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Introduction

Annette Saint - Amant Fremont.
née Marie Jeanne Annie Saint-Amant. Born July 1, 1892, L’Avenir, Quebec. Died August 4, 1928, Winnipeg, Manitoba. She was educated by the sisters of L’Assomption and L’Ecole Norman (Teacher’s College) Laval graduating with diplomas in both English and French. She was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent 2y years at a sanatorium in New York State, U.S.A. During this time she occasionally sent articles to newspapers in Montreal. IN 1914, Back in Canada she and her sister, Marie moved to Gravelbourg Saskatchewan to teach. In 1918 the editor of the first French language newspaper in the province, La Patriote de l”Ouest,  sought Annette out to become the editor of the women’s page. Annette moved to Prince Albert Saskatchewan and became the 1st francophone woman journalist in Saskatchewan. Her writings reached rural women throughout the province and her works included poems, stories along with helpful hints. Soon she created a second column, Le Coin des Enfants which encouraged children to write. On December 26, 1918 she married Donatien Frémont (  -1967) the assistant editor of the paper. The couple had one child. In 1923 the family moved to St. Boniface, Manitoba where Donatien was Chief Editor for La Liberté Annette soon became editor for the women’s section. After her death, Donatien produced a collection of her writings, L’ Art d’être heureuse. (Montréal 1929.) Sources: Herstory, the Canadian Women’s Calendar 2006 Coteau Books, 2005; Dictionary of Canadian Biography online (accessed April 2013.)

Rosalie Silberman Abella. 
née Silberman.  Born July 1, 1946, Stuttgart, Germany. Rosalie was actually born in a displaced persons camp, one of several such camps that sprang up after World War ll.  Rosalie and her family came to Canada in 1950 as refugees. December 8, 1968 she married Irving Martin Abella the the couple have two sons. She completed her education as a lawyer in 1970 at the University of Toronto and was called to the Bar in 1972. She is  She became a Justice, Ontario Court of Appeal. A Human Rights activist, she was also the Commissioner of the Royal Commission on Equity in Employment. She is considered one of Canada's foremost experts on human rights law and has taught at McGill Law School in Montreal.  August 30, 2004 she was appointed a Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada to serve until 2021.  She was named Global Jurist of the year for 2016 by Northwestern's Pritzker School of La's Centre for International Human Rights. (2018)

Genevieve Bujold.  
Born July 1, 1942, Montreal, Quebec. She trained at the Quebec Conservatory of Dramatic Art and began her acting career in French Canadian theater making her debut in 1962. During a trip to Europe she was 'noticed' by French director Alain Resnais who placed her in several of his films. Returning to Canada she married film director Paul Almond in 1967.The couple had one son.  Her husband placed her in three films including Isabel in 1968 and the Act of the Heart in 1970 which won the Canadian Film Award for Best Actress. She has received recognition for her dramatic talents with a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Drama) and an Oscar nomination for the role in Anne of a Thousand Days. released in 1969. In 1973 she again won Best Actress from the Canadian Film Awards for her role in Claude Jutra's Kamouraska. Divorced in 1973 the couple worked again in Final Assignment in 1980 and The Dance Goes On in 1991. She won a Genie Award in 1980 as Best supporting Actress and in 1981 for Performance by an Actress in a leading role which she earned again in 1989, 1994, and1998.   She acted in numerous films in the 1970's and early 1980's with top male stars of Hollywood. After a long departure she returned to Quebec to be in two films by Michael Brault. She has continued to work mainly in independent films. In 2010 she earned the Best Performance by a Female from the Canadian Comedy Awards for The Trotsky. In 2013 The Canadian Screen Awards honoured her with Performance by and Actress in a Leading Role in Still Mine.

Evelyn Lau. 
Born July 2, 1971, Vancouver, British Columbia. This author published her first work while still a teenager! At 14 she left and abusive life at home a lived on the streets of Vancouver but continued to submit poems to journals. In 1989 she recorded her experiences as a street kid in a best selling work, Runaway: Diary of a Street Kid. The book was made into a movie for the CBC. In 1992 she became the youngest poet to be nominated for a Governor General's Award. Her novel Other Women was published in 1995 and has been translated into 11 languages. She has won four Western Magazine Awards and a National Magazine Award. She has earned  an Air Canada Award, the Vantage Women of Originality Award and the Mayor's Arts Award. She as been writer-in-residence at the University of British Columbia, Kwatlen University, and Vancouver Community College. She also was Distinguished Visiting Writer at the University of Calgary. She is a manuscript consultant win the Writing and Publishing Program at Simon Fraser University. In 2011 she was named as poet laureate for Vancouver. She continues to publish poems, short stories and books.

Thérèse Renaud.  
Born July 3, 1927, Montreal, Quebec. Died December 12, 2005, Paris, France. Thérèse went to study theatre in Paris, France in 1946. That same year she published Les Sables du  rêve. Returning to Montreal she worked as a comedian and singer, appearing on radio and television. In 1959 she was back to Paris to write. Here she continued radio work interviewing for Radio Canada. She also worked as a professional astrologer She married artist Fernand Leduc. An author, poet and a painter she is best remembered for her memoirs that broke the silence of the life of women in the belle province of Quebec. She would sign the 1948 Refus Global (Total Refusal), the manifesto that denounced the conservative and church-dominated values that held Quebec in a straight jacket. The manifesto was signed by a small group of artistes was a passionate statement affirming the link between artistic creation and social transformation. (2018)

Renée Claude. 
née Bélanger. Born July 3,1939, Montreal, Quebec. Died March 12, 2020, Montreal, Quebec.  As a youth Renée  studied piano at Ecole de musique Vincent-d'Indy. She also studied dramatic arts and voice. In 1955, while still just a teen she made her debut on C K V L in Verdun, Quebec. She has performed in the US, France, Belgium, Poland, USSR, and Japan just to name a few countries. In 1963 she produced her first album and each successive year she produced albums two, three, & four. In 1965 she earned the Stéphane Venne et François Dompierre prix de la meilleure chanson de l'année (best song of the year). In 1967 she signed a contract with Columbia records but switched to Barclay in 1969 until 1974. By 1976 she had produced 14 successful albums. In 1980 she made her stage debut in  a production of songs, monologues and poems in homage to her friend Clémence Desrochers. 1986 saw yet another album. In 1990 she was appearing on television and two years later she was back to the stage and doing films. (2024)

Gloria Cranmer Webster. 
Born July 4, 1931, Alert Bay, British Columbia. Died April 19, 2023,  Alert Bay, British Columbia. On September 10 1949 Gloria Cranmer, future film maker and linguist, became First Indigenous woman to attend the University of British Columbia. She graduated with a degree in anthropology. Her first job was as a counsellor for first time offenders in prison.  She married John Webster, executive director of the Saskatchewan John Howard Society. Eventually the couple settled with their three children on the west coast.  Gloria worked with the Vancouver  YWCA and later became program director for the Vancouver Indian Center. In 1971 she became assistant curator for the new British Columbia Museum of Anthropology. From 1960 through 1991 she served as curator of the U’mist Cultural Centre in Alert Bay. She has authored several books and co-piloted a project to create to transcribe the sounds of the Kwak’wala language. She worked with the Museum of Civilization on the creation of the Great Hall and served as a member of the Board of the Museum of Civilization. Her contributions to British Columbia native life are remarkable. She was awarded the Heritage Society of British Columbia’s Heritage Award in 1996. In 2017 she became an Officer of the Order of Canada. (2024)

