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Return to the
Introduction |
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My goal was to have at least one name
for each day of the year! Believe it or not, it took 20 years. But hey, I
made it!
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.
Copyright © 1998-2024 Dawn E. Monroe. All rights reserved |
ISBN: 0-9736246-0-4 |
|
November 1 |
Dame Emma
Albani.
(Marie-Louise-Cecile-Emma Lajeunesse).
Born
November 1, 1847, Chambly, Canada East (now
Quebec). Died April 3, 1930, London England. Dame
Albani became a world famous soprano opera
singer performing on stages across Europe and
throughout North America. In 1852 the family
moved to Plattsburgh, New York. U.S.A. where she
gained musical instruction. On August 24 1860
she was a soloist in the world premiere of
Charles Wugk Sabatier's Cantata in Montréal, to
honour the visit of the Prince of Wales. She
became a popular singer at her home in Albany,
New York, U.S.A. by 1865. By 1868 she had
travelled to Paris, France, to continued her musical
studies. In Italy she took the name Emma Albani
and on March 30, 1870 she made her operatic
debut. She rose to stardom was swift and she was
soon performing in England as well. By 1874 she
was touring the U.S.A. She married Ernest Gye
(died 1925) on August 6, 1878. The couple would
have one son. By 1880 she was once again touring
in Europe and England. She made her Canadian
Operatic debut on February 13, 1883. Her final
season of tours was in 1896. By the 1920's the
couple were financially strapped and Dame Emma
gave musical lessons to earn an income. She
became the 1st Canadian born artist to
distinguish herself in the international world
of opera and concert singing. Note:
Some authors place her birth in 1848 or 1850. Image
Public Domain |
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Rita Letendre.
Born
November 1, 1928, Drummondville, Quebec. Died
November 20, 2021, Toronto, Ontario. As a
child Rita lived with her maternal grandmother
in Saint-Francois-du-lac. In 1935 she moved with
her family to Saint-Majorique-de-Grantham but
life was difficult with Rita and her siblings
experiencing prejudices because of their Abenaki
First Nations Heritage. She preferred solitude
and loved to draw. When the family relocated to
Montreal she was required to take care of her
siblings while her parents worked. In 1946 she
worked at a factory and a restaurant cashier to
earn money to leave home to live with her
boyfriend. The couple had one son who would be
raised by his maternal grandmother. At 19 she
enrolled in the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. By 1951
she was embracing abstract art and exhibited her
works with the famed group called Les
Automatists. Originally this painter and
printmaker was interested in simple shapes but
as she matured her work became more austere,
with large geometric forms. Rita is known for
large interior and exterior murals. In 2002 she
became an Officer of the l'Ordre National du
Québec. In 2005 she was inducted into the Order
of Canada. In 2010 she won the Governor
General's Award and in 2012 she received the
Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal. In
2016 she became a member of the Order of
Ontario.
(2024) |
November 2 |
Kathryn Dawn k.
d. Lang.
Born
November 2, 1961, Consort, Alberta. This country
singer has real country roots. She grew up in
Consort, Alberta, which has a population of
700. In 1981 she became a vegetarian.
In 1985 she won her 1st Juno as Most Promising
Female Vocalist of the year followed in 1987
with a Juno as Country Female Vocalist of the
Year. She has been very outspoken against
cattlemen. Her natural joy of country music is
evident in the songs she sings. In June 1992 she
'came out' as a lesbian. In 1995 she was awarded
the International Solo Artist Award. This
multiple Grammy winner is considered an
innovator in her field, she performs from the
heart and is an inspiration to all. It is
interesting to note that for live performances
she prefers to sing bare footed. In 2005 she
received the National Art Centre Award and that
same year she won her 6th Juno this time for
Artist of the year. In 2008 she received a star
on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto, Ontario. In
2011 she was inducted to the Q Hall of Fame
Canada in recognition of the work she has done
to further equality for all peoples around the
world. In 2014 she made her Broadway debut as a
'Special Guest Star' in After Midnight.
She has also appeared in movies and numerous
television programs over the years. |
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Beverley
Mahood.
Born
November 2, 1974, Belfast, Northern
Ireland. Beverly began performing in 1980, at
the age of six, when her family moved to the
Kitchener-Waterloo area of Ontario. The child
performer really took to the stage and has loved
it ever since. Her song, Girl Out of the
Ordinary, was #1 in Country Music by a
Country Artist in 1998 Rising Star, Female
Vocalist, Group or Duo Single from the Ontario
Country Music Association. She had produced
several albums, a couple of successful Christmas
albums and a partnership with David Foster on
the female trio, Lace. She is highly recognized
as a song writer have written songs for Celine
Dion and others. She has performed for the G8
World Leaders, for the military in Afghanistan,
the Royal Family and the G20 Canadian Women of
Distinction luncheon. As well as her singing
career Beverley has been a celebrity model,
appeared in movies, and numerous TV shows
including a year with City TV's Breakfast
Television. She has been spokesperson for
the Pink Mitten Campaign for Cancer Research and
in 2016 she celebrated her 20th year with
Saskatchewan's CTV Telemiracke and Canada's Food
Banks. Her humanitarian efforts have garnered
her the 2-14 Sleight Music Humanitarian Award. (2019) |
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Dorothy
Lidstone.
née
Wagar. Born November 2, 1938, Wetaskiwin,
Alberta. Dorothy decided to join her husband and
try the sport of archery in North Vancouver in
1962. By 1965 she earned the right to
participate in the World Archery. At the 1969 World
Archery target event
in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, U.S. A. she
became the first
Canadian to win a world championship in the
sport. She
earned the gold medal by breaking the existing
top score from 1963 by 100 points. She also held
the top female Canadian archery title from 1969
through 1971. In 1969 she was the Athelete of
the Year for British Columbia. In 1970 she was
elected to the Canadian Sport Hall of Fame. In
1972 she was inducted into the Canadian Amateur
Athletic Hall of Fame. She was unable to shoot
in the 1972 Olympic Games, Munich, Germany due
to a conflict with her job at a Bakery. She is
also a member of the British Columbia Sport hall
of Fame. She retired from the active competition
in 1975 to work with her husband in the family
archery manufacturing business. The annual
Canadian Women's Archery Female Athlete of the
Years in names in her honour. While Dorothy may
not have exhibited the best textbook style of
shooting a bow she had the consistency of form
to be an archery champion. Source:
Personal knowledge. (2019) |
November 3 |
Monica
Hughes.
née Irse. Born November 3, 1925, Liverpool,
England. Died March 7, 2003, Edmonton,
Alberta. Monica and her family moved often
living in Egypt, Scotland, England, and
Zimbabwe. Monica attended Edinburgh University
in Scotland. Her studies were interrupted by World
War ll when she joined the Women's Royal Navy
Service from 1943 through 1946 as a decoder.
After the war she returned to school. Monica
married Glen Hughes on April 22, 1957 and the
couple had four children. She worked out of the
home as a clothing designer and later as a bank
clerk and a laboratory technician. This author
of children's and young adults science fiction
works, between 1980 and 1984 won seven major
Canadian awards for literature! In her lifetime
she would publish some 35 books for young
people. She is best known for the Isis trilogy
of young adult science fiction. Her book, The
Keeper of the Isis Light won the 2000
Phoenix Award from the Children's Literature
Association and Invitation to the Game in
1990 won the Hal Clement Award as the Year's
Best Science Fiction Novel for Young Adults. Her
works have also garnered her the Vicky Metcalf
Award, the Alberta Culture Juvenile Novel Award,
the Bay's Beaver Award, and the Alberta R. Ross
Annett Award. In 2002 she became a member of the
Order of Canada. |
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Madeleine Alberta Fritz.
Born
November 3, 1896, St John, New Brunswick. Died
August 20, 1990, Toronto, Ontario. Madeleine
graduated with her Bachelor of Arts degree from
McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. A summer
job inspired her to return to university to earn
a geology degree from the University of Toronto
(UofT) in 1923 earning both a Masters Degree and
then her Doctorate (PhD) in 1926. She is
the first woman in Canada to receive that level of
studies in geology. She pursued a
career as a paleontologist, she would rise to
associate director of the Royal Ontario Museum
of Paleontology. For many years she was a
geology professor at the University of Toronto.
She was only the second woman in Canada to be
elected to the Royal Society of Canada. She has
written numerous substantial articles for
scholarly journals. In 1967 she received the
Canadian Centennial Medal. Her scientific
studies of the Toronto Area stand as finite
works. |
November 4 |
Daphne Katherine 'Kate'
Reid.
Born
November 4, 1930, London, England. Died March 27,
1993, Stratford, Ontario. As a child Kate
immigrated with her family to Canada settling
in Oakville,
Ontario. After high school, she attended
University in London in England and then studied
acting at a performance art school in
Canada. This warm and vulnerable performer
thrived while working live theatre. She is well
known for her role as Lady MacBeth in Shakespeare's
Macbeth and Katharina in Shakespeare's Taming
of the Shrew, and Martha in Who's Afraid
of Virginia Wolfe on stage. She has also
appeared in some 50 movies from the 1960's
through the 1980's she appeared in numerous
television productions. She was nominated for
Tony and Emmy Awards and holds many Canadian
awards including an A C T R A. In 1974 she was
inducted as an Officer in the Order of Canada. |
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Jean Blewett.
née
McKishnie. Born November 4, 1862*, Scotia, Lake
Erie, Canada West. (now Ontario) Died August 19, 1934, Chatham,
Ontario. After high school she married Bassett
Blewett in 1879 the same year she published her
1st novel Out of the Depths. Her poem
Spring won her $600.0 from the Chicago Times
Herald, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A. She
contributed articles to theToronto Globe newspaper
before joining the staff at that newspaper where
she became editor of the Homemaker's Department
in 1898. She went on to publish several
volumes of poetry in 1897, 1906 and 1922. Jean
retired from journalism and writing in 1925. She
wrote a booklet, Heart Stories to benefit
World War l charities. She was a welcome
lecturer on topics such as temperance and
suffrage. Often she would use the name Katherine
Kent for her works. She retired from the Globe in
1925 due to ill health and lived with her
daughter in Lethbridge, Alberta for a couple of
years before relocating back to Toronto in 1927.
