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 My goal was to have at least one name for each day of the year! Believe it or not, it took 20 years. But hey, I made it!

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February 1	Mercy Anne/ Ann Coles. Born February 1, 1838, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Died February 11, 1921, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Not much is known about Mercy. She was one of 12 children of George Coles (1810-1875) and Mercy (née Haines) Coles of P.E. I. Mercy would accompany her parents in 1864 to the events leading up to Canadian Confederation. They travelled to Quebec City, Montreal, and on to Niagara Falls, Ontario. It is known from comments in documents from Sir John A. Macdonald, Canada’s 1st Prime Minister and a political power figure, in the years building up to Confederation that the Coles’ daughters were attractive, well educated, and well informed. On his part, at this time he was a widower who was considered quite eligible to unattached women. At 26 years of age in 1864 when the Quebec Conference to consider Canadian Confederation took place, Mercy would have been one of the older unattached women. She was an ardent diarist and her legacy is that she has left behind the scene details which serve to enliven the rather dry political happenings of the day. There were numerous soirees, balls, and other social events that were used to court the visiting politicians to join Canada but were also used by the unattached ladies, such as Mercy, to entice courting from the eligible single politicians. Details, such as those of the ball of October 14, 1864, hosted by Governor General Lord Monck in the Parliament Buildings, were recorded by Mercy with particular attention paid to these unattached gentlemen. Alas, Marcy did not gain a suitor at the described events but remained single, living out her life in Charlottetown. Sources: Anne McDonald, Mercy Coles of PEI in Canada’s History August-September 2014 ; Ancestry Canada Accessed June 2015) (2020)
Jo-Anna Downey	Born February 1, 1967, Montreal, Quebec. Died December 1, 2016, Toronto, Ontario. Jo-Anna graduated from Concordia University, Montreal with a degree in history. In 1991 she moved with her parents to Toronto. It seems that Jo-Anna was always a funny person and when invited to an open mic night by a musician friend she ended up on stage and the laughter of the audience was addictive. In the 1990's Toronto she hosted weekly open mic nights at the Spirits Bar and Grill and at Eton House.  In 2012 she earned the Phil Hartman Award from at the Canadian Comedy Awards which recognizing her outstanding lifetime contribution to her profession. She seemed to always have time to encourage new comics, especially new female comics which earned her the nickname 'Mamma'. She never told the same joke in the same way and she could be welcoming and insulting in one breath. . She was one of the best hosts and producers of comedy. Humber College, Toronto offers the Jo-Anna Downey Comedy Scholarship. Source: Lives Lived, The Globe and Mail February 3, 2017 online (accessed 2022)
February 2	Pauline Vaillancourt.  Born February 2, 1945, Arvida [Jonquière] Quebec. Pauline made her debut as a soprano soloist in 1970. Pauline earned her Masters in Music from the University of Montreal in 1976. She is active in classical as well as contemporary music. She has performed in Europe and throughout North America. She founded and is artistic director of the lyric company “Chants Libres” and has been artistic director since 1990. In her career she has won the Prix d’excellence Victor-Martyn-Lynch-Staunton from the Canada Council for the Arts and the Prix d’interprète de musique contemporaine Flandres-Québec. She has been a member-researcher at Hexagram since 2006. In 2009 she was named an ambassador of the Canadian Music Centre for her contribution to new music in Canada. In 2015, she was awarded the Opera America Service Award for her 25 years as Artistic and General Director of Chants Libres. (2020)
	Dorothy May Copithorn. née Spencer. Born February 2, 1919, Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Died November 12, 2013, Calgary Alberta.  Dorothy's father taught her to love and play the piano until his death when she was only seven years old. She never lost the gift of love of music. At 15 she began working as an organist and junior choir leader at her hometown United Church. She won multiple awards in music festivals for her solo piano work and her junior choir work. At 18 she had completed her associate degree in piano and began teaching piano in Swift Current and along the Empress Railway where she was known as the travelling music teacher. Leaving on a Monday, she taught in Pennant, Battram, Cabri and Abby, Saskatchewan, arriving home on the weekend in the caboose of a freight train! In By 1947, in Abernethy, she had met and married. Wesley Copithorn. The couple had Three children. Dorothy played piano/organ in United Churches in the various towns the family would live. In Indian Head in 1959 she also started the St Andrew’s United Church intermediate choir. She was a charter member of the Regina Chapter of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. At 90, in a long term care facility in Calgary, she continued to play for Sunday worship. Source: “Dorothy Mae Copithorn” by Hope-Arlene Fennell. “Lives Lived”, the Globe and Mail April 17, 2014. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.  (2020)
February 3	Isobel Moira Dunbar. Born February 3, 1918, Edinburgh, Scotland. Died November 22, 1999, Ottawa, Ontario. An Oxford University graduate, Isobel immigrated to Canada in 1947 and worked in the far north joining the Arctic Section of the Defence Research Board.  An ice research scientist, she was  the 1st women to be taken for cruises on Canadian Government icebreakers. She visited the USSR and Finland in 1964 to look into icebreaking practices. The author of many scientific studies, including Arctic Canada From the Air, she received the Massey Medal in 1972. She was a Member of the Order of Canada and a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. (2020)
	Winnifred "Winnie" Frances Roach-Leuszler. Born February 3, 1926, Port Credit, Ontario. Died May 2004. A long distance swimmer of international acclaim she started swimming when she was three years old. At nine years of age she won her first medal as a competitive swimmer and never looked back. She would go on to win local, provincial, national, North American, and international medals throughout her career. In 1944 she was labeled Canada's All Round Athlete of the year. That same year she joined the Women's Corp and was dominating Army, Navy and Air Forces sporting championships. In 1946 whil3 three months pregnant, she won the 5 mile World Swimming Championship and while four months pregnant in 1949 she was second in the same event. On August 16, 1951 she became the first Canadian woman to swim the English Channel. She came home to a ticker tape parade in Toronto! In 1954 she entered the swim across Lake Ontario with Marilyn Bell but was forced from the event with problems with her guide boat. In the 1950's she was lured to baseball and in 1957 she was Canada's first female baseball umpire. In 1996 she was inducted into the Canadian Forces Sports Hall of Fame. In 1999 she received the Order of Ontario and was inducted into the Ontario Swimming Hall of Fame. (2020)
	Marlene Nourbese Philip.  Born February 3, 1947, Moriah, Tobago. A poet and novelist she has written several books including a novel for young people, Harriet’s Daughter. She uses the pen name M. Nourbese Philip. She added her own middle name NourbeSe which is an African name meaning marvelous child. The family moved to the island of Trinidad when she was 9. She went on to attend the University of West Indies, Kingston, Jamaica. In 1968 she moved to Canada studying Law at the University of Western Ontario (Western University), London, Ontario. She practiced law at Parkdale Community Services, Toronto for ten years before she decided to devote herself to a career in writing in 1983. In 1989 and received the Casa de las Américas prize, the second Canadian ever to receive the award. In 2008 she published Zong! a collection of her poems. Marlene has also written three plays including an adaptation of Harriet's Daughter. In 1990, she received a Guggenheim Fellowship in poetry and in 1991 was a McDowell Fellow. She received The Lawrence Foundation Award for her short story Stop Frame, published in the journal Prairie Schooner. In 1995, she received a Toronto Arts Award in writing and publishing. In 2001, she was given a Rebels for a Cause award from the Elizabeth Fry Society of Toronto and a Woman of Distinction Award in the arts from the YWCA. In 2002, she received a Chalmers Fellowship in poetry and in 2005 she was given a Rockefeller Foundation residency in Bellagio, Italy. In 2020 she was presented the PEN/Nabokov Award for International Literature.  (2020)
February 4	Charlotte-Francoise Juchereau de Saint Denis. née Juchereau. Baptized February 4, 1660, Quebec. Died December 28, 1702, Quebec. On December 17, 1680 she married Beauport Francois Viennay-Pachot (died 1698). In 1702 she married for a second time to Captain Francois Dauphin de la Forest who became stepfather to her 16 children. That same year she purchased the Ile d' Orleans becoming the Comptesse de Saint Laurent. From 1704 through 1713 she was engaged in legal proceedings with respect to the land and she finally gave up on orders directly from the King of France. She was a strong business personality of New France that found it best to work through male supporters.  Source: DCB (2020)
