| October
1 |
Angèle
Arsenault.
Born Abrams, Prince
Edward Island 1943. With a sincere
love of Acadian folk music as incentive she writes and sings her own songs in
both of Canada’s official languages. Her
albums have earned her many awards. She uses her music to express her own special
brand of humor. |
| October
2 |
Do
you have a nomination of a Famous Canadian woman born on this date? |
| October
3 |
Ashevak
Kenojuak.
Born Ikerrasak Camp, Baffin Island, Northwest Territories 1927. This Inuit Artist
of Baffin Island is famous for the prints made of her work. Graphic art is only
one of her chosen medium. She also carves sculptures.
She prefers birds as subjects of her works. She is a fellow of the Royal
Canadian Academy of Arts and a Companion of the Order of Canada. |
| |
Neve
Campbell.
Born Guelph, Ontario 1973. This Canadian starlet is making a name for herself in acting
in television (Party of Five) and some 30 movies. She has even played a real
princess, Elizabeth Windsor in Churchill: the Hollywood years.(2004) .She has also written scripts
for movies and is a known producer of movies. |
| October
4 |
Madeline Hombert.
née Borody. Born Shoal Lake, Manitoba 1944. She
attended school in Rivers, Manitoba before heading off to Ryerson University
in Toronto. Her education also included hands on training through
cable television, commercial video, television and film productions. She
has worked in most areas of film and television productions, from setting up
equipment through budgeting and production management to songwriting. Through
this experience she had gained insight to cost control and financial
accountability while still appreciating the artistic demands of production. In
1989 she received a CTV Fellowship Award. She has always taken an active
interest in her community and expressed herself in politics by running as a
federal Liberal Candidate in 1979 and 1980 in Calgary. Her work in her
community, her volunteer efforts and her political involvement earned her the
nomination as a Woman of Distinction in Calgary 1981. She continues her
volunteering with such organizations as the Muscular Dystrophy Association,
the Variety Club and the Canadian Fund for the Support and Assistance of Lung
Transportations. |
| October
5 |
Marie-Claire
Blais.
Born
Quebec City, Quebec 1939. This writer is one of Quebec’s
finest contemporary authors. She
published her 1st novel at 20.
It was published in France in 1960 and was translated into English, Spanish
and Italian. Her works have earned her the Prix France-Canada, the Prix Médicis,
the Governor General’s Award, and the Prix David (Quebec). She has also written
for radio, TV, and theatre. She is a Companion to the Order of Canada. |
| |
Tina
Poitras.
Born Thompson, Manitoba 1970. Tina grew up in Hull, Quebec across
the river from Canada's capital, Ottawa. This athlete is a race walker who
specializes in the 10 km walk. She is currently ranked number 1 in this event
in Canada. She participated, for Canada, in the 1996 Olympic Games in this
event. |
| October
6 |
Eulalie Durocher (Mother
Marie-Rose)
Born 1811. Died October 6, 1849.
She was one of 8 surviving children in her family. When she
originally decided to follow a religious life she was turned down as a
novitiate because of her frail health. After the death of her mother she
tended house and was a parish worker for her brother who was a priest.. She
became aware of the great need for education of young girls. She and her
friends, Mélodie Dufresne and Henriette Cére decided to set up a Canadian
convent. She became Mother Marie-Rose, the first Superior of the Sisters of
the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary of Canada setting up operations originally in
Longueil. Today the order serves North and South America and in Africa. On
May 23, 1982 Pope John Pall ll proclaimed Marie-Rose Durocher “Blessed”, one
of the first steps in the process of being declared a Saint.
Source: The
Dictionary of Canadian Biography accessed March 2005) |
Used with permission of artist Joan Brand-Landkamer.
Click to enlarge. |
| |
Joan Cook.
Born 1934. A business woman who served as Vice President
of a family-owned automobile dealership and a member of the management team with
C J O N Radio and TV, and with Robert Simpson Eastern Ltd. of Halifax, she was appointed
to the Senate of Canada March 6, 1998. |
| October
7 |
Judy
Sams. Born Toronto, Ontario 1947.
Canadian amateur-of-the-year in 1980 this Ontario
Athlete is best known on the golf course. |
| October
8 |
Elizabeth
Wyn Wood.
Born
Orillia, Ontario 1903. Died January 27,
1966.
As a sculptor she became involved with the Federation of Canadian Artists
and the Canadian Arts Council. She worked in “modern” materials like tin for her
sculptures. Her large pieces may be seen in parks in Welland and Niagara
Falls areas of Ontario. |
| October
9 |
Mary
Ann
Shadd Cary.
