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James White, geographer (b at Ingersoll, Ont 3 Feb 1863; d at Ottawa 26 Feb 1928). He was educated at RMC and in 1884 he was employed as an assistant topographer in the GEOLOGICAL SURVEY OF CANADA, where he carried out numerous surveys in Ontario, Québec and the Rocky Mts.

Sir James Clark Ross, naval officer, polar discoverer (b at London, Eng 15 Apr 1800; d at Aylesbury, Eng 13 Apr 1862).

William Pearce, surveyor, civil servant (b near Port Talbot, Canada W 1 Feb 1848; d at Calgary 3 Mar 1930). Pearce journeyed west as a public-land surveyor for the federal Department of the Interior in 1874 and was promoted superintendent of mines in 1884.

Thomas Griffith Taylor, geographer, educator, explorer (b at Walthamstow, Eng 1 Dec 1880; d at Sydney, Australia 4 Nov 1963). A dynamic personality who did research on every continent, Taylor founded the first Canadian department of geography at U of T (1935).

Arthur Gilbert McCalla, cereal chemist (b at St Catharines, Ont 22 Mar 1906; d at Edmonton 30 Apr 1985).

Onkar Prasad Dwivedi, CM, political scientist, environmentalist (born 20 January 1937 near Bindki in Uttar Pradesh province, India; died 29 January 2013 in Guelph, ON). Dwivedi was known for his research in public administration and the environment. He contributed widely to both his academic field as well as his community, both in Guelph and abroad.

John (“Jack”) Thomas Miner, also known as “Wild Goose Jack,” conservationist, lecturer (born 10 April 1865 in Dover Center, Ohio; died 3 November 1944 in Kingsville, ON). In 1904, Jack Miner created one of North America’s first bird sanctuaries. He was also one of the earliest to attach bands to the legs of migratory birds for the scientific study of their habits. Over the course of his lifetime he banded over 90,000 ducks and Canada geese, often inscribing bits of biblical scripture on each band. His records of these birds and their migratory patterns helped persuade the Canadian government to ratify the Migratory Birds Convention Act in 1917.

Joey Angnatok, hunter, fisherman, social entrepreneur, businessman, community leader (born May 1976 in Nain, Newfoundland) has worked with university researchers and his fellow Inuit for more than 30 years collecting climate and other environmental data. At the end of each fishing season, he turns his fishing boat into a marine research vessel.

Marcelle Gauvreau, Quebec scientist, botanist, educator, administrator, writer and journalist (born 28 February 1907 in Rimouski, QC; died 16 December 1968 in Montreal, QC). A botanist by profession, Marcelle Gauvreau made her mark as a teacher, writer, journalist, administrator and faithful collaborator of Frère Marie-Victorin (Conrad Kirouac). Through her books, articles, talks, the school she established, and her desire to promote public interest in plant life, she encouraged many Quebecers to learn about plants and to love nature in the 20th century.

Ferdinand Alphonse Fortunat Larose, agronomist (born 1 April 1888 in Sarsfield, Ontario; died 29 January 1955 in Montreal, Quebec). Throughout his career, Ferdinand Larose focused on agriculture in the United Counties of Prescott and Russel in Eastern Ontario. He is best known for having created the vast Larose Forest in a part of the counties which had become arid after intensive deforestation in the 19th century. The agronomist was also a leader for Franco-Ontarian cultivators. He chaired several cultivator associations and promoted agricultural training for Franco-Ontarians.

Josephine Henrietta Mandamin, Anishinaabe elder, water-rights advocate, Anishinabek Nation Chief Water Commissioner (born 21 February 1942 in Wiikwemikoong Unceded Territory, Manitoulin Island, ON; died 22 February 2019). Mandamin, known as “Grandmother Water Walker” and Biidaasige-ba (“the one who comes with the light”), was a world-renowned water-rights activist. She walked around the Great Lakes from 2003 to 2017 to bring awareness to the problems of water pollution and environmental degradation on the Great Lakes and on Indigenous reserves in Canada. For her activism, Mandamin was awarded the Anishinabek Lifetime Achievement Award (2012) and the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Cross (2018). Her great-niece, Autumn Peltier, followed in Mandamin’s footsteps, becoming the next generation’s “water warrior.”

Samuel de Champlain, cartographer, explorer, colonial administrator, author (born circa 1567 in Brouage, France; died 25 December 1635 in Quebec City). Known as the “Father of New France,” Samuel de Champlain played a major role in establishing New France from 1603 to 1635. He is also credited with founding Quebec City in 1608. He explored the Atlantic coastline (in Acadia), the Canadian interior and the Great Lakes region. He also helped found French colonies in Acadia and at Trois-Rivières, and he established friendly relations and alliances with many First Nations, including the Montagnais, the Huron, the Odawa and the Nipissing. For many years, he was the chief person responsible for administrating the colony of New France. Champlain published four books as well as several maps of North America. His works are the only written account of New France at the beginning of the 17th century.

Sir Henry Kellett, naval officer, arctic explorer (b at Clonabody, Ire 2 Nov 1806; d there 1 Mar 1875). Kellett joined the British navy in 1822 and served in the West Indies and on survey vessels in Africa, the Far East and Central America.

Albert Peter Low, geologist, explorer (b at Montréal 24 May 1861; d at Ottawa 9 Oct 1942). Low joined the Geological Survey of Canada on graduation from McGill. The Québec-Labrador border was eventually defined on the basis of his 1893-95 explorations.

Sir Robert John Le Mesurier McClure, explorer, adventurer (born 28 Jan 1807 in Wexford, Ireland; died 17 Oct 1873 in London, England).

Sir William Edward Parry, naval officer, Arctic explorer (born 19 December 1790 in Bath, England; died 8 or 9 July 1855 in Bad Ems, present-day Germany).

John Rae, fur trader, explorer, surgeon, author (born 30 Sept 1813 in Orkney, Scotland; died 22 July 1893 in London, England).

John Hubert Craigie, plant pathologist (b at Merigomish, NS 8 Dec 1887; d at Ottawa, 26 Feb 1989). Craigie discovered the sexual process in rust diseases of wheat.

Topography was a subject taught at the Woolwich Royal Military Academy by artists such as Paul Sandby, who achieved his fame with ornamental landscapes that combined the precision of topography with a flexible and poetic visual technique.