Carrie Matilda Derick. Born January 14, 1862. Died November 10, 1941. She studied for her B.A. at McGill in 1890, took her M.A. in 1896 and would go on to study at the Academy of Science, London England, Harvard University, USA, and Bonn University, Germany. In 1912 Carrie became the first woman professor at an university in Canada. She was also an activist in women's rights.

Eliza Ritchie. Born Halifax, Nova Scotia May 20, 1856.  Died September 5, 1935. An educator, feminist and author in 1889 Eliza received her Ph.D. from Cornell University in the United States. She is probably the first Canadian woman to have received a doctor of letters. Her appointment to the Dalhousie University board of governors in 1919 is also a first for Canadian women.

Mabel Frances Timlin. . Born Forest Junction, Wisconsin U.S.A.  December 6, 1891. Died 1976.  "Timmie" moved to Saskatchewan from the United States in 1917.  She worked as a secretary while studying at the University of Saskatchewan. In 1940 she earned a PhD at the University of Washington and returned to the University of Saskatchewan to teach economics. She would go on to write some of the basic Canadian economic works of the 1950's and 1960's. She would become the first woman to be elected to the executive committee of the American Economics Association from 1957-1960. Among her many awards were the Canada Centennial Medal 1976 and the Order of Canada.

Lillian Helena Smith. Born March 17. She was the first trained children's librarian in Canada. She devoted 40 years of her working life to the development of the children's collection within the Toronto Public Library. It is in her honor that the Toronto main children's library is named ; The Lillian H. Smith Library. It houses an electronic resource center, the Osborne Collection of Early Children's books, the Lillian H. Smith Collection, the science fiction fantasy and horror  collection (known as the Merrit Collection), the Bagshaw collection of puppetry and children's drama, videos, CD's and lots and lots of children's books to be read and loved. 

Freda Farrell Waldon. Born Winnipeg, Manitoba August 29, 1898. Died 1973. After obtaining her BA at the University of Toronto, Freda did post graduate studies in English at Columbia University in the U.S.A. and studied Librarianship in England. She began her career in the cataloguing section of Hamilton Public Library. Head Librarian by 1940, she would help her library become one of the top Canadian urban public libraries. She worked towards the establishment of the National Library of Canada and served as the first president of the Canadian Library Association. She also served as the first president of the Programme Planners Institute in Canada.  She was the recipient of the United Nations Award for Meritorious Service.

Alice M. Gerard.  Born November 11, 1907.  A public health nurse she would develop into a leading nursing educator. Dean of the Faculty of Nursing at the Université de Montréal, she was the first Canadian woman dean at a French language university. She served as president of the Canadian Nurses Association and was the first Canadian to be president of the International Council of Nurses.

Jeanne Fisher Manery.  Born Chelsey, Ontario July 6, 1908. Died September 6, 1986. She became the first woman appointed professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto in 1964. She was president of the Royal Canadian Institute in 1980. She has received honours for her scientific achievements and has promoted the role of women within her field.

Ursula Martius Franklin.  Born Munich, Germany  September 16, 1921. She is a specialist and pioneer in the structure of metals and alloys. In 1984 she became the first woman to be named a University Professor at the University of Toronto.  A tireless advocate for Science for Peace she was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1992.

Pauline Jewett.  Born St Catherines, Ontario December 11, 1922.  Died July 5, 1992. She would use her own educational background from Queens University, Kingston, Ontario, Radcliff University in the USA, Harvard University in the USA, Oxford University in England and London [England] School of Economics as a background for being a politician, educator and professor of political science.  She was an elected member of parliament in the 1960's and again in the 1980's. She was appointed president of Simon Fraser University in 1974, the first woman to be head of a major co-educational university in Canada. She was appointed Chancellor of Carleton University in Ottawa in 1990, a position she held until her death. In 1992 Carleton University renamed its women's studies program to become the Pauline Jewett Institute of Women's Studies. She was also an Officer in the Order of Canada.