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Introduction

Barbara Kathleen Buckner.
Born June 1, 1927, Galt (now Cambridge), Ontario. Died October 17, 2011, Cambridge, Ontario. Barbara earned her bachelor’s degree in Sciences from McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario in 1948. There were 8 women in her graduating class. She continued her studies for her Master’s degree in Virology, 1954. In the early years of her career she was often the only woman at a conference table. She had a successful career as a virologist and epidemiologist in Toronto and Ottawa retiring from the Red Cross in 1992. She authored numerous scientific papers in virology, hepatitis and radioimmunoassay. Her achievements were recognized when she received the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in Science, 1998. She was an active volunteer in the Canadian Hearing Society of Cambridge and also served as an elder in her church for many years. Source: Lives lived: Barbara Kathleen Buchner by Ruth Manchee Kenins. The Globe and Mail December 20, 2011. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa.  (2020)

Alanis Morissette. 
 Born June 1, 1974, Ottawa, Ontario. Alanis shares her birthday with her twin brother Wade. As a child in Ottawa she liked to sing, dance, and act. She took dance lessons at 7, began writing songs at 9, and played in a TV series on Canadian TV called You Can’t Do That on Television at 11. She recorded her 1st demo in 1987. Her 1st album is “Alanis” released only in Canada in 1991 and she soon was top on the music charts with her alternate rock music.  She went international with her album Jagged Little Pill in 1995  before moving to Brentwood California, U.S.A. From her tour with Jagged she won the 1998 Grammy for Best Music video. The following year she took Grammies as Best Rock Song, and Best Female Rock Vocal for the soundtrack for the movie City of Angels called Uninvited. That year she released her forth successful album which was #1 and the Billboard 200 in the 1st week of sales and won a Juno Award  for Best Album. In 1999 she was acting again in the comedy Dogma and appeared in some television shows.   In 2002 her fifth album was releases again debuting  #1 on the Billboard 200 chart and won Alanis the Juno Award for Producer of the year.  She also appeared in an off Broadway play The Exonerated.  In 2004 she was the host of the Juno Awards and in May of that year her sixth album from which the lead single, Everything, achieved major success on Adult Top 40 radio in America . Alanis also appeared in the movie De-Lovely. In 2004 she became engaged to actor Ryan Reynolds but by 2007 the couple mutually decided to split.  In 2005 she became a US  Citizen while in February 2005, she made a guest appearance on the Canadian television show Degrassi: The Next Generation and released the greatest hits album. In 2009 she appeared in eight episodes of the TV series Weeds On May 22, 2010 Alanis married rapper Mario 'Souleye' Treadway and the couple have a two children.  In 2012 she did an European tour and announced her eighth album. May 6, 2014 she received the UCLA Spring Sing's George and Ira Gershwin Award. In January 2016  she began writing an advice column for The Guardian. in the United Kingdom.  2018 saw the release of album number 9 an in May 2018, American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge,  Massacheutts, U.S.A.,  premiered Jagged Little Pill, a musical with music by Morissette and Glen Ballard, lyrics by Morissette, book by Diablo Cody.

Florence Jane Bell.
Born June 2, 1910, Toronto, Ontario. Died July 1, 1998, Fort Myers, Florida, U.S.A. Jane enjoyed sports. She was a competitive swimmer, and earned the nickname 'Calamity Jane' from her teenaged days of playing Lacrosse. She was a member in 1925 of the Toronto Ladies relay team that traveled to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. and tied the world record. Jane also set the first national Canadian 50 yard hurdles record. Florence was a member of the 1928 Canadian Olympic team in Amsterdam, the first Olympic Games to allow women to compete. She participated in the women's 100 metre race and was a member of the 4 X 100 metres relay that won the Gold medal and set a world record along with team mates Fanny 'Bobbie' Rosenfeld (1904-1969), Ethel Smith (1907-1979) and Myrtle Cook (1902-1985). Returning home, the four medal winners were met in Toronto Union station by a crowd of 200,000 people. In 1929 she was crowned Canadian champion in the 60 yard hurdles, javelin throw, and baseball throw. She graduated from the  physical education teacher at the Margaret Eaton School of Physical Culture, Toronto in 1930 and taught physical education at he the Young Women's Christian Association (Y W C A) in Guelph, Ontario. She married and settled in the United States where she enjoyed curling and golf. She was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame in 1949 and the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1955. When she dies she was the last survivor of the 1928 Women's Olympic gold medal relay team. May 14, 2008 she was inducted into the Guelph Sports Hall of Fame as a Veteran Athlete. Sources: Olympic Sports Hall of Fame; Guelph Sports Hall of Fame (accessed 2021)

June Callwood. 
Born June 2, 1924, Chatham, Ontario. Died April 14, 2007.  While still in high school June was editor of the school paper, journalism was in her blood. After High school she worked at the Brantford Expositor. She moved to Toronto in 1942 to work at the Globe and Mail. After she married Trent Frayne (1918-2012) she retained her maiden name as the Globe and Mail did not employ married women. After the birth of her four children she returned to work as a freelance journalist. She even interviewed Elvis! She also ghost wrote several autobiographies of prominent Americans. By 1954-55 was the host of The Fraynes, a CBC television talk show. In the 1960's she became an activist for such social causes as homeless youth and drug addicts. June founded Casey House, a Toronto hospice for people with AIDS, and the June Callwood Centre for Young Women. She continued in television journalism with In Touch on CBC from 1974-1975.  She became a Member of the Order of Canada in 1978 and became an Officer in the Order  1986. June also holds the Order of Ontario and was inducted into the Etobicoke Hall of Fame in 1992. She was named as Toronto's Humanist of the year in 2004 by the Humanist Association. In 2005 a Toronto park was named in her honour and Victoria College, part of the University of Toronto, established a social justice professorship to honour her. A biography, written by Anne Dublin and entitled June Callwood: A Life of Action, was published in March 2007. In 2008 the mayor declared June 2 of each year is June Callwood Day in the city of Toronto.

Carol Ann Shields. 
Born June 2, 1935, Oak Park Illinois, U.S.A.  Died July 16, 2003. Carol studied at Hanover College, Indiana, U.S.A. spending her junior year abroad at the University of Exeter in England on a United Nations scholarship .In 1957 she married engineer Donald Hugh Shields and the couple immigrated to Canada.  Living in Ottawa she worked as an editorial assistant from 1968-1978. In 1975 she earned  from the University of Ottawa. A writer and professor she was also Chancellor at the University of Winnipeg,. where the family had steeled in 1980 and where she had been a professor. The busy mother of 5 children, this writer won the National Book Critics Circle Award, Governor General’s Award for Literature, The Booker Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction. Along with writing novels and biographies, she has also written 5 plays and written poetry. When her husband retired in 2000 the couple moved to Victoria, British Columbia. Films based on her novels include the 1996 Swann and in 2003 The Republic of Love.

Flora Isabel MacDonald.  
Born June 3, 1926, Sydney, Nova Scotia. Died July 26, 2015, Ottawa, Ontario.  After having worked several years behind the scenes of the Progressive Conservative Party she was elected  Member of Parliament for Kingston and the islands in 1972. In 1977 the National Film Board of Canada produced a documentary showing her bid for the progressive Conservative run for leadership of the party in 1976. On June 4, 1979 she was sworn in as a member of the Queen's Privy Council of Canada.  In the Joe Clark Government 1979-1980 she became the 1st woman to hold a major cabinet post as Secretary of State for External Affairs.  The Iran hostage crisis was  a major issue during MacDonald's term. Six American diplomats had escaped the seizure of the American embassy by radical Iranian students and had sought refuge in the Canadian embassy in Tehran. MacDonald authorized the issuance of false passports and money to the six as part of a plan to rescue the escapees that had the Americans pose as Canadians and leave the country with Canadian staff when the embassy was closed on January 28, 1980, although she was not able to discuss her role publicly. The successful operation became known as the Canadian Caper, and it was later dramatized in the Academy Award-winning film Argo. She would later serve in the Mulroney Cabinet as Minister of Employment and Immigration. In 1992 she was inducted  as an Officer into the Order of Canada  and in 1998 she was promoted to Companion of the Order. In 1995 she received the Order of Ontario. In 2000 she received the Pearson Medal of Peace. 2002 saw her awarded the Queen Elizabeth Golden Jubilee Medal.  In 2004 she was awarded the Padma Shri civilian award from the Government of India.  In 2007 she was made a member of the Order of Nova Scotia. After retiring from the political forum she worked to help the people of Afghanistan to help themselves by providing simple training in the sues of solar energy that the people provided for themselves. In October 2010 she received the Canada World Peace Award from the World Federalist Movement-Canada. In 2012 she received the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award from Maclean's Magazine. The prominent 400 boat harbour in front of the Kingston Ontario City Hall  is named in her honour. During her career she received 19 honourary degrees from various universities in Canada and the United States

Sylvia Ostry.
née Knelman. Born June 3, 1927, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died May 7, 2020, Toronto, Ontario. She started her university studies at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec,  earning a BA, MA and PhD. She has studied and worked with many other universities in Canada, U.S.A. and England. She has had a strong three decade career as a civil servant holding administrative and political positions in various Canadian government departments, including being Chief Statistician 1972-1975. She would be the 1st woman to hold the rank of Deputy Minister in the government of Canada February 18, 1976.