* Some give date of birth as 1872. |
November 5 |
Anna Harriette/Harriet Emma Leonowens.
née
Edwards. Born November 6, 1831, Ahmadnagar,
India. Died January 19, 1915, Montreal, Quebec.
Anna seems to have attempted to alter the facts
of her early
life. She claimed that she had been born in
Caernarvon, Wales, United Kingdom in 1834, the
daughter of Captain Thomas Crawford. She also
claimed to have married Major Leonowens in 1851.
It is believed that she wished to hide her low
birth and perhaps her mixed racial origin. She
actually married Thomas Leon Owens on Christmas
Day 1849 and the couple had four children.
Widowed in 1859 and in order to support her
family she opened a school for children of
British officers in Singapore but the school was
not successful. In 1862 she became governess to
the 67 children of the King of Siam (now
Thailand). By 1868 she was in the United States
where she opened a school for kindergarten
teachers in New York City. In 1870 she produced
a series of articles for the Atlantic
Monthly magazine about her life in Siam
which soon was published as a book under the
title of the English Governess at the Siamese
Court. In 1873 she
published a second popular novel. In 1878 she
moved to Halifax, Nova Scotia, with her daughter
Avis and her son-in-law while still returning to
the United Stages as a lecturer. In 1881 she
went to Russia after the assassination of
Emperor Alexander ll and was proclaimed the first
foreign woman to have travelled in that country
un escorted. Returning home to Canada Anna
turned her attention to her grandchildren but
still found time to produce books in 1884 and
1889. She became involved with her home
community and raised funds for the Victoria
Schools of Art and Design. The modern schools of
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design contains
the Anna Leonowens Gallery in her memory. She
spent five years in Germany with daughter Avis and
the grandchildren returning to Halifax in 1893.
She played an prominent role in the Halifax
Council of Women and participated in the early
feminist movement of the city. She and her
family relocated to Montreal in 1897 where after
the death of her daughter she took care of the
family. In 1944 author Margaret Dorothea Landon
penned the book Anna and the King of Siam which
was picked up by Rogers and Hammerstein for the
Broadway play The King and I followed by
the movie favourite with the same name. |
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Susan
Nattrass.
Born
November 5, 1950, Medicine Hat, Alberta. Susan
was taught to shoot by her father when she was
17 and by 19 she defeated 1300 men at an
international shoot in Nevada, U.S.A.! Her mother Marie
was her coach. Susan attended the University of
Alberta and earned a Bachelors in Physical
Education in 1972 followed by a Masters Degree
in 1974. She would continue to earn a Doctorate
(PhD) in
1987. In the 1976
Olympics in Montreal she was the only woman
entered in the trap shooting event. In
1981 she won the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canadian
Athlete of the Year and became an Officer of the
Order of Canada. In the 1990
Commonwealth Games she
became the
first woman to
be entered in a shotgun event. That same year
she received the Great Canadian Award. She
has set four world records and has been World
Champion on seven occasions. At the 2006
Commonwealth Games she won two silver medals in
double trap pairs (where two clay saucers are
thrown simultaneously) and women's trap pairs
and a bronze medal in women's trap. She has been
the Shooting Federation of Canada's Female
Athelete of the year eight times from 1993
through 2009. Susan owns and heads the Puget
Sound Osteoporosis Center where she studies the
effects of aging in bones on active sportswomen
over 40 years of age. The 2012 Olympics Games
were the 6th Games in which she has competed.
She sits on the Board of Directors, Sections
Chairs of the Shooting Federation of Canada. She
has been the winner of a Canadian championship
for 43 years! She is a member of the University
of Alberta's Wall of Fame, Edmonton Sports Hall
of Fame, Alberta Hall of Fame, the Canadian
Olympic Hall of Fame, and the Canadian Sports
Hall of Fame. (2024) |
November 6 |
Joyce Fairbairn.
Born
November 6, 1939, Lethbridge, Alberta. Died
March 29, 2022, Lethbridge, Alberta. Joyce
studied for a bachelor degree in Alberta and
took her degree in journalism from Carleton
University, Ottawa, in 1961. While at Carleton
she met Michael 'Mike' Gillian (1938-2002) and
the pair became soul mates. The couple had four
children. After working as a journalist in the
Parliamentary Press Gallery she became
Legislative Assistant to Prime Minister Pierre
Trudeau (1919-2000) for 14 years. She also
served at various positions in the Liberal Party
of Canada. She was appointed to the Senate of
Canada in 1984. She is very proud to have been
inducted into the Kainai Chieftainship of the
Blood Nation and given the name of Morning Bird
Woman. In 1993 she
was appointed to the Privy Council of Canada and
was the first woman to be named Leader of the
Government in the Senate. She
also served as a Cabinet Minister
with Special Responsibility for Literacy. Sadly
in August 2012 she began indefinite sick leave
from the Senate due to the onset of Alzheimer's
disease. She officially resigned leaving the
Senate January 18, 2013. In 2015 she was
inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada. |
|
Bertha Cook.
née
Houle. Born November 6, 1922, Clear Hills,
Alberta. Died October 21, 2014. At 18 this
young Métis joined the Royal Canadian Air Force
and worked her way to being a corporal. After
World War ll in 1945 she was incensed by the
fact that she could not have a land grant like
the men who had served in the war. Women were
not allowed the grants of land. During the war
she had met a young Australian serviceman who
returned to Australia after the war. Bertha gave
birth to a baby girl but was forced to give her
up for adoption. It would be 50 years before the
two would find one another again. Meanwhile
Bertha married George Clark, a farmer, and
eventually the couple had six children. In the
1960’s they lost their farm to fire and the
family moved to Fort McMurray, Alberta. Bertha
worked at various jobs to help keep the family
together including being a hairdresser, a
receptionist, a school bus driver, and a
telephone operator. During this time she was
also and active volunteer in the community. She
helped establish and aboriginal Friendship
Center. In 1968 she founded the Voice of Alberta
Native Women’s Society. She became the first president
of the Native Women’s Association of Canada. All
the time she was working towards making a better
existence for aboriginal women. She has received
both the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal and the
Queen’s Golden Jubilee medal. She has also been
inducted into the Order of Canada. Source:
Alicja Siekierska ‘Métis activist galvanized by
injustice’. The Globe and Mail, January
31, 2015. Suggestion
submitted by June Coxon Ottawa, Ontario. |
November 7 |
Audrey Marlene McLaughlin.
née Brown. Born November 7, 1936, Dutton,
Ontario. In 1955 Audrey earned a Diploma in Home Science from
MacDonald Institute (now part of the University
of Guelph) Audrey became the first woman
in her family to earn a Bachelor of Aarts graduating from the
University of Western Ontario, (now Western
University) London, Ontario. She
earned her degree by correspondence from a mink
farm that she and her husband ran north of
London. The couple had two children. Audrey
taught at a private college in Ghana, West
Africa from 1964 through 1967 returning home to
attend graduate studies in Social Work at the
University of Toronto UofT). After
graduating with her Masters of Arts she worked for the
Metropolitan Toronto Children’s Aid Society.
Divorced in 1972 Audrey remained in the work
force and by 1975 she was the executive
director of the Canadian Mental Health
Association. Moving to Whitehorse, Yukon, in
1979 she worked as a business consultant and
supervisor of social services. She ran and won a
federal by-election in 1987 and became the first New
Democratic Party (NDP) Member of Parliament elected in the Yukon. She
was the first woman chair of the
Parliamentary caucus of any federal party in
Canada in 1988. On
December 2, 1989 she was chosen leader of the
NDP, becoming the
first woman in Canadian history to lead a federal
political party. The
1993 federal election saw a reduction of support
for the NDP and the following year she stepped
down as party leader but remained in parliament
to represent the people of the Yukon until 1997.
In 1992 she published her autobiography, A
woman’s Place. In 1996 she was elected
president of Socialist International Women, an
organization which promotes activities amongst
various women's socialist and labour party
organizations. Her efforts toward social justice
saw her inducted into the Order of Canada in
2004. Sources: The
Canadian Encyclopedia Online (accessed
2005); Audrey McLaughlin, Political Heros Online,
(accessed 2009) |
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Roberta Joan
'Joni' Mitchell. (real
name Anderson).
Born November 7, 1943, Fort
Macleod, Alberta. Joni began her singing career
in small nightclubs in her hometown of
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan and then moved east to
the busking on the streets of Toronto, Ontario.
By 1965 she was living in the U.S.A. and began
touring and introducing some of her own songs.
