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André Michaux, botanist, explorer (b near Versailles, France 8 Mar 1746; d on Madagascar 11 Oct 1803?). He compiled the first North American flora which includes many plants collected in Lower Canada in 1792.

Frederick Pursh, botanist (b Friedrich Traugott Pursch in Grossenhain, Saxony 4 Feb 1774; d at Montréal 11 July 1820). At age 25 Pursh left Dresden to try his luck in the New World.

Louis-Marcel Raymond, botanist, man of letters (b at St-Jean, Qué 2 Dec 1915; d at Montréal 23 Aug 1972).

Louis-Edmond Hamelin, OC, GOQ, geographer (born 21 March 1923 in Saint-Didace, QC; died 11 February 2020 in Quebec City, QC).

Paul Franklin Watson, environmental activist, author, reality TV star (born 2 December 1950 in Toronto, ON). Paul Watson is the founder of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) and a pioneering, polarizing figure in the conservation movement.

Sir David Kirke, trader and privateer, first governor of Newfoundland (born at Dieppe, France c1597; died near London, England 1654). Kirke, with Sir William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, formed the Company of Adventurers, which was granted patents by King Charles I. It gave them the right to trade and settle in Canada. Kirke was the owner of the first recorded Black chattel-slave in New France, Olivier Le Jeune. 

Sven Börje Johansson, CM, choreographer, reindeer specialist (born in Säffle, Värmland, Sweden on 29 August 1924; died 17 October 2018 in Victoria, BC). Johansson participated in the Canadian Reindeer Project, the Geological Survey of Canada and founded the non-profit Discovery Dance Society.

Samuel Wilmot, pisciculturist, farmer, politician (born 22 August 1822 in Clarke Township, West Durham, Upper Canada; died 17 May 1899 in Newcastle, ON). Samuel Wilmot established one of North America’s first fish hatcheries on his farm in Newcastle, Ontario. He began as an amateur working in his basement and became a leading authority on fish culture. Wilmot established 15 hatcheries across Canada and his designs influenced other hatcheries in North America.

Thorvaldur Johnson, plant pathologist (b at Arnes, Man 23 Oct 1897; d at Winnipeg 15 Sept 1979). Johnson became Margaret NEWTON's assistant at the Winnipeg Rust Research Laboratory in 1925 and was its head from 1953 until his retirement in 1962.

Howard Fredeen, agricultural research scientist (b at Macrorie, Sask 10 Dec 1921).

Joao Fernandes, explorer (flourished 1486-1505). A Portuguese of the Azores, he had traded with Bristol from 1486. He likely sailed with John CABOT in 1498 as a pilot. Cabot's ship went down, but Fernandes returned with charts of discoveries around Greenland and Newfoundland.

James Fletcher, entomologist, botanist (b at Ashe, Eng 28 Mar 1852; d at Montréal 8 Nov 1908).

On a search mission for John ROSS in 1834, Back found and travelled the Thlew-ee-choh R, later named for him.

Charles Gordon Hewitt, administrator, economic entomologist, conservationist (born 23 February 1885 in Macclesfield, England; died 29 February 1920 in Ottawa, ON). Charles Gordon Hewitt was an expert on houseflies who served as Canada’s Dominion entomologist from 1909 until his death. He played an important role in expanding the government’s entomology branch, as well as in passing the Destructive Insect and Pest Act (1910).

William Francis Ganong, regional historian, cartographer, botanist, linguist (b at Carleton, NB 19 Feb 1864; d at Saint John 7 Sept 1941). A passionate lover of New Brunswick, Ganong devoted his life to its study.

Gaspar Corte-Real, explorer (b 1450?; d 1501). A native of the Azores, he initiated Portuguese claims in the North Atlantic. It is thought that he reached Greenland and worked his way south to Newfoundland in 1500, and that he

Leif Eriksson (Old Norse Leifr Eiríksson, a.k.a. Leifr hinn heppni, Leif the Lucky), explorer, chieftain (born in the 970s CE in Iceland; died between 1018 and 1025 in Greenland). Leif Eriksson was the first European to explore the east coast of North America, including areas that are now part of Arctic and Atlantic Canada. Upon the death of his father, Erik the Red, Leif became paramount chieftain of the Norse colony in Greenland. The two main sources on him are The Saga of the Greenlanders and The Saga of Erik the Red. There are also references to him in The Saga of Olaf Tryggvason and The Saga of St. Olaf.

Edgar Spinney Archibald, agriculturalist (b at Yarmouth, NS 12 May 1885; d at Ottawa 23 Jan 1968). Archibald's greatest contribution to Canadian agriculture was his dedicated and active support of scientists in the Experimental Farms Service, of which he was director 1919-51.

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).