Search for ""

Alfred Joseph Casson, painter (b at Toronto 17 May 1898; d there 20 Feb 1992). After study at Hamilton (1913-15) and Toronto (1915-17), A.J. Casson got his first real job in 1919 at a Toronto commercial art firm as Franklin Carmichael's apprentice.

While they may not have had access to the battlefields, a number of Canadian women artists made their mark on the visual culture of the First World War by representing the home front. First among these were the women affiliated with the Canadian War Memorials Fund, Canada’s first official war art program. Founded in 1916, the stated goal of the Fund was to provide “suitable Memorials in the form of Tablets, Oil-Paintings, etc. […], to the Canadian Heroes and Heroines in the War.” Expatriates Florence Carlyle and Caroline Armington participated in the program while overseas. Artists Henrietta Mabel May, Dorothy Stevens, Frances Loringand Florence Wyle were commissioned by the Fund to visually document the war effort in Canada.

Anthony Dalton (Tony) Scott, OC, FRSC, economist (born 2 August 1923 in Vancouver, BC; died 17 February 2015 in Vancouver). Scott made pioneering contributions to the economics of natural resource use and management. 

Laurent-Olivier David, lawyer, journalist, newspaper owner, writer, politician (born 24 March 1840 in Sault-au-Récollet (Montréal), QC; died 24 August 1926 in Outremont, QC). David was responsible for founding the Monument-National and was the author of a number of biographies of famous Canadians.

​Lawrence “Larry” Murray Tanenbaum, O.C., businessman, sports executive, philanthropist (born 8 July 1945 in Toronto, ON). Larry Tanenbaum is best known for his position as chair of Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment, the company that owns four major league sports teams: the Toronto FC, Maple Leafs, Raptors and Argonauts. His career has also spanned the worlds of finance, construction, politics and philanthropy. He is a prominent figure in Toronto and Canada’s Jewish community.

​Arthur Howey Ross, hockey player, inventor/innovator and NHL team executive (born 13 January 1885 in Naughton [Sudbury], ON; died 5 August 1964 in Medford, Massachusetts). Ross was considered a top defenseman during a playing career that included several years as a professional (with a brief stint in the fledgling National Hockey League). Following his retirement as a player in 1918, Ross worked as an NHL referee and coached the NHL’s Hamilton Tigers in 1922–23. The Boston Bruins hired him when they entered the league in 1924, and Ross served as coach, general manager and vice president (often holding all three titles at once) until 1954. Ross also invented improved versions of the hockey puck and goalie nets that were used for decades in the NHL, and introduced many of the rules that modernized the game.

Russell Nathan Jeanson Coltrane Martin, Jr., baseball player (born 15 February 1983 in East York [Toronto], ON). Russell Martin made his Major League Baseball (MLB) debut as a catcher in 2006. He played five seasons with the Los Angeles Dodgers, two with the New York Yankees and two with the Pittsburgh Pirates before signing a five-year, $82 million contract with the Toronto Blue Jays on 18 November 2014. Known for his intensity, athleticism and intelligence, Martin is regarded as one of the best defensive catchers in the majors. A four-time All-Star, he won the Rawlings Gold Glove Award and the Silver Slugger Award in 2007 — only the third catcher in history to receive both awards.

Cassie Dawn Campbell-Pascall (née Campbell), CM, hockey player, broadcaster, administrator (born 22 November 1973 in Richmond Hill, ON). Three-time Olympian Cassie Campbell-Pascall won gold medals in women’s hockey at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City and the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Turin. She is the only hockey player, man or woman, to captain Canada to two Olympic gold medals. She also won a silver medal with Team Canada at the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano. Campbell-Pascall won gold with Canada at six Women’s World Hockey Championships (1994, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2004) and silver at the 2005 championships. She scored 100 points (32 goals and 68 assists) in 157 games for Team Canada. She has worked as a broadcaster for CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada since 2006. She has also served on the board of the Canadian Women Hockey’s League (CWHL) and on the selection committee for the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Julien Hébert, visual artist and designer (born 19 August 1917 in Rigaud, Québec; died 24 May 1994 in Montréal). Hébert is considered the father of modern design in Québec. Inspired by the Scandinavian modernism movement, which unites design, industry and craft (see Industrial Design), he dedicated his career to creating objects and environments that were organic, simple and functional, to encouraging local industry, and to developing industrial design teaching in his home province.