Her songs were covered by folk singers and she
cut her debut album in 1968. Moving to Southern
California her works such as Big Yellow Taxi and Woodstock helped
define an era of folk music. Her 1971 album Blue made
the list of 500 Greatest Albums of All Time
produced by Rolling Stone magazine. A pop
singer who is famous for her folk songs of the
1960’s with The Circle Game an Both
Sides Now. She switched to jazz and in 1969
when her album Clouds won a Grammy
Award. She retired from touring and released
her 17th album of original songs in 2007. During
her career she earned eight competitive and one
honorary Grammy Awards, receiving the Grammy
Lifetime Achievement Award in 2002. She became a
member of the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in
1981. and was inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in 1997. In 1996 she was presented
with Canada's highest honour in the performing
arts, The Governor General's Performing Arts
Award. In 2000 Joni received a Star on Canada's
Walk of Fame in Toronto, Ontario. In
2002 she was inducted as a Companion of the
Order of Canada. By 2007 she had been inducted
into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame and
in June of that year Canada Post featured her on
a postage stamp. In 2008 Rolling Stone magazine once
again listed her this time as one of the 100
greatest singers. To
celebrate Mitchell's 70th birthday, the 2013 Luminato Festival
in Toronto held a set of tribute concerts
entitled Joni: A Portrait in Song – A Birthday
Happening Live at Massey
Hall in Toronto, Ontario on
June 18 and 19, 2013. In 2015 she was the
recipient of the San Francisco Jazz Lifetime
Achievement Award and at the same time Rolling
Stone listed her as one of the 100 Greatest
Songwriters of all time! |
November 8 |
Ellen June Evangeline Havoc.
née
Hovick. Born November 8, 1912*, Vancouver,
British Columbia Died March 28, 2010 Stamford,
Connecticut, U.S.A. The family relocated to
Seattle, Washington, U.S.A. when June was an
infant. Her mother wanted stardom for June and
her older sister Louise (who would become known
professionally as Gypsy Rose Lee (1911-1970) ).
June was featured on Vaudeville as Baby June and
her Farmboys and the act continued into the
1920's when her name 'Dainty June'. Her mother
forged the girl's birth certificates to keep
them working as young 'children'. June, who
could not speak until she was three, also
appeared in some silent movies. June resented
Vaudeville and at 13/16 she married Bobbie Reed,
real name Weldon Hyde, in 1928. He was one of
the boys in the chorus line to escape. The
couple had one daughter before the marriage
dissolved. June's mother, Rose Thompson Horvick,
simply regrouped her energies around her older
daughter, Louise. Although her marriage did not
last she gathered her talents and enjoyed life.
In 1935 she Donald Staley Gibbs and the marriage
lasted seven years. In 1936 she had her 1st
acting break on Broadway. In the 1940's she
moved to Hollywood, California, U.S.A. In 1948
she married for the last time to an American
writer, producer, and director for TV and radio,
William Hannan Spier (1906-1973), with whom she
remained until his death. June would remain on
the edge of the industry. She would have two
stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. and was
nominated for her work as a director on Broadway
in 1964. June would write two memoirs Early
Havoc and More Havoc. In the 1960's
through 1990 she appeared in numerous roles in
various popular TV shows such as The Outer
Limits, Murder She Wrote, and General
Hospital. In the 1970's she worked to
restored an abandoned train depot in Wilton,
Connecticut. The restored area still houses
artisan ships, galleries, and food outlets
popular with modern tourists. In 2000 she was
inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame.
In 2003 the June Havoc Theatre in New York City
was named in her honour. * her
birth date has also been reported as 1913 or
1916 |
|
Luba Goy.
Born
November 8, 1945, Haltern, Germany. Luba's family
immigrated to Canada in 1951 and settled in
Ottawa, Ontario. This petite (she is only 1.5
meters tall) comedienne graduated from
Montreal's National Theatre School. She began
her acting career on stage at the Stratford
Theatre in Ontario. In the 1980's she was
featured in an education series of TV shows on
computers called Bits and Bites which
aired throughout north America on Public
Television stations. She went on and worked on
such shows as Bizarre and did some of the
voices in Care Bear animated features.
She became a welcome addition to Air Farce where
she is known for her impersonations of Sheila
Copps, Pamela Wallin, Hanna Gartner, Queen
Elizabeth ll, Kim Campbell, and even Donald Duck.
As part of the Air Farce tem she has won 15
ACTRA Awards, a Juno, been included on the Maclean's Honour roll,
and was one of the
first Canadians inducted into
the International Humour Hall of Fame. In 1996
she received the Outstanding Achievement Award
from Women in Film and Television. Air Farce won
the 1998 the Governor General's Award for
Performing Arts. for Lifetime Artistic
Achievement. She speaks Ukrainian fluently and
has been featured in Ukrainian films. In May
2012 she debuted he one-person show LUBA,
Simply Luba at the Berkeley Street Theatre
in Toronto, Ontario. |
November 9 |
Leila Marie
Dressler.
née Koeber.
Born November 9, 1869(?), Cobourg, Ontario. Died
July 28, 1934, Santa Barbara, California, U.S.A.
Her father was the Anglican Church organist and
at age five she appeared in a church play in
Lindsay, Ontario. The family relocated to Bay
City, Michigan, U.S.A. in the 1889's. Marie left
home when she was just 14 lying about her age,
saying she was 18 and changing her name to
Dressler she joined the Nevada Stock Company.
Three years later she joined Robert Grau opera
Company and performed throughout the American
Midwest. She worked with various companies
gaining in experience and popularity and finally
Marie made it to Broadway stage in 1892 and
became a vaudeville star comedienne headliner
shortly after 1900.She continued to send money
to support her parents throughout her early
career. In 1899 she married George
Hoppert/Hoeppert/Hopper (1862-1929). In 1900 she
formed her own theatre troupe but she was soon
forced to declare bankruptcy. In the early
1900's she married James Henry Dalton
(1871-1921) and the couple relocated to London
England, where Marie was soon performing on
stage. Once again her efforts resulted in
bankruptcy and she was back in the U.S. working
on Broadway and in 1909 she appeared in films. In
1914 she was in the first full-length silent film
comedy. During World War l she
used her popularity to help sell Victory Bonds.
in 1922 she was touring in Europe. Back in the
U.S. she made her final Broadway appearance in
1926. She had easily made the move to ‘talkies’
when many top silent film heroines did not
survive. More homely than beautiful she was also
an over-weight woman. This was an unlikely star
material. However, she was talented and she won
the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1930/31. In
August 1933 she became the 1st woman to ever
appear on the cover of Time magazine. There
is some dispute as to her true birth date with
various sources using 1868, 1869 and her grave
using 1871. Marie's birth home in Cobourg,
Ontario is a museum open to the public. Each
year, the Marie Dressler Foundation Vintage Film
Festival is held, with screenings in Cobourg and
in Port
Hope, Ontario. In
2008 Canada Post included Maries in a Canada
In Hollywood postage stamp series. (2019) |
|
Pierrette Alarie.
Born
November 9, 1921, Montreal, Quebec. Died July
10, 2011, Victoria, British Columbia. A famous
soprano singer born in Montreal Pierrette was Winner
of the Prix de Musique Calixa-Lavallée among
many awards. She married Leopold Simoneau (d
2006) and the couple had two daughters. She was
inducted as an Officer of the Order of Canada in
1967 and became a Companion of the Order of
Canada in 1995. She
founded with her husband the Canada Opera
Piccola in Victoria,
British Columbia in 1982. In
1997 she became a Knight of the National Order
of Quebec. She not only ang at the famous
Metropolitan Opera, New York City, New York
U.S.A. but performed at opera houses across
North America and Europe..After
retiring from singing, Pierrette became active as a
teacher, she taught first at the Ecole Vincent
d'Indy in Montréal and later at the Banff
Centre in Alberta. In 2003 she
received a Governor General's Performing Arts
Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. |
|
Ramona
Milano.
Born
November 9, 1969, Nobelton, Ontario. Before
entering the Drama program
at Humber College in Toronto, she worked on stage at
Canada’s Wonderland theme park located just
outside of Toronto, Ontario. On June 25, 1994
she married Fabio D'agostino and the couple have
one child. She has appeared mainly on television
and maybe best known for work as Francesca
on the TV series Due South for which she
was nominated twice for Gemini Awards in 1997
and 1998. She has appeared in roles in addition
TV series as well as commercials for various
Canadian companies. Ramona has co-hosted Living
Romance on the W Television network. She has
also enjoyed appearing on stage in Sudbury,
Ontario, Hamilton, Ontario, and Toronto,
Ontario. |
November 10 |
Mary Electa Adams.
Born
November 10, 1823, Westbury, Lower Canada (now
Quebec). Died November 5, 1898, Toronto, Ontario.
When she was two years old the family relocated
to Adamsville, Upper Canada (now
Acton, Ontario). In 1841 she was studying at the Coburg
Ladies' Seminary and after graduation she stayed
as a teachers. Mary was an educator,
administrator, and a poet. She occupied several
positions in various schools. She worked as
preceptors at Wesleyan Academy in Mount Allison,
Sackville, New Brunswick holding the highest
office in a school open to a woman. After the
death of her father in the spring of 1856 she
returned to Upper Canada to aid in the care of
her mother. In 1861 she was the founding
principal of the Wesleyan Female College in
Hamilton, Ontario. She was an effective and
determined advocate of academic education for
women she introduced courses in mathematics, the
sciences, literature, and moral philosophy for
her female students. After visiting Europe in
1868 she opened the Brookhurst Academy for
Female Students in Cobourg in 1872. The school
would close in 1880 and Mary worked as lady
principal of the Ontario Ladies College, Whitby,
Ontario, where she retired in 1892. She died
while visiting relatives in Toronto. (2019) |
|
Maude
Eburne-Riggs.
Born November
10, 1875, Bronte-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Died
October 15, 1960, Hollywood, California, U.S.A.
Maude embarked on her acting career after the
death of her father in 1901 as he would not have
approved of such a profession for his daughter.
She began her acting career on stage in Buffalo,
New York, U.S.A. and by 1914 she had made her
Broadway debut in the play A Pair of Sixes. In
1905 she married Eugene J. Hall and the
couple had one daughter. Maude switched
to a movie career in 1930 appearing in the
movie The Bat Whispers. She would, in
her career, over the next 21 years, appear in
more than 100 movies. She retired from acting in
1951. (2019) |
|
Constance Beresford-Howe.