Beverly Boys. 
Born July 4, 1951, Toronto, Ontario. For ten years from 1966 to 1977 this diver won 34 Canadian championships in springboard and platform competition.  She holds gold medals from 1966, 1970, 1974 and 1978. Commonwealth Games and was a member of three Canadian Olympic teams. In 1968 she won two silver and a bonze medal at the Pan American Games in 1967 and 1971.  She is a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.  She was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of Fame in 2005 and was named a Member of the Order of Canada in 2015. Beverly lived in Vancouver, British Columbia and is active as a coach and judge with British Columbia Diving. (2018)

Ethel May Smith.
Born July 5,1907, Toronto, Ontario. Died December 31, 1979, Toronto, Ontario.  At 14 when she was in grade 8, she quit school and went to work in the Toronto garment district in order to help support her family. She played on the company baseball, basketball, and track and field teams. In 1927 she won the 220 yards at the National Championships. At the 1928 Olympic trials in Halifax, Nova Scotia she showed her sport talents. She teamed with Bobbie Rosenfeld (1904-1969), Myrtle Cook (1902-1985) and Jane Bell (1910-1998) to win the gold medal in the 400m relay at the 1928 Olympic games, the1st games that allowed women to compete. The Canadian women team of 1928 were known as the Matchless Six. Ethel also won the bronze medal in the 100m sprint at the same games. Ethel retired from competition in 1929 after winning the Ontario Championships.  She is a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. (2019)

Susan Riva Bellan.  
Born July 5,1952, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Susan earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of Manitoba in 1973 and the following year a second Bachelor of Arts from McGill University, Montreal. An import and retail executive she showed promise of achievement early in life in music at the Winnipeg Music Festival 1968. She would work in the field of small business and enterprise and use her knowledge and experience to write the book: Small Business and the Big Banks published in 1995. Combining an interest in world crafts where she is the owner/manager of Frida Craft Stores. She is also a mother of a family of three. (2018)

Jeanne Fisher Manery.  
Born July 6, 1908, Chelsey, Ontario. Died September 6, 1986, Toronto, Ontario. Jeanne earned he Bachelor of Arts at the University of Toronto and her Doctorate (PhD) in 1935. In 1938 she married zoology professor Kenneth Fisher. Jeanne became the first woman appointed professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto in 1964. She was president of the Royal Canadian Institute in 1980. She has received honours for her scientific achievements and has promoted the role of women within her field. Jean created the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences Equal Opportunity Committee.  The Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences, University of Toronto presents every second year to a eminent Canadian woman to receive the Jeanne Manery Fisher Memorial Lectureship.

Viola Desmond. 
Born July 6, 1914, Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died February 7, 1965, New York, U.S.A. Viola was a successful Halifax beautician and businesswoman working with her husband Jack Desmond, who was a barber. She would become embroiled in one of the most publicized incidents of racial discrimination in Canadian history. On November 8, 1946, while visiting New Glasgow, Nova Scotia she attended a movie at the Roseland Theatre. She chose to sit downstairs in the racially segregated theatre instead of upstairs in the balcony where Blacks were forced to sit. She was arrested and thrown into jail overnight. She had refused to pay the once cent amusement tax difference charged to clients sitting downstairs instead of the balcony. She refused to pay more than white customers at the show. At trial, where she had no counsel, she was sentenced to a fine of $20.00. Later she, and newspaper editor Carrie Best would encourage a lobby group to force the Nova Scotia government to finally repeal the law of segregation in 1954. After her trial she closed her shop and moved to Montreal where she enrolled in a business college. In 2000, Desmond and other Canadian civil rights activists were the subject of a National Film Board of Canada documentary Journey to Justice. On April 14, 2010, the Lieutenant Governor of Nova Scotia, Mayann Francis, invoked Royal Prerogative and granted Desmond a posthumous pardon, the 1st such to be granted in Canada. The government of Nova Scotia also apologized to her family.  Cape Breton University has a Viola Desmond Chair for Social Justice. In 2018 Viola Desmond is the 1st non royal women to appear solo on a Canadian monetary bill, the ten dollar bill. 

Rosemary Forsyth.  
Born July 6, 1943,  Montreal, Quebec. This actor has appeared in numerous movies since she began her career in 1965 in the movie role of Bronwyn apposite Charleton Heston in The War Lord and James Steward in Shenandoah. That year she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best New Star of the Year - Actress. She married three times.1966 to 1975 she married Michael Tolan and the couple had a daughter. In 1972 to 1975 she was married to Ron Waranch. In 1980 to 1983 she was married to  Alan Horowitz;  Maternity leave caused a crimp in her career but she maintained her career with numerous guest appearances with day time drama in TV series such as Days of Our Lives and General Hospital and with prime time evening television shows such as NYPD Blue, Monk, and Without a Trace. In 2003 she was elected to the Board of Directors of the Screen Actor's Guild. (2018)

Doris Jean McCarthy. 
Born July 7, 1910, Calgary, Alberta. Died November 25, 2010, Toronto, Ontario.  Doris talent was noted early and she began taking art classes at 15. In 1926 noted artist Arthur Lismer gave her a scholarship to the Ontario Collage of Art where she was coached by several members of the famous Canadian painters known as the Group of Seven. She began teaching and providing encouragement to others. She taught high school students of her avocation for 40 years retiring only in 1972. She shared her joie de vivre though her paintings of landscapes she viewed around the world. She is considered perhaps Canada’s best landscape artist.  She was the 1st woman to be president of the Ontario Society of artists. In 1983 she was named Canadian Woman Artist of the year. At the age of 79 she graduated from the University of Toronto with a B.A. in English. She named her home “Fools Paradise” and bequeathed it to the Ontario Heritage Foundation to be sued as a retreat for artists. Her landscapes for which she is best known have been exhibited around the world and some of her works are owned by the National Gallery of Canada.  In 2004 the Doris McCarthy Gallery opened on the Scarborough Campus of the University of Toronto. She authored a 3 volume set of her autobiography. She was a member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts, recipient of the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada. Source: Herstory: The Canadian Women's calendar. 2008  (Saskatoon Women's Calendar Collective / Coteau Books, 2007) : Obituary, The Toronto Star, November 2010  Online accessed November 2013

Jennifer Judith Jones. 
Born July 7, 1974, Winnipeg, Manitoba. As a youth she enjoyed the sports of volleyball and curling. She decided to continue in the sport of curling while obtaining a degree as a lawyer from the University of Manitoba  and working as a Corporate lawyer. She married curler Brent Laing (1978-   ) and the couple have two daughters. The couple settled in Shanty Bay, Ontario. In 1991 she was a member of team that won the Manitoba Games Silver medal. By 1994 she was a Canadian Junior Team Champion. In 2002 she won the Manitoba Women’s Provincial Championships and went on to win the Canadian National Tournament of Hearts in 2002 and 2005. In 2006 she won the inaugural World Curling Tour Players Championship. She was also busy in 2008 winning the Tournament of Hearst and once again the World Championship as skip of her team. In the Winter Olympics, Sochi Japan she took gold and became the 1st female skip to go through the Games undefeated and she and her team were the 1st Manitoba based curling team to win Olympic Gold. Jennifer has wont the National Championships six time up to 2018 the Manitoba provincial championship eleven times and has competed thirteen times as of 2018 in 13 Tournament of Hearts. All these titles go along with 15 Grand Slam Curling wins on the World Curling Tour. In 2014 she inducted into the Order of Manitoba.  