Marie Arzélie Éva Circé-Côté, journalist, writer and librarian (born 31 January 1871 in Montréal, QC; died 4 May 1949 in Montréal, QC). A poet and playwright, Éva Circé-Côté was the city of Montréal’s first librarian as well as the curator of the prestigious Philéas Gagnon collection. Throughout her career as a journalist, she wrote over 1,800 pieces for about a dozen newspapers under several pseudonyms. A progressive, secular free thinker, she fought for compulsory education and the status of women.

Jacques Israelievitch, CM, violinist, violist, conductor, teacher (born 6 May 1948 in Cannes, France; died 5 September 2015 in Toronto, Ontario). Violinist Jacques Israelievitch was renowned internationally for his versatility, sensitivity and virtuosic technical ability. After studying in Paris and playing with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the St. Louis Symphony, Israelievitch became the Toronto Symphony Orchestra’s longest-serving concertmaster (1998 to 2008). A supporter of contemporary music and Canadian composers, he made more than 100 recordings and performed often with noted orchestras and in chamber ensembles worldwide. He was made a Member of the Order of Canada and an Officer of the Order of Arts and Letters in France.

​Up until the second half of the 19th century, most rural teachers in Canada were young, female, poorly paid, and held the most limited professional qualifications. These teachers delivered a rudimentary education to thousands of Canada’s rural children, often amidst difficult conditions. Indeed, until the 1960s, rural teachers frequently taught students of various ages and wide-ranging academic abilities together in one-room schoolhouses while also shouldering the burden of maintaining the schools themselves.

Canadian Parents for French is a national organization of parents dedicated to the expansion of French second-language learning opportunities for young Canadians. Primarily driven by the volunteer efforts of parents, it has been the leading organization in Canada dedicated to the expansion of French immersion programs and the improvement of French second-language learning programs since the 1970s.

Michael John Savage, businessman, politician, mayor of Halifax, 2012 to present (born 13 May 1960 in Belfast, Northern Ireland). Savage, whose father was premier of Nova Scotia in the 1990s, served as a member of Parliament before becoming mayor of the Halifax Regional Municipality.

Brandt Louie, business tycoon, philanthropist (born 5 July 1943 in Vancouver, BC). Louie is the president of the H.Y. Louie Company, a business started by his grandfather in 1903 that now includes London Drugs Ltd. and the IGA grocery store chain. In 2017, Louie was listed as Canada’s 47th richest person in Canadian Business magazine’s annual ranking, with an estimated fortune of $2.1 billion. Louie is a recipient of the Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal and a Member of the Order of British Columbia.

​Rana Sarkar, strategy consultant, business pundit, entrepreneur (born January 1971 in Calcutta, India). Formerly the president and CEO of the Canada-India Business Council, Sarkar is currently the national director for high growth markets at KPMG Canada, and co-chairman of the advisory board and a senior fellow at the Munk School of Global Affairs at the University of Toronto. In 2011, he ran an unsuccessful campaign as the Liberal candidate in the federal riding of Scarborough-Rouge River.

​Victor Li, business tycoon (born 1 August 1964 in British Hong Kong), studied at Stanford University in California earning bachelor’s and master’s degrees in civil and structural engineering. He is the son of business tycoon Li Ka-shing, Hong Kong’s richest man, who has a net worth of US$31.8 billion, according to Forbes (March 2017). Li is best known in Canadian business circles as the co-chairman of Calgary-based Husky Energy, and also for his attempt to bail out Air Canada in 2004. He currently serves as the chairman of CKI, an infrastructure conglomerate with holdings in Canada, Europe, Asia, New Zealand and Australia. Li holds citizenship in both Canada and China.

Brian Bowman, lawyer, mayor of Winnipeg 2014–present (born 18 August, 1971 in Winnipeg, MB). A lawyer specializing in privacy rights and social media, Bowman was elected Winnipeg’s first Métis mayor on 22 October 2014.