Born
November 10,1922, Montreal, Quebec. Died January
20, 2016, Bury St. Edmonds, Suffolk, United
Kingdom. A novelist she produced ten lively novels
about women at various stages of life who
struggled to live freely trying to discover who
they really were once they had thrown off
restraints of husbands, fathers, and society
itself. She had married Christopher Pressnell. The
Book of Eve was published in 1973 in several
countries was adapted to a stage play which was
produced at the Stratford Festival in 1976-77.
The main character in the book Eva is one
of the best lover characters in Canadian
literature. In 2002 a film version of the book
altered the main flavour of the book and made
Eva of Romanian descent rather then a Czech
immigrant. Two additional works, A Population
of One and The Marriage Bed were made
into films by the Canadian Broadcasting
Corporation (C B C). |
|
Vera
Frenkel.
Born
November 10, 1938, Bratazalava,
Czechoslovakia. Verna's
family first settled in England prior to Vera finding
her way to Canada. Vera holds a degree in Fine
Arts from McGill University, Montreal. Since the
early 1970's she has shown her works in group
and solo exhibitions. including exhibitions at
the National Gallery of Canada, the Museum of
Contemporary Art, Toronto, Ontario, the Setagaya
Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan, the Museum of Modern
Art, New York, U.S.A., and the Biennale di
Venezia, Venice, Italy. She is recognized
internationally for her artistic prints and
sculptures. Since 1974 she has experimented with
video as an artistic medium writing and
producing notable works. She is an innovative
teacher and has published her poetry illustrated
with her own artwork. In 1989 she received the
Canada Council Molson Prize and in 1993 the
Gershon Iskowitz Prize. This was followed in
1994 with the Toronto Arts Foundation Visual
Arts Award. That same year she co-authored Vera-Frenkel:
From the Transit Bar / du transitbar. In
2005 she earned the Governor General's Awards in
Visual Media Arts. In 2007 she received the
iDMAa Pioneering Achievement Award.
(2024) |
November 11 |
Violet Clara McNaughton.
née
Jackson. Born November 11, 1879, Borden, United
Kingdom. Died February 2, 1968, Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan. Violet was a teacher before
immigrating to Saskatchewan in 1909 to join her
father and brother. In 1910 she married John
McNaughton (1876-1965). Joining the Saskatchewan
Grain Growers Association (S G G A) in 1912. The
following year she forced the formation of the
women’s section of the group where she served as
secretary eventually forming the the Women Grain
Growers (W W G) where she served as president for
the 1st three years. The WWG facilitated the
training of midwives, nurses and doctors for
rural areas. She also sparked the formation of
the Saskatchewan Equal Franchise League in 1915
serving at the 1st president. Saskatchewan would
give women the vote in 1916. In 1919 she became
president of the Interprovincial Council of Farm
Women. A pacifist she wrote for the Saturday
Press and Farmer during World War l. In 1919
she was president of the Interprovincial Council
of Farm Women. Continuing in journalism she was
the 1st woman editor in the Western Producer
and was a founding member the Saskatchewan
branch Canadian Women's Press Club. In 1935 she
was inducted in the Order of the British Empire.
In 1998 the Canadian Historic Sites and
Monuments Board declared Violet a Person of
National Historic Interest.
Source: Canadaian Women Early
Writers Online. (2020) + |
|
Alice M.
Gerard.
Born November
11,1907, Waterbury, Connecticut, U.S.A. Died
January 1, 1999. Her family was originally from
Quebec and when she was just 11 in 1918 her
family returned to Canada. Alice studied nursing
at the Hôpital St-Vincent de Paul, Sherbrooke
graduating in 1931. By 1939 she had earned a
diploma in public hygiene at the University of
Toronto and went on to earn her baccalaureate in
nursing sciences at the University of Washington
and obtained her masters in education from
Columbia University, New York City, U.S.A. in
1944. As a public health nurse she would develop
into a leading nursing educator. She was a
founder of the faculty of nursing sciences at
the University of Montreal in 1962 and served as
Dean of the Faculty of Nursing through to 1973.
She was the 1st Canadian
woman Dean at a French language university. She
was the 1st Canadian
president of the International Council of
Nurses, Geneva, Switzerland 1965-1969. She also
served as president of the Canadian Nurses
Association. In
1967 she received the Canadian Centennial Medal
and the Florence Nightingale Medal from the Red
Cross. She served as president of the national
Victoria of Nurses 1975-1977. In 1977 she was
inducted as a commander of the Order of St John.
In 1980 she was made a Dame Commander of the
Order of Saint Lazarus. In
1994 she became a Chevalier of the National
Order of Quebec. In 1995 she became an
Officer of the Order of Canada. (2017) |
|
Kathleen
Shannon.
Born November 11,1935, Vancouver, British
Columbia. Died January 14, 1998, Kelowna,
British Columbia. Kathleen dropped out of high
school in Ottawa and began working Crawley Films
cataloguing music. She joined the National Film
Board in 1956 as an editor and by 1962 had 115
films to her credit. She became a film editor
and executive producer for the National Film
Board of Canada using film to examine the role
of women in society. In 1970 she directed her
1st film, Goldwood, was a film based on
her childhood memories in northern British
Columbia. In 1974 she was the founder and 1st
executive producer of Studio D of the National
Film Board which was the 1st government funded
film studio in the world dedicated to women
filmmakers. Studio D provided women with
employment, training and information needs of
Canadian women where they could explore and
expand their creativity. The films produced
included Academy Award winning documentaries I'll
find a Way in 1977 and If You Love This
Planet in 1982. Studio D was closed in 1996
with one of the last films produced being Kathleen
Shannon: On Film, Feminism, and Other Dreams. The
Yorkton Short Film and Video Festival in
Saskatchewan presents an annual Kathleen Shannon
Award established by the National Film Board. (2019) |
November 12 |
Agnes
Nanogak-Goose.
Born
November 12, 1925, Baillie Island, Northwest
Territories. Died May 5, 2001, Ulukhaktok,
Northwest Territories. Agnes' family moved a
couple of times prior to
settling at Holman, Victoria Island in 1934. In
1943 Agnes married Wallace Goose. This Inuit
artist is known for her energetic and colourful
representations of native myths and legends. Her
1st drawings were completed using graphite
pencils but once colourful felt-tip pens became
available she preferred to work in colour. She
was the 1st Inuit to receive an honorary degree
from a university in Canada. You can see her
work in the book she illustrated Tales From
the Igloo, a book of Inuit stories. Agnes'
works have been featured in exhibitions
throughout North America and Europe. |
|
Barbara Jean McDougall.
née
Leamen. Born November 12, 1937, Toronto,
Ontario. After graduating from the University of
Toronto (U of T) with her Bachelor of Arts in 1963 she became an
investment manager. She expanded her career to
include being a business journalist in print and
TV broadcasting. In 1984 her interest in
politics led to her being elected to the Federal
Parliament. Barbara served as Minister of State
for Finance and Minister of State for
Privatization, a portfolio which was expanded to
include women's issues and regulatory
affairs. In 1988 she was appointed Minister of
Employment and Immigration and in 1991 she moved
to become Minister of Secretary of State for
External Affairs. In 1993 she returned to
private business. In 1999 she was the Chief
Executive Officer and President of the Canadian
Institute of International Affairs. In 2000 she
was inducted as an Officer in the Order of
Canada. (2024) |
November 13 |
Tracy Elizabeth Dahl.
Born
November 13, 1961, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Tracy
enjoyed music as a child and studied music and
theatre at the Banff School of Fine Art. She
made her opera debut in 1982 transferred to the
school's opera program. She launched her career
at the San Francisco Opera in California, U.S.A.
She had her European debut in 1987 in France and
appeared at the Metropolitan Opera of New York
City, U.S.A. in 1991. She has made several
recordings. Tracy is married and is the mother
of two children. She teaches voice at the
University of Manitoba in Winnipeg and conducts
workshops throughout North America. In 2009 she
was the recipient of the Ruby Baton Award by
Opera Canada for her outstanding achievements on
stage. In 2010 the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra
presented her with a Goden Baton Award. (2019) |
|
Linda Jackson.
Born
November 13, 1958, Nepean, Ontario. Linda has
been a member of the Canadian Cycling Team since
1993. In 1994 she won silver medal in the
Commonwealth Games road race event. In 1996 she
earned a Bronze medal in the World Road Racing
Championships. In 1997 she was named the
Canadian Female Road Cyclist of the year and Velo
News named her the North American Female
Cyclist of the Year. She holds six Canadian
National Championships, three for road race and
three for time trials. In 1998 she placed the in
the top ten finalists in all events she entered,
including three 1st places. Linda retired from
competition in 2000 and although she qualified
for the summer Olympic Games she did not
compete. She worked as a chief financial officer
of a San Francisco internet start-up company .
She has served as the Director Sportif of the
Team TIBCO elite women's cycling team. She is
the owner of the TIBCO Software. (2019) |
November 14 |
Marie Louise Monique
Mercure.
née
Emond. Born November 14, 1930, Montreal, Quebec.
Died May 16, 2020, Montreal, Quebec. This actress who now heads up the National
Theatre School has acted the classics but also
retained an active interest in new works of our
writers and directors .In 1949 Monique married
Pierre Mercure and the couple had three
children. She has won the Palm d’Or for Best
Actress at the world famous European Cannes Film
Festival in 1977. In 1983 she won a Genie for
Best Supporting Actress in Beyond Forty and
she earned a second Genie for her role
in Naked Lunch in 1992. Her third
Genie was earned in 1999 as Best Supporting
Actress in Conquest. She is an Officer in
the Order of Canada in 1979 and was promoted to
Companion of the Order in 1993. She has received
the Governor General's Award for Lifetime
Achievement and in 2006 she became a Fellow of
the Royal Society of Canada. (2024) |
|
Silken
Laumann.