Sandra Post. 
Born June 4, 1948, Oakville, Ontario. Sandra was introduced to the sport of golf by her father when she was just five year5s old. By the time she was 13 she was competing in her home province of Ontario as an outstanding junior and amateur winning the Ontario and Canadian Junior Girls Championships three times each.  She became Canada’s 1st woman professional golfer in 1968 and won the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Championship at Sutton Massachusetts that same year. It can be no surprise that she won Rookie of the year Award in 1968.  In 1970 she married John Elliot, Jr.  In 1974 she won the Colgate Far East Open in Melbourne, Australia breaking into international circuit.   Sandra was the 1st Canadian Ladies golfer to win the LPGA multiple times in the same season winning twice the 1st tow time a Canadian performed this feat in 1978 and 1979.  In 1979 she was awarded the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s Athlete of the Year. Sandra has bee captain of the Canadian Nations Cup team, served as a professional golf commentator in Canada and she also writes instructional articles for her sport in several Golfing magazines. She retired from most LPGA competition in the mid 1980's due to several nagging injuries. In 1988 she was elected to the Canada Sports Hall of Fame and the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame. In 2004 Sandra became a Member of the Order of Canada. She was also identifies as number eight of the women chosen as Canada's Athletes of the 20th Century. Sandra runs her own School of Golf, she  has her own golf apparel firm, and she has designed a set of women's golf clubs for a major company.

Marie (Mary)-Rose-Anne Travers. 
Born June 4, 1894, Newport, Gaspésie, Quebec. Died February 20, 1941. She is best known as Madame Bulduc or LA BULDUC in the 1930's. She would become Canada's premier chansonère (singer), and as the Queen of Canadian Folk Singers,  composing and singing songs of ordinary daily life of Quebec. La Bulduc is often considered to be Quebec's 1st  female singer/songwriter. She combined the traditional folk music of Ireland and Quebec the two acquired music genres of her parents. By 1908, when she was just 13, She was giving public performances playing the according at the logging camp where her father worked as a cook.
That same year she went to live in Montreal with family where she worked as a maid for $15.00 a month plus room and board. A few years later she was working in a textile mill. 60 hours a week. On August 17, 1914 she married a plumber, Edward Bolduc. Mary had twelve pregnancies but only four children reached adulthood.  In 1921 the family moved to Springfield Massachusetts, U.S.A. to look for work but a year later they were back in Montreal. Mary it seems always entertained family and friends and sometimes  performed with the Veillees du bon vieux temps at the Monument-National. The small payment from her entertaining was useful for the family and by 1928 she was performing regularly. She was signed up with the Compo company on Star records and earned $25.00 per side of a record. She made her 1st recording April 1929. and her second recording for Christmas of that same year. The second record more than 12,000 copies! Much of her music were comedic songs. She went on to become  a French language singing  legend in her home province. By the end of 1930 she had recorded more than 30 songs and had collaborated with 56 recordings of other artists. ! In March 1931she was headlining a burlesque company at Theatre Arlequin de Quebec. She began touring in 1932. giving 50 shows from August through December. She went on to tour in New England in the U.S.A. in 1934 and the French speaking areas of Northern Ontario in 1935. By 1936 she had produced 33 records and the family could afford a nanny to take care of their children. In June 1937 she was injured in an automobile accident and while in hospital it was discovered that she had cancer. Her insurance would not pay for treatments of the cancer. She could not write songs due to a concussion that cause memory loss. In 1938 she was again on tour but only in Montreal. She did do radio broadcasts and  and made two new recordings in 1931. About 100 recordings survive but she also wrote songs for special occasions that were not recorded. Canada Post issued a stamp in her honour on August 12, 1994. There is a museum exhibit in her home town of Newport. In April 2018 a biographical film, La Bulduc was released. image; ©CanadaPostCorporation Used with permission

Helen Arlene Dahlstrom.
née Underbakke. Born June 5, 1917, Regina Saskatchewan. Died July 25, 2013, Victoria, British Columbia.  Helen married Alton Dahlstrom and the couple had two children. It was however, her love of music which she would best known for. She received her piano teachers certificate from the Toronto Conservatory of Music. In 1934 she received he Licentiate for Music Diploma at the University of Saskatchewan. She actually started her piano career at 16 when she played with the Regina Symphony Orchestra. She toured, played on radio and accompanied notable musicians at recitals. In 1950 she moved to Rossland, British Columbia and began her lifetime work at St. Andrew’s United Church. She also shared her leadership and management skills  by holding numerous positions of local, provincial, national and international music organizations for 70 years. She was paramount in the organization of Canada Music Week for which she chaired for 25 years. In 1998 she received the Order of British Columbia in recognition of her contribution to the enrichment of the love of music in the province. Sources: Canadian Women of Note, Media Club of Canada (Toronto: York University, 1994) # 189 page 208; Trail History Society online (accessed August 2011)

Margaret Hollingsworth. 
Born June 5, 1939, London, England. Margaret graduated as a librarian from Loughborough College and emigrated from England to Canada in 1968. She studied psychology at Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, prior to moving to British Columbia for post graduate studies. She is a notable playwright. Five of her plays were collected and published in 1985 in the book Willful Acts. Her 1st play, Bushed, was performed in 1973 by the Vancouver Playhouse Theatre Company. In 1983 she won the Floyd S. Chalmers Canadian Play Award for her work, Ever Loving. In 1995 she received the Jessie Richardson Theatre Award for Ring of Fire. She published a collection of short stories in 1990 and in 2004 her novel, Be Quiet, was published. (2018)

Anne-Claire Poirier. 
Born June 6, 1932, St-Hyacinthe, Quebec. A film director and producer, Anne-Claire joined the National Film Board in 1960.  Her efforts allowed female film producers their first organized platform for expression. In 1968 her documentary Film Du Mere en fille was the 1st feature film ever directed by a French-Canadian women. In 1996 her documentary film, Tu as Crie: Let me go. was made to help her understand the events leading to the murder of her daughter. In 2001, Poirier received a Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement in film. She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2003.

Joy Nozomi Kogawa. 
Born June 6, 1935, Vancouver, British Columbia. After the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbour in 1941 the Canadian government placed 1st generation Japanese in internment camps. Joy's family was sent to Slocan, British Columbia. After World War ll the family settled in Coaldale, Alberta. Joy graduated from the University of Alberta, the Anglican Women's Training College and the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, Ontario. Back in Vancouver she married David Kogawa in 1957. The couple divorced in 1968 and Joy attended the University of Saskatchewan before moving to Toronto in 1979. In 1973 this busy single mother of two  worked as a writer in the Prime Minister's Office. Her 1st book of poetry was published in 1968. In 1981 she published her 1st novel Obasan and won The First Novel Award. This book would later be adapted as a 45 minute opera which toured elementary schools in British Columbia.  In 1982 she won the the Bork of the Year Award  and an American Book Award. Her 1st children's book Naomi's Road appeared in 1985. She is known for her novels, children's books, poetry and essays, which have been published in Canada and in Japan. She is also an activist who was instrumental in influencing the Canadian government in their settlement with Japanese Canadians for loss of liberty and property in Canada during World War ll. In 1986 she became a member of the Order of Canada. November 5, 2005 the City of Vancouver declared Obasan Cherry Tree Day and planted a graft of the Cherry tree from the Kogawa home at the city hall.  The Kogawa house was saved from demolition and is being renovated to its 1940 appearance. In 2006 she was inducted into the Order of British Columbia where she lives some of the time. In 2010 she was honored with the Order of the Rising Sun by Japan for her contribution to the understanding and preservation of Japanese Canadian history. In 2012-13 she was Writer-in-Residence at the University of Toronto.

