band of her own with several Kingston, Ontario musicians, and chose the name Weeping Tile. The band released its first independent cassette in 1994. Soon afterward, they signed to a major label, and the cassette was re-released in 1995 as Eepee. The band performed regularly on the rock club circuit and on campus radio with their subsequent albums, but never broke through to the mainstream, and broke up in 1998 after being dropped from their label. In 2001, she toured around Canada and the US in support of the album.

A poppier, more laid-back effort than her work with Weeping Tile, You Were Here was a commercial success, and led to the hit singles "Basement Apartment" and "Don't Get Your Back Up". The album also appeared on many critics' year-end lists, including Time magazine, which called it the year's best debut album.

Harmer has also appeared as a guest vocalist on albums by other artists, including Blue Rodeo, Great Big Sea, Rheostatics, Bruce Cockburn, Luther Wright and the Wrongs, Loomer, Skydiggers, The Weakerthans, Neko Case, Great Lake Swimmers, The Tragically Hip, and Bob Wiseman.

In February 2007, Harmer received three Juno Award nominations. I'm a Mountain was nominated for Best Adult Alternative Album and her DVD Escarpment Blues won the JUNO Award for Best Music DVD. Harmer herself was also nominated for Songwriter of the Year for her work on "I Am Aglow", "Oleander", and "Escarpment Blues".

In 2010, Harmer released a fifth album, Oh Little Fire, which was nominated for three Juno Awards. The album signaled a shift toward a more rock-based sound.

In 2011, Harmer participated in the National Parks Project, visiting British Columbia's Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site with Bry Webb, Jim Guthrie, and filmmaker Scott Smith. She was also commissioned by CBC Radio 2 to write an original campfire song for the network.

On August 19, 2016, Harmer and Jim Creeggan appeared on CBC Radio's Q to perform a live cover of The Tragically Hip's "Morning Moon". That year Harmer also performed at the Edmonton Folk Music Festival.

In 2018, Harmer contributed the song "Just Get Here" to the compilation album The Al Purdy Songbook. In the same year, she performed at the Juno Awards of 2018 in a tribute to the late Gord Downie, performing a medley of "Introduce Yerself" and "Bobcaygeon" in collaboration with Dallas Green and Kevin Hearn.

Her newest album, Are You Gone, was released in February 2020 on Arts & Crafts. It was longlisted for the 2020 Polaris Music Prize, and nominated for Best Adult Alternative Album at the Juno Awards of 2021.

Activism

In 2005, Harmer co-founded PERL (Protecting Escarpment Rural Land), an organization which campaigned to protect the Niagara Escarpment from a proposed gravel development which would see some parts of wilderness near the escarpment removed. To support the organization, she and her acoustic band embarked on a tour of the escarpment, hiking the Bruce Trail and performing at theatres and community halls in towns along the way. A documentary DVD of this tour was released in 2006 as Escarpment Blues. Harmer also coauthored a book about the campaign, The Last Stand: A Journey Through the Ancient Cliff-Face Forest of the Niagara Escarpment, which was published in 2007. In October 2012, PERL won their case against the development.

Harmer has performed and canvassed in support of the NDP and politician Marilyn Churley, who also promoted the protection of the Niagara Escarpment. She has also performed in support of Ontario Green Party Leader and MPP Mike Schreiner.

On March 24, 2018, she joined the demonstration at Kinder Morgan's Burnaby Terminal to protest against the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipeline.

In February 2019, she spoke against the Ontario government's proposed Bill 66 at a Kingston City Council meeting.

In January 2022, Sarah helped launch the Reform Gravel Mining Coalition with co-chair Graham Flint. The RGMC seeks to reform the gravel mining industry in Ontario.

At the Juno Awards of 2025, Harmer was presented with the Juno Humanitarian Award in honour of her environmental activism.

Family Her niece Georgia Harmer, the daughter of Sarah's sister Mary with their former Weeping Tile bandmate Gord Tough, is a singer-songwriter whose debut album Stay in Touch was released in April 2022 on Arts & Crafts Productions.

Discography

Albums Title Details Peak chartpositions Certifications(sales thresholds) CAN US Heat Songs for Clem Release date: 1999 Label: Cold Snap Records — — You Were Here Release date: August 29, 2000 Label: Cold Snap Records — — CAN: Platinum All of Our Names Release date: March 23, 2004 Label: Cold Snap Records 6 43 CAN: Gold I'm a Mountain Release date: November 15, 2005 Label: Cold Snap Records 31 — CAN: Gold Oh Little Fire Release date: June 22, 2010 Label: Cold Snap Records 7 24 Are You Gone Release date: February 21, 2020 Label: Arts & Crafts Productions 63 — "—" denotes releases that did not chart

Singles Year Single Album 2000 "Basement Apartment" You Were Here 2001 "Don't Get Your Back Up" "Weakened State" 2003 "Silver Road" Men with Brooms 2004 "Almost" All of Our Names "Pendulums" 2005 "I Am Aglow" I'm a Mountain 2006 "Oleander" 2010 "Captive" Oh Little Fire 2018 "Just Get Here" The Al Purdy Songbook 2019 "New Low" Are You Gone2020 "St. Peter's Bay"

In 2007, Harmer also reunited with Weeping Tile to record a song, "Public Square", for the Rheostatics tribute album The Secret Sessions.

Publications Peter E. Kelly, Douglas W. Larson, Sarah Harmer, The Last Stand : A Journey Through the Ancient Cliff-Face Forest of the Niagara Escarpment, Natural Heritage Books, 2007, (paperback).