Evelyn / Evelyne Bolduc.
Born July 8, 1888, St Victor de Beauce, Quebec. Died December 21 / 22, 1939, Saint Georges-de-Beauce, Quebec. Eveline studied at the Convent de la Congrégation Notre-Dame, Ottawa,  Macdonald College, Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue. She also studied science and economics at Cornell University. In 1930 she began her main career  working as a translator for the Canadian Senate in Ottawa where she was the 1st woman translator for the Debates of the Senate.  She would establish herself by writing Manuel de l'Equette curante parmi la bonne société canadienne-française ( Ottawa, Queen's Printer, 1937) and Contes et dictions populaires Canadiens. (2019)

Elizabeth Josephine Allin. 
Born July 8, 1905, Blackwater, Ontario. Died December 17,1993, Toronto, Ontario. Elizabeth graduated from university with a degree in physics. She would go on to become the 1st woman to be appointed to the Physics Department at the University of Toronto. She was also a founding member of the Canadian Association of Professional Physicists. A loyal University of Toronto employee, she wrote the history of the university Physics Department. You can read about her place and struggle for recognition of her ability to work in a dominant male occupation in the book Great Dames. Source: Alison Prentice, Elizabeth Allin: Physicist in Elspeth Cameron and Janice Dicken, eds. Great dames. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997. (2019)

Beatrice 'Bea' Caroline Rowley.
Born July 9 1917, Bromley, Kent, England. Died September 4, 2017, Bromley, Kent, England. Bea and her mother immigrated to Canada in 1925 and settled in Winnipeg. Bea’s father was refused entry into Canada because of medical grounds for many years. Her first poem was published in the Winnipeg Free Press when she was in her mid-teens, on the Young Authors Page, using the name de plume of R. H. Grenville. She contributed additional works to the Page until she moved to Victoria, British Columbia. In the 1930’s she met Frank Rowley (d 1987) whom she married in 1951. The couple had two children who joined her stepson Charles. As well as being an accomplished and prolific poet Bea enjoyed sketching and painting an often made cards from her quick sketches. In 1963 she published Fountain in  the Square her only published work. Many of her poems appeared in 70 North American publications such as the Saturday Evening Post. She also had published short stories in such magazines as the Woman’s Journal.

Margie Gillis. 
Born July 9, 1953, Montreal, Quebec. Margie began taking gymnastic and ballet lessons when she was just three years old.  She is a solo artist who has presented modern ballet around the world. She has hip-length chestnut hair and wears remarkable costumes. In 1881 she founded the Margie Gillis Dance Foundation to support and present her artistic work.  She introduced modern dance to contemporary China. She has performed in Asia, India, Europe and the Middle East as well as throughout North and South America. She was named Canadian Cultural Ambassador in 1981 and in 1986 Quebec Cultural Ambassador. When she is not on stage she had been dedicated to the fight against AIDS and a strong supporter of OXFAM and the Planned Parenthood Foundation.  In 1988 she was appointed to the Order of Canada, the 1st modern dance artist to receive this honor. In 2001 she she received a Career Grant from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec for her exceptional contribution to Quebec culture. In 2004 she was named as one of the 25 to Watch by Dance Magazine. In 2008 she received the 1st MAD Spirit Award from the Stella Adler Studio of Acting in New York, City, New York, U.S.A. for her involvement in various social causes. That same year she was awarded the Walter Carsen Prize for Excellence in the Performing Arts from the Canada Council for the Arts. In 2009 she was inducted as a Knight in the National Order of Quebec. On March 3, 2011, Gillis was named a 2011 laureate of the Governor General's Performing Arts Awards for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. Two months later she received a Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award from the Governor Generals Performing Arts Awards. In 2013 she was upgraded to Officer of the Order of Canada.

Alice Munro.  
Born July 10, 1931, Wingham, Ontario.  Alice married James Munroe (1929-2016) in 1951. Her short stories appear in magazines such as the New Yorker and The Atlantic.  She has collected her stories and published numerous books of stories. In 1976 She married Gerald Fremlin (1924-2013). A novel, Lives of Girls and Women, grew from her short stories.  She has received 3 Governor General’s awards for her works.  She also has won the Canada-Australia Literary Prize and the Marion Engel Award and the W. H. Smith Award from Great Britain. In 2013 she was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Helen Griffith Wylie Watson. 
née McArthur Born July 11, 1911, Stettler, Alberta. Died December 15, 1974, Guelph, Ontario. Helen married Dr. William Watson in 1931. She attended the University of Alberta graduating in 1934 with a Bachelor of Science in public health nursing. She went on to earn a Master's degree from Columbia University, New York City, U.S.A. She became Director of the School of Nursing at the University of Alberta.  Helen also served as the head of public health nursing for the province of Alberta for three years. She joined the Red Cross Society and worked her way to later became national director of nursing services.  She would also serve as president of the Canadian Nurses Association from 1950 through 1954. In 1957 she earned the Florence Nightingale Award for her work in Korea where she served to rebuild the infrastructure of public health. . It is the highest international nursing aware that the Red Cross bestows. She chaired a nursing advisory committee in Geneva, Switzerland and serving on an International Council of Nurses. Back in Canada, she was president of the Canadian Nurses' Association and the Ontario College of Nurses She was and officer of the Order of Canada in 1971.  (2019)

Liona Boyd. 
Born July 11, 1949, London, England. On the ocean voyage’ when her family immigrated to Canada’ she entertained in a children’s talent show. At 13 she received a guitar as a Christmas gift. The following year she saw English guitarist, Julian Beam, perform and she was smitten with the power of the music. In 1972 she graduated from the University of Toronto, won the Canadian National Music Competition and toured with British guitarist John Mills. Studying in Europe 1972 -1974 she also busked in Italy and performed recitals in Belgium, Holland and France.  1975, back in North America, she had her 1st Carnegie Hall performance and in Canada she graced the cover of the Canadian Magazine. The story tag line was “The first lady of guitar”. In 1978 she would use this stage line as a title for one of her many recordings. She performs for world leaders and royalty bringing classical guitar to new recognition by performing with such notables as Tracy Chapman, George Zamphir, Roger Whitaker, Eric Clapton, Gordon Lightfoot, and Chet Atkins. She is also known for her solo performances with symphony orchestras and her performances for numerous charitable performances. In 1988 she published In My Own Key: My Life in Love and Music (Stoddard Publishing).  In 1992 she married John B. Simon and settled in California.   Divorced in 2004, she eventually returned to Toronto. She had a separation from the stage when she was diagnosed with Musician Focal Dystopia which can produce muscle spasms. By 2009 she had reinvented her playing, added singing and songwriting to her repertoire and is back on stage and recording.  Her work has garnered her 5 Canadian Juno awards. She has been inducted into the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario. Sources: In My Own Key by Liona Boyd (Stoddard, 1988) ; Liona Boyd web site (accessed March 2014); personal contact

Jagdish Kaur Singh. 
Born July 12, 1912, Mesopor, Punjab, India. Died August 5, 1991, Chilliwack, British Columbia. Jagdish arrived in Canada on November 19, 1929, settling in Abbotsford, British Columbia. Her husband, a Sikh priest, Giani Harnam Singh , ran a pioneer lumber business and helped found the Akali Singh Sikh Temple. After his death in 1956, she started and served as president of G. H. Singh & Sons Trucking. a gravel truck business in Chilliwack. She was also  Director of Dhillon Holdings and owner of several dairy farms and land holdings in Chilliwack and Langley area. A staunch supporter of Sikhism, she donated to charities worldwide. Source: Vancouver Hall of Fame online (accessed November 2012.