Helen Elizabeth Ryan.
née Reynolds. Born June 7, 1860, Mount Forest, Ontario. Died July 9, 1947, Victoria British Columbia. Helen , like so many ladies of her era attended Normal School (Teacher's College) in Ottawa. Wanting more education she attended Queen’s University in the second medical class that allowed women students in 1881.  Helen would have to withstand abuse from some of the male students and faculty but she still graduated at the top of her class in 1885. She opened her first practice in Toronto where she struggled to become established and finally joined her brother in Mt. Forrest.  While struggling to establish herself she met and then married Thomas John Ryan on September 10, 1880. The couple settled in Sudbury, Ontario where he would become elected mayor (1899 to 1901). The couple had five children together. She was the first woman doctor to practice in Northern Ontario. Together they raised a family of five children while Helen had a successful medial practice. In 1907 the family relocated to British Columbia where Helen, unable to practice medicine in the province, became active in public life. She worked for women’s franchise joined the Local Council of Women and was a charter member of the University Women's Club.. (right to vote). She was the 1st woman member of the Canadian Medical Association. Sources: Greater Sudbury 125 1883-2008 the story of our times (Bilingual); South Side Story, January 2005. Additional information provided by Queen’s University Archives ; The indomitable Lady Doctors by Carlotta Hacker (Toronto: Clarke Irwin, 1974) (2021)

Margaret Anchoretta Ormsby.  
Born June 7, 1909, Quesnel, British Columbia. Died November 2, 1996, Vernon, British Columbia. Margaret graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1929 going on to earn her Master of Arts in 1931. She earned her PhD from Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. in 1936.  After teaching in the United States for three years she became a lecturer at McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario in 1940. In 1943 she returned to teach history at the University of British Columbia where she was head of the History Department from 1965 to 1974. She served as chair of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada from 1960 through 1967.She produced several works which enlighten readers on the history of British Columbia. She was a major contributor to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography.  She would also serve as President of the Canadian Historical Association.  She is a member of the Royal Society of Canada, a member of the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada. 

Monique Bosco.
Born June 8, 1927, Vienna, Austria. Died May 27, 2007, Montreal, Quebec. After completing studies in France she arrived in Canada and settled in Montreal in 1948. She worked at Radio Canada International while completing her PhD at the Université de Montréal in 1953. She worked as a journalist at La Press and Le Devoir newspapers as well as being the literary critic for MacLean’s Magazine. In 1961 she published her 1st novel Un amour maladroit which won the ‘First Novel’ Award in the U.S.A. In 1962 she became a professor of French literature at Université de Montréal.  She published numerous novels, collections of short stories and collected volumes of poetry all in her beloved French language. In 1970 she earned the Governor’s General Award for French Language in Fiction for La Femme de Loth. The book was translated the following year into English under the title Lots’ Wife. In 1992 she won the Prix-Grandbois for poetry and in 1996 she earned the Prix Athanase-David.

Cathy Townsend. 
Born June 8, 1937, Campbellton, New Brunswick. While living and working in Montreal, Quebec she took up 10 pin bowling in 1963. By 1967 she was representing Canada internationally. In 1968 she was Montreal's sportswriters city female bowler of the year. In 1974 she and her doubles partner won the Federation Internationale des Quilleurs (F I Q) Gold medal championship.  In 1975 while she was Canadian 10-pin Champion she was the 1st Canadian woman to win the A M F Bowling Cup. During her trip to these world games her equipment and clothing were lost in transit and she had to obtain a new bowling ball and special shoes required for a left handed bowler! In 1976 she too the gold medal-all events at the Tournament of the Americas Miami, Florida, U.S.A.   She is a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. She is one of Canada's most decorated international 10-pin bowlers.

Marie-Antoinette Papen.
née de Margerie. Born June 9 1907, Sainte-Anne-des-Chenes, Manitoba. Died April 8, 1989, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Marie-Antoinette began teaching in Hoey, Saskatchewan in 1928. As was the custom of the era, she quit teaching when she married Charles Papen in 1934. The couple had three children. They moved to Belgium in 1937 where they were stranded by World War ll (1939-1946) returning to Saskatchewan in 1947. Marie-Antoinette returned to teaching near Prud'Homme and then in Saskatoon in 1950. She became involved with raising funds to help the French language radio stations in the province. In November 1952 C F N S  started up and she hosted a daily program for women called Au fil de l'heure. In 1961, after becoming a widow, she was a director of the radio station and continued hosting her radio program until her retirement in 1972. Source: Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan online (accessed 2022)

Louise Maheux-Forcier.  
Born June 9, 1929, Montreal, Quebec. Died February 5, 2015. Louise studied music at the Conservatoire de musique et d'art dramatique du Quebec and then from 52 to 1954 she studied in Paris, France. In 1959 she began to concentrate on writing.  In 1963 her 1st novel was awarded the Prix du Cercle du livre de France.  She wrote of the then critical theme of lesbianism. She continued to write novels and branched out to short stories and scripts for films for TV. In 1974 she was named writer-in-residence at the University of Ottawa. In 1985 she was named to the Royal Society of Canada and in 1986 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. (2018)

Winona Margaret Dixon.
née Flett. Born June 10, 1884, South Dumfries Township, Ontario. Died May 16, 1922, Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1912 she moved to Winnipeg, Manitoba with her sister Lynn and her mother. It did not take log before she was involved in the community and she joined the Political Equity League in a desire to gain the right to vote for women. She was a gifted and popular speaker at numerous events in the coming years. In May 1914 she spoke up for reform of the Factory Act in places where women and children worked. In July 1914 she was working on the election campaign for liberal Frederick John Dixon. In October 1914 Fred and Winona were married. The couple had three children. They were also committed pacifists and would condemn the future World War l conscription. In August 1914 Winona was in charge of a petition signed by 39,584 women when a group of women present the petition to the provincial legislature. In January 1916 Manitoba became the 1st province in Canada to grant women the right to vote. Winona was one of eight women who were invited to be on the floor of the legislature for the third and final reading of the bill! The couple were arrested after the Winnipeg General Strike of 1919 and charged with seditious conspiracy. By June 1920 she campaigned in her husband’s election as labour candidate in the provincial election.

Françoise Sullivan - Ewen.  
née Sullivan. Born June 10, 1925, Montreal, Quebec  As a youth she studied classical dance but also enjoyed classes in visual arts. In 1940 she attended the Ecole des beaux-arts de Montreal. This artist was part of the famous Automatists group of Montreal. As well as her art, she pursued a career in dance after studying in New York City.  In 1949 she married artist Paterson Ewen (1925-2002) .After her marriage in 1949 she started a family and found it more difficult to keep up her successful dance career.  She turned her artistic talents to welded metal sculptures.  She created a monumental sculpture for Expo 67 in Montreal. Plexiglas was her next medium of choice. By 1980 she returned to expressing her artistic talents in her painting. Between 1982 to 1994 she produced several series of works. In 1997 she completed Montagnes (mountains), a granite wall located in the main lobby of President Kennedy Pavilion of Université  du Quebec in Montreal. In 1997 she was teaching painting at Concordia University. In 2001 she was inducted into the order of Canada  and the following year she became a Knight in the National Order of Quebec. In 2005 she earned the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts.

Mary Leslie. 
Born June 11, 1842, Leslie's Corners, Upper Canada (Ontario). Died March 1, 1920, Toronto, Ontario. Like many of the well to do pre-Confederation families in Canada, she was educated at home before her family sent her to Europe to tour. She traveled with her mother as her chaperone. While she was in Holland she continued her studies in art. Returning home to Guelph, Ontario, she taught art and began writing. Her writings would be her legacy. She would publish three books including The Cromaboo Mail Carrier in 1878 under the pen name of James Thomas Jones. This book was banned in nearby Erin, Ontario  because its outspokenness offended some of the local citizens. She would also use the pen name J. T. J. The following year David Jones's Locker appeared in serial form in the Clifford Arrow which also published in 1881, Absolutely Her Own Mistress.  She had hoped the Ontario Department of Education would use her two volumes of poetry but this did not happen. She also penned The Kings and Queens of England in 1896 and Historical Sketches of Scotland in 1905. Book sales were not that successful as she lost her house and moved to Rockwood to live with her sister. After her sister's death she moved to Fergus, Ontario and wintered in Toronto. Sadly she died in poverty.

