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Vivienne May Poy (née Lee), fashion designer, author, philanthropist, entrepreneur, senator (born 15 May 1941 in Hong Kong). Vivienne Poy is a fashion designer who founded Vivienne Poy Mode in 1981. In 1998, she became the first Canadian of Asian descent to be appointed to the Senate. She is an accomplished author and publisher of histories and biographies. She was also governor of McGill University and chancellor of the University of Toronto, and played a key role in founding Asian Heritage Month in Canada.

David See-Chai Lam, OC, CVO, OBC, 25th lieutenant-governor of BC 1988–95, banker, land developer, philanthropist (born 25 July 1923 in Hong Kong; died 22 November 2010 in Vancouver, BC). After establishing himself as a successful banker in Hong Kong, David Lam moved to Vancouver in 1967 and became a central figure in the city’s real estate development. As a philanthropist, he made major contributions to the cultural life, community spaces and educational institutions of British Columbia. A vocal advocate of immigration and of Canada’s role within the Pacific Rim, Lam served as lieutenant-governor of British Columbia from 1988 to 1995. He was the first person of Asian ancestry to hold a vice-regal post in Canada.

Manzo Nagano, businessman (born 26 November 1853 in Kuchinotsu [Minamishimabara], Nagasaki Prefecture, Japan; died May 1924 in Kuchinotsu [Minamishimabara], Nagasaki Prefecture). Manzo Nagano is the first known Japanese immigrant to Canada. In March 1877, at age 24, he left Japan for the West aboard a British steamer, arriving in May in British Columbia. He eventually settled in Victoria, where he ran a number of businesses. He returned to Japan in failing health in 1923, and died the following year.

William Peyton Hubbard, politician, inventor, baker, coachman (born 27 January 1842 in Toronto, ON; died 30 April 1935 in Toronto). Hubbard was Toronto’s first Black elected official, serving as alderman (1894–1903, 1913) and controller (1898–1908), and as acting mayor periodically. A democratic reformer, he campaigned to make the city’s powerful Board of Control an elected body. Hubbard was also a leading figure in the push for public ownership of hydroelectric power, contributing to the establishment of the Toronto Hydro-Electric System.

Jacques Bougie, administrator (b at Montréal, 1947). Jacques Bougie graduated from the Université de Montréal in law, and from l'École des Hautes Etudes Commerciales in business administration. He began working for Alcan in 1979 as manager for the company's Beauharnois smelter.

Andrew Graham Ballenden Bannatyne, businessman, politician (born 31 October 1829 at South Ronaldsay, Orkney ; died 18 May 1889 at St Paul, Minnesota).

Irene Mary Spry (née Biss), economic historian (born 28 August 1907 in Standerton, Transvaal, South Africa; died 16 December 1998 in Ottawa, ON).

Alexander Stirling MacMillan, businessman, politician, premier of Nova Scotia 1940-45 (b at Upper South River, NS 31 Oct 1871?; d at Halifax 7 Aug 1955).

William Fernie, prospector, miner, entrepreneur (b at Kimbolton, Eng 2 Apr 1837; d at Victoria 15 May 1921). After travelling through Australasia and South America, he came to Vancouver Island in 1860.

Gordon G. Thiessen, economist, banker (b at South Porcupine, Ont 14 Aug 1938). Raised and educated in Saskatchewan, Thiessen joined the BANK OF CANADA in 1963 as a research economist specializing in monetary analysis.

From 1831 Logan managed the Forest Copper Works near Swansea, in South Wales. A systematic thinker by nature, and anxious to find a reliable source of coal, he mapped the nearby coal seams topographically and cross-sectionally.

The introduction of the Eaton catalogue in 1884 gave Canadians, particularly those in pioneer farming communities, access to a variety of merchandise.

Paul Desmarais, financier (born 4 January 1927 in Sudbury, ON; died 8 October 2013 in Charlevoix, QC).

Paul Hahn. Cellist, businessman, b Reutlingen, south of Stuttgart, 11 May 1875, d Balsam Lake, Ont, 20 Jul 1962. Paul Hahn arrived in Canada in 1888 and settled in Toronto. His cello teachers included Rudolph Ruth in Toronto and Alwin Schroeder in Boston.

James McGill, fur trader, merchant, politician, philanthropist (born 6 October 1744 in Glasgow, Scotland; died 19 December 1813 in Montreal, Lower Canada). James McGill was one of Montreal’s most prominent citizens in the 18th and early 19th centuries. He grew a successful career as a fur trader into a business empire. McGill also held various positions in public office, including three terms in Lower Canada’s legislature. His will contained the endowment for McGill University. James McGill’s achievements cannot be separated from the fact that he enslaved Black and Indigenous people and profited from this practice.

The role of Black people within the history of the fur trade is rarely considered. Black people were rarely in a position to write their own stories, so often those stories went untold. This owes to a complex set of factors including racism and limited access to literacy. Black people are also not the focus of many historical documents. However, historians have identified several Black fur traders working in different roles, and even an entire family of Black fur traders who left their mark on history.

Hugh Graham, Baron Atholstan, newspaper publisher (b at Atholstan, Canada E 18 July 1848; d at Montréal 28 Jan 1938). In 1863 Graham went to work on the Montréal Daily Telegraph and by 1869 became a partner in the new evening paper, the Star.

Brandeis Denham Jolly, C.M., teacher, entrepreneur, publisher, broadcaster, philanthropist, civil rights activist, community leader (born 26 August 1935 in Industry Cove, Jamaica). Jolly began his business career by purchasing and operating rooming houses and nursing homes. He later purchased and became the publisher of Contrast, a Black community newspaper in Toronto and established FLOW 93.5, the first Black-owned radio station and the first station in Canada to showcase Black music and the stories of the Black community. Jolly also was involved with or founded and led community groups — such as the Black Action Defence Committee — that sought to end police violence targeting young Black men. Jolly also contributed generously to several causes including scholarships for promising young Black Canadians.

Sir William Price, lumber merchant, manufacturer (b at Talca, Chile 30 Aug 1867; d at Kenogami, Qué 2 Oct 1924). The grandson of William PRICE, young Price was educated at private schools in Québec and England before entering the family firm, Price Bros and Company, in 1886.