Born
November 14,1964, Mississauga, Ontario. By the
age of 19 Silken had won a bonze medal in the
double rowing event at the Los Angeles Olympic
Games 1984..Silken earned her bachelor degree
from the University of Western Ontario, London,
Ontario in 1989. She would be in the hearts of
many Canadians, when she suffered a severe leg
injury in a rowing accident while practicing for
the 1992 Olympic Games. With little time
remaining until her event, she trained with a
special brace on her leg and, with the
perseverance of a real winner, she went on to
win the bronze medal in singles rowing in the
1992 Olympic Games, Barcelona, Spain! For her
Olympic effort she earned the Harry Jerome
Comeback award for 1992. She was Canada's Female
Athlete of the Year in 1991 and 1992 and she was
also declared Canada's Outstanding Athlete in
1991. In 1993 she married John Wallace. She
retired shortly after winning a silver medal in
the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Georgia,
U.S.A. In 1993 she received the Canadian Olympic
Association Award of Merit. In 1998 she was
inducted into the Canadian Sport Hall of Fame
and the following year she was inducted into the
Mississauga Hall of Fame, and was awarded the
Thomas Keller Medal for her outstanding
international achievements. In 2002 she was
presented with the Queen Elizabeth Golden
Jubilee Medal. In 2004 she was inducted into the
Ontario Sports Hall of Fame. In the mid to late
2000's she was named as one of the Most
Influential Women in Sport by the Canadian
Association for the Advancement of Women and
Sport and Physical Activity (CAAWS), the Globe
and Mail newspaper, and the Women's
Executive Network. In 2015 she received a star
on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto. Silken
was a Member of the International Board of
Directors for Right to Play, from 2000 -
2015, an international development agency
dedicated to reintroducing play into the lives
of children in disadvantaged areas around the
world.She
works as a promotional speaker to help people
overcome obstacles in their lives. (2019) |
November 15 |
May
Agnes Fleming.
née
Early. Born November 15, 1840, Saint John, New
Brunswick. Died
March 24, 1880, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. May
Agnes was an avid writer even as a school child
at the Saint John Convent of the Sacred Heart.
While still in school she sold her 1st story to
the New York Mercury. She enjoyed writing
romance and mystery novels but as was the
fashion of the time her novels would appear as
serials (chapter by chapter in newspapers) under
the pen name of Cousin May Carleton before being
published as 21 full books. In 1865 she married
an engineer, John W. Fleming and the couple with
their four children eventually settled in New
York where her 1st novel Ermine had been
published in 1863. Her serials were published in
New York and London, England! She also used the
pen name M. A. Earlie. She often paid tribute to
her Canadian heritage by introducing Canadian
episodes and characters into her novels. It is
not really known exactly how many stories she
wrote as some were not written by her but were
attributed to her by her publisher after her
death because of her popularity. |
|
Helen Mersi
Kelesi.
Born
November 15, 1969, Victoria, British Columbia.
This tennis player had a form that was so
flamboyant on the courts that she was known as
"Hurricane Helen". She was chosen as Canada's
Female Athlete of the Year in 1990. She began
to suffer from headaches and blackouts and was
diagnosed with a brain tumor. She survived
several operations and returned to her sport as
a coach with Tennis Canada. She is also a
Colour News Commentator for many major tennis
events. She is a motivational speaker for the
Brain Tumor Foundation of Canada. |
November 16 |
Rachel
Browne.
née
Ray Minkoff. Born November 6, 1934. Died June 9,
2012, Ottawa, Ontario. Rachel loved to dance and
to teach dance to others. After high school she
trained in New York City, New York, U.S.A. She
joined the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 1957 and
retired from ballet in 1961. She was the founder
of Winnipeg's Contemporary Dancers in 1964.
Rachel traveled to New York City annually to
study and learn as a dancer. It became Canada's
longest running modern dance company. Rachel was
Director until 1983 but remained connected
working as a fundraiser and advisor. In 1995 she
was awarded the Jean A. Chalmers Award for
Creativity in Dance. In 1997 she became a member
of the Order of Canada. That same year the venue
for the Winnipeg Contemporary Dancers named
their venue in her honour the Rachel Browne
Theatre. (2019) |
|
Diana Krall.
Born November 16, 1964, Nanaimo, British
Columbia. One of the world's greatest jazz
performers she began to study piano when she was
4 years old. Performing in a local restaurant at
15, she was soon studying on scholarship in
Boston, U.S.A. She continued her studies/career
in LA playing with
the great jazz performers of the era. Back in
Toronto she released her first album in 1993.
Her albums released in 1998 and 1999 won Grammy
Awards. Her albums have turned double platinum
in Canada, platinum in Portugal, New Zealand,
and Poland and turned gold in France, Singapore,
and England. She has appeared herself or as a
musical performer in numerous movies. She has
won several of Canada's Juno Awards for her
music and in 2000 she received the Order of
British Columbia. She married performer Elvis
Costello December 6, 2003 and the couple have
twin boys. In the spring of 2004 she received
her own star on Canada's Walk of Fame in Toronto
and the following year she became an Officer of
the Order of Canada. In 2008 the Nanaimo
Harbourfront plaza was renamed Diana Krall
Plaza. (2019) |
November 17 |
Maria
Jelinek.
née
Jelinkova. Born November
17, 1942, Prague, Czech Republic. At he beginning
of the Cold War in 1948 the Jelinek family
emigrated to Canada. In 1950 the brother and
sister pair of Otto (1940- ) and Maria Jelinek
decided to figure skate seriously. By the
mid 1950's Maria and Otto were junior Canadian
Champions and the following year competing a
seniors they placed 2nd. In 1955 they won the
Canadian Pairs title and came second at the
senior level in 1956-57-58 and 1960. In 1961 and
62 they were Canadian Champions and were silver
medalists at the worlds. In 1960 they
represented Canada a the Winter Olympic Games,
Squaw Valley, California, U.S.A. where thy came
in 4th. In 1961 they were the North American
Champions and Canadian National Champions. They
were scheduled to fly with the American team to
the world event in Prague but they missed the
flight. Sabena Flight 548 crashed killing the
entire U.S. Tam. In 1962 they won the World’s
pairs figure skating title in Prague, Czech
Republic. They were the 1st pair to perform
lifts with several rotations and side by side
double jumps. Retiring that year they toured
with the famous Ice Capades. In 1962 they were
inducted into the Canadian Sport Hall of Fame.
In 1994 she were inducted into Skate Canada Hall
of Fame. (2024) |
|
Petra
Burka.
Born
November 17, 1946, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
Petra immigrated to Canada with her family in
1951. When she was about 10 years old she began
taking figure skating lessons. At the age of 15,
at the 1962 Canadian
Championships Petra became the 1st Canadian to
complete the triple salchow jump in competition. Participating
in the World Championships held in Prague
Czechoslovakia that year she would place 4th.
After winning the Canadian National Senior
Women's title she participated at he the 1964
Olympic Games, Innsbruck, Austria winning the
Bronze Medal in figure skating. 1965 she won the
Canadian, North American and World Championships
and was voted by the Canadian Press as winner of
the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canada's Top
Female Athlete of the Year and the Lou Marsh
Trophy as Canada's Outstanding Athlete of tf the
Year. She became the
1st Canadian skater to perform in the Soviet
Union she she did a two-week Tour appearing in
Moscow and Kiev. She
was the Gold medalist at the 1965 World
Championships in Colorado
Springs, Colorado, U.S.A. becoming
the 1st Canadian woman to win Worlds since Barbara
Ann Scott in 1947. At the event, she
also became
the 1st woman to complete the triple Salchow at
a World Figure Skating Championships. In
1965 she was inducted into the Canadian Sports
Hall of Fame. Petra toured as a professional
with an ice show until 1969.She went on to be a
figure skating commentator and a coach. In 1995
she was inducted into the Ontario Sports Hall of
Fame.
(2024) |
November 18 |
Margaret Eleanor Atwood.
Born November 18, 1939, Ottawa, Ontario. Peggy is
a poet, novelist, editor, and critic is one of
Canada's major contemporary authors. She did not
attend school until she was twelve as the family
spent a lot of time travelling from the
backwoods of Quebec to Ottawa. She loved to read
and devoured books of any kind including comic
books. She was writing writing plays and poems
from the time she was six years old. Margaret
earned her BA from the University of Toronto
where she was published in university reviews.
She earned her Master's degree from Radcliffe
College at Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts, U.S.A. in 1962. She has written
novels, television scripts, short stories, and
children's books, including graphic novels, many
of which have won awards locally, nationally,
and internationally. Her works have won the
Governor General's Award for Literature, the
Giller Prize, the Los Angeles Times Prize just
to name a few! In 1968 she married James 'Jim'
Polk but they divorced in 1973. She later had a
relationship with fellow novelist Graeme Gibson
and the couple have one daughter. She has been
elected to the Royal Society of Canada. She has
also edited such monumental tomes as the Oxford
Book of Canadian Poetry. She has an active
interest in Amnesty International. Recognition
of her career have been way to numerous to list
in one paragraph. She is a founder of the
Griffin Poetry Prize and the Writer's Trust of
Canada. Margaret is also an inventor and
developer in 2004 of LongPen and associated
technologies that facilitate the remote robotic
writing of documents. The variety of awards runs
from MS Magazine Woman of the Year 1986
to being a Companion in the Order of Canada. She
also holds the Order of Ontario. A number of her
works have been adapted to film and TV. Check
out the online edition for the Canadian
Encyclopedia for complete listings of her works
and her awards. (2019) |
|
Dorothy
Collins.
née
Marjorie Chandler. Born November 18, 1926,
Windsor, Ontario.