Grace Jean Sutherland Boggs.
Born June 11, 1922,  Negritos, Peru. Died August 22, 2014, Ottawa, Ontario. Born while he parents lived and worked in Peru she grew up living in Cobourg, Ontario. She attended Alma College in St Thomas, Ontario prior to attending the University of Toronto for her BA. By 1953 she had earned her Master's and PhD from Radcliff College (sometimes reported as having a PhD from Harvard). She was one of the early women professors in fine art. She taught at Mount Holyoke from 1948-1952 and the University of California at Riverside from 1954 through 1962. In 1962 she worked a curator at the Art Gallery of Toronto. She became the 1st woman appointed to full professorship at George Washington University in St Louis in 1964. From 1976 through 1976 she served as the 1st woman and 5th directory of the National Gallery of Canada.  It was in the 1960’s that she brought art to Canadians through informative radio broadcasts. In 1973 she became an officer in the Order of Canada and in 1992 this was updated to the highest honor of Companion in the Order of Canada. From 1982 through 1985 she served as the Cashir and the Chief Executive Officer of the Canada Museums Construction Corporation that choose the sites, the architects and oversaw construction of the National Gallery of Canada and the National Museum of Man (now Canadian Museum of History) During her career she received 14 honorary degrees. From 1991 through 1993 she was senior advisor to the Andrew Mellon Foundation. An artist in her own right she never felt herself worthy as an artist. People who purchased her works promised never to show the works. When she moved into a retirement home she made sure that she had a view of the National Gallery. Sources: Obituary, Toronto Star, September 6, 2014; Diane Peters, ‘Visionary curator Jean Sutherland Boggs formed a legacy’. The Globe and Mail, September 18, 2014.

Mabel Phoebe Peters.
Born June 12, 1861, Saint John, New Brunswick. Died August 30, 1914, Boston Massauchetts, U.S.A. Growing up, Mabel, it seems helped to operate her father's hotel, The Clifton House in Saint, John. After the death of her mother in 1892 Mabel and her sister Evelyn eventually became proprietors of the hotel in 1897. The sisters often visited another sister in Detroit and learned of here involvement with playgrounds in the Detroit area. In 1901 Mabel was the author of an paper that promoted vacation schools and playground gaining support at the annual meeting of the National Council of Women. She became convener of the new National Council of Women committee on vacation schools and supervised playgrounds, a position she maintained for 12 years. Many local Councils of Women established playgrounds and moved to set up playground associations. In 1906 Saint John had its first playground. By 1912 a Saint John playground association had formed with Mabel as president overseeing three playgrounds. Mabel soon hit the road travelling to major centres like Toronto, Hamilton, London, Walkerville (now Windsor) in Ontario and Moncton, New Brunswick to encourage establishment of playgrounds. She also lectured in the U.S.A. where she was an early member in 1907 of the Playground Association of America. Mabel also promoted women's suffrage. She was a member of the Saint John Women's Enfranchisement Association and she even spoke at the Washington D.C. National Suffrage Conference in 1902. In 1920 the National Council of Women called upon Canadian cities with two or more playgrounds to name on of the playgrounds in honour of Mabel Peters. In 2009 the Mabel Peters Playground Saint John, was opened in her honour. Source: D C B; Mabel Peters Playground, Saint John, online (accessed 2022)

Camilla Scott.  
Born  June 12, 1962, Toronto, Ontario. A childhood dream of becoming a dancer helped propel this native Torontonian to fame as an actor, singer and noted talk show host.  Her 1st lead role was in Evita at the Limelight Dinner Theatre. She worked on soap operas in Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. then returned home and kept busy acting in a variety of guest spots on television shows and a couple of movies. She also performed in musical theatre in Toronto.  From 1996-1998 she had her own TV Talk show but it was cancelled after receiving a poor critical reception.  Her role in the TV hit series Due South which ran from 1995 through 1999 was much more successful. In 2002 she married actor Paul Evans and that same year she was the voice of Mamma Bear in the Berenstain Bears.  In 2008 she starred as Khashoggi, a role usually played by a man in the Toronto production of the Queen musical We Will Rock You. As her acting career wound down she took a position with Arbonne, a multi lever marketing company  becoming Executive National Vice President.

Jean Adair.  
Born Violet McNaughton June 13, 1873,  Hamilton, Ontario.  Died May 11, 1953, New York City, New York, U.S.A. Jean studied acting in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. Most of her life she was a stage actor traveling with local stock companies and also appearing on the vaudeville in one-act plays.  In 1922 she had a starring role in the comedy hit, It's a Boy. She was seldom out of work after this performance. Later in life she appeared in numerous films in the 1940’s working with such greats as Gene Kelly and Donald O'Connor. Perhaps she is best remembered as one of the sweet, but murderous aunts in  the film Arsenic and Old Lace in 1944. It was a role that she had originated on Broadway. In the early 1950's she would appear in some minor television roles. (2018)

Jean Jay Macpherson. 
Born June 13, 1931. Died March 21, 2012, Toronto, Ontario. When Jay was 9 she was a ‘war guest’ in Newfoundland. This was a term used for British evacuee children who were sent from Britain for their safety during World War ll. In 1944 the  family settled in Ottawa, Ontario. She earned her BA from Carlton University, Ottawa in 1951. While still a student at Carleton she had some of her poems published in the Canadian magazine Contemporary in 1949. After achieving her BA she went on to University College in London for post Graduate studies prior to earning her PhD from the University of Toronto. She also earned a post graduate Bachelor of Library Science. In 1952 her 1^st published work Nineteen Poems appeared. In 1954 Jay began her own small press, Emblem Books. Her most popular work, The Boatman, was a series of 80 poems published in 1957 garnered the 1958 Governor General’s Award for Poetry. From 1997 through 1996 Jay taught English at Victoria College at the University of Toronto becoming a full professor in 1974. Her works also earned her the E. J. Prat Medal for poetry and the Levinson. Source: Jay Macpherson Poet and Teacher, Victoria University Archives Online (accessed January 2012)

Barbara G. Stymiest. 
Born June 13, 1956. Barbara graduated from Richard Ivey School of Business in 1978. She became the youngest partner in the accounting firm of Ernst& Young when she was 30. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Ontario called her a trailblazer for women in business. .  This businesswoman held the Senior Vice President and Chief Executive Officer of Nesbit Burns Inc. from 1992 to 1999. It was during this time that she was the 1st woman in North America to be Governor of a Stock Exchange. In 1999 she became President of the Toronto Stock Exchange! In 2000 she was on the top 10 list of Canadian businesswomen presented by the National Post. She was named one of Fortune's 50 most powerful women in business three times. In 2010 she carried the Olympic torch in the relay leading up to the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. She is married to James M. Kidd.

Rena Maude 'Bird' McLean.  
Born June 14, 1879, Souris, Prince Edward Island.  Died June 27, 1918 at sea. Her nickname was 'Bird'. She graduated Halifax Ladies College in 1896 and then studied nursing at Newport Hospital, Newport, Rhode Island, U.S.A. where she completed her training in 1908. She was hired as head nurse in charge of the operating room at the Henry Heywood Memorial Hospital, Gardner, Massacheutts, U.S.A.  She enlisted for service in World War l  and was assigned to the Canadian medical Corps in September 28,1914.  A month later she was serving in France. In 1915 she joined the Duchess of Connaught's Canadian Red Cross Hospital in Taplow, England. After transport duty to Canada in 1916 she she was posted to Thessaloniki Greece and the No. 1 Canadian Stationary Hospital. By 1917 she was serving in Orpington, London, England. In March 1918 she was posted tot he ship Llandovery Castle which carried Canadian wounded to Halifax, Nova Scotia. She died at sea off the coast of Ireland when the ship was torpedoed and sunk by the enemy while heading back to service. 14 nursing sisters died that day. Plaques in memory of Rena McLean are located in St James United Church in Souris, in Mount Allison’s Memorial Library, and in the X-ray laboratory at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Charlottetown. The FIVE SISTERS window in York Minister England, is dedicated to the 3,000 women of the Empire who sacrificed their lives in WW I.  Her name is included. The Canadian Forces Medical Services School at Canadian Forces Base Borden, Ont., gives the Llandovery Castle Award each year to the most deserving nursing officer.

