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! Want to know who was born the same year as you?
Check out the
Famous
Canadian Women's Historical Timeline!
Want to find out about other Canadian women of achievement?
"On-The-Job". Has over 3100 mini profiles of Canadian Women
Use your mouse pointer to touch a
date on the calendar below
to see which Famous Canadian Woman has a birthday on
that date.
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.)
July 1
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 TheDance 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.
July 2
Harriet Brooks-Pitcher.
née Brooks.
Born July 2, 1876,
Exeter, Ontario. Died April 17, 1933, Montreal,
Quebec. Harriet attended McGill University,
Montreal in starting in 1894. She won a
scholarship for the final two years of her
studies. She had been disqualified from
scholarships for her early years since she was a
women. She graduated from McGill University in
1888with a degree in mathematics and
natural philosophy. In fact she earned the Anne
Molson Memorial Prize for outstanding
performance in mathematics. She began
researching with the renowned Dr. Ernest
Rutherford (1871-1937) asCanada’s first woman
nuclear physicist. She is
better known for her research on nuclear
transmutations and radioactivity. In 1901 she
was the first
woman to study at the Cavendish Laboratory at
Cambridge University in England.After
she earned her Masters
degree in 1901, as the first woman at McGill to
do so, she had a
fellowship to study for her doctorate in physics
at Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. She
would go on to take a fellowship at the
University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom as
the
first woman to study at the Cavendish
Laboratory.Harriet was
one of the first persons to discover radon and
try to determine its atomic mass. Harriet
returned to Canada to resume her work with Dr.
Rutherford. In 1905 she was appointed as a
faculty member at Barnard College in New York
City, U.S.A. In 1906 she worked for a short
period of time in the Laboratory of Dr. Marie
Curie.
In 1907 when
she married Frank Pitcher, a physics instructor
and the couple settled in Montreal. Since
protocol of the day was for women not to work
once they were married, Harriet was forced to
give up her work as a physicist. She turned her
energies to raising her three children and
remained active in the Federation of University
women. She died of a blood disorder, possibly
leukaemia caused by radiation exposure. The
Harriet Brooks Building, a nuclear research
laboratory at Canadian Nuclear Laboratories,
Chalk River, Ontario is named in her honour.
Harriet Brooks is a member of the Canadian
Science and Engineering Hall of Fame.
(2022)
RosaleenDiana LeslieDickson.
née
Leslie Born July 2, 1921, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Died January 23, 2018, Ottawa, Ontario. She
obtained her Bachelor of Art at Guilford College, North Carolina,
U.S.A.1941. Her Masters studies would wait
until her family has grown. She received her
Masters in Journalism at Carleton University
2003. She Married David Rutherford Dickson (d
1992) in 1942. As a young woman she and her
husband, settled in Pontiac County, Quebec
raising a family of 6 children while publishing
and editing the weekly newspaper The Equity.
Rosaleen served as the newspaper's editor for
more than 30 years. Retiring from the paper
she
helped her son Ross in launching the Hill
Times in Ottawa an she taught journalism
students at Ryerson University at 75 years of
age. She continued to write feature articles for
the Hill Times, the newspaper of
Parliament Hill in Ottawa. She has co-authored,
as well as written her own books that have
included: The Leslie-Dickson Family
Histories; HTML: the Basic book for
people who would rather do it than read it and The
Mother-in-law book. In 2004 she wrote a
play One Hundred years of Daring,
celebrating the founding of the Canadian Womens’
Press Club. She took to the internet as a
natural extension of communication and enjoys
writing for senior ‘Zines’ as well as developing
and maintaining web sites for such auspicious
groups as the National Press Club of Canada. Her
personal web site displayed the pride she had of
her 18 grandchildren and 21 great grand
children. Rosaleen was a life long member of the
Media Club of Ottawa (formerly the Canadian
Women's Press Club.)
Sources: Personal knowledge; Photo from FCW
Cards
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.
July 3
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)
July 4
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 FirstIndigenous 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)
July 5
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)
July 6
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 posthumouspardon,
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)
July 7
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.
July 8
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'Equettecurante parmi labonnesociété
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)
July 9
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.
July 10
Thésèse Casgrain.
née Forget. Born July 10, 1896, Montreal,
Quebec. Died November 2, 1981, Montreal, Quebec. She married
Pierre-Francois
Casgrain and the couple had four
children. She is remembered for her campaign for
women’s right to vote (suffrage) in the province
of Québec before WW II. (Quebec, the last
province to grant women the vote, passing
legislation only in 1940.) She
founded the
Provincial Franchise Committee in 1921. 1928
through 1942 she was the leader of the League
for
Women's Rights. In the 1930's she was host
of the popular radio program Fémina. She
continued a career in politics
becoming the first
Canadian woman to lead a provincial political
party. She was the leader of the Quebec
C C F
Party from 1951-1957. She ran for
a seat in the House of commons in Ottawa in
1952, 1953, 1957 and1958.
She ran for a seat for
the New Democratic Party in 1962 and 1963 in the
federal general elections. In 1967 she was
inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada
and was promoted to Companion in the Order in
1974. In 1969
she was elected president of the
Consumer's Association of Canada in Quebec. In
1970 she was appointed to the Senate of
Canada. In 1982 The Liberal Party established the Thérèse
Casgrain Volunteer Award but the Conservative
government discontinued
the award only to have
it reinstated in 2001 by the Liberal Party. In
2012 it was replaced as the Prime Minister's
Volunteer Award
by the Conservatives.. In 2016
the Liberal government renamed the award as the
Thérèse Casgrain Lifetime Volunteer Achievement
Award. In 1985 Canada Post issued a stamp in her
honour. From 2004 to 2012 her image appeared on
the reverse of the $50.00
banknote along with
the Famous Five. In 2012 a statue of her, Idola
Saint-Jean (1880-1945), Marie-Claire Kirkland
(1924-2016). She
is considered a leading woman of 20th century
Canada.
Photograph Public domain (201
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.
July 11
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
July 12
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)
July 13
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)
July 14
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)
July 15
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.
July 16
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)
July 17
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)
July 18
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.
July 19
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.
July 20
Alice
MildredHeap. 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.
July 21
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.
July 22
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 WinnipegFree
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.
July 23
TheresaMary
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)
July 24
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)
July 25
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.
July 26
Erminie JoyCohen.
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.
July 27
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.
July 28
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.
July 29
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.
July 30
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.
July 31
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.