Died July 21, 1994, Watervliet, New York, U.S.A.
This singer had the nick name of "Lucky Strike
Girl" after the cigarette sponsor of a TV show
on which she sang. She appeared on the Canadian
television show Your Hit Parade (1950-1957).
In 1957 she became a regular on the Steve Allen
Show. She also had her own record label in the
1950's. She worked on setting up gags on the
show Candid Camera. In 1952 she married
musician and band leader, Raymond Scott and the
couple toured throughout the U.S. until a
divorce happened in 1965. In 1966 she
married Ron Holgate and the marriage lasted
eleven years. In 1971 she appeared in a
Broadway musical and continued her singing by
presenting jazz in nightclubs. In 1980 she was
forced into retirement by asthma and volunteered
with the Muscular Dystrophy Association as
vice-president from 1988 until her death. (2019) |
November 19 |
Elizabeth Ann/Anne Cleaver.
née
Mrazik. Born November 19,1939, Montreal, Quebec.
Died July 27, 1985, Montreal, Quebec. An
illustrator and author, Elizabeth was most
concerned with myths and legends. She obtained
several awards for her works including The Hans
Christian Anderson Award in 1972, the Frances
Howard-Gibbon Award in 1978, and the
International Board on Books for Young People's
Hans Christian Andersen Award in 1882. She was
elected to the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts in
1974. Elizabeth
earned her Master's in Fine Art from Concordia
University, Montreal in 1980. In
1985 the Elizabeth Mrazik-Cleaver Canadian
Picture Book Award was created. Maybe you have
seen her works The Loon’s Necklace or
the The Enchanted Caribou which is an
Inuit legend illustrated with shadow puppets?
The Library and Archives Canada hold the
original illustrations for eleven of her 13
books. (2019) |
|
Maureen 'Mimi' Mitchell Donald.
Born
November 19, 1917, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
Died September 24, 2012, Vancouver, British
Columbia .Mimi became deaf as a toddler and was
educated in schools for the deaf in Winnipeg and
Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. In 1945 she became the
1st teacher of deaf children at the
British Columbia Provincial Jericho Hill School
for the Deaf, Vancouver. She remained at the
school until her retirement in 1978. She was
awarded an honorary doctor of laws in 2000 from
the University of British Columbia which
considered her the 20th centuries most
outstanding teacher of the deaf in Canada. She
was the 1st woman president of the
Vancouver Association of the Deaf and was on the
executive of the Western Canadian Association of
the Deaf. She was one of only a few Canadians
named to the U.S. National Fraternal Society of
the Deaf Hall of Fame. She was involved with the
production and publication of the Canadian
Dictionary of American Sign Language. She
refused to take it for granted that the deaf
could not attend university and she encouraged
and paved the way for many deaf students. Source:
“Lives lived” by Stephen McClure. The Globe
and Mail November 15, 2012 ; Obituary, The
Vancouver Sun. |
November 20 |
Maryon Kantaroff.
Born
November 20, 1933, Toronto, Ontario. Died June
9, 2019, Toronto,
Ontario. This sculptor has had
showings of her works in Toronto, Los Angeles
California, U.S.A., Milan, Italy, and Japan. One
of her sculptures was chosen to be installed in
the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, Japan. She opened
and maintained her own foundry for 14 years. Her
works have been recognized with awards from the
Sculptor's Society of Canada and she was the
YMCA Woman of Distinction in 1992. A supporter
of the feminist movement she has contributed
articles on art and feminists. She was a
founding member of the Toronto New Feminists and
was a passionate speaker on this subject as well
as the subject of art history. While she may
have been best known for her rather large cast
art works she also had created some limited
edition jewelry. |
|
Conni
Louise Massing.
Born
November 20,1958, Alberta. Conni studied at Red
Deer College, Alberta and earned a Master's in
Fine Arts in playwriting from the University of
Alberta. This writer has many
screenwriting credits with the National Film
Board of Canada and CBC TV. She has also written
for television, radio and published some short
fiction. She has written for the TV program North
of 60 and others and has some 20 produced
stage works to her credit. In 1994-5 she was the
playwright-in-residence at the National Theatre
School of Canada. as well as having been
Writer-in-residence at Edmonton Public Library,
Edmonton's theatre Network and Playwrights
Workshop in Montreal. In 2002 2002 she was
presented with the Queen Elizabeth ll Jubilee
Medal. In 2009 she produced a commissioned
adaptation of W. O. Mitchell's Jake and the Kid
which premiered at Theatre Calgary. In 2010 she
published her 1st book Roadtripping: On the
Move with the Buffalo Gals. |
November 21 |
Lucy Christie
Harris.
née
Irwin. Born November 21, 1907, Newark, New Jersey
U.S.A. Died Jan 5, 2002, Vancouver, British
Columbia. Christie grew up in British Columbia.
Trained as a teacher, she taught school until
her marriage in 1932. When she was 50 years old
she began writing children's books. This author
soon found her true talent in writing
children's' books. Often her stories are told in
a Native setting, teaching the need and respect
for balance of nature. She has been awarded the
Canadian Association of Children's Librarians
book of the year award for Raven's Cry in
1966 and Mouse Woman and the Vanished
Princesses in 1976. In 1973 she earned the
Vicky Metcalf Award. The Trouble with
Princesses, published in 1980, won
the Canada Council's Children's Literature
Prize. In 2002 she was awarded the Mr.
Christie's Book Award. There is even a Canadian
juvenile literature book award named after her
called the Christie Harris Illustrated
Children's Book Prize. She is a Member of the
Order of Canada. (2019) |
|
Marjorie
Evalena Bailey.
Born November 21, 1947, Lockeport, Nova Scotia.
A Practical Nurse by profession, Marjorie's avocation was
track and field especially track sprinting. She
competed internationally for Canada. She
participated in the 1974 British Commonwealth
Games, New Zealand where she managed to place
4th in the 200 metre race. In 1975 she won a
bronze medal for the 100 meter in the Pan Am
Games She also won a bronze medal in the 200
metres in the 4 X 100 Relay with Joanne
McTaggart (1954- ), Joyce Yakubowich (1953-
), and Patty Loverock (1953- ). She also
represented Canada at the 1976 Olympic Games in
Montreal but did not place on the podium. She
now lives in Vancouver, British Columbia and
enjoys life with her son, Anthony. Source: Who’s who in Canadian Sports by
Bob Ferguson (2024) |
November 22 |
Dormer M. Ellis.
Born
November 22, 1925. She must have been an
independent child. As a teen she was the only
youth working as a “Sales girl” at her
Woolworth’s 5 and 10 cent store. She could do
math and calculate the correct change for
customers when there were no cash registers! She
told her High School Teacher she wanted to learn
engineering but the teacher told her to attend
university orientation with all the other girls.
She studied engineering anyhow earning a PhD! In
1950 she was a professor of electrical
engineering at Ryerson Institute of Technology
in Toronto, the 1st (and only women) of
her time to hold such a position. She shocked
her family when she married in 1952 by retaining
her maiden name. She interested women in the
Business and Professional Women’s Club of
Toronto when she told them that she had worked
all during her pregnancy because her students
wanted to learn from her. She marked student
exam papers in the maternity word after giving
birth to her daughter. In 1982 she was the
President of the BPW of Toronto herself. In 1983
she was honoured with the Woman of Distinction
Award of the Metropolitan Toronto YWCA. In
1984 she became the 1st woman to receive
the Ontario Professional Engineers Citizenship
Award. And in 1988 she received the Elsie
Gregory McGill award from BPW of Canada. In 1991
she was the 1st woman to be awarded
the University of Toronto Engineering alumni
gold medal. In
1992 she became Professor Emeritus of the
University of Toronto. In 2002 she was the only
Canadian among pioneers honoured by the
International Congress of Women Engineers and
Scientists. Source
The Toronto Business and Processional Women’s
Club. Online (accessed February 2013.) (2024) |
|
Irene Margaret MacDonald.
Born
November 22, 1933, Hamilton, Ontario. Died June
20, 2002, Delta, British Columbia. Brought up in
an orphanage in Hamilton, Ontario she reigned as
Canada’s champion diver from 1951-1961. She won
medals at the 1954 and 1958 Commonwealth Games
and in 1956
she won Canada’s 1st Olympic diving medal, a
bronze, at the Summer Olympic Games in
Melbourne, Australia. Irene was
Female Athlete of the Year in 1958. She became a
dedicated administrative supporter to the
Canadian Diving fraternity. She became a member
of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1981 and
received the Order of British Columbia in 1991.
She won the YWCA Woman of Distinction for sport
in 1998. The Irene MacDonald Fund was
established for the support of children in
diving. (2019) |
November 23 |
Bessie Thelma
Pullan - Singer.
née
Pullan. Born November 23, 1896? York County,
Ontario. Died (????). Bessie graduated from the Ontario
Medical College foe Women in 1909. For the next
two years she did post graduate studies at the
New England Hospital for Women and Children,
Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A. She returned to
Toronto where she married on July 11, 1911
Louis Michel Singer (1885-1959) a lawyer and the
second Jewish member elected to the Toronto City
Council where he served during World War 1. The
couple had one son. Bessie is considered the
1st Jewish woman doctor in Canada. Source;
Canada From Outlaw to Supreme Court Justice
1738-2005 by Michael Brown Encyclopedia Jewish
Women's Archive (2019) |
|
Patricia Kathleen 'P. K.' Page Irwin.
Born
November 23, 1916, Swanage, Dorset, England. Died
January 14, 2010, Victoria, British Columbia.