Olga Alexandrova Kulikovsky/Koulikovsky. 
née Romanof. Born June 14, 1882, St. Petersburg, Russia. Died November 24, 1960 Toronto, Ontario. Olga was a Grand Duchess of Russia and sister to Czar Nicholas. As a child she was raised by an English nanny. She 1st married in the simmer of 1901 to Duke Peter von Oldenbury but this marriage ended in an annulment. She married a second time in November 1916 to Colonel Nikkolai Alexandrovitch Kulikovsky (1881-1958) and the couple would have two children. She was saved from being executed with the rest of the Russian Royal family in during the Russian revolution in 1917 because she had decided to become a nurse and was working with the wounded in Kiev. She and her family narrowly escaped, 1st living in exile in Denmark, England and finally in 1948 they immigrated to Canada. Here she was a farmer's wife living near Guelph, Ontario, leading a very ordinary life. The couple would retire to Cooksville, Ontario. In June 1959 she was invited for lunch with Queen Elizabeth ll and Prince Philip. Olga lived simply wearing cheap clothes and doing her own shopping and gardening.   She enjoyed painting and actually had a showing in of her art works in Toronto,  in the 1950's. During her lifetime she painted over 2,000 art works to provide extra income for her family. in 2001 her son exhibited selections of her work at the residence of the Russian Ambassador in Washington, DC. and in 2006 in Moscow.

Lola Lemire Tostevin.  
Born June 15, 1937, Timmins, Ontario. Lola studied comparative literature at the University of Alberta, Calgary. This bilingual author has produced books in both of Canada's official languages.  Her strong command of her second language, English, can be seen in her poetic publications. She has also translated several notable authors who have written works in either French or English for publication in the other language.  Her five books of poems and her three novels express feelings of female life experiences such as pregnancy and birth as well as loss of immediate family members in death. Her short fiction appeared in French in XYZ-La Revue de la Nouvelle and in the anthology, Closets of Time. She was writer-in-residence at the University of Western Ontario, London. She teaches creative writing at York University, Toronto and is contributing editor of Open Letter, a Canadian journal of writing and theory.

Sarah Margaret Armor Robertson. 
Born June 16, 1891, Montreal, Quebec. Died December 6, 1948, Montreal, Quebec. This artist became a member of a group of women painters of Montreal who would study with the top Canadian painters of the day. She joined the Beaver Hall Hill group of artists and the Canadian Group of Painters.   She would be a colleague of the members of the famous Group of Seven but her approach to art was different and individualistic. She was a landscape artist who loved the Laurentians and the lower St. Lawrence areas depicting convent spires, local farm homes, water scapes, or old Martello Towers. (2018)

Audrey Mildred Griffin-Kieran.
née Griffin. Born June 16, 1902, Burgess Hill, Sussex, England. Died ???? Audrey held the Canadian Pacific Northwest title in long distance swimming, often beating male contenders and British Columbia’s women’s champions. From 1915-1929 she would win 13 events as well as 27 wins at the Pacific Northwest Championships. She won the mixed three mile Victoria swim nine times. She won the Dominion Championship five times and placed 2nd three times. She married John Russell Kieran. Audrey is a member of the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame and she was inducted into the Greater Victoria (British Columbia) Sports Hall of Fame in 1995.  Source: Bob Ferguson, Who’s Who in Canadian Sport (Toronto: Prentice Hall 1977);

Anna Marion Hilliard. 
Born June 17, 1902, Morrisburg, Ontario. Died July 15, 1958, Toronto, Ontario. Marion studied for her Bachelor and Master degrees at the University of Toronto. She completed her post graduate studied in Great Britain and returned to Toronto to work at Women's College Hospital in 1928. In 1947 this medical doctor helped develop a simplified Pap test, which is used to detect cancer in adult women. She specialized in a commonsense approach to childbirth problems and authored a book A Woman Doctor Looks at Love and Life in 1957. After her death a second book “Women and Fatique” was published in 1960. In 1964 her biography, Give my Heart; the Dr. Marion Hilliard Story by Marion O. Robinson was published. (2018)

Geraldine Sherman. 
Born June 17, 1941, Chatham, Ontario. In 1962 she graduated from McGill University, Montreal and the following year she earned from the University of Toronto  a Graduate Diploma in Town Planning. From 1963 to 1966 she worked as a town planner out of Toronto, England and the Ontario Department of Municipal Affairs. She is married and has two children. From 1966 through 1988 she was the executive producer of the programs: State of the Arts, The Arts Report, and Identities and Ideas. As a journalist and short story writer has had her works published in Saturday Night magazine, Toronto Life magazine and the Globe and Mail  and  Ottawa Citizen newspapers. In 1992 she earned the Canada-Japan Literary prize from the Canadian Department of External Affairs. She 1st had dreams about visiting Japan when she was 14. It took thirty years before her dream would come true. She has written about her experience in Japan Diaries: A Travel Memoir published by McArthur & Co. in 1999. She has served on several boards including PEN, Energy Probe and the Ontario College of Art.

Ester Evelyn Sera Owen Bowen. 
Born June 18,1911. Died November 4, 1994, Wolfeville, Nova Scotia. Evelyn left her native Wales to go to theatre in London and later, while working in a touring theatre, she would be introduced to Canada. From 1928 through 1932 she lived in London returning to Wales in 1936. In the early 1930's she married Robert Speaight and they had one son. From 1936 until 1956 she lived in Ireland. After her divorce she married a second time in February 1939 to Michael O'Donovan. The couple had three children and they became divorced in 1953. In 1956 she married Michael Garbary and the couple had two children. She immigrated to Canada in 1956 and found work in Montreal acting and writing. but soon settled in Nova Scotia. In 1967 she was appointed Artistic Advisor for the Nova Scotia Centennial celebration. She organized and directed the 1st all Negro drama group in Canada. She wrote plays, directed, and taught drama to the youth of her chosen home province. To learn more about this talented woman read Great Dames, edited by Elspeth Cameron and Janice Dickin, [Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1997].

Rose-Marie Losier-Cool.  
Born June 18, 1937 Tracadie, New Brunswick. A teacher by profession, she taught for 20 years at Ecole secondaire Nepisiguit in Bathurst, New Brunswick. She was elected the 1st woman president of the Association des enseignantes et enseignants Francophones du Nouveau-Brunswick in 1983 and has sat on the board of directors of the Canadian Teachers' Federation. She was Teacher of the Year in New Brunswick in 1993. She entered into politics by serving on several provincial and federal committees including the New Brunswick Advisory Council on the Status of Women.  She was appointed to the Senate of Canada March 21, 1995 retiring June 18, 2012. In January 2004 she served as Government Whip, the 1st woman to hold this position.

Shirley Cheechoo. (Stage name Cactus Rose).
Born June 18, 1952, Eastmain, Quebec. When she was just nine she was sent away from her family to the Shinwauk Residential School, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.  She is a Cree artist, actor, writer, director, singer, and a producer who has been successful in reaching back to her native roots for inspiration. She attended classes at the Manitou Arts Foundation during the summer of 1966. She wrote about her experiences at residential school in the 1991 play: Path with No Moccasins. It was for her part of the healing process for the trauma she endured at the school. She has participated in several exhibitions of her art work of acrylic, oils and mixed medium on canvas and stained glass. Her works have been used for Christmas cards by both UNICEF and Amnesty International. She has appeared in film, TV, radio and theater productions with her 1st role in 1985 on CBC's First Nations TV series Spirit Bay. In 1997 she had a role on CBC TV series The Rez. Shirley is the 1st First Nations women to write, produce, direct and act in a feature length film from Canada. In July 2015 she was appointed chancellor of Brock University, the 1st woman and 1st aboriginal chancellor for the institution. Shirley and her partner Blake Debassige co-own Kasheese Studios art gallery. She is also the president of Spoken Song film production company and founded the Weengushk Film Institute on Manitoulin Island that will train, develop and guide independent filmmakers

Helen Sau-Lan Chan. 
Born June 19, 1947. Helen graduated from the University of Hong Kong in 1971. Dr. Chan had a general practice in Hong Kong prior to immigrating to Canada in the mid 1970's.  This physician has been a main stay as paediatric oncologist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto from 1979. She also serves as a professor of paediatrics at the University of Toronto. She is renowned internationally for her treatment of retinoblastoma, a rare eye cancer. Because of her research more than 90% of diagnosed children can be cured with chemotherapy.   In 2018 she was inducted into the Order of Ontario. (2018)