	Cairine Reay Wilson. née Mackay Born February 4, 1885, Montreal, Quebec. Died March 3, 1962, Ottawa Ontario. A child of an influential and wealthy family in Montreal, Cairine grew up bilingual with a keen interest in keeping informed with life. She often travelled with her father to Ottawa and admired a family friend, Sir Wilfrid Laurier. In 1909 she married Norman Wilson (1878-1956) and the young couple moved to Cumberland Township, near Ottawa, to raise their family of eight children. In 1918 they retained their Cumberland property but moved to downtown Ottawa. While her family was at home Cairine was active in her church and the local Red cross. Once her family was growing she become more interested in the life in Ottawa Politics and she became co-president of the Eastern Ontario Liberal Association. On February 15, 1930,  Prime Minister William Lion Mackenzie, appointed her as Canada’s 1st woman in the Senate. She would prefer to be remembered for her work to serve refugees and for being outspoken against anti-Semitism in Canada. She did not pull punches and spoke up for what she believed. At the beginning of the upheaval in Europe in World War ll William Lion Mackenzie King was reluctant to accept Jewish refugees as immigrants to Canada. Cairine worked to accept 100 orphans into Canada. A Television Historical Minute telecast shows viewed in the 1990’s shows Wilson arguing the case for refugees.  She served as chair of the Canadian National Committee on Refugees 1938-1948, and was Canada’s 1st woman delegate to the new United Nations in 1949. In 1950 she was presented with the Knight of the Legion of Honour, the highest civilian honour from France, for her work on behalf of  child refugees. In 1955 she became the 1st woman Deputy Speaker in the Canadian Senate. A secondary School in Orleans, located not far from the Wilson family farm in Cumberland Township, is named in her honour. She is buried in Dale Cemetery near her former farm and her tombstone simply reads “Appointed to the Senate 1930” Sources First Person, Valerie Knowles (Toronto, Dundurn Press, 1988 ;  personal knowledge. Photo; The Cairine Wilson Bust was sculpted in 1939 by Felix Wilson and is displayed in the Senate area of the Canadian Parliament buildings. (2020)
February 5	Anna Yonker. née Humeniloyyck. Born February 5, 1890, Ukraine. Died May 6, 1944, Winnipeg, Manitoba. As a teen she moved with her family to Winnipeg following the Canadian Government promise of a good life for immigrants. Life in the Canadian west proved harsh, even in cities low paying jobs were the only avenue for immigrants. Her first marriage left her with two small children to raise. She worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Henry Yonker who moved to Winnipeg from the United States in 1905. The two were soon in love and married and a son, Zenon, was added to the family. Anna worked to improve the plight of Ukrainian immigrants and soon became a leader of women’s organizations a philanthropist and pioneer welfare worker. She personally contacted Senator Cairine Wilson (1885-1962) and Lady Ishbel Aberdeen (1857-1929), the activist wife of the Governor General of Canada, to ensure the plight of immigrant women was in the limelight. She urged the Canadian Council of Women to pursue international peace. Serving on the executive of Lesia Ukrayenka Women’s organization she formulated fund raisers such as concerts, book fairs, plays, dinners and dances. Upon her death she left not only a family but a grieving community. It was estimated that 1600 people attended her funeral. In 1962, on the 25th anniversary of her death a memorial dinner was held in her honour. Well known Ukrainian-Canadian author, Iryna Knych, wrote Patriotyzm Anny Ionker (the Patriotism of Anna Yonker) Winnipeg: [s n], 1964,  text in Ukrainian with a resume in English, as a tribute to the pioneering spirit. Sources: Obituary, Winnipeg Free Press, May 8, 1936 page 7: Herstory; The Canadian women’s calendar 2007 Coteau Books, 2006. Page 62. (2020)Anna
	Hanna Newcomb. née Hammerschlag. Born February 5, 1922, Prague, Chechia. Died April 10, 2011, Hamilton, Ontario. Hanna and her parents fled to Canada in 1939 when the Nazis invaded Prague. The family had a fruit farm near Grimsby, Ontario. At the end of World War ll the family relocated to Toronto. Hanna earned a Bachelor of Science from McMaster Univeristy, Hamilton, Ontario in 1945. She would meet her husband, George Newcombe while at university and the couple both earned doctorates in chemistry from the University of Toronto. She then worked at being a new mother to their two children. In 1955 the young family relocated to Hamilton where their third child was born. Busy with home life Hanna did some occasional teaching and translating of scientific articles. In 1962 she taught high school but did not take to working with the teenagers at school. She took a position at the Canadian Peace Research Institute and Hanna and George founded the Peace Research Institute in Dundas, Ontario in the late 1970's. They would found and publish two scholarly journals; Peace Research Abstracts and Peace Research Reviews. They also organized summer institutes on Grindstone Island in the Rideau Lakes area. Hanna was active in the World Federalist Movement, the Canadian Voice of Women and the Canadian Friends Service Committee of the Quakers. In 1997 Hanna was the recipient of the Pearson Medal for Peace. IN 2007 she was named a Member of the Order of Canada for her work in peace research and international relations. The Newcombe Prize in Peace Studies is offered annually at McMaster University, Hamilton. (2020)
February 6	Henriette Saint-Jacques. née Dessaulles. Born February 6, 1860, St Hyacinthe, Canada East (now Quebec). Died November 17, 1946. As a journalist she used the pen - name "Fadette" and wrote for Le Canada and Le Devoir newspapers. Between 1918 and 1933 she also published three books, one of which Lettres de Fadette (Montreal 1918) was a collection of many of her newspaper columns.
	Marie Alfreda 'Freda' Diesing. Born February 6, 1925, Prince Rupert, British Columbia. Died April 12, 2002, Terrace, British Columbia. Freda's Haida name was Skil Kew Wet which means 'Magical little woman'. She learned her love of Native Arts from her grandmother. She studied at the Vancouver College of Art and the School of Northwest Indian Art. She enjoyed the traditional arts of the Haida women, button blankets and jeweller but it was in the tradition male art world of carving totem poles that she excelled and in which she would leave a lasting legacy. Some of her totem poles erected in Terrace, British Columbia were the first in the area in over 150 years. In March of 2002 the was presented with a National Aboriginal Achievement Award. Northwest Community College created the Freda Diesing School of Northwest Coast Art in her honour in Terrace, British Columbia.  Source: Herstory: The Canadian Women’s Calendar 2006. Saskatoon: Coteau Books, 2005. (2021)
February 7	Helen Bernard McColl. née Barnard. Born February 7, 1899, Toronto, Ontario. Died May 1957, Dollarton, British Columbia. Helen went to live with an aunt and uncle  in British Columbia at an early age. As an only child she grew up with an independent spirit out of the necessity of executing the daily physical tasks of life. She loved to hike and enjoyed the beauty of nature. In the 1910's she was apprenticed at the photography studio of Robert F. L. Brown. After the “boys” returned home from World War l she married a practically disabled veteran, Hector McCall in 1920. Her independence and strength of spirit allowed her the fortitude to adapt a career to support herself and her family. There was not a lot of work in the small town of Gibson’s Landing, British Columbia.  Living without such luxuries as electricity she processed family photos of the locals as well as her own works. She showed pioneering spirit and followed her ideas to produce clear professional works of local evens and landscapes into popular post cards. Events depicted on her post cards made local lives seem important. She was the sole supporter of her two children during the Great Depression, providing not only for her family but leaving a legacy of recorded regional history from her own self-determination and common sense. Source: Saskatoon Women’s Calendar Collective. Herstory 2007: the Canadian Women’s Calendar (Regina: Couteau Books, 2006)  pg. 22; Canadian Women Artists History Initiative. Online (accessed 2020)
	Lela Arlene Brooks. Born February 7, 1908, Toronto, Ontario. Died September 12, 1990, Owen Sound, Ontario. Lela's parents enjoyed winter sports and encouraged their daughter in her pursuit of speed skating. Without a coach or a planned training program. she would take her love the the sport to the highest competition allowed to women at the time. She was the 1st woman admitted to the Old Orchard Skating Club in Toronto. From 1923 to 1935 she would be called the "Queen of the blades." She won more that 65 championships from the provincial level to world championships. In 1924 she earned 19 titles including three Canadian titles and three international titles. In 1924 alone she broke six world records and by 1927 the teen held two world championships titles. She was the 1st Canadian woman speed skating world champion. She dominated events from the short 220 yard events to the one mile event (1600 m). She participated in the 1932 Olympics at Lake Placid, New York, U.S.A. only to place 4th overall. Her time in the 1500 metre heats of 2:54 was more than 15 seconds under the official record. This record could not be recognized because she skated under the North American mass start rules!  While she qualified for the 1936 Olympics in Germany she decided to retire and not to participate. Later that year she married Russ Campbell and the couple settled in Owen Sound, Ontario. In 1972 she was inducted into the Canadian Speed Skating Hall of Fame and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.  Source: Canadian Sports Hall of Fame (accessed 2001). (2020)