Born Wilmington, Delaware U.S.A. 1823. Died June 5, 1893. née Shadd. Born a free black, Mary
Ann Shadd Cary worked with black refugees
in Windsor one of the Canadian ends of the famous "Underground Railway"
for escaped slaves. In 1883 she became the 1st black woman in North
America who was an editor of a newspaper when she established the "Provincial
Freeman" a weekly paper designed to cover the lives of Canadian blacks
and promote the cause of black refugees to Canada. A biography may be found at : http://www.nlc-bnc.ca/2/12/h12-204-e.html |
| |
Aimee
Semple McPherson. (née
Kennedy). Born Ingersoll, Ontario 1890.
Died September 27, 1944. She was an evangelist.
She opened, in the U.S.A., the Angelus Temple of the Four Square Gospel for 1.25 million
dollars! That was a lot of money in 1918! In her day, she was the most publicized revivalist
in the world. |
| |
Carling
Kathrin Bassett-Seguso.
Born Toronto, Ontario 1967. This young tennis player
burst onto the Canadian sports scene in 1981 when she won the Canadian indoor
junior title. In 1982 she was ranked the number 1 junior in the world. She
turned professional in 1983 and played in such international events as the French
and Australian Opens and at Wimbledon. She retired from competition in 1988. |
| October
10 |
Isabel
McLaughlin.
Born Oshawa, Ontario 1903. Died November 26,
2002. An important early modernist painter in Canada she used bright colours in
her highly subjective paintings. In
1939 she was the 1st woman to hold the position of president of the
Canadian Group of Painters. |
| |
Karen
Percy.
Born 1966. At the 1988 Calgary
Olympic Games she became the first skier in 20 years to win two Olympic medals
in the same games. She is a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. |
| October
11 |
Mary
Isabella Macleod. (née
Drever) Born Red River, Manitoba 1852 Died April 15 1933. During the famous Red River Rebellion (1869-70)
a 17-year-old Mary successfully avoided detection and delivered an important dispatch
to Colonel Woolsey. She married James
Macleod of the Northwest Mounted Police and frequently accompanied her husband
on his tours of duty. |
| |
Mary
Ellen Smith.
(née
Spear). Born Tavistock, England 1863. Died
May 3, 1933. After the death
of her husband she ran in the by-election for his seat and became the 1st
woman elected to the British Columbia provincial legislature and the 1st
woman Cabinet Minister in the entire British Empire. |
| October
12 |
Dorothy
Livesay.
Born Winnipeg, Manitoba 1909. Died
December 29, 1996.
A journalist and literary critic, she is also known for her short stories
of fiction and her poetry. In 1944
she won the Governor General’s Award for her work Day and Night and again
in 1947 for Poems of the People.
She was an Officer of the Order of Canada. |
| |
Joan
Fraser. Born 1944. She earned a B.A. in Modern
Languages from McGill University in 1965. She began her career as a cub reporter
with the Gazette in Montreal and joined the Financial Times of Canada in 1967.
In 1978 she returned to The Gazette as editorial page editor and in 1993 became
Editor-in-Chief. She joined the Council of Canadian Unity in 1997/98. She has
won several national newspaper awards for her editorial writing and four National
Newspaper Award Citations of Merit. She is a member of the Senate of Canada. |
| October
13 |
Do
you have a nomination of a Famous Canadian woman born on this date? |
| October
14 |
Frances
Norma Loring.
Born Wardner, Idaho 1887. Died
February 5, 1968. Educated in Switzerland,
Germany, Paris, Chicago, New York, and Boston she to a studio in Toronto in 1913
to show her sculptures. The National
Gallery in Ottawa has obtained her works as well as the Art Gallery of Ontario
and some are on the grounds of the parliament Buildings in Ottawa. She was co-founder
of the Sculptors Society of Canada in 1928. |
| October
15 |
Marie Marguerite d'Youville. (née Dufrost
de Lajemerais) Born Varennes, Quebec 1701. Died December 23, 1771. She was a daughter of one of the great
families of New France. She was married in 1712, she was the mother of two children,
and became . widowed in 1730. By 1742 both sons had become priests and Marguerite
worked to ease the plight of the poor. She was joined by other women and their
work extended to the running of the Hôpital Générale. The group of tireless workers
would eventually become a religious order known as the Grey Nuns. Marguerite was
described as a remarkable woman who was courageous and processed remarkable administrative
talent. |
© Canada Post Corporation |
| |
Betsey
Clifford.