Renée Elaine Elio.
Born June 19,1955. A graduate of Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut, U.S.A.  She earned her Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. in 1981.  She is an Associate professor of Computing Science at the University of Alberta. She has authored and co-authored  numerous articles in the fields of cognitive psychology, cognitive science and artificial intelligence. She is a member of the Canadian Society of Computational Studies Intelligence. Sources: Canadian Who's Who (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1997)

Anna Van Der Kamp. 
Born June 19, 1972, Abbotsford, British Columbia.  This  athlete competed for Canada in the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games in rowing where she earned a silver medal. She gained prominence in her sport in 1993 when she was Female Crew of the Year. She works for the Privy Council Office in Ottawa. She is a member of Clean Air Champions (C A C) a national charity committed to educating Canadians on the importance of air quality and its connections to health. The CAC ambassadors are Olympic, Paralympic and National Team athletes from across Canada. (2018)                                                                           

Elizabeth Pauline MacCallum.  
Born Jun 30, 1895, Marash, Turkey. Died June 12, 1985. Elizabeth’s parents were Canadian Presbyterian missionaries serving in Turkey. The family returned to Canada when Elizabeth was a teenager. After high school she attended Normal School (Teacher’s College) in Calgary and from 1915-1917 she worked teaching at prairie schools before enrolling at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario. By 1919 she had earned her Master’s Degree. She attend Columbia  University in New York City, New York, U.S.A.  From 1925 through 1931 she worked at New York’s Foreign Policy Association researching and writing reports and monographs on the Middle East. In 1931 she retreated to a 2 acre market garden in Uxbridge, Ontario to recharge her batteries and to give herself some relief for the intensity of concentration requiring the wearing of hearing aids. In 1935 she wrote the book Rivalries in Ethiopia and also gave radio talks on the subject of the Middle East.  By 1936 she was back in Ottawa working for the League of Nations and later at the Canadian Legion’s Educational Department. In 1942 she began her career at External Affairs Department, still focusing on the Middle East, her work was given the highest considerations. She proposed a division of Palestine into 2 states – one Jewish, one Arab which was sent up to Prime Minister William Lion Mackenzie King. It was in 1947 that the United Nations General Assembly adopted the partitioning of Palestine and 6 months later the State of Israel was formed.  In 1947 the Canadian government ban against women serving as foreign officers was lifted and Elizabeth became the foreign officer of the unofficial Middle East Division. Her deafness bothered  her to the extent that in 1956 she returned to Ottawa to head the new Official Middle East Division. She officially retired for health reasons in 1958 but returned, upon request,  until June 30, 1960. Even then she occasionally worked through to 1977. At 82 she was a volunteer at the Ottawa Civic Hospital working with the hearing impaired. In 1967 she received the Medal of Service of the Order of Canada and later she became an Officer of the Order of Canada. Sadly she never got around to writing her memoirs. Source: Margaret Weiers, Envoys Extraordinary: Women of the Canadian Foreign Service (Toronto: Dundurn, 1995)  

Anne Murray.  
Born June 20, 1945, Springhill, Nova Scotia.  She has sung her way into the hearts of fans all over the world. She was the 1st Canadian female solo singer to reach number 1 on the music charts in the U.S.A. and the 1st woman to earn a Gold record for her song, Snowbird in 1970.  She is also the 1st  woman and 1st Canadian to win the Album of the Year Award from the Country Music Association Awards in 1984. In 1975 she married music producer Bill Langstroth  (died 2013) and the couple have two children. She has record sales of over $25,000,000. She has won 4 Grammies and 32 Juno Awards. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. and on Canada's Walk of Fame, Toronto, Ontario. All of these things make her the most successful female recording artist in the history of Canadian entertainment.  She has been inducted into the Juno Hall of Fame, the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Canadian Broadcast Hall of fame as well as the Country Music Hall of Fame Walkway of Stars, Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A. Companion of the Order of Canada. In May 2007 Golf for Women magazine named Anne the world's best female celebrity golfer. June 29, 2007 Canada Post issued a Commutative Anne Murray stamp. In 2008 she retired from singing saying that she only sings for her grandchildren now. In 2008 she appeared as a mentor for the TV programme Canadian Idol. In 2009 she published her biography, All of Me. In 2010 she was one of the eight notable Canadians to carry the Olympic Flag as the opening ceremonies and was  inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.  In 2011 Billboard listed Anne as number 10 on their list of the 50 biggest adult contemporary artists. The Anne Murray Centre, Springhill, Nova Scotia which opened July 28, 1989, houses her memorabilia collection. Revenue generated from the Centre is used to provide local employment. She is the Honorary National Chairperson for the Canadian Save the Children Fund.  In 2009 Colon Cancer Canada launched the Anne Murray Charity Gold Classic. She has also been a public supporter for the environment and David Suzuki's Nature Challenge. (2023)

Mildred 'Millie' Sarah Maria Tremblay.
née Ratchford. Born June 21,1925, Kenora, Ontario. Died October 29, 2014, Nanaimo, British Columbia. Millie married Rosaire 'Ross' Tremblay (died 2010) in 1947..Ater her six daughters were raised she began to think about writing. Although she has began writing short stories in the 1950’s she eventually switched to poetry as she felt she could not stay up all night writing! Her efforts in poetry helped her open up a new worlds and that passion helped her bridge into her senior years. Her stories were published collectively in Dark Forms Gliding, and this was followed with two books of poetry Old Woman Comes Out of Her Cave and  In 1970 the couple finally settled in Nanaimo, British Columbia. In 1996 she earned the League of Canadian Poets Annual Poetry Award and also ARC Magazine’s Poem of the year contest award. In 2000 she was presented with the Stephan Leacock Orillia Humour Award and in 2005 she won the Vancouver International Writer’s Festival Award for her poetry.  Source; Obituary, Nanaimo New Bulletin. (2020)

Jeannette Vivian Lavell. 
née Corbiere. Born June 21, 1942, Wikwemikong First Nation, Ontario. Growing up she learned English from her mother and Ojibwe from her father. She attended business college in North Bay, Ontario and worked for the Native Canadian Centre of Toronto. In 1965 she was named Indian Princess of Canada. Since in  1970 she married a non-Indigenous mane, David Lavell she was no longer considered to be an 'Indian' according to the Canadian Indian Act. Jeannette went on to become a person dedicated to the causes of native women for more than a quarter of a century. This courageous women fought to improve their plight and proved that one person's voice can make a difference. In 1971 she challenged the Indian Act  and her failure fueled her energies to a 1974 successful challenge which permitted reinstatement of First Nations women and children to regain their 'Indian' status.  She served as president of the Native Women's Association of Canada and founded the Ontario Native Women's Association. She also served as a cabinet appointee for the Commission on the Native Justice System and was president of Anduhyaun Inc a residence for Native women in Toronto. She earned a teaching degree from the University of Western Ontario, London and worked as as a teacher and school proncipal, living on Manitoulin Island, Ontario  In 2009 to 2012 she became president of the Native Women's Association of Canada. In 2009 she received the Governor General's Person's Case Award. In 2012 she was awarded the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2018 she became a Member of the Order of Canada. (2019)

Anna Gertrude Lawson 'Nan' Cheney.
Born June 22, 1897, Windsor, Nova Scotia. Died November 3, 1985,  Vancouver, British Columbia. Evan as a child Nan had an interest in art and the form of the human body. Nan studied art at the Boston School of Fine Arts, Massacheutts, U.S.A. and at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Quebec. She also studied medical illustration at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, U.S.A. For a time she worked as a medical artist at McGill University, Montreal. In 1924 she married Dr. Hill Cheney (died 1949). The couple relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia in 1937. Known for her landscape painting she would soon earn her place as a portrait painter and go on to be the first medical artist in British Columbia. A friend of Emily Carr (1871-1945), the famous west coast artist, they were encouraging one another well before Carr’s works became generally accepted as the art treasures that they were. Nan's portrait of Emily Carr is part of the collections of the National Gallery, Ottawa. Sadly Nan stopped painting in 1950. Nan gathered information on Emily until December 1979. Suggested reading: Dear Nan: Letters of Emily Carr by Nan Cheney and Humphrey Toms. Source: The History of Metropolitan Vancouver.  (accessed June 19, 2009) ; Obituary, The Vancouver Sun, November 7, 1985, online (accessed 2021)

Denyse Julien. 
Born June 22, 1960, Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec. Denyse's passion is badminton. She has been enthusiastic about her sport since she was 12 years old.  She represented Canada on the Olympic team in 1992, 1996 and 2004. She was Badminton's Athlete of the year in 1995. She won 3 gold medals in the Pan American Games.  She has held several Canadian National title over the years but feels her biggest accomplishment is still being enthusiastic about her sport. Between 1981 and 2004 she won a record 31 Canadian National Championship events in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. She earned four individual medals at Commonwealth Games in 1986, 1990 she won silver,  and 1990 & 1994 she won bronze medals. Internationally she took the singles event in France 1982, the Welsh championship titles in 1991 and 1995 and 1983 she won gold at the Austrian International and then the Portugal Open in 1998. From 2004 through 2015 she was chief professional trainer for the Quebec  badminton team. She has also worked with Canada's National Coaching Program.