Barbara Astman. 
Born July 12, 1950, Rochester, New York U.S.A. Barbara earned an Associate Degree from the Rochester Institute of Technology's School for American Craftsmen. In 1970 she relocated to Toronto to attend the Ontario College of are graduating with an Associate Degree. In 1975 she joined the faculty of the Ontario College of Art (O C A D University). In 1977 she began the Colour Xerox Artist's Program at Visual Art Ontario. As a photographer and multimedia artist, she is fascinated by current technological developments, which she mixes with a variety of traditional art forms. She is a member of the Board of Directors at the Art Gallery at Harbourfront, now called Power Point, from 1983-1985. She has also served on the Boards of the City of Toronto Public Art Commission and the curatorial Team for the International Water Works Exhibition. Her works  have been installed at the Calgary Winter Olympics in 1987, at the Canadian Embassy, Berlin, Germany. She is in the forefront of post-modern art activity. In 2000 she was elected to the Royal Canadian Academy. (2018)

Hélène Brodeur. 
Born July 13,1923, Saint Léon de Val Racine, Quebec. Died August 15, 2010 Ottawa, Ontario. The family relocated to Ontario and she grew up in Val Gagné near Timmins, Ontario. Like many of her generation she turned 1st to teaching for a career earning her teaching certificate from the University of Ottawa. She returned to university in 1946 to earn her Bachelor of Arts. After university she married Robert Nantais and the couple had five children. She taught high school and wrote as a freelance journalist for various newspapers and magazines and later she became a successful civil servant working in information services for the federal Treasury Board. Through all of this her desire to write remained strong. She has published works in both English and French. She was known for the trilogies Les chroniques du Nouvel-Ontario and The Saga of Northern Ontario and other historical novels. Her works have earned the Prix Champlain, Prix du Nouvel-Ontario and Prix du Droit. In 1983 she wrote the the TV script Les Ontariens. in 1997. (2018)

Gail E. Greenough. 
Born July 13, 1960, Edmonton, Alberta. Gail took up equestrian sports at age eleven. She joined the Canadian Equestrian Team in 1983 and July 13, 1986  became the 1st woman and 1st North American to win the World Show Jumping Championships. Her mount was a Hanoverian named Mr. T. They took the gold medal as the 1st rider to have zero faults. At the time it was a shock to win in the Male dominated European circuit. She and Mr. T returned to Europe in the fall of 1986 and won the Grand Prix of Stuttgart in Germany. In the Olympic Games, Seoul, Korea she rode the horse Simon Says. In 1992 she focused on colour commentating for her sport for the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC). In 2001 she qualified to represent Canada in the 2003 Pan American Games but was injured and could not ride and after that she turned to coaching. She taught horsemanship in Calgary, Alberta and did clinics around the world. She was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada in 1990. (2020)

Grace Hartman. 
née Fulcher. Born July 14, 1918, Toronto, Ontario. Died December 18, 1993 Toronto, Ontario. Grace became  a member of the National Union of Public Employees when she served as secretary for the Township of North York, Ontario. She served in several union positions including being elected as President from 1959 through 1967.  In 1965 she chaired the Ontario Federation of Labour's Women's Committee as a prominent feminist and strong supporter for gender pay equity. In 1968 she was appointed to the Advisory Council for the Royal Commission on the Status of Women. She was the 1st woman to hold the top position in a Canadian Union. In 1975 she was elected to the national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (C U P E). In 1985 she earned the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case. (2018)

Edith Doreen Hume. 
Born July 14, 1926, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. Died July 2, 2022, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario. An operatic soprano, Doreen started performing on CBC radio in the late 1940’s. In 1954 she moved to England to become principal soprano soloist in the BBC’s light Music Department for 15 years. She made 12 albums of light classical music and musical comedy before returning to Toronto in 1970.In 1965 she represented Canada at a special liberation anniversary concert in the Netherlands in May 1965.  In 1990 she returned to Sault Ste. Marie and was appointed to Algoma University and became a voice teacher at the Algoma Conservatory of Music. In 2009 she was inducted into the Sault Ste. Marie Walk of Fame. (2024)

Isobel Finnerty. 
née Church Born July 15, 1930, Timmins, Ontario. Died October 3, 2016, Iroquois Falls, Ontario. When she was 19 she was appointed to the Timmins Parks and Recreation Commission where she served as the only woman for 20 years. In the late 1970's she was the executive director of the the Ontario wing of the Liberal Party of Canada.  In 1976 she married Les Finnerty and the couple had three children. She blazed a trail for women in the field of political activism, earning a national and international recognition and respect for her skills. She made an indelible mark in the field of political organization at the federal and provincial levels. Her talent and her reputation have seen her invited to work or train others in every province in Canada. In 1994 she was invited to Benin, Africa, as an International Trainer of the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. She was appointed a member of the Senate of Canada in 1999  serving on no less than ten standing committees. She retired July 15, 2005. 

Anna Maria Pellegrini. 
Born July 15, 1943, Pretoro, Italy. Maria arrived in Canada in 1958 with her family. Two years later she was attending the Royal Conservatory of Music (R M C) studying voice for four years. She also studied in London, England. She made her profession debut in 1963 with the Canadian Opera Company. She debuted in London, England with the Royal Opera in 1965. In 1977 she appeared in Madame Butterfly on CBC television and is considered by some critics as the best Madame Butterfly of her generation. Her life partner is Antonio Barone de Pinna and the couple have one son. In 1980 she was performing at the Ottawa Opera, and across Canada. In 1982 she was in New York City and earned leading roles in other American companies. Internationally her voice is well known in Italy, Santo Domingo, as well as Scotland and Wales. Her life partner is Antonio Barone de Pinna and the couple have one son.  She has received numerous awards including the Carvella D’oro from Italy, the Puccini Madallion from Italy, the Friend of Rome Citation and Ambassatrice Della Cultura Italiana. She has received the Award of Merit from the City of Ottawa and in 1995 she was woman of the Year with the Canadian Ethnic Press Council. In 2004 a one hour documentary: Canada’s Butterfly: Maria Pellegrini was produced. In addition to private voice coaching and master classes at McGill University and University of Ottawa, Maria, in 2004, founded Pellegrini Opera, was the Artistic Director until 2013, and continues now as the recognized Founder and Executive Consultant in all areas of the company.

Sally Wishart Armstrong.
Born July 16, 1943, Montreal, Quebec. Sally earned her Bachelor of Education at McGill University, Montreal in 1966. In 2001 she would return to university to earn her Master’s at the University of Toronto. She started working as a physical education teacher but soon found herself involved in journalism where she became editor in chief for Homemakers magazine from 1988 through 1999. Along with numerous magazine articles she has published several books including Mila, the biography of Mila Mulroney, wife of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney in 1982. Her works have brought the political and cultural struggles of women around the world to her readers. She has highlighted strife of women in Bosnia, Somalia, Rwanda and Afghanistan. She has chronicled lives of women who have opposed efforts of the Taliban to subjugate women. Her writings have earned her the Amnesty International’s Media Award in both 200 and again in 2002. She has also produced award winning documentaries for the CBC spotlighting international struggles for women’s rights. She is a founder of WILLOW a resource for Breast Cancer in Canada. As well she serves on the Council of Advisors for the Canadian Women’s Foundation. She has been granted numerous honorary degrees from universities and in 1998 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. In 2002 she was UNICEF’s Special Representative to Afghanistan and in 2008 she received the Canadian Journalism Foundation Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. Source: ‘Sally Armstrong’ by Dana Schwab New Brunswick Literary Encyclopedia 2009. Online (Accessed May 2014)

Louise Forchette. 
Born July 16, 1946, Montreal, Quebec. In 1970 she earned her Bachelor of Arts from Université de Montréal. In 1978 she earned an advanced Master’s Degree from the College of Europe, Bruges, Belgium. In 1971 she began her career at the Canadian Department of External Affairs. Her first posting as a diplomat was in Athens, Greece and in 1978 she joined the Canadian delegation at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1985 she was a three point Canadian Ambassador to Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay. The government of Canada was impressed by her secret mission to Cuba in 1989 that she was named as the 1st female Canadian ambassador to the United Nations in 1992. Leaving the diplomatic corps in 1995 she became assistant Deputy Minister  of National Defense, again the 1st woman to hold such a position. March 2, 1998, she was the 1st person to be appointed to the position of Deputy Secretary General, a position she held until March 31, 2006. That same year she was inducted into the Order of Canada. She is a member of the Global Leadership Foundation and the International Advisory Board at the Institute for the Study of International Development at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. Source: Former Deputy-Secretary-General,  (accessed September 2010.); Margaret Weiers, Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian Foreign Service (Toronto: Dundurn, 1995)  

