Born July 18, 1928. Died August 12, 2007.  She did her early University studies at West Virginia University and Pennsylvania State University, earning her PhD in 1972. In 1970 she began her long association with the University of Guelph as an associate professor in 1970 and was appointed Professor Emerita in the Departments of Sociology and Anthropology.  A polyglot, she  spoke 8 languages with knowledge and grace. She was known as an inspiring, receptive and compassionate teacher who during her career would assist some 300 plus students with graduate studies. . In 1970 she taught her first Women’s Studies course and was among the team to convince the Guelph Senate to accept Women’s Studies as a major and minor topic in 1978. She authored three books an Latin American rural studies, an active subject of interest and innumerable articles for North American and international journals. Suggested source: www.nora-cebotarev.org  (accessed May 2008)

Born Franklin, New Jersey, U.S.A. February 17, 1944. She studied for her BA at Iowa Wesleyan College and took her MA at New York University before moving to York University in Toronto to earn her PhD in 1985. She was a professor for the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education form 1986-1991 and during this time she was the producer and host of the TV Ontario program COUNTERPOINTS.  An Economist and Professor in the Department of Political Science and Chair of the Women's Studies Department at Simon Fraser University. She writes on various issues dealing with the Canadian economy, public policy, women, labour, international trade agreements and deregulation of the electricity sector. She is also President of Citizens for Public Power and a Research Associate with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Born Howe, England April 20, 1934. Naomi began her post secondary studies at London University and received her BA in 1956. Her Masters studies were done at the University of New Brunswick in Canada and her PhD was earned in 1969 at London University back in England. She was drawn back to the University of New Brunswick and began a life long interest in the history of the area of Acadia and it’s peoples. She was a lecturer at Carleton University, Ottawa, in 1961 starting another life long relationship. In 1979 through 1981 she was the Dean of the Faculty of Arts at Carleton University, one of the first women in Canada to be appointed as a Dean. In 1998 she was appointed Professor Emeritus at Carleton University. She reached beyond the students in her classroom with her numerous writings on Acadian history and her work on the history of the Centennial History of National Council of Women of Canada 9Ottawa: Carleton University , 1993) In 199 she was appointed an officer in the Order of Canada. Her research on the history of Acadian continued and she entered the ne millennium by publishing an additional work in 2007, From Migrant to Acadian: A North American Boarder people 1604-1755.  Source: Canadian Who’s Who (Toronto; University of Toronto)

Born Queens, New York , U.S.A. October 18. Although raised in the United states she has spent most of her adult life in rural Nova Scotia. She is married and has 3 children. Her avocation is her profession which is teaching. She taught school and was even a principal before becoming a teacher at the Faculty of Education at Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Her work goes beyond the class room as she writes articles and books to help teachers in their ongoing careers. She has even ventured into video aids. For teachers. She had bee bestowed with a Distinguished Achievement Award from the Educational Press Association of America for her series of articles in Teaching k-8 magazine. Her real enjoyment however comes from sharing her love of the abundant nature she enjoys around her rural home and her love of reading.  She has written a book of Children’s poetry and several children’s picture book sharing her love of nature. The Nova Scotia Teacher’s Union has honoured her as a 6 time recipient of the Educational Quality Award. Suggested sources: Writers Federation of Nova Scotia Web site: Writers.ns.ca (accessed May 2008) as well as her own web site. Some of the above information was provided through personal correspondence.

Born Halifax Nova Scotia 1940. Died July 22, 1988.  She was educated at McGill University, Montreal, the University of London and the Atlantic Institute of Education. Later in life she would return to graduate studies at Dalhousie University. She began her career as a teacher in her home province of Nova Scotia. She earned a position as executive Director  of the Canadian Learning Materials Centre and was program co-ordinator of Continuing Education at Dalhousie University. She would found the first children’s bookstore in the city of Halifax and became the Atlantic Representative for the Canadian Children’s Book Centre. She was also a founding member of the Nova Scotia Coalition on Arts and Culture. In 1990 the Nova Scotia Library Association established the Ann Connor Brimer Award to be given to a resident of Atlantic Canada for a book published in Canada that has made an outstanding contribution to Children’s literature.