Lillian Palmer-Anderson.
née Palmer. Born June 23, 1913, Vancouver, British Columbia. Died March 28, 2001, Vancouver British Columbia. In the 1932 Summer Olympic Games, Los Angeles, California, U.S.A. Lillian won the silver medal in the 4 X 100 metres event with Mildred Fizzell (1915-1993), Mary Frizzell (1913-1972) and Hilda Strike (1910-1989). In 1934 at the British Empire Games, (now Commonwealth Games) London, England, she was once more a member of the Canadian relay team this time winning the gold medal in the 220-110-220-110 yards event.  At the 1934 Women's World Games, London, England Lillian was captain of the Canadian team and was the flag bearer at the opening ceremony. At this event she finished in forth place in the 200 metre race. In 1982 she was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame and in 1989 she was inducted into the British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame. (2022)

Norah Urquhart. 
Born June 23, 1918, Coburg, Ontario. Died March 13, 2009, Pickering, Ontario.  Norah married Dr. Fred Urquhart (1911-2002) in 1945 and the couple settled in Highland Creek, Scarborough, Ontario where son Doug was born. A zoologist with the Royal Ontario Museum and the University of Toronto, Fred had an avocation for the Monarch Butterfly. With very little support the couple began a tagging program from their home to learn where the Monarch butterfly’s of Ontario went each winter. Eventually joined volunteers, it was Norah who answered all enquiries and posted a newsletter to all involved. She attended to public relations including writing an article for a Mexican newspaper in 1972. The article was read by a future volunteer and by 1975 the first Mexican valley of the Monarch’s was located. The couple’s work is considered the entomological discovery of the 20th Century. These pioneers had their work recognized with investiture into the Order of Canada in 1998. Sources: “couples home was butterfly ground zero” Toronto Daily Star (accessed June 2009); InsideToronto. “Norah Urquhart, a pioneer in Monarch Butterfly research”. (accessed June 2009) ; Information was also supplied by Donald Davis, Toronto, Ontario; also personal knowledge.

Anne Isobel MacLeod.
née Black. Born June 24, 1913, Sturgeon Falls, Ontario. Died October 19. 2019, Ottawa, Ontario. Isobel  relocated, with her family, to Edmonton, Alberta in the 1920’s. After high school she courageously enrolled in a five year degree program at the University of Alberta. Isobel was one of just three graduates in 1936. For awhile she was assistant Supervisor for the Victorian Order of Nurses. From 1944 through 1949 she earned her Master’s degree in Nursing Administration from Columbia University in New York City, U.S.A. After graduating she took a position of Director of Nursing and Principal at the School of Nursing at the Montreal General Hospital in 1953 and remained until retirement in 1975. At 1st some were skeptical since she was not a graduate of the School of Nursing. She was the first director who was not a graduate. Sometime later she was presented with a nursing cap of the Montreal General Hospital and she wore it with pride. The School of Nursing now provides an annual Isobel MacLeod Award for nursing assistants. She would oversee 1, 852 graduates during her tenure. In 1953 she also married. Alistair William Thompson MacLeod (d 2004) psychiatrist and after her retirement from the School of Nursing she worked with him as his Montreal practice. In the mid 1990’s the couple retired and moved to retirement living in Ottawa. In 2003 they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. In 2013 she celebrated her 100th birthday.  Source: Sonia Mendes, ‘Nursing Pioneer’s reflections at 101’. The Ottawa Citizen, June 21, 2014. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.(2020)

Barbara Ann Underhill.  
Born June 24, 1963, Pembroke, Ontario. With her skating partner, Paul Martini (1960-   ) she would win five consecutive Canadian Pairs Championships. In 1978 they won gold at the World Junior Championships, Megeve, France and the following year they won their 1st senior national title and made their World Championship debut in 11th place. They were Olympians in 1980, Lake Placid, New York, U.S.A. where they placed 9th. They were third in the 1983 Words and  won the World Championships on home ice in Ottawa March 20-25. She Married hockey coach Rick Gaetz and the couple have three children. Sadly one of her twin daughters drowned in 1993. Barbara started the Stephanie Gaetz Keepsafe Foundation to reduce injuries in childhood, with a focus on water safety. Barbara worked 16 years as a skating TV commentator, retiring in 2006. She worked with young Canadian hockey players helping to develop speed and power. They turned professional and worked with Ice Capades after their amateur successes. They are both members of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. In 2009 she was named to the World Figure Skating Hall of Fame. In 2011 she was named by the Hockey News as one of the 100 most influential people in ice hockey. April 20, 2012 she joined the Toronto Maple Leaf's as a skating consultant.

Celia Franca.  
née Franks.  Born June 25, 1921, London, England.  Died February 19, 2007, Ottawa, Ontario. . Celia was introduced to dance when she was just four years old.  She studied at the Guildhall School of Music and the Royal Academy of Dance. She made her professional debut when she was 14. In 1947 she joined the Metropolitan Ballet of Britain as a soloist and ballet mistress. and began choreographing for television. In 1950 she was offered a position to stat a Canadian classical company. To support herself at this time she worked as a file clerk at Eaton's department store. The new company opened on November 12, 1951.  She became in 1959 the founding artistic director of the National Ballet of Canada. She was strong willed and determined ballet dancer traits required to face the many trials  over the 23 years as she helped the young ballet company to succeed.  She was appointed to the Order of Canada in 1967 and in 1985 she was promoted a Companion in the Order.  In 1994 she received the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.   In 1979 she joined the School of Dance in Ottawa as a co-artistic director. She was a member of the board of governors of York University, Toronto and the board of directors of the Canada Council. She later served on the Board of Directors for the Canada Dance Festival Society. Her biography The Pursuit of Perfection: A Life of Celia Franca by Carol Bishop-Gwyn was published in 2011.

Patricia Martin Bates. 
née Martin. Born June 25, 1927, Saint John, New Brunswick. Patricia's artistic talents were recognized while she was quite young and she was given formal private studies in art when she was just 12. She went on to study at the Academie Royale des beaus-arts, the royal Academy of fine arts in Belgium at the Sorbonne, Paris, France and the Pratt Graphic Centre in New York, U.S.A. A highly innovative artist, she brought imagination to her artistic prints. Some of her works are two sided! She is primarily known for her printmaking and her embossing techniques. She limits her colours to black, white, and silver and is inspired by the art of the Islamic Middle East and Zen Buddhists. In the 1960's she became known for her Plexiglas cube sculptures. She taught from 1965 at the University of Victoria, British Columbia where she became a full professor in 1977. That same year she was presented the Queen Elizabeth ll Silver Jubilee Medal. She has also earned the Zachenta Medal from Poland and the International Print Art of Norway Gold Medal. She had exhibited her works in China, Chile, Yugoslavia. Poland, Great Britain, Norway, Japan, France, Argentina, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Austral is and the United States.   The Pat Martin Bates Scholarship in Visual Arts was established by Canadian Federation of University Women of Victoria. Her biography has been written by Patricia Bovey, Pat Martin Bates: Balancing on a Thread.

Marian Mildred Dale - Scott. 
née Dale. Born June 26, 1906, Montreal, Quebec. Died November 28, 1993, Montreal, Quebec. Marion enjoyed art as a youth and actually had her 1st show of her works in 1918.  Marion studied at the Ecole des beaux arts, Montreal, Quebec and the Slade School of Art, London, England. In 1928 she married lawyer and poet F. R. Scott (1899-1985) and the couple had one son. In the 1930's they were both active in the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF). Mainly a painter of landscapes she also painted the people of Montreal in the depression era. Her works showed people up against machines and hard times. Her works were organized geometrically as she experimented with fresh art forms. She taught from 1935-1938 at the Children's Art Centre set up by Dr. Norman Bethune (1822-1939) and joined the Contemporary Arts Society in 1939. Between 1948 and 1977 she held nine solo exhibitions of her work at galleries in Montreal, Toronto and Quebec City. A pacifist she campaigned for nuclear disarmament in the 1950's and against the war in Vietnam in the 1960's. In 200 a biography was published, Marian Dale Scott: Pioneer of Modern Art by Esther Trepanier. 

