[3] Born in Preston, Ontario (now part of Cambridge), Trigger obtained his undergraduate education at the University of Toronto earning a B.A.

[3] He was married to Dr Barbara Welch,[7] a British geographer trained in Physical Geography, who, despite being less-known than her husband, was considered an equally sophisticated thinker.

"[9] Klejn described (2008:4) Bruce and his contributions after his death as: "Today no other scholar is able to skillfully embrace the whole multifaceted range of activities of this modest and calm man.

There must have been something unique about his spirit or personality that inspired and equipped him to deal creatively with American Indians, Ancient Egypt, world civilizations and the theory and history of archaeology, and it is interesting to try to understand some of the principles underlying his explorations of these very different themes.

"[9] The topics of his thirteen PhD students (in order R. F. Williamson (1979); Alexander D. Von Gernet (1982); Robert J. Pearce (1984); Peter A Timmons (1984); Brian D. Deller (1988); Gary Warrick (1990); William R. Fitzgerald (1990); Frances L. Stewart (1997); Eldon Yellowhorn (2002); Robert I. McDonald (2002); Stephen Chrisomalis (2003); Jerimy Cunningham (2005) and Alicia Colson (2006) reflect his wide ranging interests.

He co-supervised two PhD candidates with Fumiko Ikawa-Smith and Robin D. S. Yates (Katrinka Reinhardt 1997) and with Colin Scott (Audra Simpson 2003) .

"[12] He published a number of articles on this topic: In Understanding Early Civilizations: A Comparative Study Trigger uses an integrated theoretical approach to look at the meaning of similarities and differences in the formation of complex societies in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, Shang of China, Aztecs and Classic Maya of Mesoamerica, Inka of the Andes, and Yoruba of Africa.

Some early Euro-American archaeologists explained away the contrary evidence of earthwork mounds as the creations of "more enlightened" non-native peoples who had been exterminated by Native American savages.

John Wesley Powell, who led the debunking of the mound builder myths, not coincidentally also recognized that great injustices had been perpetuated against Native American peoples.

He received a number of academic awards and numerous other honours such as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada from 1976, he became a recipient of their Innis-Gérin Medal in 1985.