Born Red River Settlement [Manitoba] 1820. Died 1873. Matilda was the daughter of an Officer of the Hudson Bay Company. As was the standard of the day she was shipped to England to receive a proper educations. As the Red River Settlement grew so did the demand for education in the community. In the 1850’s the HBC offered to pay $132.00 per year for room board and teaching for young female students. Matilda became school mistress for a day and boarding school in St. Andrew’s Parish, just north of modern day Winnipeg. Some 40 students resided ian a fine stone structure this is still standing today. Assisted by an English governess the young ladies were provided a solid education including the learning of French, dancing, drawing, and needlework, all the kinds of training required for future wives of Red River society. Source: Dictionary of Canadian Biography Vol. X P 215. ( Toronto: University of Toronto Press)

First Qualified Inuit Teacher in Labrador

Born Nain, Labrador 1932. Died 2004. As a child, her mother was determined that she would get an education so at 6 she was sent of boarding school. Later she would attend Memorial University, Newfoundland, in 1949 and become the first Labrador Inuit to qualify as a teacher in 1957. Returning to Labrador she taught, became a principal and later an administrator with the Labrador East Integrated School Board. She developed Inuit programs and Inuktitut immersion classers. As she travelled the area she gathered stories, songs and games reworking them into various Inuit dialects. She also authored a handbook for teachers of Inuklitut. She even introduced the language and stories over the CBC radio. As a young mother of 5 children, she stayed at home running a daycare centre until her own youngest was in school. She was president of the Labrador Native Women’s Association and showed community involvement as the first woman mayor in Labrador. Retiring from teaching she retained community commitment by working on the Labrador Inuit Association Land Claims team. Source: Saskatoon Women’s Calendar Collective. Herstory 2007: the Canadian Women’s Calendar (Regina: Couteau Books, 2006)  pg. 12.

Born Lorain, Ohio, U.S.A. She studied for the B.Sc at the University of Michigan in 1967. Moving to the University of Connecticut she earned her MA and in 1979 she received her PhD at McGill University, Montreal, Quebec. Her distinguished career would lead her to western Canada to work at the University of Alberta and then as President and Vice Chancellor at the University of British Columbia in 1997. She also has served on numerous boards and committees including the Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation. She became an Officer in the Order of Canada in 2003. In 2004 she was awarded the Educator of the Year and recognized as one of Canada’s most powerful Top 100 women. In 2005 she received the Order of British Columbia. Suggested Resources: Canadian Who’s Who 2006 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press) 

Born Ungvar, Hungary January 25, 1944. She emigrated to Canada and studied for her BA at the University of Toronto. By 1974 she had received her PhD. That same year she married George Alexander. The couple have two children. Her academic career began at Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario and then to McMaster University, Hamilton Ontario. By 1989 she was Dean of Faculty, School of Social Sciences at the University of Western Ontario , London, Ontario where she went on to hold positions of Prevost and Vice President (Academic). The family settled in Manitoba in 1996 where Emoke is President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Manitoba. While working full time as a mother and academic administrator she was editor for the Journal of Physical Anthropology (1995-2001) and President of the Canadian Association of Physical Anthology as well as writing numerous published articles and papers. In 2003 she became a member of the Order of Canada. The next year she was named one of Canada’s top 100 most powerful women by the Women’s Executive Network and the Richard Ivy School of Business. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2005. Suggested sources : Canadian Who’s Who 2006 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press)

née Schneider. Born Osgood, Indiana February 15,1936. Died June 7, 2008. Valedictorian in high school she was the first family member to attend university. In the 1950’s she was told not to become an academic only to marry and have children. Marry she did, one Noel Parry, June 1958.  While she followed her husband around the country for jobs, they had two sons. However the moving and good mothering did not stop the fire for more. Library work was an acceptable job for young women. She earned a Maters degree in Library Science. By the mid 1960’s  she had followed her draft dodging partner, Mike Cheda, to Canada. In Toronto, she settled to work at Seneca College. She also wrote  feminist articles in publications like Chatelaine. In 1972, at the Canadian Library Association, she made a presentation entitled That Little Mechanism, referring to the fact that male librarians got most of the library management jobs.  Along with Phyllis Yaffe and Barbara Clubb she worked producing the Emergency Librarian to continue the empowerment of women librarians. She worked endlessly to form the Canadian Periodical Publishers Association. She was also developed the Ontario Ministry of Culture’s publishing policy. She continued writing.. The New Feminist movement of the 1970’s had been well established and nourished by her efforts. She also found time to marry Karl Jaffrary and enjoyed being a grandmother. After retirement she worked with the administration of the Ex Libris Association for retired librarians. Suggested sources Obituaries in both the online editions of the Globe and Mail and the Toronto Star (accessed June 2008)

became the benchmark for cataloguing unique children’s collections around the world. The work also led to teaching appointments for courses in children’s literature at the University of Toronto and internationally in Britain, Japan and the U.S.A. Her optimism, down to earth approach revealed a totally dedicated librarian with a rich sense of humour who imparted enthusiasm to all those who listened and learned. In 1965 she helped arrange the International Colloquium of the Children’s Book Collections at the Osborne Collection in Toronto. This inspired the founding of an Osborne Friends group, the oldest Friends group in Canada. In 1966 following a trip to Britain she heard of the foundation of a British Branch of Friends for the Children’s collections. Judith held the Osborne and Lillian H. Smith Children’s collections and indeed children’s literature close to her hears until her death. Source: Judith St. John by Leslie McGrath ELAN Number 43 Spring 2008. Pg. 10-11