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Create AccountThis article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on October 20, 1997. Partner content is not updated.
In the late 1950s, Bernard (Bernie) Ebbers liked nothing better than cruising the streets of Edmonton in his red Pontiac. On Saturday nights, he and his friends from Victoria Composite High School would gather at the Kingsway Inn to discuss their favorite topics - girls and sports - over beer.The role of Black people within the history of the fur trade is rarely considered. Black people were rarely in a position to write their own stories, so often those stories went untold. This owes to a complex set of factors including racism and limited access to literacy. Black people are also not the focus of many historical documents. However, historians have identified several Black fur traders working in different roles, and even an entire family of Black fur traders who left their mark on history.
An alcoholic, usually in debt, Edwards moved to Toronto in 1909, then to Montréal, Port Arthur, Ont, and Winnipeg, returning to Calgary in 1911. Unconventional to the end, he supported Prohibition in the referendum of 1916, then won election as an independent in the 1921 provincial elections.
Bonnie Brooks, CM, retailer, department store executive (born 19 May 1953 in Windsor, ON). Brooks earned her MBA from the Ivey Business School at Western University and also holds two honorary doctoral degrees. She is best known for her work modernizing retail department stores, including Hong Kong’s Lane Crawford, Canada’s Holt Renfrew and Hudson’s Bay, where she was the first woman to be appointed president and CEO. Brooks was later appointed as the first woman vice-chairman of the Hudson’s Bay Company.
Descendants of Russian immigrant tobacco farmer Yechiel (Ekiel) Bronfman and his wife, Mindel, members of the Bronfman family have owned and controlled huge financial empires built from the profits of the family liquor business (see Seagram). The best-known members of the family are Samuel Bronfman, founder of Seagram and president of the Canadian Jewish Congress (1939–62), and his descendants. Samuel’s wife, Saidye Rosner Bronfman, was an influential philanthropist who supported the arts in Canada and was awarded the Order of the British Empire for organizing work on the home front during the Second World War. Sons Edgar and Charles Bronfman ran Seagram for decades, while grandson Edgar Miles Bronfman Jr. oversaw the sale of Seagram to Vivendi. Charles was also co-founder of the Historica Foundation of Canada and Heritage Minutes, as well as chairman and principal owner of the Montreal Expos. His sister Phyllis Lambert is a well-known architect who founded the Canadian Centre for Architecture. Their cousins, Edward and Peter Bronfman (sons of Allan Bronfman), developed a financial empire in their own right. The family has given generously to several charitable organizations and been involved in the Canadian Jewish Congress and World Jewish Congress.
This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on May 25, 1998. Partner content is not updated.
Montreal's Bronfman family is no stranger to controversy. After arriving in Canada from Russia in the 1890s, they made a fortune outrunning federal tax collectors and selling whisky to American mobsters. The next generation made headlines tussling over control of the family firm, Seagram Co. Ltd.Camille Henri Thériault, politician, businessman, premier of New Brunswick 1998-1999 (born 25 February 1955 in Baie-Sainte-Anne, NB). Thériault served in the Cabinet of Liberal Premier Frank McKenna before briefly taking a turn as premier himself. After politics, he was chair of the Canadian Transportation Accident Investigation and Safety Board, and served as CEO of the Mouvement des caisses populaires acadiennes.
Charles Alexander Allard, businessman, medical doctor (b at Edmonton 19 Nov 1919; d 11 Aug 1991). Allard graduated in medicine from University of Alberta in 1943. From 1955 until 1969 he was a surgeon and then chief surgeon at the General Hospital in Edmonton.
Charles Rosner Bronfman, PC, CC, businessman and philanthropist (born 27 June 1931 in Montréal, QC). Bronfman was co-chairman of the Bronfman family business, Seagram, the world’s largest producer and distributor of distilled spirits. He also owned the Montreal Expos baseball club from 1968 to 1990. According to Forbes, Bronfman had an estimated net worth of over $2 billion (as of 2017) and was ranked the 16th wealthiest Canadian and 896th wealthiest person in the world. Bronfman is also a dedicated philanthropist. He established the CRB Foundation to promote study of Canadian and Jewish affairs, and co-founded and endowed the Historica Foundation of Canada, which later became Historica Canada (publisher of The Canadian Encyclopedia). He has disbursed approximately $325 million through Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies Inc. (ACBP) and private donations.
Charles Fleetford Sise, businessman (b at Portsmouth, NH 27 Sept 1834; d at Montréal 9 Apr 1918). Before coming to Canada, Sise had careers as a sea captain, as owner of shipping businesses and as an insurance executive.
Charles Lavelle Broley, banker, ornithologist (b at Gorrie, Ont 7 Dec 1879; d at Delta, Ont 4 May 1959). A banker in Winnipeg, he was also active in ornithology and conservation. In 1939 he "retired" to winters in Florida and summers in Ontario.
Charles Melville Hays, railway president (b at Rock I, Ill 16 May 1856; d in the N Atlantic 15 Apr 1912).
Gooderham, Col Albert (Edward). Financier, patron, soldier, b Toronto 2 Jun 1861, d there 25 Apr 1935; honorary LL D (Toronto) 1924, appointed Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George (KCMG) 1935 (but not invested).
Conrad Moffat Black, Lord Black of Crossharbour, newspaper publisher, author, columnist and historian (born 25 August 1944 in Montreal, QC). Conrad Black owned and published a large network of newspapers in Canada and abroad between 1969 and 2004. He was convicted of mail fraud and obstruction of justice in 2007 and served a prison sentence in the United States. However, Black was pardoned for his convictions in 2019 by US president Donald Trump. He is a well-known author and columnist on history and politics.
This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on November 11, 1996. Partner content is not updated.
After Conrad Black's career totalled last week, I looked back through the book I had written about him in 1982, when he was only 38.
Cyrus Stephen Eaton, financier, philanthropist (b at Pugwash, NS 27 Dec 1883; d at Cleveland, Ohio 9 May 1979). Educated at McMaster, Eaton moved to the US in 1900. He became involved in public utilities and after 1925 in steel, eventually forming Republic Steel.
D'Alton Corey Coleman, railway executive (b at Carleton Place, Ont 9 July 1879; d at Montréal 17 Oct 1956). After acting as private secretary to Senator George Cox in 1897 and as editor of the Belleville Intelligencer, Coleman joined the CPR in 1899.
In addition to practising law, Williams excelled at business. While attending Dalhousie's law school, he led a group of businesspeople to seek the first cable licence in Newfoundland and built Cable Atlantic into one of the largest communications companies in Atlantic Canada.