Her family moved to Red Deer, Alberta
in 1919. After graduating from high school P. K.
went to England for a year. She returned to live
in Saint John, New Brunswick. She worked as a
shop assistant and several other jobs. In 1941
she relocated to Montreal, Quebec. During World
War ll she became associated a group of Montreal
poets. He own poems were published in various
Canadian magazines and journals. In 1944 some of
her writings were included in an anthology, Unit
of Five edited by Ronald Hambleton. That
same year, using the pen name Judith Cape she
published a novel The Sun and The Moon.
In 1950 she married William Arthur Irwin a
Canadian diplomat. In 1954 her work, The
Metal and The Flower garnered the
Governor General’s Award for poetry. She lived
with her ambassador husband in Australia, Brazil
and Mexico where she learned to paint. She would
have in her lifetime several one man shows of
her art. Some of her paintings are held in
Canada’s National Gallery. Her painting are
signed P. K. Irwin. In 1977 she was inducted into
the Order of Canada and in 1998 she was promoted
to the level of Companion of the Order of
Canada. In 2003 she was inducted into the Order
of British Columbia. In 2004 she was awarded the
1st of the British Columbia’s
Lieutenant Governor’s Award for Literary
Excellence and that same year she was presented
with the Terasen Lifetime Achievement Award. In
2006 she was named a Fellow in the Royal Society
of Canada. Coal and Roses, her last
collection of poetry was published after her
death. The P. K. Page Founders’ Award for Poetry
is presented annually in her honor. (2019) |
November 24 |
Florence Norma Wyle.
Born
November 24, 1881, Trenton, Illinois, U.S.A..
Died January 14,1968, Newmarket, Ontario.
Originally Florence wanted to be a doctor and
she entered the
University of Illinois in Urbana. She became
fascinated with the human anatomy. In 1903 she
entered the School of the Art Institute of
Chicago in Illinois to study clay modeling. Here
she studied under Frances Loring (1887-1968).
Florence would become partners with Frances
Loring setting in 1909 in New York City and in
Toronto, Ontario in 1913. In
1920, Loring and Wyle moved into an old
abandoned church. This location became their
home and their studio. It also became a
gathering place for Toronto's artistic community
and the headquarters of the Sculptors' Society
of Canada (S S C). She
was a co-founder member of the Sculptor's
Society of Canada in 1928. She
was the 1st woman sculptor to become a full
member of the Royal Canadian Academy of Arts. Her
work was often exhibited by the Women's Art
Association of Canada. She worked on numerous
Canadian War Memorials for WW 1. Much of her
work was cast in Bronze, but she also carved
stone, marble and wood. In 1953 she was a
recipient of the Queen Elizabeth ll Coronation
Medal. She had a love of nature that was
reflected in her two volumes of published poems.
In 2000 the Canadian
Portrait Academy made Wyle an Honorary
Academician naming her one of the Top 100
Artists of the 20th Century. (2019) |
|
Lauren Woolstencroft.
Born November 24, 1981, Calgary, Alberta.
When Lauren was born she was missing her left
arm below the elbow and both legs below the
knees. This never held her back from
participating fully in life. At the age of four
she was learning how to ski and by 14
she was a competitive skier. Lauren moved to
British Columbia in 1999. In 2002 she earned two
gold medals and a bronze medal
at the Winter Paralympic Gamed, Salt Lake City,
Utah, U.S.A. In the 2006 Winter Paralympic
Games, Turin, Italy she won a gold medal in the
Giant Slalom and a silver medal in the Super G
events. That same year she was named as Best
Female in Paralympic Sports by the International
Paralympic Committee. In 2007 she was inducted
into the Terry Fox Hall of Fame in Toronto. In
the 2010 Winter Paralympic Games, Vancouver,
British Columbia, she won five gold medals
becoming the first Canadian to win three gold
medals at the same Winter Paralympic Games. At
these Vancouver Games she set a Canadian record
for most gold medals at any Winter Paralympics.
Lauren retired from competition after 2010 and
with over 50 world cup medals, eight world
championship titles to go with her Paralympic
medals. Lauren hold a degree in electrical
engineering from the University of Victoria in
British Columbia. In 2011 she became a member of
the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. In 2012 she
was presented with the Queen Elizabeth ll
Diamond Jubilee Medal. In 2015 she was inducted
into the Canadian Paralympic Hall of Fame.
Lauren married Derek Uddenberg and in 2016 they
had their first child. In 2018 she joined the C
B C covering the Winter Paralympic Games in
Korea.
Sources:
Canadian Sports Hall of Fame.
(2019) |
November 25 |
Holly
Cole.
Born November 25, 1953, Halifax, Nova Scotia.
Holly resettled in Toronto, Ontario in order to
further a musical career. In 1986 she founded
the Holly Cole Trio and in 1989 they released
their 1st album. Holly is an acclaimed jazz
singer who has produced several music albums
that have made her one of the best-selling jazz
artists ever to emerge from Canada. In 1995 she
left the Holly Cole Trio and followed with two
jazz albums solo. She is also very well liked in
Japan where she toured in 2012-2013. (2017) |
|
Jillian
Hennessy.
Born
November 25, 1969, Edmonton, Alberta. Jillian has
an identical twin sister Jacqueline. The girls
were partially raised in Kitchener, Ontario by
their grandmother. She is multi lingual speaking
Italian, French, Spanish, and German. The twin
girls played call girls in 1988 film Dead
Ringers. but it was Jillian who went on to a
full career as an actor in numerous movies. She
earned roles in Robocop and had TV
presence on in dramatic roles in Law & Order and Crossing
Jordan which ran for 6 seasons. In 1990 she
debuted in the Broadway musical Buddy:
The Buddy Holly Story. In 2000 she wrote,
produced and co-directed the independent film The
Acting Class. That same year she married
Paolo Mastropietro. The couple has two children.
In 2001 she played Jackie Kennedy in the film Jackie,
Ethel, Joan: The Women of Camelot. June 9,
2007 she received a star on Canada's Walk of
Fame in Toronto. She plays guitar and as a
singer cut her 1st album in 2003 and she had
brought out her second album I DO in
2011 for which she wrote all the songs. The band
Molly cuddle wrote a song, The Ballad of Jill
Hennessy. In 2012 she appeared in Sunshine
Sketches of a Little Town in which she was
nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best
Actress in a Miniseries or TV Film. She
continues to appear in movies and TV series. (2019) |
November 26 |
Eunice Williams.
Born
September 17, 1694, Deerfield, Massachusetts
U.S.A. Died November 26, 1785, Kahnawake, Canada.
She was also known by the names Marie, Maria, Margueritte, Marguarett, Gannenstenhawt (meaning
she who brings in the corn), Ouangote, Aongote
(meaning they took her and placed her as a
member of the tribe). Eunice was captured by
Indians in her home in Deerfield, in the colony
of Massachusetts in 1703 or 1704. She was taken
with 100 other prisoners to Canada. Her father
spent many years trying to trade or exchange his
daughter and bring her home. The tribe she lived
with became very fond of the child and she
learned their ways. Eventually she married a
brave. She would keep in touch with her family
and often visited her brothers with her own
husband and children. Her children took their
mother's name as is the native tradition. One of
her grandsons became a chief of
Sault-Saint-Louis. Her descendants may be found
living in this same area today. |
|
Emma
Robinson.
Born
November 26, 1971, Montreal, Quebec. This
athlete is a member of the Canadian Olympic
Rowing team. In the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta,
Georgia, Emma won a silver medal. She had worked
her way to the Olympics with participation and
recognition in international regattas, U.S.
Championships, World University Games and World
Championships. While participating in her
beloved sport she also was a Canada Scholar
1990-1994 and the winner of the Petro Canada
Olympic Torch Scholarship 1995. She won a bronze
medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney,
Australia. (2017) |
November 27 |
Sheila Maureen Copps.
Born
November 27, 1952, Hamilton, Ontario. Sheila
followed her father Victor Copps, a longtime
Mayor of Hamilton, by choosing the profession of
politics. Graduating from the University of
Western Ontario in London with a degree in
French and English she has been a consistent
supporter of bilingualism in Canada. She studied
for advanced degrees at McMaster University in
Hamilton, Ontario and the University of Rouen in
France. Her 1st jobs were as a
newspaper journalist in Hamilton and Ottawa. In
1981 she was elected to the Ontario Provincial
legislature and in 1984 she successfully ran as
a member of Parliament (Liberal) for the federal
Government. She penned her autobiography
entitled Nobody’s Baby in 1986. She
was the 1st sitting member of Canadian
Parliament to give birth in 1987 and
made headlines by bringing her baby to work with
her. On November
4, 1993 she became the 1st woman Deputy Prime
Minister. In
1996 she changed cabinet positions to Canadian
Heritage. Sheila had promised during the
election to resign if the Liberals failed to
eliminate the controversial Goods and Service
Tax (GST) and kept her word resigning in May
1996 when Prime Minister Paul Martin said the
tax would remain. She was re-elected on June 17,
1997 and was once again Minister of Canadian
Heritage and Deputy Prime Minister. She was
defeated in the March 6, 2004 election and on
May14, 2004 she retired from elected politics in
conflict with leader Paul Martin. After leaving
politics her public appearances were on stage in
Kingston Ontario in a dinner theatre production
of the play, Steel Magnolias. In October
2004 she published her second autobiography Worth
Fighting For which caused more controversy
with Liberal Leader Paul Martin. She returned to
her 1st career writing columns for
the National Post and the Toronto Sun which she
ceased in December 2007. Sheila also became a
broadcaster with a radio talk show and later on
a series for History Television. On March 23,
2006 a gala tribute to her was held by the
Liberals to help heal the controversial wounds.
