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Erin Mouré (a.k.a. Erín Moure, Eirin Moure, and Elisa Sampedrín), poet, translator, essayist (born 17 April 1955 in Calgary, AB). Erin Mouré is one of Canada’s most prolific and influential experimental poets. She is also an active translator of Galician, French, Spanish, and Portuguese poetry into English. She has won two Governor General’s Literary Awards — one for poetry and one for translation — and the Pat Lowther Memorial Award. She has also been shortlisted three times for the Griffin Poetry Prize.

Friedrich Karl von Bruemmer, CM, RCA, photographer, writer, researcher (born 26 June 1929 in Riga, Latvia; died 17 December 2013 in Montreal, QC). Latvian Canadian wildlife photographer Fred Bruemmer spent much of his professional career in the Arctic. He was famous for photographing the flora and fauna of the North and the lifestyle of the Inuit. Bruemmer was a prolific writer and researcher who wrote more than 1,000 articles and 27 books. His extensive work in the circumpolar world reached an international audience. He was described in a 1980 Maclean’s article as “one of the least-known world-famous men in Canada.” He was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1983.

Tsukiye Muriel Kitagawa (née Fujiwara), writer, political activist, (born 3 April 1912 in Vancouver, BC; died 27 March 1974 in Toronto, ON). In the 1930s and 1940s, Kitagawa was variously an editor or regular contributor to The New Age, The New Canadian, and Nisei Affairs, publications founded with her fellow second-generation Japanese Canadians to advocate for the political rights of Canadians of Japanese ancestry. She is most well known for her 1941-42 letters to her brother, Mitsumori Wesley “Wes” Fujiwara, which contained her firsthand accounts of the Japanese Canadian community in Vancouver in the months following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor (December 1941) and as the Canadian government gradually implemented orders for the community’s forced removal from the coast (see War Measures Act; Internment of Japanese Canadians). Her letters were published posthumously in 1985 as This is My Own: Letters to Wes & Other Writings on Japanese Canadians, 1941-1948. Kitagawa’s writings were an important source for the Japanese Canadian Redress movement.

Émile Nelligan, poet (born 24 December 1879 in Montréal, QC; died 18 November 1941). A romantic, parnassian and symbolist, Émile Nelligan was an outstanding poet at the end of the 19^th century.

Richard Wagamese, Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) novelist, journalist, mentor (born 4 October 1955 in northwestern ON; died 10 March 2017 in Kamloops, BC). A well-known Indigenous writer in Canada, Wagamese won several awards including the Canada Council for the Arts Molson Prize (2013) and the Writers’ Trust of Canada’s Matt Cohen Award (2015). His works speak about the historical and contemporary socio-economic issues affecting Indigenous communities in Canada. They also bring attention to issues regarding Indigenous identity, culture and truth and reconciliation. A beloved writer, Wagamese’s works have inspired many Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples and writers alike.

Maria Campbell, O.C., Cree-Métis writer, playwright, filmmaker, scholar, teacher and elder (born 26 April 1940 in Park Valley, SK). Campbell’s memoir Halfbreed (1973) is regarded as a foundational piece of Indigenous literature in Canada for its attention to the discrimination, oppression and poverty that some Métis women (and Indigenous people, in general) experience in Canada. Campbell has authored several other books and plays, and has directed and written scripts for a number of films. As an artist, Campbell has worked with Indigenous youth in community theatre and advocated for the hiring and recognition of Indigenous people in the arts. She has mentored many Indigenous artists during her career.

Robert England, teacher, railway administrator, civil servant (born 15 September 1894 in Portadown, Northern Ireland; died 14 June 1985 in Victoria, BC). England had a varied education and an even more varied career. However, his contributions to Canadian society were primarily in the fields of rural education, immigration and cultural pluralism, veterans’ rehabilitation and citizenship.

Thomas Watson Kirkconnell, university professor and administrator (born 16 May 1895 in Port Hope, ON; died 26 February 1977 in Wolfville, NS). A professor of English and Classics, Kirkconnell became one of Canada’s most prolific translators and the recipient of honours both at home and abroad. He was a founding member of the Humanities Research Council of Canada (now the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada). An early cultural pluralist, Kirkconnell promoted the tolerance and celebration of European cultures in Canada, a diversity he described using the tapestry metaphor.

