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Ellen Louks Fairclough, politician (born on 28 January 1905 in Hamilton, Ontario; died 13 November 2004 in Hamilton). A chartered accountant by profession, she became secretary of state and Canada's first woman federal cabinet minister in John Diefenbaker’s 1957 Conservative government. She was instrumental as head of the Department of Citizenship and Immigration in pushing for less racist immigration policies. She also pushed for granting Status Indians the right to vote (see Indigenous Suffrage.)

Stephen Joseph Harper, CC, PC, prime minister of Canada 2006–15, politician, author, economist (born 30 April 1959 in Toronto, ON). Stephen Harper is Canada’s longest-serving Conservative prime minister since Sir John A. Macdonald. He helped found the Reform Party and served as head of the National Citizens Coalition and leader of the Canadian Alliance Party. He then transformed the country’s political landscape by uniting the previously divided right into the Conservative Party of Canada. He led the CPC to three consecutive election wins before being defeated in 2015 and resigning as party leader. Harper’s adherence to a brand of ideologically pure conservatism resulted in what the Globe and Mail called “Canada’s first ever truly Conservative government.” He was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in December 2019.

The beginning of Chinese immigration to present-day British Columbia in the 1850s sparked a vociferous and sustained opposition from Euro-Canadian residents. This opposition intensified with the arrival of Japanese immigrants in the 1870s and South Asians in the early 1900s. To counter the supposed racial and economic dangers presented by these groups, labour leaders and others in the province successfully lobbied for legal and social restrictions on Asian employment, housing, education and civic participation in the province. These formed the basis for Asian segregation in British Columbia and Canada generally, which continued until the end of Japanese internment and the removal of all Asian voting restrictions in 1949. While it never attained the level of racial separation seen during the US South’s Jim Crow era, Asian segregation from whites in 19th and early 20th century Canada defined many aspects of everyday life in Canada.

Sir George-Étienne Cartier, co-premier of the Province of Canada, lawyer, railway promoter, politician (born 6 September 1814 in Saint-Antoine, Lower Canada; died 20 May 1873 in London, England). Sir George-Étienne Cartier dominated the politics of Quebec for a generation. After rebelling against the government in the Rebellions of 1837–38, Cartier served as Canada’s first minister of militia and defence. Arguably the kingpin of Confederation, he was responsible for bringing French Canada, Manitoba and British Columbia into the Dominion. He also negotiated the purchase of Rupert’s Land and the North-West Territories from the Hudson’s Bay Company. He is considered a Father of Confederation.

Prince Henry Charles Albert David, Duke of Sussex, known by his nickname Prince Harry, is sixth in line to the throne of Canada, the United Kingdom and 14 other Commonwealth realms (born 15 September 1984 in London, United Kingdom). Prince Harry is a grandson of Her Majesty (HM) The Queen and her late husband, Prince Philip;); the younger son of the heir to the throne, HRH The Prince of Wales (Prince Charles) and the late Diana, Princess of Wales; and younger brother of HRH The Duke of Cambridge (Prince William). Prince Harry is the founder of the Invictus Games, a series of athletic competitions for wounded, injured and sick armed forces personnel from around the world. The third Invictus Games were held in Toronto in September 2017. He is married to Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, and has two children.

Prince Henry Charles Albert David, Duke of Sussex, known by his nickname Prince Harry (born 15 September 1984 in London, United Kingdom). Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, née Rachel Meghan Markle (born 4 August 1981 in Los Angeles, California). After stepping back from the royal family in 2020, Harry, Meghan and their son, Archie, relocated to North America to pursue independent projects and philanthropic work. Their daughter, Lilibet Diana, was born in the United States in 2021.

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.

Barbara McCallum Hanley (née Smith), teacher, politician, Canada’s first female mayor (born 2 March 1882 in Magnetawan, ON; died 26 January 1959 in Sudbury, ON). Hanley was elected mayor of Webbwood on 6 January 1936, becoming the country’s first female mayor. Trained as a teacher, she decided to enter municipal politics in an attempt to improve conditions for the town, which had been hard hit by the Great Depression. Hanley won annual re-election campaigns from 1936 to 1943, and retired as mayor in 1944. A true servant of the public, she sat on many boards and committees throughout her life, including the town ration board during the Second World War.