February 8	Sarah Persis Johnson Darrach. Born February 8, 1886, Rosscarberry, Ireland. Died September 4, 1974, Brandon, Manitoba. Sarah's family emigrated to Canada in September 1898 and settled at Beresford, Manitoba. In 1908, she was admitted to the nursing program at Brandon General Hospital and graduated as gold medalist in 1911. She did her postgraduate work at Chicago, Illinois and returned home to become Assistant Matron of Brandon General Hospital. She was  posted overseas in 1914. Working as a nurse during the First World War she nursed in field hospitals in France, and war hospitals in England. She served Matron of No. One Canadian Casualty Clearing Station. She was awarded the Royal Red Cross, Second and First Class, the latter being awarded to her by the Prince of Wales in 1919. Returning home in 1919, she became Superintendent of Nurses at Brandon Hospital where she worked to improve the working conditions of nurses and establishing standardized nursing training programs. In 1920 she married Robert Darrach. The couple set up a fresh-air camp for disadvantaged kids at Lake Clementi, south of Brandon that accepted needy children for ten years. In 1934, she was the recipient of the Order of the British Empire. In 1936 she became the Dean of Women at Brandon College where she retired in  1953. She received the Canada Centennial Medal in 196 . Darrach Hall at Brandon University was named in her honour as was Darrach Avenue in the City of Brandon. Source: Memorable Manitobans Online (Accessed February 2014) (2020)
	Thelma J. Chalifoux. née Villeneuve. Born February 8, 1929, Calgary, Alberta. Died September 22, 2017, St Albert, Alberta. Thelma studied at the Lethbridge Community College in Alberta and did her post graduate studies at the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology and the Chicago School of Interior Design in Illinois, U.S.A. She worked as a teacher and community organizer and was active in both local and national Métis communities. Thelma was a co-founder of the Slave Lake Friendship Centre. She was the winner of the National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 1995. She was the mother of seven children and grandmother to 30 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren! She was appointed to the Senate of Canada in November 26, 1997, becoming the 1st indigenous person to sit in the Canadian Senate. She served in the Senate until February 8, 2004. After retiring from the senate she relocated to Alberta where she founded the Michif Cultural and Resource Institute, later called the Michif Cultural Connections, in St. Albert, Alberta to preserve, protect and promote the rich Métis culture in northern Alberta. In 2018 the new Thelma Chalifoux School opened in Larkspur, Alberta. (2020)
February 9	Marie Angèle Gauthier. Born February 9, 1828, Vaudreuil, Lower Canada (now Quebec). Died May 25, 1898, Duncan, British Columbia. A hardworking farmer's daughter she joined the order of the Sisters of St Anne on November 6, 1849 taking the name as Sister Marie Angèle. On August 30, 1854 she became superior general of her congregation for three years. She traveled as one of the 1st group of religious orders of women to open schools on Vancouver Island. The adventures of her trip to Victoria, British Columbia, were published in 1859. Perhaps more of a legacy than her writings was her teaching. She taught native children many skills including knitting. This skill would be used in Duncan B.C. to make the famous Cowichan sweaters. (2020)
February 10	Adrienne Louise Clarkson. née Poy. Born February 10 1939, Hong Kong.  Adrienne and her family immigrated to Canada in 1941 settling in Ottawa, Ontario. In 1960 she graduated from the University of Toronto (UofT) winning the Governor General's Medal in English. She continued her education at the UofT earning a Master's degree prior to studying at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. A television personality with the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC), she is also a journalist, a novelist, a public servant, and publisher.  She even had her own television show Adrienne Clarkson Presents. In 1963 she married Stephen Clarkson, a professor at the UofT. The couple had three daughters.  In 1975 she worked with the TV program The Fifth Estate where she won an several ACTRA Awards. In 1981 she promoted Ontario culture in France and throughout Europe. In 1999 she married John Ralston Saul and appointed 26th Governor General of Canada, the 1st immigrant to hold this position. She served in this position until fall 2005. In the summer of 2005 she was inducted as an honorary member of the Kainai Chieftainshp, near Standoff, Alberta. She was also adopted into the Blood Tribe with the name Grandmother of Many Nations. September 14, 2005 the Clarkson Cup for women's hockey in Canada was established. She is an officer in the Order of Canada. On October 3, 2005, Clarkson was sworn into the Queen's Privy Council for Canada. She is the Colonel in Chief of Princess Patricia's Canadian Light infantry and the founder of the Institute for Canadian Citizenship. In 2006 she published Heart Matters the first part of her autobiography. There is an Adrienne Clarkson Elementary School in Ottawa and another in Richmond Hill, Ontario. (2020)
	Jean Coulthard. Born February 10, 1908, Vancouver, British Columbia. Died March 9, 2000, North Vancouver, British Columbia. A composer and educator she was the 1st of Canada’s West Coast composers to receive wide recognition. She began to compose music as a child. With a scholarship from the Vancouver's Women's Musical Club she was able to study at the Royal Collage of Music, London, England in 1928/29.In the 1930's  and 1940's she studies with various composers. In 1944/5 she studied at the Juilliard School, New York City, U.S.A. She taught piano through the years and in 1947 she began teaching at the Department of Music at the University of British Columbia.  She has more then 350 compositions for a wide variety of vocal, instrumentals, and symphonic works.  She was induced as an Officer in the Order of Canada in 1978. In 1994 she was awarded the Order of British Columbia. A short biography, Jean Coulthard: Life and Music was written by William Bruneau and David Gordon Duke and published in 2005. (2020)
February 11	Rebecca 'Becky' Buhay. Born February 11, 1896, London, England. Died December 16, 1953, Toronto, Ontario. Becky immigrated to Canada in 1912 and settled in Montreal. During World War ll she was active in socialist causes in Montreal. She studied at the Rand School of Social Sciences, New York, U.S.A. Back in Montreal she became  a union organizer for the garment industry. Around 1921 she joined the Workers Party of Canada (Communist Party) lectured and toured across the country. In Alberta she helped organize the striking Coal miner's wives in the Women's Labour Leagues. In 1929 she was secretary of the Canadian Labour Defense League. In the 1930's she headed the Canadian women's delegation to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). In World War ll she worked to free interned communists. Political friends knew her as a great communicator of radical ideas and for her loyalty. (2020)
	Annette av Paul. Born  February 11, 1944, Stockholm, Sweden. Annette began her ballet career in Sweden training at Swedish Ballet School from 1953 to 1961. In 1964 she married Canadian choreographer, Brian Macdonald. In 1973 she joined Les Grands Ballets Canadiens in Montreal as artistic advisor and 1977-1990 she was resident choreographer. She brought beauty, vast experience, and artistic maturity to the many roles that were created for her. She retired from the stage in 1984. Two years later founded the Ballet British Columbia and served as artistic director. Leaving Vancouver in 1987 she as worked as a guest teacher throughout Canada and in Sweden.  She has also served as director of the dance program at the Banff Centre in Alberta. She has also been a coach with the Birmingham Conservatory at the Stratford Festival in Ontario. (2020)
	Abigail 'Abby' Golda Hoffman. Born February 11, 1947, Toronto, Ontario. As a 11 year old hockey player she shocked everyone by playing peewee hockey on a team for boys having registered as AB in order to play! She was the best player on the team but when required to produce a birth certificate was disqualified from playing!  At 15 she won her 1st national championship in the 880-yard foot race. She competed internationally for Canada at many events, including four Olympic Games, where in 1976 she was the Canadian team flag bearer. She has also represented Canada at four Pan-Am Games and two Commonwealth Games, three World Student Games. She held Canadian and world records in the 800 meter from 1962 to 1975. In 1975 she earned the Ontario Award of Merit. In 1976 she was presented the City of Toronto Civic Award of Merit and that same year published About Face: Towards a Positive Image of Women in Sport. A champion for athlete’s rights and women in sport she is following a solid career as a sports administrator. She earned her Bachelor of Arts and her Master's degree from the University of Toronto. While at the university she was denied access to a training facility because it was an all-male facility. Today that facility is open to everyone.  In 1981 she became Director General of Sport Canada and she became the 1st woman appointed to the executive committee of the Canadian Olympic Committee. In 1982 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. That same year the Abby Hoffman Cup was presented at the 1st Canadian National Women's Hockey Championship. In 1995 she became the 1st woman on the Executive Council of the International Amateur Athletic Federation. Leaving Sport Canada in 1993 she became the 1st Director General of Health Canada's new Women's Health Bureau. In 2004 she was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. In 2007 she entered the Jewish Canadian Athletes Hall of Fame. She serves as assistant Deputy Minister at Health Canada, Ottawa. Source: Bob Ferguson, Who's Who in Canadian Sport (Toronto, Prentice Hall, 1977); Canada's Sport Hall of Fame Online (accessed 2015). (2020)