Leonora Herrington.
Born July 17, 1873, Ameliasburgh, Ontario. Died November 16, 1960, Kingston, Ontario. Lenora graduated from the Winnipeg General Hospital (WGH) School of Nursing in 1912. She enlisted as a Nursing Sister with the Canadian Army Medical Corp (CAMC) on May 5, 1915. Overseas she served in Canadian Military hospitals first in England and then in France.  She served as Night Superintendent at No. 1 Canadian General Hospital, France and was on duty in June 1918 showing courage and determination during an enemy air raid. Returning home after the war she worked at Sydenham Hospital, Kingston, Ontario, until the hospital burned down. She  went to California for awhile after the fire. She retired to Napanee, Ontario, living with her brother Walter Stevens Herrington. Source: Nurses of World War 1 by Donald Brearley, 2018 online (accessed 2021);  Health Sciences Centre Archives, Winnipeg. Class of 1912. online (accessed 2021)   

Geneviéve Cadieux.  
Born July 17,1955, Montreal, Quebec. She earned her bachelor degree in visual arts from the University of Ottawa.  She is an artist who uses large photographic pieces as her medium of expression.  She is also a sculptor.  Her work has been chosen to represent Canada at 3 international expositions.  In 1991 she began teaching at Concordia University, Montreal. In 1992 one of her more famous works, La Voie lactée, a photograph of a woman's re lips displayed on the rooftop of the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal  has become an icon of the city of Montréal. She also had solo exhibitions across North America, Europe, Brazil and Australia.  in 1997 she was a guest professor in Paris and Grenoble, France. In 2011 she received the Governor General's Award for Visual and Media Arts. (2018)

Jean Margaret Laurence. 
née Wemyss. Born July 18, 1926, Neepawa, Manitoba. Died January 5, 1987, Selwyn, Ontario. From the age seven Margaret wrote stories. Her gift of writing leaves a permanent mark on contemporary Canadian Literature. Her 1st writing job was as a reporter and book reviewer for the Winnipeg Citizen. She wrote with the experience of having lived in England, Somalilanc, Ghana, Greece, Crete, Palestine, India, Egypt and Spain but Canada was always home. She is much beloved and remembered for her works, her personal warmth, strength and humor which she shared so generously. In 1972 she became a Companion of the Order of Canada. She won two Governor General's Awards for her novels, The Diviners in 1974 and A Jest of God in 1996.  An annual lecture series has been named in her honour by the Writer's Trust of Canada. The University of Winnipeg and York University, Toronto, have named buildings in her honour. In 2016 she was named a National Historic Person. Photo source FCW cards

Eleanora 'Nora' A. Cebotarev. 
Born July 18, 1928. Died August 12, 2007.  Nora did her early University studies at West Virginia University and Pennsylvania State University, earning her PhD in 1972. In 1970 she began her long association with the University of Guelph as an associate professor in 1970 and was appointed Professor Emerita in the Departments of Sociology and Anthropology. A polyglot, she  spoke 8 languages with knowledge and grace. She was known as an inspiring, receptive and compassionate teacher who during her career would assist some 300 plus students with graduate studies. . In 1970 she taught her first Women’s Studies course and was among the team to convince the University of Guelph Senate to accept Women’s Studies as a major and minor topic in 1978. She authored three books an Latin American rural studies, an active subject of interest and innumerable articles for North American and international journals. The Nora Cebotarev Memorial Graduate Scholarship  is presented by the University of Guelph to the student selected on the basis of high academic achievement and a commitment to social change as demonstrated through past activities and experiences.

Jean Wilson. 
Born July 19, 1910, Glasgow, Scotland. Died September 3, 1933, Toronto, Ontario. When just a child Jean emigrated to Canada with her family. When she was 15 she began to skate.  In 1931 she was the North American indoor speed skating champion. At the 1932 Olympics in Lake Placid, New York, U.S.A., when women’s speed skating was a demonstration sport, Jean won the 500m race in 58 seconds and came second in the 1500 m event.  At only 23 years of age she died from a progressive muscular disease. In 1934 the Jean Wilson Trophy for indoor women's speed skating was created by the Toronto Telegram newspaper. She was inducted into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1955. (2018)

Elizabeth Jo-Anne 'Jo' Bannatyne-Cugnet. 
Born July 19, 1951, Estevan, Saskatchewan.Jo studied nursing at the University of Saskatchewan earning her Bachelor of Science in 1974. She began her nursing career in Weyburn, Saskatchewan, as a public health nurse. She married Kenney Frank Bannatyne-Cugnet in August 1975 and the couple have four sons. She began writing to teach her sons about life on a prairie farm. In 1992 she produced Prairie Alphabet which joined other picture books, A prairie Year, Heartland: a Prairie Sampler. She has also produced two novels for young readers and a picture book on new Canadians called The Day I became a Canadian: a Citizenship Scrapbook. Jo retired from Nursing in 1994 and keeps busy writing and volunteering in her community.

Alice Mildred Heap. 
née Boomhour. Born July 20, 1925. Died March 24, 2012, Toronto, Ontario. After high School Alice attended the United Church Training School in Toronto before heading to McGill University where she began attending the Anglican Church. She was a member of the Student Christian Movement at University and in 1948 she attended the founding meeting of the Canadian Peace Congress. She would work for Church Peace Mission, the Easter Peace Marches in the 1960’s and even in 2009 she worked with the White Poppy campaign for Peace. In 1951 she married  Daniel (Dan) Heap (1925-2014) and the couple would have 7 children. Dan became an Anglican Priest and was a councilor in Toronto and a New Democratic Member of Parliament from Toronto. Alice practiced all her life what could only be termed radical hospitality with war resisters, civil right activists, farm workers. In 1965 while her husband was with Martin Luther King marching, Alice and the children participated at a sit in support of the March in Toronto. Alice also worked with the Canadian council for Refugees and the Christian Peacemakers Teams. In 2000 she received the Bishop’s Award for Faithful Service at her Holy Trinity Church. Source: Lois M. Wilson I Want to Be in that Number: Cool Saints I Have Known. (Self published, 2014)  ; Obituary from funeral bulletin Online (accessed May 2014).

Rose Marie 'Tantoo' Cardinal. 
née Cardinal. Born July 20, 1950, Fort McMurray, Alberta. Tantoo has become one of North America’s most widely recognized Métis actors. In 1968 she married Fred Martin. She has earned a Grammy award for her work as a guest appearance on the TV program North of 60, one of numerous television shows in which she has appeared. She has also appeared in numerous films including Dances With Wolves. She has also won the American Indian Festival, Best Actress, and the 1st Rudy Martin Award for Outstanding Achievement by a Native American in film for Legends of the Fall. In 1991 Maclean’s Magazine declared her Actress of the Year. In 2002 she was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada 'for her contributions to the growth and development of Aboriginal performing Arts in Canada, as a screen and stage actress, and as a founding member of the Saskatchewan Native Theatre Company. Tantoo has her hands in cement on Neka'new'ak: The Aboriginal Walk of Honour, Edmonton, Alberta. On August 3, 2011 she, and fellow Canadian actor Margot Kidder (1948-2018), were arrested with others for protesting the proposed extension of the Keystone Pipeline. In 2017 she received the Earle Grey Award for lifetime achievement from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television. Her first lead role in her prolific career is in Falls Around Her, a movie written for her by indigenous filmmaker Darlene Naponse and shot on location on the director's homeland the Atikameksheng Anishinaabek First Nation territory near Sudbury, Ontario, in 2019. November 26, 2021 she received the Governor General's Award for Performing Arts. November 2023 she was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto.