After losing her run for the president of the
Liberal Party of Canada in 2012 Sheila announced
her full retirement from politics. She was
appointed to the Order of Canada on December 30,
2012. Sources: The
Canadian Encyclopedia Online ; Order of
Canada; + |
|
Nicole
Brossard-Soubliére.
née
Matte. Born
November 27, 1943, Montreal, Quebec. Nicole
graduated with her Bachelor degree from the
Université de Montréal in 1960. In 1965 she
published her 1st book, Aube a La Saison and
founded the literary magazine La Barre du
jour. In 1966 she married Robert Soubliére.
She concentrated on organizing the jazz and
poetry reading for the Youth Pavilion at Expo
'67. She obtained her Masters' degree in 1972.
She became a mother in 1975 and that same year
she won the Governor General's Award for poetry.
She would win again in 1984. She was a visiting
professor at Queen's University, Kingston,
Ontario 1982-1984 and Princeton University in
U.S.A. in 1991. She served as Vice President of
the Quebec Writer's Union from 1983-1985. After
founding the feminist editorial collective Les
Tetes de Pioche and touring Europe she
founded her own publishing house. (2024) |
|
Kathleen Heddle.
Born
November 27, 1965, Trail, British Columbia. Died
January 11, 2021, Vancouver, British Columbia.
Kathleen grew up in Vancouver and while
attending the University of British Columbia she
took an interest in volleyball. She was
disappointed when she was told she was not
varsity volleyball material. Her mood was soon
lifted as she was 'discovered' by the coach of
the university rowing team. She won her first
gold medal in 1987 at the Pan American Games.
In the 1990's she graduated with a
Bachelor of Arts
psychology but remained active in the
sport of rowing. In 1990 she was partnered with
Marnie McBean and the two women would
partner into Canadian sport
history. In 1991 Kathleen was a member of the
eights rowing team and pairs team winning
Canada's first world championships. This world
title was won again in 1994 and 1995. In the
1992 Summer Olympic Games, Barcelona, Spain, the
rowing partners won a gold medal in coxless
pairs and a second gold medal in the rowing
eight member team even. Returning to North
American the two women participated in the
Atlantic City Summer Olympic Games in 1996 and
took first place on the podium for women's
double sculls even and a bronze medal in the
quadruple sculls for women. in 1997 Kathleen was
the British Columbia Athlete of the Year and she
was inducted into the Order of British Columbia
as well as the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. She
and Marnie McBean were presented with the Thomas
Keller Medal by the F I S A, th International
Rowing Federation. In
2002 she was inducted into the University of
British Columbia Sports Hall of Fame and the
following year into the British Columbia Sports
Hall of Fame. (2021) |
November 28 |
Eleanor Ann
Saddlemyer.
Born
November 28, 1932, Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
Ann earned her Bachelor of Arts from the University of
Saskatchewan, her Masters from Queen's
University, Kingston, Ontario, and her Doctorate
(PhD) from
the University of London, United Kingdom. This
educator and author is a professor at Massey
College and the Graduate Centre for Study of
Drama and Victoria College at the University of
Toronto. In 1976 she was elected as a fellow of
the Royal Society of Canada. In 1986 she earned
the Rose Mary Crawshay Award from the British
Academy and the following year she became a
fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. In 1989 the
Association for Canadian Theatre Research
created the Ann Saddlemyer Award. Among the many
distinguished recognitions she was presented
with were the 1994 YWCA Toronto Woman of the
Year Award and the Order of Canada. Her more
than one dozen published books have been related
to drama and English literature. She is
considered a pioneer in the field of Irish
studies having published scholarly research in
numerous publications. She has been a welcome
lecturer not only in North America but also in
Japan, China, Ireland, and Australia. She is
also an accomplished editor and member of
several editorial boards such as Theatre History
in Canada/ Histoire du Théâtre au Canada of
which she is a founding president. (2024) |
|
Dr. Lotta Hitschmanova.
Born
November 28, 1909, Prague, Czechoslovakia Died
July 1990, Ottawa, Ontario. She studied journalism and
politicall
sciences in Europe and earned her PhD from
Prague University. She wrote article for
European newspapers which were unfavourable to
the Nazi government and was force to flee. She
also changed her birth sir-name, Hitschmann, to
make it sound less German. It was however her
1st hand view of the horrors of life in war torn
Europe that would affect the rest of her life.
She eventually emigrated to Canada and in June
1945 was founder and a tireless worker of the
U S C (Unitarian Service Commission), an
international development organization with the
original goal of sending supplies to war-torn
Europe for relief. Internationally she was
recognized for her works with humanitarian
awards from France, Korea, Greece, India and her
adopted Canadian homeland with the Order of
Canada. People who are presented with awards
often wear a small coloured ribbon signifying
their award. Dr Hitschmanova had five rows of
ribbons to wear!!!! Her trademark attire was
that of an army nurse. She travelled annually to
poverty stricken parts of the world to uncover
areas in need of Canadian assistance to fight
poverty and disease. Her uniform is now
preserved at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.
Image
© Famous Canadian
Women |
November 29 |
Marcelle Françoise Maximilienne
Nicole Germain.
née
Marcelle Landreau. Born November 29, 1917,
Montreal, Quebec. Died
February 11, 1994, Montreal, Quebec. Nicole began her acting
career in 1939 on radio and was voted the French
Canadian Miss Radio in 1946. She enjoyed a
successful career in French language films in
the 1940’0 and 1950’s. By the mid 1950’s she was
a television journalist and moderator. She was
co-chairman of the 1960 Christmas Gift Campaign
for the Quebec Division of the Canadian Mental
Health Association which raised gifts for
Quebec's hospitalized mentally ill. For her
efforts to promote the French Language she was
named a Member of the Order of Canada in 1974. (2024) |
|
Marie Laberge.
Born
November 29, 1950, Quebec City, Quebec. Marie
studied journalism at Laval University in Quebec
City but changed her studies to join the
Conservatoire d'art dramatique de Quebec. she
began her career as a comedy actress before
trying her hand at being a playwright, director,
and novelist.1977-1980 she was an administrator
for the Theatre du Trident in Quebec City and as
served at this time as an administrator for the
Centre d'essai des auteurs dramatiques and from
1987-1989 she served as president of the
organization. In the 1960 she polished several
collections of poetry. She received the Governor
General's Award for French language drama in
1981 for her play C'etait avant la guerre
a L'Ance. In 2002 she was named a Chevalier
in the French Order of La Pleiades and in 2004
she became a Chevalier in the National Order of
Quebec and an Officer in the French Ordre des
arts et des lettres. Many of her works have done
well translated into English and her work has
often been popular in France. She has also
written song lyrics for such notable singers as
Celine Dion. |
November 30 |
Lucy
Maud Montgomery - MacDonald.
Born
November 30, 1874 Clifton, Prince Edward Island.
Died April 24, 1942 Toronto, Ontario. It is no
surprise to know that she was born in Prince
Edward Island. She would use the stories and
lessons of growing up in her world famous novels
about a young orphan named Anne. The book, Anne
of Green Gables, was 1st published in June
1908 and by November 1909 the book had already
been through six printings! The book is still
enormously popular today. Later there were also
Emily and Jane, new characters L. M. Montgomery
would share share with the world. There have
been movies, TV shows, and a stage musical all
produced based on the book. Actually
Lucy Maude went on to publish 20 novels, over
500 short stories, 500 poems, and 30 essays. Her
works made Prince Edward Island a literary
landmark destined to become a popular tourist
site. In 1911 Lucy married a Presbyterian
minister Ewen/Ewan Macdonald (1870-1943) and the
couple moved to Ontario. Their home in Leaskdale
in now a Museum. The couple would have three
sons two of whom would live to adulthood. She
was a staunch supporter of the home war effort
during World War 1 (1914-1918) and lent her
celebrity to recruiting Canadian soldiers. Her
diaries showed that she felt tortured by the war
itself. Both Ewen and Lucy would suffer from
severe bouts of depression during their lives.
She continued to write until 1940 when her last
book, The Blythes Are Quoted was
delivered to the publisher on the day she died.
Her writing was a saving grace for Lucy. She was
made an officer of the Order of the British
Empire in 1935. In 1943 she was designated a
Person of National Historic Significance. Her
diaries and papers are held in the Archives of
the University of Guelph. In 1975 the Canadian
Post Office issued a stamp honouring Anne of
Green Gables and in 2008 a stamp was issued
making the centennial of the publication. On
November 30, 2015 Google honoured Lucy Maud
Montgomery with a Google Doodle that was
published in 12 countries. Have you ever read
"Anne of Green Gables?" In which of
the 14 languages the book is translated did you
read the book? Image c Canada
Post. Used with permission |
|
Ann Mortifee.
Born
November 30, 1947, Durban, South Africa. In the
late 1950's the family immigrated to Canada and
settled in Vancouver, British Columbia. While in
school she entered and won talent shows. At
summer camp she was asked to replace a sick
performer and she knew what she she wanted as a
career. She has written an impressive list of
songs and two musicals. She was married to Jazz
flutist Paul Horn (1930-2014). In 1975 Ann
produced her 1st solo album Baptism. In 1980 she
received the Worldfest-Houston International
Film Festival Grand Prix Award for her TV
Ontario Special, Journey to Kairos, a one woman
show. In 1981 she earned the West Coast Music
Award as Best Female Vocalist and followed this
up in 1982 with nominations for the Genie Awards
and the Juno Awards. In 1991 she was appointed a
Member of the Order of Canada and the following
year she was inducted into the British Columbia
Entertainment Hall of Fame. In 1994 she was a
featured soloist at the Commonwealth Games
Closing Ceremony, Victoria, British Columbia. In
2002 she received the Queen Elizabeth ll Golden
Jubilee Medal. In 2012 she received the Queen
Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal for service
to Canada. Ann has co-authored two books In
Love With the Mystery and The Awakened
Heart. (2024) |
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