February 12	Marion Dewar. née Bell. Born February 12, 1928, Montreal,, Quebec. Died September 15, 2008, Ottawa, Ontario. Educated as a nurse at the University of Ottawa, she began her working career as a public health nurse. In the 1970's she turned to municipal politics in Ottawa. She was elected Mayor of Ottawa for three terms from 1978 through1985. She believed that local action could serve the global cause and she spearheaded Operation 4000 that welcomed Vietnamese boat people to settle in Ottawa. She successfully promoted increases accessibility to child care, services to the elderly and disabled. rights of minorities and equal opportunities for women. She was co-host for the Women's Constitutional Conference calling for gender equality provisions in the Canadian Charter of Rights. In 1985 she was elected president of the federal New Democratic Party and in 1997 was elected in a federal by-election  to the House of Commons.  In 1989 she was executive director of the Canadian Council on Children and Youth and in 1995 continued serving social causes when she headed up Oxfam Canada. In May 2002, she was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada. (2020)
	Mary Alice Dawe Downie. née Hunter. Born February 12, 1934, Alton, Illinois, U.S.A.  Her Canadian parents moved from the U.S.A. back to Canada where Mary Alice grew up and graduated from the University of Toronto (UofT). While studying she spent much of her time at The Varsity, the UofT  newspaper. In 1959 she married and returned to the U.S.A. to live. It was here that she worked producing films, plays, and book reviews. With her young family of two young daughters she moved to Kingston, Ontario, Canada in 1962. She has written over a dozen books for young Canadian readers and created the Northern Lights series and the Kids Canada Series. She has also published works in The Horn Book Magazine, Owl, Chickadee, the Globe and Mail, the Ottawa Citizen, and the Montreal Gazette. She has won awards from the Canada Council, the Ontario Arts Council, and Ontario Heritage, the Laidlaw Foundation, and the Canadian Children's Book Centre "Our Choice" awards for various books. Source: Who's Who of Canadian Women. (2020)
February 13	Gertrude M. Laing. Born February 13, 1905, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. Died December 18, 2005, Calgary, Alberta. Gertrude graduated from the University of Manitoba with her Bachelor of Arts in 1925. She went on to study French at the Sorbonne in France for two years. On June 16, 1930 she married Stanley Bradshaw Laing and the couple had two sons. Living at first in Winnipeg she  taught at the Riverbend School for Girls for a couple of years. She volunteered locally at the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) where she served as president from 1941 through 1943. When the family relocated to Calgary she was on the Social Planning Council in the city 1957-1959. In 1974 at the United Nations (UN) she served on the Canadian Committee for UNESCO and was a member of the Canadian Delegation UNESCO General Assembly. She served as a member of the Canada Council and was Chair from 1975-1978. She went on to lecture in French at the University of Manitoba from 1945 through 1950. She also served as executive Secretary for the War Services Board and the Central Winnipeg Volunteer Bureau of Winnipeg. In 1963 she was appointed to the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. For her volunteer and service to her national community Gertrude was inducted into the Order of Canada in 1972 and received the Queen Elizabeth Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977 and in 2002 the Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee Medal. (2020)
	Miriam Mandel. née Minovitch. Born February 13, 1930, Rockglen, Saskatchewan. Died February 13, 1982, Edmonton, Alberta. In 1949 she married Eli Mandel and graduated from the University of Saskatchewan the following year. She and her husband settled in Toronto so Miriam could work on her PhD at the University of Toronto (UofT). After earning her doctorate the family settled in Edmonton where she taught at the University of Alberta.  The couple had two children.  She began writing poetry in her late 30’s when her marriage broke down. After her divorce 1967 Miriam began to write poetry. She suffered from manic depression and she was able to express her feeling with courage and honesty in her work.  She won the Governor General’s Award in 1973 for her collection of poems; Lions at Her Face. She too her own life in Edmonton. Her Collected Poems was published in 1984. The University of Calgary Archives holds a collection of her papers. (2020)
February 14	Lois Ruth Maxwell.  née Hooker. Born February 14, 1927, Kitchener, Ontario. Died September 29, 2007, Fremantie, Australia. Lois ran away from home at fifteen to join the Canadian Women's Army Corps during World War 11. She was quickly on stage as part of the Army Show in Canada. Later as part of the Canadian Auxiliary Services Entertainment Unit she was sent to England where she appeared next to such entertainers as Wayne and Shuster. When her true age was discovered she was discharged and she enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London. She became friends with fellow student Sir Roger Moore. They would re-unit during their careers in the James Bond film series. During her acting career she also used the name Lois Hooker. At 20 she moved to Hollywood and won the actress Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for a role with actor Shirley Temple. Between 1950-1955 she lived in Rome, Italy,  making films and at one point becoming an amateur race driver. Visiting Paris, France she met her future husband Peter Marriott (died 1973) and they married in 1957 settling in London, England. The couple had two children together. After the death of her husband she returned to Canada living in Fort Erie, Ontario. She appeared in numerous TV shows including, The Saint, with her old friend Roger Moore.  While she is credited with some 68 roles in movies and TV she will perhaps be best remembered for her portrayal in the Ian Fleming's James Bond films as Miss Moneypenny. In her first appearance as Miss Moneypenny she even supplied her own wardrobe. Her last appearance in the Bond films was in a View to Kill, 1985. She wrote a column from 1979-1994 for the Toronto Sun newspaper using the pen name Miss Moneypenny. In 1994 she returned to England to live closer to her family. In 2001 she relocated to Perth, Western Australia to live with her son. (2021)
	Margaret 'Meg' Elizabeth Tilly. née Chan. Born  February 14,1960, Long Beach, California. In the mid 1960's her parents divorced and she lived with her mother and stepfather in Texada Island, British Columbia later moving to Vancouver. As a youth she wanted to be a dancer and studied at the Connecticut Ballet Company and later at the Throne Dance Theatre.  However, her career turned to acting with  a back injury after her debut in 1980 when she appeared in the movie FAME.  The following year she began acting career with a small part in the hit TV series Hill Street Blues. In 1983 to 1989 she was married to Tim Zinnemann and the couple had two children. in 1993 she dropped out of the acting scene. In 1994 she published her 1st novel Singing Songs which is about a young girl and her sisters living in the northwest who are molested by their stepfather. Meg has stated that she had been abused by her own step father. In 1995 through 2002 she was married to John Calley. In 2002 she married Don Calame. In 2010 she was once again acting in a TV series. Her sixth novel appeared in 2007, Porcupine which was a finalist for the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize. In 2011 she appeared at the Blue Bridge Repertory Theatre in Victoria, British Columbia. In January 2012 she stared in the Global Television mini series Bomb Girls winning a Canadian Screen Award for Best Lead Actress in 2013. In 2018 she published Solace Island. (2020)
February 15	Marketa Goetz-Stankiewicz. Born February 15, 1927, Liberec, Czech Republic. She emigrated from her home in 1948. She attended high school and university in Toronto and then at Columbia University in New York City, U.S.A. She received her PhD from the University of Toronto in 1957. She would edit, write, and teach her love of Germanic studies. Among her many awards is a Certificate of Merit for Excellence in Teaching 1972 and in 1988 she received the order of the Ordo Scriptores Bohemici in Prague. In 1992 she received the Hlavake Medal of the Czech Academy of Science. She is Professor Emerita at the University of British Columbia. (2020)
	Marilyn Edythe Broughton. née Rosevear. Born February 15, 1940, Toronto, Ontario. Marilyn studied piano at Trinity College of Music, London England. After studying at the University of Toronto she taught mathematics but she still kept up her interest in music and composing and helped with music programs after school. Marie married Peter Broughton who was also a teacher of mathematics and a pianist. The couple had two children.  At this time she composed a number of pieces for Piano, piano duet, choirs and other instruments. Continuing to work with the Toronto Board of Education she as a choir accompanist and enjoyed working with teachers and their choirs She also enjoys composing sols and anthems for her church. Perhaps one of the most famous of her several works is Un Canadien Errant. (2020)