Eva L. J. Rosinger. 
née Hartl. Born July 21, 1941, Prague, Poland. Eva earned her Master’s Degree in Chemical engineering from the Technical University in Prague in 1963 and by 1968 she had earned her PhD. Immigrating to Toronto she attended the University of Toronto working as a Post-Doctoral Fellow. In Toronto she married Herbert E. Rosinger on November 27 1969.  She would work in West Germany including served as Vice President of Radioactive Management with the OECD in Paris, France 1982-1985 before returning to Canada and settling in Ottawa. She is the author of over 40 scientific reports and papers on environmental issues, waste management, environmental assessment, polymer science and chemical management. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Nuclear Association and has been advisor to the Committee on Nuclear Safety and the Atomic Energy Control Board. In 1992-1994 she was the elected Council member of the Association of Professional Engineers of Manitoba. She has also served on the Board of Directors for Employment Projects for Women Incorporated. She enjoys skiing and has served the Canadian Association of Nordic Ski Instructors where she was a qualified cross-country coach, instructor and examiner.

Judith Maxwell. 
Born July 21, 1943, Kingston, Ontario. Judith attended Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia earning her Bachelor of Commerce Degree in 1963. She studied at the London School of Economics in England from 1965-1966. On May 8 1970 she married Anthony Stirling and the couple have 2 children. She worked as a researcher with the Combines Investigation Branch of the Federal Department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs until 1965. She worked as an economist and writer for the Financial Times of Canada from 1966 through 1972 and then was Director of Policy Studies at the C.D. Howe Institute until 1980. She worked with the Economic Council of Canada from 1985-1992 prior to becoming Associate Director of the School of Policy Studies at Queen’s University, Kingston and Executive Director of Queen’s-University of Ottawa Economic Projects in 1992-1994. She was a member of Ontario Premier’s Council from 1998-1990. She has authored several books the economics and social role of government. In 1996 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. She was a founding president of the Canadian Policy Research Networks until she retired in 2005. She is a member of the Board of Governors of the Community Foundation of Ottawa and is part of a group of volunteers working to establish a Citizens Academy of Ottawa.

Isabelle Atkinson. 
Born July 22, 1891, Bramley England. Died  August 11, 1968, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Isabelle and her widowed mother immigrated to Waterbury Connecticut, U.S.A. when she was a teenager. She became a factory worker and found herself a women’s rights supporter. She moved to her brother’s farm near Strasbourg, Saskatchewan in 1914. By 1919 she moved to Kerrobert and worked as a bookkeeper. She campaigned to found the local library and pursued her own studies in Social issues. After her mother’s death in the early 1920’s she traveled abroad to continue her education in commonwealth countries. She reported her experiences back to Canada and they were published in the Star Phoenix in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, and other newspapers. It was the Winnipeg Free Press that would later publish a booklet of some of her articles. She was active in the Consumers Association of Canada serving as provincial president in 1954 and then as national President from 1956-1960 in Ottawa. She was also active in the Saskatoon Council of Women and took interest in the Liberal Party of Canada. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa Ontario.

Theresa Mary Gowanlock. 
née Johnson. Born  July 23, 1863, Tintern, Upper Canada (now Ontario). Died September 12 1899, Tintern, Ontario. Theresa was married in her home of Tintern, Lincoln County, Ontario, on October 1, 1884. The newlyweds headed for western Canada to begin  life where she one of two white women at their settlement. Her husband, John, was massacred by the Cree Indians at Frog Lake, North West Territories (now Alberta) during the Northwest Rebellion on April 2, 1885. Theresa was taken captive into the camp of Chief Big Bear, and held captive for two months before being rescued by the Northwest Mounted Police. Theresa and the other white women captive Theresa Delaney wrote of there experience. Theresa returned home to Ontario but never overcame the terrors of the ordeal which broke her spirit.

Erminie Joy Cohen. 
née Bernstein. Born July 23, 1926, Saint John, New Brunswick. Died February 15, 2019, Saint John, New Brunswick. Erminie attended Mount Allison University. In 1948 she married Edgar R. Cohen and the couple had three children. She worked along side of her husband in a family ladies Fashion store for 50 years. In the 1970's she was a founding member of the Saint John Women for Action, She would be a founding member and served on the Board for the Hestia house. As well she was Chair of Opera New Brunswick and Chair of the New Brunswick Adoption Foundation Board. The Salvation Army presented her a Humanitarian Service Award as did the Red Cross. She earned being a Paul Harris Fellow from the Rotary club. She was appointed to the Senate of Canada to represent New Brunswick in 1993. She retired in 2001. She was a Member of the Order of Canada. (2019)

Dorothy Goldman. 
Born July 24, 1904, New York City, New York, U.S.A. Died  February 16, 1996, Regina, Saskatchewan.  She married Leon Goldman, a businessman, in 1926. And the couple settled in Saskatchewan.  She became a Red Cross volunteer during World War II and continued to serve on the executive for forty-two years. For twenty-three years she was area captain for the United Way. Dorothy’s work in the Jewish community—locally, regionally, and nationally—was honoured by the Hadassah Organization of Canada. She was the 1st  woman to receive the Good Servant Award from the Canadian Council of Christians and Jews. She was also president and Life Member of the Women’s Canadian Club of Regina. A patron of the arts, she supported the Norman MacKenzie Art Gallery, Dominion Drama Festival, Regina Little Theatre, Regina Musical Club, Regina Opera Guild, and Regina Symphony Orchestra. She sponsored various scholarships at the University of Regina for the Conservatory of Music, Journalism Program, and English Department. Her many honours included the Rotary Club’s Heritage Award in 1989.   Source: Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan Online (accessed February 2014)

Anna Paquin.  
Born July 24, 1982, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Anna lived in New Zealand when her family moved there in 1986. She left Columbia University, New York, U.S.A. after a year of studies to focus on her acting career. This young actress won her 1st Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress at 11 years old for her 1st film The Piano in 1993.  By 2018 she had appeared in some 20 movies since her debut. She graduated from Windward School in West Los Angeles, California in June 2000. She completed the school's community service requirement by working in an LA soup kitchen and at a special education center. In 2001 In 2001 she receive an Award from the Online Film Critics Society for her role in Almost Famous. In 2005 she earned the Gotham Independent Film Award for the Squid and the Whale. In 2008 she way the Satellite Award for her performance in True Blood and in  2009 she won a Golden Globe Award for Best Performance in by an Actress in a Television Drama Series, True Blood. Anna enjoys music and she plays both the piano and the cello. August 21, 2010 Anna married actor, Stephen Moyer, becoming stepmother to his two children. In 2012 they became parents of twins. The family resides in Venice, Italy, and Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. (2019)

Grace Winona MacInnis. 
née Woodsworth. Born July 25, 1905, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died July 10,1991, Sechelt, British Columbia. She was born into a political household as the daughter of J. S. Woodsworth, founder of the C.C.F. party of Canada. She followed her home training by entering politics and being a known social activist. In 1932 she married politician, Angus MacInnis (1884-1964). She served as a member of the legislative Assembly of British Columbia from 1941 to 1945 and as a Member of Parliament in Ottawa from 1965 to 1974 the 1st woman from British Columbia and the 1st wife of a former Canadian Member of Parliament elected on her own right to be elected to the House of Commons and the 1st wife of a former Canadian Member of parliament. In 1974 she became an Officer in the Order of Canada. In 1990 she was inducted into the Order of British Columbia.