William Grenville Davis, PC, CC, OOnt, lawyer, politician, premier of Ontario 1971–85 (born 30 July 1929 in at Brampton, ON; died 8 August 2021 in Brampton). Known as “Brampton Billy” and as Ontario’s “education premier,” Bill Davis served as minister of education from 1962 to 1971 and as premier from 1971 to 1985. His government established Ontario’s system of community colleges; founded several universities and colleges, including the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE); and created public education broadcaster TVOntario. Davis also created the first environment ministry in Canada and played a key role in the patriation of Canada’s constitution.

Denis Coderre, politician, federal cabinet minister, mayor of Montreal 2013–17 (born 25 July 1963 in Joliette, QC). A federal politician for 16 years, Coderre moved into municipal politics and was elected mayor of Montreal in November 2013. Although credited with cleaning up the city’s administration, Coderre lost the November 2017 election to Valérie Plante, becoming the first Montreal mayor in 57 years to lose after only one term.

Elias began her career as an elementary school teacher in Kugluktuk and Arctic Bay in 1980, and at the same time was the head of the language bureau of what was then still a part of the Northwest Territory's Department of Culture and Employment.

He was assigned as first mate to RCMP schooner ST. ROCH on her maiden voyage to the western Arctic in 1928; later that year he was made skipper, a position he retained until 1948. Under Larsen, called by the Inuit "Hanorie Umiarjuag" or "Henry with the Big Ship," the St.

Edward Richard Schreyer, PC, CC, CMM, teacher, politician, diplomat, premier of Manitoba 1969-1977, governor general of Canada 1979-1984 (born 21 December 1935 in Beausejour, MB). Schreyer was the first New Democrat to form a government anywhere in Canada. He was also the first Manitoban to become governor general. In that post, Schreyer was a strong advocate of bilingualism, the environment and women’s equality, and sought to make Rideau Hall more accessible to Canadians.

Georges-Philéas Vanier, PC, governor general of Canada 1959-67, soldier, diplomat, (born 23 April 1888 in Montreal; died 5 March 1967 in Ottawa). Vanier was the first French Canadian to serve as governor general. As a diplomat, he and his wife helped many Europeans displaced by the Second World War. A devout Christian, he urged love and unity amid the emergence of Quebec separatism in the 1960s. In 1988 he was named the most important Canadian in history by Maclean’s magazine.

Jack Layton, educator, politician, and federal New Democratic Party leader, was born at Montréal, 18 July 1950. He was the son of Robert Layton, a former prominent Québec Liberal who later became a Conservative MP and cabinet minister.

John Walter Jones, farmer, politician, premier of PEI (b at Pownal, PEI 14 Apr 1878; d at Ottawa 31 Mar 1954). An unsuccessful Progressive candidate in the federal election of 1921, Jones was first elected to the provincial legislature as a Liberal in 1935.

John Angus MacLean, farmer, politician, premier of PEI 1979-81 (b at Lewes, PEI 15 May 1914). After serving in WWII, MacLean returned to PEI and contested unsuccessfully the federal elections of 1945 and 1948.

Alexander Wallace Matheson, lawyer, politician, premier of PEI 1953-59 (b at Bellevue, PEI 11 June 1903; d at Charlottetown 3 Mar 1976).

​Guy Rocher, CC, CQ, sociologist, professor and senior civil servant (born 20 April 1924 in Berthierville, Québec).

John Kenneth McKinnon, commissioner of the YUKON TERRITORY (b at Winnipeg, Man, 20 April 1936). McKinnon, though born and educated in Manitoba, has been a long-time resident of the Yukon. He was first elected to the Yukon Legislative Assembly in 1961 and was re-elected in 1967, 1970, and 1974.