February 16	Vera Harrison Prindle-Chappell. née Prindle. Born February 16, 1891, Tweed, Ontario. Died February 24, 1967, Belleville, Ontario. In 1916 she graduated from the Nursing School at the Belleville General Hospital, Ontario. May 5, 1917 she enlisted as a Nursing Sister with the Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC). Overseas she was posted to Canadian military hospitals in Taplow, Buxton, Westenhanger, Orpington and Granville, England. In the beginning of 1919 she herself was in hospital with influenza. Discharged back in Canada she married on December 17, 1919 to war veteran Joseph Edward Chappell. She worked as a private nurse in Thomasburg, Ontario. Source: Nurses of World War 1 by Donald Brearley, 2018 online (accessed 2021)
	Milaine Cloutier. Born February 16, 1972, Granby, Quebec. Her brother brought her to a badminton game when she was nine. She was told that girls couldn't beat guys. That did it! She was hooked! She outplayed them all! In 1990 she relocated to Calgary, Alberta where she learned English becoming bilingual. By 1995 she had won a bronze medal in the Pan American Games, and in 1997 and 1999 she won Pan Am gold in the doubles event. She earned a silver in Mixed doubles at the 2000 Summer Games in Sydney. After the Commonwealth Games, Manchester England in 2002 she retired from competition. (2020)
February 17	Mona Louise Parsons. Born February 17, 1901, Middleton, Nova Scotia. Died  November 28,1976, Wolfville, Nova Scotia. She pursued life on stage after attending Acadia University. She taught at Conway Central College, Arkansas, U.S.A.  moving to New York City in 1929 working as a Ziegfeld chorus girl. She then studied nursing at the Jersey School of Medicine graduating in 1935.  On September 1, 1937 she married a rich Dutch businessman, Willem Leonhardt. During WW ll their home in The Netherlands was used as a refuge by escaping allied airmen. On September 29, 1941 she arrested, found guilty of treason and sentenced to death by firing squad.  a sentence which was later commuted to life with hard labour. On March 24, 1945 as allied forces bombed the prison camp, Mona escaped. She spoke fluent German a help in making her way back to The Netherlands. Reunited after the liberation, Mona nursed her husband Willem, returning to Canada only after his death in 1956. Mona was presented with citations from General Eisenhower and Air Chief Marshal Tedder of the Royal Air Force for helping allied airmen evade enemy capture. Back in Nora Scotia she married Harry Foster in 1959.  In 2005 Historica Canada produced a Heritage Minute for TV detailing her arrest and her escape. (2020)
	Martha Henry. née Buhs. Born February 17, 1938, Detroit, Michigan, U.S.A. In 1959 Martha moved to Canada.  Martha adopted the legal surname of her 1st husband, Donnelly Rhodes as her stage name. She graduated from the National Theatre School, Montreal, Quebec and as one of Canada’s leading actors she has long been associated with the Stratford Festival in Ontario. In 1981 she was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada and this was promoted in 1990. She worked as artistic director of the Grand Theatre, London, Ontario from 1988 through 1994.In 1994 she became a Member of the Order of Ontario. In 1993 she starred in the film Mustard Bath which was filmed in Guyana, South America. It was in this film that she earned her 1st Genie Award as best supporting actress. She went on to win Genie Awards for her work in films in, 1984, 1994, and 1996. She has also earned Gemini Awards for her work in TV. She has received the Order of Ontario in 1994 and promoted to Companion in the Order of Canada 1990.In 1992 she received the 125th Anniversary of Confederation of Canada Medal.  She received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for lifetime contribution to Canadian Theatre in 1996. She has also had notable television roles  including the TV film And Then There Was One. In 2002 she received the Queen Elizabeth ll Golden Jubilee Medal. In 2007 she was appointed director of Stratford's Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre Training. In 2012 she received the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal. At 80, in 2018, she performed as Prospero in The Tempest. (2020)
	Loreena McKennitt.  Born February 17, 1957, Morden, Manitoba . As a young girl, she was trained in classical singing. Her career of choice had been to be a veterinarian and she even began attending the University of Manitoba with this goal. It was as a student that she experimented with folk music and performed in clubs in her home town of Winnipeg. In the 1970's she became familiar with Celtic music and even visited Ireland for the music. She worked as a singer, actor, and writer at the famous Stratford Festival in Ontario. She learned to play the Celtic harp and even played as a busker on the streets of Toronto. In 1981 she settled in Stratford, Ontario. She released her 1st album in 1985. She has written musical scores for works by the National Film Board of Canada as well as producing albums of her work. Her 1991 album won a Juno Award. After touring Europe in 1993 she worked on music for the Highlander movie franchise. The recording "The Bells of Christmas" was recorded for the Walt Disney film The Santa Claus in 1994. Her music has be highlighted in numerous movies and TV series including The Mists of Avalon, Tinker Bell, Due South and Full Circle. In 1992 and 1994  her music earned Juno Awards for Best Roots/Traditional albums. In 1997 she was presented with a Billboard Music Award for International Achievement.  In 1998 her finance a, his brother, and a friend were drowned in a boating accident. She founded the Cook-Rees Memorial Fund for Water Search and Safety and the proceeds from her live album, Live in Paris and Toronto to the cause. Her next album, her seventh, An Ancient Muse did not appear until 2006 and followed it up with an additional releases from 2007 for each year through to the present. In 2006 she was invested as Honorary Colonel of the 435 Transport and Rescue Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force.  In 2009 she received the Western Canadian Music Lifetime Achievement Award.  She performed at the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games opening ceremonies.  With the release of her later albums she has toured throughout North America and Europe. In 2014 she was appointed Honorary Colonel of the Royal Canadian Air Force. She holds the Order of Canada, the Order of Manitoba and has received the Queen Elizabeth ll Golden Jubilee Medal, and the Diamond Jubilee Medal. (2020)
February 18	Joan Miller. Born February 18,1910, Nelson, British Columbia  Nelson. Died August 31, 1988, Oxford, England. Joan began her acting career on stage in Canada but relocated to England to work live theatre in 1931. She was soon working on British Broadcasting Company television (BBC). During World War ll she worked on stage, radio, film, and television. In 1934 she won the Bessborough Trophy for Best Canadian Actress at the Dominion Dram Festival. In 1948 she married Peter Cotes, a producer and director. In the 1950's she appeared in made for television movies and the British series, Anne of Green Gables. She was the 1st paid professional television performer in the world according to a History of Canadian Television written by Sandy Stewart. Joan was also the 1st performer to appear on a trans-Atlantic television broadcast between London, England and New York, U.S.A. (2020)
	Donna-Marie Gurr. Born February 18, 1955, Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1969 she was diagnosed with a joint disorder in her left leg. Forced to train wearing a fiberglass cast she worked with crutches. But she did not let this keep her down as she made the trials and won Three medals at the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland. In 1971 Pan Am Games in Cali, Columbia she won a gold in the 4 X 100 medley relay, a gold in the 200 meter backstroke and a third gold in the 100 meter backstroke. Prior to the 1972 Olympic Games, Munich, Germany she experienced spinal problems and tendonitis in both shoulders and yet she won a bronze medal in the 200 meter backstroke. She is a member of the Order of Canada. In 2012 she was presented with the Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Medal. She is also a member of the Circle of excellence at Swimming Canada having been inducted on April 5, 2013.  Sources: Bob Ferguson, Who’s Who in Canadian Sport (Toronto: Prentice Hall 1977). (2020)
February 19	Hilda Marion Neatby.  Born  February 19, 1904, Sutton, England. Died May 14, 1975. Hilda earned her BA and MA from the University of Saskatchewan and a PhD from the University of Minnesota, U.S.A. From 1949 to 1951 she was the only woman serving on the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Science which established the Canada Council. From 1958 through 1969 she taught history at the University of Saskatchewan and served as head of the History Department. In 1966 she published, in both French and English par the the Canadian Centenary Series.  In 1967 she became a Companion of the Order of Canada.  She was a professor of History at Queen's University where she wrote the history of Queen's in 1978. In 1986 the Canadian Historical Association has awarded the Hilda Neatby Prize for writings in French and English of an article published in Canada that makes an original and scholarly contribution in the field of women's history. In 2000 Canada Post issued a millennium stamp to honour her. Established in 1986 Le Prix Hilda Neatby Prize is offered for writings in English and French making a scholarly contribution to the field of women's history by the Canadian Historical Association. In 2005 a lecture theatre at the University of Saskatchewan was named the Neatby--Timlin Theatre in honour of her and former economics professor Mabel Timlin (1891-1976). (2020)