Maureen Forrester. 
Born July 25, 1930, Montreal, Quebec 1930. Died June 16, 2010, Toronto, Ontario. An internationally famous soprano, Maureen has sung all over the world in such sites as the Metropolitan Opera in New York. Whenever she was performing a series of songs she would always include a song by a Canadian artist. In 1957 she married Eugene Kash (1912-2014) and the couple  had five children. In 1967 she became a Companion of the Order of Canada. In 1979 she received the Loyola Medal from Concordia University, Montreal and the following year she received the Diplôme d'honneur from the Canadian Conference of the Arts. In 1983 she received the Sanford Medal from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A. From 1986 through 1990 Maureen served as Chancellor for Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario and the recital hall was named in her honour. In 1990 she was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame followed in 1995 with the Governor General's Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2000 she earned a star on Canada's Walk of Fame, Toronto. She was inducted an Officer in the National Order of Quebec in 2003 and in 2004 she became  a MasterWorks honouree of the Audio Visual Preservation Trust of Canada.

Erminie Joy Cohen. 
Born July 26, 1926, Saint John, New Brunswick. Died February 15, 2019, Saint John, New Brunswick. Erminie studied at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick. For some 50 years she has been respected businesswoman of the Saint John business community. In 1991 she received a Certificate of Appreciation for distinguished service to the community from the United Nations Association. In 1948 she married Edgar Cohen and the couple have three children. She was the 1st woman to be elected president of her synagogue. As a result of her work she was elected National Vice President of the Hadassah WIZO Organization of Canada. She was appointed to the Senate of Canada in 1993 and served until retirement in 2001. After retirement she continued to serve on the Progressive Conservative National Task Force on Poverty. She has been awarded the Humanitarian award from the Salvation Army and the Red Cross Humanitarian Award amongst other awards. She became a Member of the Order of Canada invested on May 27, 2011.

Catherine Sophia Callbeck.  
Born July 26, 1939, Central Bedeque, Prince Edward Island. Catherine received a Bachelor of Commerce from Mount Allison University and went on to Dalhousie for her Bachelor of Education in 1962. She also did post graduate business studies at Syracuse  University, New York, U.S.A.  She was elected to the PEI Legislative Assembly in 1974 and was appointed to cabinet as Minister of Health and Social Services and Minister Responsible for Disabled Persons. She took a break in 1978 from politics to work in the family business. In 1988 she was elected to the federal House of Commons. Back in PEI she ran for the leadership of the PEI Liberal Party in January 1993.  Winning the provincial election that year she became the 1st woman leader of a political party in Canada to lead her party to victory in a general election. As premier her efforts saw the 1st significant electoral reform in a century, a new electoral system with 27 single member ridings. She also saw the beginning of construction of the Confederation Bridge linking PEI to New Brunswick. She resigned as Premier in October 1996. She was appointed to the Senate of Canada in September 1997 and retired July 25, 2014. 

Anne Augusta Stowe-Gullen.  
née Stowe. Born  July 27, 1857, Mount Pleasant, Toronto, Canada West (now Ontario). Died September 25, 1943, Toronto, Ontario. Augusta’s mother and mentor was Dr. Emily Stowe(1831-1903). Augusta was the First woman to earn a medical degree in Canada. She graduated from Victoria College, (an affiliate of the University of Toronto) Cobourg, Ontario in 1883. Upon graduation she married Dr. John B. Gullen, a future founder in 1896 of Toronto Western Hospital. After their marriage the couple did post graduate coursed in children’s medicine in New York, U.S.A. Augusta taught at the Ontario Medical College for Women (known 1883-94 as the Woman's Medical College, Toronto) and was on U of T Senate 1910-22. Both she and her mother were leading figures in the suffrage movement. Augusta succeeded her mother as president of the Dominion Women's Enfranchisement Assn in 1903. She was also a founder of the National Council of women. In 1935 she received the Order of the British Empire. Sources: Carla Hacker. The Indomitable Women Doctors. (1974); K. Smith. Dr. Augusta Stowe-Gullen; a pioneer of social conscience in The Canadian Medical Association Journal, January 15, 1982 ; 
The Canadian Encyclopedia. Online (accessed June 2003)

Anne Douglas Savage. 
Born July 27, 1896, Montreal, Quebec. Died March 25, 1971, Montreal, Quebec. Growing up with summers in the Laurentian mountains Anne learned to lover her surroundings. She studied art at the Art association of Montreal between 1914 and 1918 During World War l. her twin brother was killed. After the war Anne studied design at the Minneapolis School of Art in Minnesota, U.S.A. Returning home to Montreal she began teaching art at Baron Byng High School from 1922 through 1947.  She was a pioneer in teaching children’s art. Her own works matured showed a lyrical quality and later in life she was attracted to the abstract form of painting. In 1921 she joined the Beaver Hall Hill Group of painters. After spending some time at the Ontario College of Art, Toronto, with some members of the famous Group of Seven she traveled to Europe and British Columbia. In 1933 she was a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters where she served in 1949 and again in 1960 as president. In 1948 she became supervisor of art for the Protestant School Board of Montreal. She encouraged the founding of the High School Art Teaching Association and in 1955 she  she inspired the formation of the Child Art Council, now the Quebec Society for Education Through Art. Retiring from full time teaching art in 1953 she taught at the McGill University from 1954-1959. Her archives are stored at Concordia University, Montreal.

Marie Nicole Edith Butler.   
Born July 27, 1942, Paquetville, New Brunswick. Learning music in her home town of Caroquet, New Brunswick, she applauds the Acadian culture wherever she entertains. She has a strong singing voice and is a well rounded entertainer combining humor with her own music. Edith was one of the first songsters to promote Acadian culture in Canada and internationally. She was able to launch her career on Radio-Canada in Moncton, New Brunswick. By 1962 she was singing with CBC TV Halifax on Singalong Jubilee. In 1969 she graduated from Laval University, Quebec City. In 1970 she was a featured performer at the Canadian Pavilion at Expo '70 in Osaka, Japan.  She won the award of the Académie Charles-Cros, in Paris, France and  she was induced as a Chevalier de l'Ordre de la Pléiade 1978 in France. In 1999 France presented her with the Chevalier de l'Ordre Nationale du Mérite de la République française  She was made a Member of the Order du Mérite de la culture française by the Canadian Senate and was induced  an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1975.  She has recorded some 27 albums of her Acadian music and in 2007 her song, Paquetville, was inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame. July 2, 2009 she was one of four musicians who had their picture on stamps issued by Canada Post. The following year she received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society Of Composers, Authors, and Music Publishers of Canada (SOCAN). In 2012 she was given the Lieutenant-Governor's Award for High Achievement in the Arts for Performing Arts. and in 2013 she was inducted as a Member of the Order of New Brunswick.

Jean 'Jennie' Isobel Drummond-Field.
Born July 28, 1882, East Flamborough Township, Ontario. Died October 28, 1985, Burlington, Ontario. Jennie travelled to the U.S.A to train as a nurse at the Episcopalian Hospital, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.  After graduating she returned to Canada and worked at a hospital in Toronto. March 17, 1918 she enlisted as a Nursing Sister with the Canadian Army Medical Corps (CAMC). She was posted to the Base hospital, Military District No. 2 organizing blood donor clinics. After the war she married Arthur Thomas Field on June 22, 1921.  Source: Flamborough Archives and Heritage Society. Flamborough Nursing Sisters. online (accessed 2021)

Isabelle Brasseur. 
Born July 28, 1970, Kingsbury, Quebec. Isabelle competed with Pascal Courchesne placing 5th at the 1985 Skate America before she teamed up with skating partner Lloyd Eisler (1963-   ) in 1987. This pair skaters are one of Canada’s finest pairs figure skating teams. They hold 5 Canadian Championships, 5 World Championship medals, and 2 Olympic Bronze medals in 1992 and 1994. In 1992 the pair teamed up with other skaters for form B. B. E. Productions Inc.(1992-2003) organizing professional figure skating events across Canada raising funds for the Children's Wish Foundation of Canada  with whom the pair had been National Spokespersons. The couple retired from formal competition in 1994 and that year they were awarded the Meritorious Service Decoration in the Civil Division, presented by the Governor General. In 1996 she was the co-author of the book;  Brasseur & Eisler: To Catch a Dream. A second follow-up book was called Brasseur & Eisler; the Professional Years.  October 8, 1996 she married pairs skater Rocky Marval (1965-   ) and the couple have one daughter. She became a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 2000.