Marion Margaret Cuming. 
Born June 26, 1936.  Marion would do her post graduate studies in teaching but instead of teaching she chose to study art in France, Mexico, and Italy before returning to Canada. She has used her artistic talents to help emotionally disturbed children and has worked with Canadian street kids. She has worked closely with UNESCO related activities.  For her personal artistic expression she enjoys drawing Canadian heritage subjects. (2018)

Maria Monk.
Born June 27, 1816, Died 1849. It is rumoured that she stuck a pencil in her ear and caused some brain damage when she was only seven years old. As a young adult, she ran off to the U.S.A. where she claimed to have been a Nun who had been sexually exploited. The newspapers and magazines picked up on her stories and in 1936 a book was published under the title of The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk or the Hidden Secrets of a Nun. The book fuelled the anti-Catholic sentiment of the era and was popular reading. A sequel to the popular first volume soon followed. Investigations into the truth of the works also followed. These later investigations would show that the premises of the books were false but the harm had been done to strengthen religious dissention. Marie herself simply drifted off to live a life that would end in an almshouse at Blackwell’s Island in New York. Source: D C B (accessed May 2008)

May Irwin. (Real name Georgina May Campbell)
Born June 27, 1862, Whitby, Ontario. Died October 22, 1938. As early as 1872 she and her sister Flora were singing on stage. Once the sister act split up, May would go on and become a well known Broadway performer. Her movie career was short but historically significant. Thomas Edison, the famous inventor, placed May in the staring role in his pioneering one minute moving picture called The Kiss. It was was considered scandalous by early movie audiences and the clergy! It is considered to be the first moving picture to ever be shown in Canada! May would make only one other movie Mrs. Black is Back before she retired to live with her husband and two children. She is also credited with having named the famous Thousand Island Salad Dressing. She and her family owned a vacation home in the 1000 islands.

© Public Domain

Marie-Joseph-Angélique. 
Born circa 1710, Baptized June 28, 1730. She was a black slave who had the misfortune to fall in love with a white man, Claude Thibault. They fled from Canada  to New England in the United States. To mask their escape she set fire to her master's house. The fire burnt out of control and 46 homes were destroyed along with the famous Hotel Dieu hospital. She was captured and sentenced to have her hand cut off and be burned alive. The sentence was changed to handing before her body was burned. Her ashes were scattered to the wind.(2018)

Measha Bruggergosman - Lee.
née Gosman. Born June 28, 1977, Fredericton, Nova Scotia.   As a child, she sang in her Baptist Church choir. From the age of seven she would study voice and piano. As a teen summer holiday time found her studying on scholarships at the Boston Conservatory in the U.S.A. She obtained a Bachelor of Music at the University of Toronto and then off she went to Germany for a five years Masters degree program at the Robert Schumann Hochschuls in Düsseldorf. In 1998 at 20 years of age, she premiered in the title role of a new opera Beatrice Chancy and her career was launched into orbit. In 1999 she married her high school beau who was an exchange student.  Measha and Mark Brugger combined their surnames to form their family name. The couple had two children. She has performed around the globe. She has been across her native Canada, been on CBC TV and earned an Gemini Award nomination. In 1998 she won the Canada Council for the Arts Award. In 2000 she debuted at Carnegie Hall in New York City before moving on to Japan, Switzerland, German, and other U.S.A. destinations. The Grand Prize of Jeunesse Musicales Montreal Internationale Musical Completion was won by Measha. In 2007 she found time between performances to serve as the Goodwill Ambassador for the African Medical and Research Foundation working for better health in Africa. A Juno Award was hers in 2008 for her classical Album of the year. She has taken international awards in London, England, New York City, U.S.A., Oslo, Norway and Munich, Germany just to name a few countries. In June 2009 she was forced to take time off to have open heart surgery. Never one to be kept down she returned to perform again in September 2009 at the Toronto International Film Festival. In 2009 she earned the Grand Prize at the Jeunesses Musicales / Montreal International Musical Competition and won First Prize at the International Vocal Competition's Hertogenbosch. She had a heart condition in June 2009 and took time to heal after open heart surgery. In 2010 she wan a Juno Award for  Classical Album of the Year. In 2015 she appeared in the television documentary series Songs of Freedom,  as she explored her African Heritage. In June 2019 she underwent another successful open heart surgery. In 2018 she and her husband divorced. In 2021 she Married Jazz guitarist Steve Lee. (2018) (2023)

Shelagh Dawn Grant. 
Born June 28,1938, Montreal, Quebec. She completed her studies in nursing sciences at the University of Western Ontario, London she took time out to raise her three children. She returned to school attending Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario earning a B.A. in history in 1983 before heading to London, England and Washington DC for archival research. Her master thesis became her 1st published book, Sovereignty or Security? Government Policy in the Canadian North, 1939-1950 published by the University of British Columbia Press in 1988. A study group with the former Canadian Institute for International Affairs took her to remote Arctic locations such as the Svalbard Islands and in Greenland: Station Nord, Meistervig and the United States Thule Air Base. She is a professor of History and Canadian Studies at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. She was the 1st historian and 1st woman to receive the Northern Science Award in 1996.  She has been active on various Inuit policy advisory committees, editorial boards and northern scholarship committees. She also presented papers at a number of international conferences: in Australia, Central Siberia, England, Scotland and Iceland. She has been editor of various reviews and co-editor for Federalism in Canada and Australia published in 1989. Her work Polar Imperative: A history of Arctic Sovereignty in North America in 2010 was the winner of the 2011 Lionel Gelber Prize for the best English language book on global affairs and the J. W. Dafoe Book Prize.

Thelma Finlayson. 
Born June 29, 1914. Died September 15, 2016, Burnaby, British Columbia. Thelma attended the University of Toronto graduating in 1936. She began her entomological career in 1937 as a Technical Officer for the Canada Department of Agriculture at the Belleville Research Institute. She was one of the 1st women scientists to enter the federal government research branch. In 1967 she was appointed Assistant professor and Curator of Entomology at Simon Fraser University (S F U ), the 1st women in the Department of Biological Sciences. A founding member of S F U's Centre for Pest Management she became a full professor in 1976.  She was a Professor Emeritus for the Department of Biological Science at S F U in 1979. The Thelma Finlayson Society at the University is named for her as is the Thelma Finlayson Centre for Student Engagement. As a student counsellor she helped more than 8,000 students as she worked past the age of 95.She wrote approximately 40 research papers, and several books in entomology. She severed as director of the International Organization of Biologists. In 2005 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. She was elected a lifetime Member of the Canadian University Women's Society. In 2007 she was recognized with a YMCA Woman Of Distinction Award and in 2010 she received S F U's Chancellor's Distinguished Service Award.

Janice Gaye Rennie. 
Born June 29, 1957. She describes herself as a self employed financial consultant. She has won numerous scholarships and awards for her university studies at the University of Alberta. She was a Chartered Accountant at Ernst & Young from 1979 to 1985. She has held numerous executive positions with private companies including being Corporate Director.  She won the Commerce Cup from her peers and in 1980 she won the Provincial Gold Medal and the National Silver Medal from the Canadian Institute of Chartered Accountants. She is also giving of her time and talents to her community having worked with the YMCA and the United Way campaigns. She is married and mother of two children. From May 2006 - 2010 she was an Independent Director of Methanex Corporation and  then moved to  Major Drilling Group. 

Joyce Wieland.  
Born June 30, 1931, Toronto, Ontario. Died June 27, 1998, Toronto, Ontario.  Joyce studied commercial art and graphic design at Central Technical School in Toronto graduating in 1948. By 1953 she was working at Graphic Associates animation studio. She married filmmaker Michael Snow in 1956 and the marriage lasted until 1976. This artist had her 1st exhibition in 1960. She went to New York City with her husband and experimented with films.  She took her inspiration from Canadian history, politics and ecology.  Her artistic works covered a multitude of media from canvas, quilting, and embroidery to film of which sh would make 20. In 1987 a film Artist on Fire was made about her.  (2021)