	Suzanne Eon. Born February 19, 1924, Montreal, Quebec. Died January 23, 1994. After high school Suzanne attended Bart’s Business College. She became the director of synchronized swimming Quebec YWCA and began coaching the sport in 1950. Her students would win 104 national titles. She coached teams in four Pan Am Games and numerous international events. In 1967 she was awarded a Canadian Confederation Medal. In 1975 she won the Dick Ellis Trophy, and was Quebec City’s coach of the year. In 1976 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. The Suzanne Eon Award is presented by Synchro Canada to promising coaches. (2020)
February 20	Kathleen 'Kit' Coleman. Born February 20, 1856*, Castleblakeney, Galway, Ireland. Died  May 16, 1915, Hamilton, Ontario. Kit was born Catherine Ferguson. The young Kit was educated at Loretto Abbey, Rothfarnham, Ireland and then at finishing school in Belgium. She married Thomas Willis  under her adopted name of Kathleen Blake.  After the death of her first husband, and their only child, Kit immigrated to Canada in 1884. She worked as a secretary and then married her boss, Edward Watkins. The couple would live in Toronto and Winnipeg raising two children. She turned to journalism to support herself and her two children after the death of her second husband she worked cleaning houses but then began to see her writings published in such magazines as Saturday Night. Back in Toronto in 1890 she became the first woman journalist to be in charge of her own section of a newspaper with the Women's Kingdom in the Toronto Mail. Her full page column not only discussed fashion but reported in her personal outspoken manner all the top topics of the day. Soon her columns were syndicated to newspapers across the country. In 1893 she covered the World's Fair in Chicago, Illinois. In 1897 she reported on Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee.  Boarding a boat in Florida she landed in Cuba as the world’s first woman accredited war correspondent in 1898 reporting on the Spanish American War for the Toronto Mail newspaper. She would work with the Toronto Mail newspaper until she retired. Back from Cuba she married Dr. Theobald Coleman and settled in Copper Cliff, northern Ontario. By 1901 the couple were living in Hamilton, Ontario. She was part of the group of Canadian women Journalists who were sponsored to go to the St Louis World's Fair in 1904 and during the trip they established the Canadian Women's Press Club, with Kit as the first president. Kit also became known for her published books of poetry.  *Her birth is often listed as 1864. (2022)
	Beverly 'Buffy' Sainte-Marie. Born February 20, 1941, Piapot Reserve, Craven, Saskatchewan. (Sometimes recorded as 1942) This orphaned aboriginal child was to become a moving force in the international emergence of folk music. She was adopted and grew up in Massachusetts where she attended the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, U.S.A. As a child and teen she taught herself to play piano and the guitar. In 1962 she was touring with her music at music festivals across North America. In 1963 her song The Universal Soldier was one of her most popular works and she was named Billboard Magazines Best New Artist.  In 1964 she attended a Powwow on the Piapot Cree reserve where she was adopted by the her people and where she learned of her culture. In 1968 she married Dewain Bugbee of Hawaii but sadly the marriage ended in divorce in 1971. In 1975 she married Sheldon Wolfchild of Minnesota and the couple had one child. It was in 1975 that she 1st appeared on Sesame Street after which she was always a welcome guest. Once again divorced she married a third time to Jack Nitzsche (died 2000). In the 1980's she began used Apple Inc., Apple ll and Macintosh computers to record her music and visual arts. Many of her songs have been used in movies and TV  including the son Up were we belong  in An Officer and a Gentleman which received the Academy Award for Best Song in 198 and a Golden Globe Award for Best original Song in 1983. In addition the song received an BAFTA Award for Best Original Song Written for a Film. That same year she was honoured as Best International Artist in France. .In 1989 she wrote and performed the music for Where the Spirit Lives, a film about native children being abducted and forced into residential schools. She took leave from the profession returning in 1992 after 16 years releasing a new album followed by another album in 1996. As an artist her works have been exhibited at the Glenbow Museum, Calgary, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, The Emily Carr Gallery, Vancouver, British Columbia, and the American Indian Arts Museum, Santa Fe, New Mexico, U.S.A. In 1996 she started a philanthropic fund Nihewan Foundation for American Indian Education and in 1997 she founded the Cradleboard Teaching Project devoted to better understanding Native Americans. She earned a Juno Award, a Gemini Award, a Dove Award and became an Officer in the Order of Canada. The following year she received a Star on Canada's Walk of Fame, Toronto. In 2003 she became the spokesperson for the UNESCO Associated Schools Project Network in Canada. In 2009 she was inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame and won a Juno Award for Aboriginal Recording of the Year for Running for the Drum. In 2010 she earned the Governor General's Performing Arts Award. In 2015 she received the Spirit of Americana/Free Speech in Music Award. In 2016 she earned two more Juno Awards. In 2017 she was presented the Allan Waters Humanitarian Award. 2018 saw her earning another Juno Award and two Indigenous Music Awards.  In 2018 she earned the Frank Blythe Award for Media Excellence and in 2019 she became a Companion of the Order of Canada. (2020)
	Theresa Anne Luke.  Born February 20, 1967, Vancouver, British Columbia. She has completed her studies at the University of Victoria, British Columbia  where she holds a Bachelor of Science degree. She made her rowing debut in 1994 at the World Championships and winning a gold at the 1994 Commonwealth Regatta.  She is a full-time coach and athlete who is looking into a possible sports-related career. As a member of the Canadian Olympic Rowing Team she won a silver medal in the 1996 Atlantic City, U.S.A. Olympic Games. In 1999 the she won a bronze medal at the World Championship. (2020)
February 21	Agnes 'Aggie / 'Ag' Holmes. née Zurowski. Born February 21, 1920, Edenwold, Saskatchewan. Died June 25, 2013, Regina, Saskatchewan. As a young woman she moved to Regina where she would find work at the Army Navy department store where she would work for 48 years before retiring in 1989. In her spare time she enjoyed playing softball and in 1944 she was a member of the Regina Bombers the city championship team. She was scouted for the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGPBL) and in 1945 pitched for the Fort Wayne Daisies and Racine Bells. The women in the AAGPBL wore one piece short skirted uniforms with knee socks, baseball shoes and caps. They played a grueling schedule to keep baseball going while the men served during World War ll. She returned to Canada to play with the Edmonton Mortons from 1945 through 1952. She married Delbert Holmes and settled in Regina. In 1988 the Edmonton Mortons were inducted into the Alberta Softball Hall of Fame. In 1988 the AAGPBL was included in the Cooperstown National Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1991 she was inducted into the Saskatchewan Baseball Hall of Fame. In 1992, director, Penny Marshal told their story in the film A League of Their Own. In 1998 the AAGPBL Canadian members were inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame. Source: AAGPBL Online (Accessed February 2014) ; Obituary, Speers Funeral and Crematorium Services, June 25, 2013. (2020)
	Katherine Heinrich. née Roderick Murwillumbah. Born February 21, 1954, New South Wales, Australia. She earned her Bachelor of Mathematics and her PhD at the University of Newcastle. She started her teaching career at the University of Arizona and moved to British Columbia in 1980 to work at Simon Fraser University. She is active in promoting the importance of mathematics and the need of numerate citizens and encouraging and supporting women in mathematics and the sciences. She was Chair of the Education committee of the Canadian Mathematics Society and moved up to be Vice President in 1993 and President in 1996-1998. She is the author of various reports and numerous articles in her chosen field. in 1995 she received the Vancouver YWCA Woman of Distinction Award for Health and Education.  In 2005 she earned the Adrien Puliot Award from the Canadian Mathematical Society. (2020)
February 22	Lady Baden Powell.  Not Canadian But I just could not leave her off a list that Girl Guides use! It was also Lord B-P's Birthday! If you do not recognize her name be sure to look it up on the internet!!! (2020)
	Grace Annie Lockhart.  Born February 22, 1855, Saint John, New Brunswick. Died May 18, 1916, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island. Grace graduated with her Bachelor of Science and English Literature from Mount Allison College, Sackville, New Brunswick on May 25, 1875 becoming the first woman in the British Empire to receive a bachelor’s degree. She would teach in her home town of Saint John after graduation. In 1881she married a Methodist minister John L. Dawson  and settled into life as a minister's wife and became a mother of three sons.  (2020)