Patricia Louise Lowther.  
Born July 29,1935, Vancouver, British Columbia. Died September 24, 1975, Vancouver, British Columbia. When Pat was just ten years old her 1st poem was published in the Vancouver Sun newspaper. Her 1st volume of poetry was published in 1968.  She was Co–chair of the league of Canadian Poets in 1974 and later the British Columbia Arts Council.  She devoted herself to the promotion of poetry. She published 4 collections of her own poetry. A mother of four children, she was murdered by her husband, Roy Lowther ( d 1985), in September 1975. The couple had married in 1963 and they had four children. In 1977 A Stone Diary was published. In 1980 her early works and previously unpublished poems were published in Final Instructions.  The League of Canadian Poets annually awards the Pat Lowther Award for a book of poetry by a Canadian woman. In 1996 a new manuscript was discover and published with the title; Time Capsule. Pat's life and death was the inspiration for the Carol Shields (1935-2003)  novel, Swan: A Mystery.

Annie Perreault. 
Born July 29,1971, Windsor, Quebec. Annie has been a member of the National Short Track Speed Skating Team for more than 12 years. She is one of Canada's most decorated female Olympians with credits of one bronze medal and two gold medals at the 1998 and 1992 Winter Olympic Games. She has also earned four individual gold medals from 1990 through 1997 at the World Championships to accompany her two silver and four bronze World Championship individual medals. She also holds team medals, a gold, two silver and three bronze for World Championships from 1991 through 2002. She had to miss the Lillehammer Olympic Games in 1994 because of a severe concussion she had sustained at the Canadian Olympic trials. Just month prior to the 1998 Nagano Olympic Games he underwent surgery on both legs to relieve a chronic problem with compartment syndrome. At the Nagano Olympic Games in 1998 she became the 1st Canadian woman to win individual Olympic gold in short track speed skating in the 500 meter race. She was the 1998 Quebec Athlete of the year. An accident left her with an 8 inch gash on her left thigh during a race in December 2000 but she returned to competition  qualifying for the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics in 2002 as an alternated in the women's 3000 metre relay. Annie has coached some of her family members who have also become recognized skaters. While she enjoys her sport and wants to maintain her performance level she also aims to have fun with the sport.  

Mary Belle Barclay. 
Born July 30, 1901, Joliet, Illinois, USA. Died 2000, Calgary, Alberta. In 1905 George and Elsie Barclay brought their three children to homestead in Lacombe, Alberta. The children grew up loving the outdoor and exploring the countryside. The family was not destined to earn a living by working the land and by 1913 the bankrupt family relocated to Calgary, Alberta. The children however never lost their love for the outdoors. May with her sister Catherine established 6the first youth Hostel, a tent, in North America in 1933 at Bragg Creek, Alberta. Membership was $1.00 plus 25 cents a night. The area would eventually be declared an Historic Site by Parks Canada in 2012. By 1939, only 6 years after pitching their first tent there were 16 hostels between Banff and Calgary. Off season Mary and Catherin attended Normal School, (Teacher’s College) and began teaching in schools around the countryside. Mary attended the University of Chicago but after a year transferred to the University of Toronto and obtained her B.A. She returned to Alberta and served as principal in several schools. The summers however sere still used to build hostelling within the province and indeed across the country. In 1973 Mary and Catherine were Citizens of the Year in Calgary. In 1975 the sisters were presented the Richard Schirrman Medal in recognition of their work in Canada by the American Hostelling Association. In 1987 Mary was invested with the Order of Canada. In 1998 the Banff Hostel built the Mary Belle Barclay Building. A far cry from the first tent was Mary’s observation. Source: 100 more Canadian heroines by Merna Foster, Dundurn Press. 2011 : Mary Belle Barclay: founder of Canadian Hostelling by Evelyn Edgeller, Detselig Enterprises Ltd., 1988 (2020)

Alexina Louie. 
Born July 30, 1949, Vancouver, British Columbia. Alexina earned a Bachelor of Music in Music History from the University of British Columbia in 1970. She went on to complete studies for her Master's degree from the University of California, San Diego, U.S.A. in 1974. She is a musician and composer who writes music for orchestra, chamber music and electronic music. She relocated to Toronto in 1980. She is known for a work that she dedicated to the memory of the famous Canadian pianist Glenn Gould. In 1986 she composed the opening music, The Ringing Earth, for Expo 86 in Vancouver and was named that year as Composer of the Year by Canadian Music Council. In 1988 she won a Juno Award for her orchestral composition, Song of Paradise. In 1990, 1992, and 2003 she received the SOCAN Concert Music Award for the most performed Classical composer of the year. In 1999 she won the Jules Leger Prize for new Chamber Music  for Nightfall, a work for 14 strings written for I Musici de Montreal. In 2001 she was inducted into the Order of Ontario and the Order of Canada in 2005. In 2006 she was made a fellow of he Royal Society of Canada.

Marie-Charlotte de Ramezay. 
Born July 31, 1697, Trois Riviéres, New France. Died November 15, 1767, Quebec. Marie-Charlotte was one of the Five daughters of the Governor of Trois Riviéres. She was educated with the Ursuline sisters in Quebec. On November 8, 1716 she entered the convent of the Hôpital Générale of Québec and made her final vows in 1718. Acute at business, was her businesswoman sister Louise de Ramezay (1705-1776), Marie-Charlotte held the office of depositary (Bursar), a position she worked at for 26 years. While she did not site with the British and their takeover of New France she did care for British wounded at the hospital winning the admiration and promise of protection for the Hospital by the British General James Wolfe (1727-1759)  Source: D C B

Gretta Jean Wong Grant. 
née Wong. Born July 31, 1921, London, Ontario. Gretta was raised in London, Ontario where her family were the only Chinese people in town. Her father believed that all his children, both boys and girls should get an education and study for the professions. Gretta argued with family members when she was young and they teased her saying that she should become a lawyer. Gretta earned her undergraduate degree at the University of Western Ontario in London before attending Osgoode Law School. She was called to the bar in 1946 in Ontario without knowing nor really caring that she was the 1st Chinese Canadian woman to practice Law. Despite the discrimination against the Chinese in Toronto she was able to complete her articling at McCarthy and McCarthy where she reported to a family acquaintance Leighton McCarthy. December 9, 1950 she married a fellow lawyer James Alan R. Grant and the couple would have four children. Gretta stayed at home much of the 1950’s raising her children but she maintained her membership in the Law Society of Upper Canada. She also kept up to date by working with her husband when he brought work home. Late in the 1950’s she took a job as a City Solicitor in London. In the 1960’s she founded the Middlesex [county] Women’s Law Association. From 1967 through 1988 she worked in London’s first Legal Aid Office. She did spend one year away from London working as the Area Director of the York County Legal Aid Society. She was the 1st woman trustee of the Middlesex Law Association and served as president in 1981. After retirement she served as director of the London office of the Chinese–Canadian Council. In 1989 she was working with the City of London Race Relations Advisory Committee. Sources: Crossing the Bar :an exhibition of the Law Society of Upper Canada Museum, 1993. Online Accessed January 2013; Gretta Wong Grant, Canada’s first Chinese-Canadian female Lawyer by Constance Backhouse. Online Accessed January 2013.; Road to Justice: the legal struggle for equal rights for Chinese Canadians.