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Joseph Whiteside Boyle (born 6 November 1867 in Toronto, ON; died 14 April 1923 in Hampton Hill, Middlesex, United Kingdom). Nicknamed Klondike Joe, Boyle founded a gold mining company and became a millionaire in the aftermath of the Klondike gold rush. During the First World War, he equipped a machine gun unit and was a spy with the British secret service in Russia and Romania. He also reorganized the Russian military supply network, rescued Romanian prisoners of war and became the confidant and possibly lover of Queen Marie of Romania.

Erik the Red (Eiríkr rauða in Old Norse and Eiríkur rauði in modern Icelandic, a.k.a. Erik Thorvaldsson), colonizer, explorer, chief (born in the Jæren district in Norway; died c. 1000 CE at Brattahlid, Greenland). An Icelandic settler of modest means who was exiled for his involvement in a violent dispute, Erik the Red rose in status as he explored Greenland and founded the first Norse settlement there. One of his sons, Leif Eriksson, led some of the first European explorations of the east coast of North America, including regions that are now part of Arctic and Atlantic Canada.

Friedrich Karl von Bruemmer, CM, RCA, photographer, writer, researcher (born 26 June 1929 in Riga, Latvia; died 17 December 2013 in Montreal, QC). Latvian Canadian wildlife photographer Fred Bruemmer spent much of his professional career in the Arctic. He was famous for photographing the flora and fauna of the North and the lifestyle of the Inuit. Bruemmer was a prolific writer and researcher who wrote more than 1,000 articles and 27 books. His extensive work in the circumpolar world reached an international audience. He was described in a 1980 Maclean’s article as “one of the least-known world-famous men in Canada.” He was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 1983.

Sir John Franklin, naval officer, Arctic explorer (born 16 April 1786 in Spilsby, England; died 11 June 1847 aboard HMS Erebus near King William Island, Nunavut).