	Elaine Tanner-Watt.   Born February 22, 1951, Vancouver, British Columbia.  When she was six her family moved to California where she took naturally to swimming. Back in Vancouver she joined the Dolphin Swimming Club. Standing 4’9” She became known as  “Mighty Mouse” for her swimming prowess, versatility and speed. At 15 years of age she was Canada’s outstanding athlete of the year, the youngest person to ever receive the Lou Marsh Trophy. She holds 4 gold medals from Commonwealth Games 1966, plus 3 silvers and broke 2 world records!  She was the 1st Canadian Woman to ever win 4 gold. In 1967 she won 2 gold and 3 silver medals in the Winnipeg  Pan-American Games and broke 2 more world records. At the Mexico Olympic games in 1968 she provided Canada with 2 individual silver medals and a relay bronze medal. She is the 1st person ever to win 3 medals in a single Olympic Games and the 1st Canadian female swimmer to win a medal. . However all Canada asked “Why did you not win gold?”. The weight of not winning gold for Canada was the beginning of a downslide in life. At just 18 she retired from competition. In 1969 she received the Order of Canada and in 1971 she was inducted into Canada's Sports Hall of Fame. In her personal life she would marry and have two children only to find herself divorced and distanced from her family. Suffering from anorexia and depression she felt that they would be better off without her. She worked at bringing herself out of this dark period of her life in the late 1980’s earning a diploma in kinesiology from Simon Fraser University in 1986. However it was not until she met John Watt in 1988 that she was able to gain stable ground. The couple now have a classic car business. Elaine has also counseled youth to not make excessive expectations of themselves. She has also done some writing which she has published on her website. She wants her story to be a help and encouragement to others. She and John also work advocating water safety and drowning prevention in Ontario. In 2010 the Canadian Sport Advisory Council voted Elaine into the Top 50 greatest Canadian Athletes of all time. Sources: The Canadian Encyclopedia. - online.  Information provided by Thomas Brandenberg: The Elaine Tanner-Watt website (Accessed January 2013) (2020)
February 23	Sarah Eugéne 'Nini' Fischer.  Born February 23, 1896, Paris, France. Died May 3, 1975. Her family came to Canada when she was 12 and it was not until after World War I that she would train her soprano singing voice in London. She was made an honorary member of the Royal College of Music in London. In 1941 she opened a studio in Montreal helping many young Canadian artists to make their debuts.(2020)
	Myrtle 'Molly' Kool. Born February 23, 1916, Alma, New Brunswick. Died February 25, 2009 Bangor, Maine, U.S.A.  Molly would learn and take to the ways of the sea from her sailor father. She learned quickly and could repair an engine, run the winch, handle the lines, and set sails as well as cook and sew canvas! She was a woman who became accomplished in a man's profession with courage and tenacity. She received a telegram on April 19, 1939 from Navigation School...she passed. She was the 1st registered woman sea captain in North America and second (to a woman in Russia) in the world! She was the 1st Master Mariner in Canada. She would sail as a Sea Captain for five years before she married Ray Blaisdell in 1944.After Ray's death she married a second time to John Carney of Main, U.S.A.  While she enjoyed sailing for pleasure she never worked for pay at sea again. Sadly she lost both her legs to a vascular disease. In 2003 a sailing ship was named in her honour.  A monument dedicated to her accomplishment was erected near the wharf in Alma, New Brunswick. Fundy National Park, New Brunswick has a Molly Kool Memorial. The Canadian Coast Guard medium class icebreaker, Captain Molly Kool, commissioned in 2018, was named in her honour. (2020)
February 24	Martha Louise Black. née Munger. Born  February 24, 1866, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.  Died October 31, 1957, Whitehorse, Yukon. Martha attended Saint Mary's College in Indiana, U.S.A. In 1897 she married Will Purdy and the couple had two sons. One of Canada's more colourful characters she joined the search for gold by hiking the famed Chilkoot Pass in the Yukon Gold Rush of 1898! Her husband, Will, decided to go to Hawaii instead of following the gold rush.  She gave birth to  her third son alone in a log cabin. She went back to Chicago but returned to the Klondike in 1900. In order to survive she raised money to purchase a saw mill and bossed 16 men on a mining claim. In 1904 she married George Black. She became the First Lady of the Yukon when  George Black, was Commissioner 1912-1916. In 1917 Martha became a Fellow with the Royal Geographical Society for a series of lectures she presented in England. In 1935 she was elected to the Canadian Parliament taking place of her ill husband. She was the second woman ever elected to the House of Commons. In 1938 she published her autobiography; My Seventy Years. The autobiography was updated to My Ninety Years which was republished in 1998 as Martha Black; Her Story from the Dawson Gold Fields to the Halls of Parliament.  She received the Order of the British Empire in 1946 for her cultural and social contributions to the Yukon.  In 1986 a Canadian Coast Guard high-endurance multi-tasked vessel was given the name "Martha L. Black" in her honour. In 1997, Canada Post issued a $0.45 stamp in her honour. (2020)
	Manon Rhéaume.  Born February 24, 1972, Lac Beauport, Quebec. The daughter of a hockey coach, she began to play at the age of 5 years. She loved hockey and played well. She was the 1st girl to play in the Annual Quebec Peewee Hockey Tournament. In 1991-1992 she was the 1st woman to play in a men's Major Junior hockey game.  She went on to become the 1st woman to play professionally. She was goalie with the Tampa Bay Lightening of the National Hockey League playing in preseason exhibition games in 1992-1993. She also played on the Canadian Women's National Ice Hockey League, with the team winning gold medals in the International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) Women's World Championship in 1992 and 1994 followed with a silver medal in the 1998 Nagano, Japan Winter Olympic Games. If you want the whole story read Manon: Alone in Front of the Net written in 1997, the year she initially retired from professional hockey. In June 1998 she married Gerry St Cyr but the marriage ended in divorce. The couple has two sons. In 2000 she served as marketing director for Mission Hockey, Irvine, California, U.S.A. where she developed and promoted girls' hockey equipment. In 2008 she formed the Manon Rhéaume Foundation to provide scholarships for young women. In 2008 she established the Manon Rhéaume Foundation to provide scholarship for women. In 2008 and 2009 she was working in her sport in  Michigan, and Minnesota, U.S.A. In 2015 she dropped the puck in the opening ceremony of the faceoffs of the National Women's Hockey League. She is still active in her sport today teaching young girls how to play the sport she loves. (2020)
February 25	Moretta Fenton Beall 'Molly' Reilly.  Born  February 25, 1922, Lindsay, Ontario. Died November 24, 1980.  In 1939. Molly tried to sign up with the Royal Canadian Air Force, but they were not accepting women until 1941 when the Women’s’ Division was founded.  She was one of the 1st recruits and she worked in the photographic area to get to fly. She finally earned her pilots license after the war and in 1953 she went to England to earn a senior commercial license. In 1959 she married John Hardisty 'Jack' Reilly (1921-2003)  and that same year, 1959, she became a full time charter pilot where she was the 1st woman in Canada be a captain and the 1st woman to fly to the Arctic professionally.  She became the 1st woman to be a corporate pilot in Canada when she was Chief Pilot for Canadian Utilities Company in 1965. .She was inducted as a member of the Canadian Aviation Hall of Fame in 1994. (2020)
	Edith Berkeley. née Dunington. Born February 25, 1875, South Africa. Died February 25, 1963, Nanaimo, British Columbia. Edith had been a world traveler by the time she was 14 when she traveled on her own from Tasmania to England. Edith attended the University of London, England for courses in pre-medical studies. She met her husband, Cyril Berkeley, while studying the pure sciences of chemistry and zoology in England and the couple married in 1902. The couple had one daughter. She left her position at Columbia University, New York City, U.S.A. to volunteer for the Pacific Biological Station, Nanaimo, British Columbia in 1918 where she worked as a volunteer until 1963.  Her husband gave up his job in 1930 to join his wife as a volunteer. The family would eventually settle in British Columbia. Under her lead they became world authorities on the classification of marine worms. Enthusiastic gardeners they also developed a new species flowers in the family of the Iris. (2020)
February 26	Robertine Barry. Born February 26, 1863, L’isle-Verte, Canada East (now Quebec). Died January 7, 1910, Montreal, Quebec. A well known personality in Montreal society she was a pioneer feminist lecturer and writer. She is considered the first woman journalist in French Canada. From fall 1889 through summer 1892 she was a student at a boarding school with the Ursuline nuns in Quebec and wrote for the student newspaper, L'Echo du cloitre. She joined the staff of the weekly newspaper La Patrie in 1891. Her column, Chronique du lundi, was written for almost ten years under the nom de plume of 'Françoise'. She would go on in her career to found Le Journal d Françoise, published from 1902-1909. She did fundraising to save the bail from the Fortress of Louisbourg in Nova Scotia. She also would publish books of her short stories. In 1900 she was one of the Canadian government representatives to the famous Paris International Exhibition. In 1904 the government of France named her as an “Officer de l’Acaémie”. She was part of the group of Canadian women Journalists who were sponsored to go to the St Louis World's Fair in 1904 and during the trip they established the Canadian Women's Press Club, with herself being elected as vice president. Sources: D C B  (2020)