Born Old Chelsea, Quebec 1953. Betsey began skiing at Camp Fortune at age 5.
At 12 she was Canadian Junior Champion. She became the youngest ever world
ski champion in 1970. How old was
she? |
| |
Kristine Winder.
Born 1955. This Vancouver
native followed her desire to become a model. She was featured as a playmate
in the October 1977 issue of Playboy magazine. |
| October
16 |
Do
you have a nomination of a Famous Canadian woman born on this date? |
| October
17 |
Margaret Ruth Kidder.
Born Yellowknife, Northwest Territories 1948.
This youth from the Northwest Territories was to date Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau
in real life and become the girl friend of Superman
in the movies. She appeared in all IV of
the Superman movies. She has over 80 movie and major TV productions to her
credit. Did you know that
the comic book characters of Superman and Lois Lane were the idea of a young Canadian
artist? Look it up! |
| |
France
St Louis.
Born 1958. A member of the
Canadian Women’s Hockey team since 1990, she was a member of the silver medal
team at the 1998 Olympic games in Nagano, Japan. |
| October
18 |
Elizabeth
Catherine Bagshaw.
Born Cannington, Ontario 1881.
Died January 5, 1982. One of Canada's first women doctors,
she had a successful 60-year practice. For
30 years she was the medical director of the Hamilton Ontario Birth Control Clinic.
You can just imagine the forces that this courageous woman had to face while
attempting to present women of her era with information on Birth control. |
| |
Iona
Campagnolo. Born
Galiano Island, British Columbia 1932. She began her working career as a broadcaster in her native British
Columbia in 1965. She became very involved in her community, being head of the
local school board, and alderman and finally elected as a Member of Parliament
for Skeena from 1974 to 1979. In 1976 she came to the national spotlight when
she became Minister of Fitness and Amateur Sport. She returned to politics as
the first woman President of the Liberal Party of Canada from 1982 to 1986.
Now a private citizen she retains her interest in politics and can be seen and
heard making political comment on major current topics. |
| October
19 |
Marie
Gérin-Lajoie (née Lacoste)
Born Montreal, Quebec 1867. Died November
1, 1945. As a youth she read her
father’s law books and developed a concern for women’s rights. She combined her
religion and family life with reform work bringing together Canadian Francophone
women. She worked closely with branches
of the national Council of Women of Canada. She would give strong testimony before
the Dorion Commission that recommended change to Quebec law. |
| |
Marilyn
Bell.
Born Toronto, Ontario 1937. It was September in 1954 when a 16-year-old Toronto Girl entered the
Canadian National Exhibition sponsored marathon swim race across Lake Ontario.
She was the only entrant to actually finish the 32-mile race. It took 21 hours!
She was the 1st to successfully swim Lake Ontario. She is a member
of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. |
| October
20 |
Nellie
Letitia McClung.
(née Mooney) Born Chatsworth, Ontario 1873. Died September 1, 1951. This author, first published in 1908, and it became a national best seller. A busy mother of
4 children she became interested in women’s rights. She was and effective speaker and was elected Member of Parliament
from Alberta. She worked on the Person’s Case, was a Canadian delegate to the
League of Nations (now the United Nations), and was the first woman board member
of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. |
© Famous Canadian
Women |
| |
Pauline
Emily McGibbon.
(née Mills). Born Sarnia, Ontario 1910. Died December 14, 2001. A long time volunteer for various charities and groups including
being president of the Imperial order of the Daughters of the Empire, she was
also chancellor at the University of Toronto.
She was appointed Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Ontario and became
the 1st Canadian woman to obtain such a position.She
was also the first woman to fill the following wide-ranging positions:
Chancellor of the University of Toronto, President of the Canadian Conference of
the Arts, and Director of four major Canadian companies: George Weston, IBM,
Imasco and Mercedes Benz. |
| |
Julie
Payette.
Born Montreal, Quebec 1963. Did you know that
this Canadian astronaut plays piano and has sung with the Montreal symphonic Orchestra
Chamber Choir? She speaks 4 languages besides English and French. She enjoys triathlon,
skiing, racquet sports and scuba diving.
This young engineer was chosen as an astronaut in 1992 and went into space
in 1999. Read her Biography from the Canadian Space Agency at : http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/payette.html |
© Canada Post Corporation |
| October
21 |
Mélanie
Turgeon.