Alexander Thomas, writer, Indigenous leader (born on 25 December 1891 in Port Alberni, BC; died there on 28 July 1971).

Buffalo Child Long Lance, writer, actor, impostor (born Sylvester Long at Winston-Salem, North Carolina on 1 December 1890; died in Arcadia, California on 20 March 1932). Of mixed Indigenous and white (and possibly black) ancestry, he was able to escape the segregated southern US because he looked "Indian."

Pierre Perrault, OQ, film director, poet, writer (born 29 June 1927 in Montréal, QC; died 23 June 1999 in Montréal). Pierre Perrault was one of Quebec’s most significant and celebrated artists. His collective work in radio, film, television and print explores the genesis and nature of French Canadian culture and identity. A pioneer of direct cinema, his elegiac 1963 documentary Pour la suite du monde, co-directed with Michel Brault, is a landmark in Canadian cinema. His writing received three Governor General’s Literary Awards: for poetry, theatre and non-fiction. An Officer of the Ordre national du Québec, Perrault received the Prix Ludger-Duvernay, Prix Albert-Tessier, Prix Victor-Barbeau, the Médaille des Arts et des Lettres from the Government of France, and the Médaille d’argent du Mouvement national des Québécois et Québécoises.

​Freda Ahenakew, OC, Cree scholar, author (born 11 February 1932 on Ahtahkakoop First Nation, SK; died 8 April 2011 at Muskeg Lake First Nation, SK). Ahenakew is recognized as a leader in the acknowledgment and revitalization of the Cree language in Canada. In her life, Ahenakew helped to preserve the oral traditions of the Cree people and share Cree traditions and stories with Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples alike. (See also Indigenous Language Revitalization in Canada.)

Sir Cecil Edward Denny, 6th baronet of Tralee Castle, police officer, Indian agent, author (b in Hampshire, Eng 14 Dec 1850; d at Edmonton 24 Aug 1928). Denny is best known as the author of two colourful accounts of life with the North-West Mounted Police - The Riders of the Plains: A Reminiscence of the Early and Exciting Days in the North West (1905) and The Law Marches West (1939).

Alexander Begg, writer, historian (b at Québec City 19 July 1839; d at Victoria 6 Sept 1897).

Archibald Stansfeld Belaney (also known as Grey Owl), writer, conservationist (born 18 September 1888 in Hastings, England; died 13 April 1938 in Prince Albert, SK). Belaney was a well-known conservationist and writer in the 1930s who falsely presented himself as an Indigenous person. Although born in England, he portrayed himself as the son of a Scottish man and Apache woman and named himself Grey Owl. His articles and books stressed wilderness conservation and became bestsellers in Canada and Britain. Shortly after his death in 1938, a newspaper article exposed his real identity as Archibald Belaney.

David Takayoshi Suzuki, CC, OBC, geneticist, broadcaster, environmental activist (born 24 March 1936 in Vancouver, BC). A Japanese Canadian, David Suzuki was interned with his family during the Second World War. He later became one of Canada’s most popular scientists and media personalities. He is best known as the host (1979–2023) of the longest-running science show on television, CBC’s The Nature of Things, and for his work as an environmental activist. He has received ACTRA’s John Drainie Award for broadcasting excellence and the Canadian Screen Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award. A Companion of the Order of Canada, he has also received the Order of British Columbia and been inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame.

Emily Murphy (née Ferguson), pen name Janey Canuck, writer, journalist, magistrate, political and legal reformer (born 14 March 1868 in Cookstown, ON; died 27 October 1933 in Edmonton, AB). Emily Murphy was the first woman magistrate (justice of the peace) in the British Empire. She was also one of the Famous Five behind the Persons Case. It ruled that women were persons in the eyes of the law. Murphy was an outspoken feminist and suffragist. She is also controversial. Her views on immigration and eugenics have been seen as racist and elitist. She was named a Person of National Historic Significance in 1958. She was made an honorary senator in 2009.

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