	Monique Leyrac. née Tremblay. Born February 26, 1928, Montreal, Quebec. Died December 15, 2019, Cowansville, Quebec. Monique was just 13 when she first acted on radio. Monique would go on to become the 1st great international star from French Canada. Using her natural gifts of music and drama she started her acting career on radio in 1943. In 1950 she was appearing in French language movies. In 1952 Monique married French actor Jean Dalmain (1915-2010) and briefly worked in theatre in Paris, France. In 1965 she won the grand prizes at the international festival of Song, Sopot, Poland, and at the Festival de la Chanson at Ostende, Belgium. She would also tour in France, Russia. and North America. She appeared in numerous TV shows in both French and English networks. In 1967 she was inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada. In 1972 CBC TV produced a documentary about her. That same year she appeared on stage in Threepenny Opera at the Stratford Festival. In 1979 she earned the Prix de musique Calixa-Lavallée. In the 1980's she began to write and stage one-woman shows where she sang and acted.  In 1997 she was inducted as a Knight in the National Order of Quebec and she received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award. In 2013 she was presented with the Prix Denise-Pelletier for her lifetime achievements. During her career she would release ten albums of music. In 2019 François Dompierre published a biography of Monique. (2020)
February 27	Adelaide ' Addie' Sophia Hoodless. née Hunter. Born February 27, 1857, St George, Canada West (now Ontario). Died February 26, 1910, Toronto, Ontario. Young Addie attended the Ladies College at Brantford, Ontario where she med John Hoodless. On September 14, 1881 the couple were married and settled in Hamilton, Ontario. The couple had four children. On August 10, 1889 her youngest son died at 14 months of age from meningitis. It was a time when dairy practices where questionable and pasteurization was not common leaving milk often tainted and was not refrigerated. Contaminated milk for a baby would have increased. It was after the child's death that Adelaide began to participate in public life his suffering. to help spread knowledge and prevent baby deaths. She served as president of the Hamilton Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA) and worked to establish domestic science education She is one of the founder of the Canadian National YWCA in 1895. In 1989 she published a book Public School Domestic Science. February 12, 1897 while speaking at the Farmer's Institute Ladies Night she suggested forming a social group to broaden the knowledge of domestic Science and agriculture. A week later a group of 100 women became the 1st branch of the Women's Institute. with Adelaide as honorary President. S. With Lady Aberdeen (1857-1939), she helped found the National Council of Women, the Victorian Order of Nurses. In 1902 she approached the wealthy Sir William MacDonald, a tobacco merchant, to fund Domestic Science Programmes in Guelph, Ontario and Quebec at the college level. In 1907 the Women's Institutes for their 10 anniversary commissioned a portrait of Adelaide. The University of Guelph recognizes her contribution to education by hanging her portrait in what was once called MacDonald Institute. Several Ontario schools have been named in her honor. In 1937 a cairn near St George, Ontario is dedicated to her. In 1975 the Adelaide Hoodless Rose was developed and in 1993 Canada Post issued the Adelaide Hoodless commemorative postage Stamp. in 2003 to mark the 100th anniversary of the founding of MacDonald Institute in Guelph the Hoodless Garden was dedicated beside MacDonald Hall. A large aluminum portrait is mounted on the wall by the garden allowing light to cast a shadow image of Adelaide. The Adelaide Hunter Hoodless Homestead is a National Historic Site. Image copyright Canada Post. Used with permission. (2020)
	Maureen Anne McTeer. Born February 27, 1952, Cumberland, Ontario. Her childhood dream was to play hockey for the National Hockey League (NHL) Maureen obtained her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Ottawa in 1973 and  that same year married a young lawyer and politician, Joe Clark (1939-   ), who would become the 16th Prime Minister of Canada. She caused a minor stir when she decided to retain her maiden name after her marriage. She is the only wife of a Prime Minister to used her own name. She would balance her continuing education to become a lawyer with the challenge of having a daughter. In 1982 she helped organize the Esso Women's Nationals championships tournament in women's senior ice hockey where the Maureen McTeer Trophy is presented.. Maureen is an author, journalist, and a specialist in medical law. She  served on the Royal Commission on Reproductive and Genetic Technologies from 1989 through 1993. She has had an interest in politics and has served on numerous committees and even ran (unsuccessfully ) for a seat in Parliament. She is the only spouse of a Prime Minister to have her own political career. She is also known for her involvement in charity work having served as the National spokesperson for the Osteoporosis Society of Canada. In 2003 she published In My Own Name: A Memoir which is one of five publications.  As a professor she has taught at the University of Dalhousie, Halifax, Nova Scotia. University of Calgary, Alberta, the university of British Columbia, the University of California, Berkeley, U.S.A., and George Mason University, Fairfax City, Virginia, U.S.A.  In 2008 she received the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case. (2020)
February 28	Meg Luxton. Born February 28, 1946. Meg earned her Master's Degree and her doctorate in Social Anthropology from the University of Toronto. A professor in women's studies she co-founded the excellent Women's Studies Program at the University of Toronto. She is also professor in the School of Gender, Sexuality, and Women's Studies , York University, Toronto, Ontario. She served as Director of the Graduate Programme in Gender, Feminist and Woman's Studies and of the Centre for Feminist Research. She has served on various committees including the National Action Committee on the Status of Women. Her writings on the history of women include: More than a Labour of Love: Three Generations of Women's Work in the Home. In 2015 she was a visiting professor. (2020)
	Rae Dawn Chong.  Born February 28, 1961?, Edmonton, Alberta. Rae Dawn began her movie career with a movie in which there was no dialogue! Quest for Fire which premiered in 1981. She has appeared in numerous movies including the Color Purple in 1985 and Far Out Man in 1990. She married Owen Bayliss and the Couple had one son divorcing in 1982. In 1989 she married actor C. Thomas Howell, a co-star in the movie Soul Man. Divorced she married Nathan Ulrich but again the marriage ended in divorce in 2014.  She also appeared with her father in Cheech & Chong's the Corsican Brothers. Her career to 2013 had spanned roles in some 40 movies. and numerous appearances on TV show including many recurring. (2020)
February 29	Charlotte Augustine Cadoret. Born February 29, 1908, Montreal, Quebec. Died March 7, 1995, Montreal, Quebec. Charlotte, raised a Roman Catholic, took her vows as a nun and was given the name Sister St-Jean-du Sacré Coeur of the Congregation of Notre Dame. She earned a teaching certificate in Montreal in 1928 and went on to study for a Bachelor of Music in Montreal in 1931. From 1942 through 1954 she was the Director of Ecole Normale de Musique and from 1959 through 1989 she served as General Director of Musical Studies of the Congregation of Notre Dame. From 1976 through 1982 she served as vice-president of C F M S (now C S M T). She composed choral works, masses, cantatas, songs, folksongs, and organ music. (2020)
	Sylvie Daigle. Born February 29, 1962, Sherbrooke, Quebec. Sylvie began speed skating when she was 8 years old. She competed for the 1st time in 1979 in long track speed skating at the Canada Winter Games winning gold in 500 metre, 1000 metre and 1500 metre events. In 1980 at the Winter Olympic Games in Lack Placid, New York, U.S.A. she only placed 19th in the 500 metre. She won the Elaine Tanner Award for Best Canadian Junior Athlete in 1979 and 1983. Returning to the Olympic Games in 1984 she again was well back in the pack. In the mid 1980's she suffered pain in her knees and she began to only participate in short track speed skating winning the overall short track at the World Championship in 1979 and 1983. In 1988 at the Calgary Olympic Games she won a gold in the 1500 meter, a silver in the 1000 metre and 3000 metre a bronze in the 500 metre and the 3000 metre relay. She was Female Athlete of the Year for the Canadian Speed Skating Association in 1988, 1989 and 1991. 1988 saw her win the Overall World Championship which she would win again in 1989 and 1990 becoming the 1st skater to win five Overall World titles. In 1991 she was inducted into the Olympic Hall of Fame.  In the Albertville, France Winter Olympic Games in 1992 she won gold in the 3000 metre relay but lost the race in the 500 metre after a collision with another skater. She suspended her medical studies at the Université of Montreal to win a silver medal in the 1994 Lillehammer, Norway Winter Olympic Games. She retired from sports to complete her medical degree graduating from the Université de Montréal in 1998. (2020)