Born 1976. This Quebec skier has raced Slalom, Downhill, and Super G for
the Canadian Ski Team since 1992. As a junior, she won 5 medals at the World
Championships at Lake Placid, New York. In 1998 she was the top Canadian skier
in the World Cup. |
| October
22 |
Jane
Burnet.
Born 1955.
As a young girl she studied classical piano but
at 20 she turned to jazz and enjoys playing flute and soprano saxophone. In 1983
she and her husband started a band. She
has 7 CD’s of jazz and Cuban Music. In
1993 for the album “Spirit of Havana” she won a Juno Award. |
| October
23 |
Lucie
Laroche. Born
1968. Her youthful love of skiing led her to become a member of a group
of freestyle skiers known as the "Quebec Air Force". |
| October
24 |
Micheline
Beauchemin.
Born
Longeuil, Quebec 1930. One of Canada's foremost tapestry weavers.
Her works are in Place des Arts (Montreal) National Arts Center (Ottawa),
Tokyo, and San Francisco. |
| |
Sheila
Watson.
(née Doherty) Born New Westminster, British Columbia 1909. Died February 1,
1998. Her novel Double Hook, written in 1959, is
considered the point for the beginning of contemporary writing in Canada.
She was awarded for her writings the Lorne Pierce medal from the Royal
Society of Canada. |
| October
25 |
Nell
Shipman.
(née Helen Foster-Barham) Born Victoria, British Columbia 1892. Died January 23, 1970. This actress was a pioneer
of the silent film era. She was one of the first women in the world to direct
her own films and she even established her own production company. |
| |
Rebecca
Ann Burke.
Born 1946. This artist has
shown her works in exhibitions in the Canadian Maritimes, Alberta, Quebec, British
Columbia and the United States. She
is currently a professor with the Department of Fine Arts at Mount Allison University,
Sackville, New Brunswick. |
| October
26 |
Anne-Josée
Dionne. Born
1975. A member of the Canadian National Diving Team, Anne-Josée has been 9 times
National Champion (in various age groups). She has also won medals at international
events. In 1993 she earned 3 gold medals at the Canada Games. In her
spare time she enjoys photography, movies, and camping. |
| October
27 |
Elizabeth
Smart.
Born Ottawa, Ontario 1913. Died March 4, 1986. She began her career as a journalist but became known for her novels
and poems. In 1945 she published
her first book, which was considered a masterpiece and was reprinted several times.
It was 32 years before she produced her next two books. She
published again in 1984. |
| October
28 |
Marie
de l'Incarnation.
(Marie Guyant) Born Tours, France 1599. Died April 30, 1672. She read about Canada in the famous Jesuit
Relations and decided it was the place for her. She would arrive in 1639 and found
the Ursuline Order of Canada. She became an expert in several native languages
and translated several religious books for her native students. |
| October
29 |
Nora
McLellan.
Born
1954. This actor and singer made her stage debut at age 9 in La Boheme
produced by the Vancouver Opera Association. She has appeared in more than 50
roles on stages in Vancouver, Ottawa, Toronto, London, Victoria, Saskatoon and
Seattle. Her TV appearances have included such hit shows as X-Files. In
1987 she was co-founder, with Michael Dobbin, of the Aids-Relief Fundraising for
the Actors' Fund of Canada. |
| |
Ruth
Schiller.
(née Boswell) Born 1931. This
mother of three children has been a leader and music specialist for over 30 years.
A conductor, adjudicator and lecturer she has represented Canada numerous times
at the International Society of Music Education. She has been awarded the André
Thadée Bourque and Louise Manny Award for Excellence in Music, the Centennial
Award, the Leslie Bell Choral Award, the Paul Harris Fellow Award and recognized
by the New Brunswick Teachers Association for outstanding contribution to education
in the province. She was made an Officer of the Order of Canada in 1992. |
| October
30 |
Joanna Shimkus. Born Halifax, Nova Scotia 1943. Joanna
began he film career in the mid 1960's with some 14 movies to her credit by
the mid 1970's. In 1976 she married actor Sidney Poitier and abandoned her
career to devote herself to her family of two daughters. Currently she is
immersed in a successful career in Interior decor. |
| October
31 |
Ada
Mackenzie.
Born
Toronto, Ontario 1891. Died October 25, 1973. She would win the
Ontario Ladies Amateur Golf title 9 times and the Canadian Ladies Open Amateur
title 5 times. In 1933 she was declared the Canadian Athlete of the Year.
She would open a ladies only golf club in Thornhill, Ontario in May 1925.
This sporting pioneer with her club and her leading titles would make ladies
golf a sport to be taken seriously. |
Public domain |
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