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Maureen Kathleen Stewart Forrester, CC, O.ON, OQ, opera and recital singer, teacher, arts administrator (born 25 July 1930 in Montreal, QC; died 16 June 2010 in Toronto, ON). Maureen Forrester was one of Canada’s greatest and best-known classical singers. She was renowned for her remarkable trumpet-like contralto and her deeply emotive musical interpretations. The only classical performer other than Glenn Gould to be inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame, she was admired greatly at home and abroad for her recitals, recordings and opera performances. She also served as chair of the Canada Council for the Arts, director of du Maurier Arts and chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University. She received the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award, the Molson Prize, the Diplôme d’honneur from the Canadian Conference of the Arts and the Canadian Music Council Medal, as well as numerous other honours.

Hugh Alexander Fraser, pianist, trombonist, composer, teacher (born 26 October 1958 in Victoria, BC; died 17 June 2020). Two-time Juno Award-winner Hugh Fraser enjoyed great success with his 13-piece big band Vancouver Ensemble of Jazz Improvisation (VEJI, or “Veggie”) and with the Hugh Fraser Quintet. He composed over 200 jazz works, including many commissions, and taught at the Banff Centre for the Arts, the Royal Academy of Music in London, and the University of Victoria. He set up the diploma jazz program at the Victoria Conservatory of Music in 2001. Jazz Report named Fraser Canadian trombonist of the year in 1996 and 1998.

Residential schools were government-sponsored religious schools that many Indigenous children were forced to attend. They were established to assimilate Indigenous children into Euro-Canadian culture. Indigenous parents and children did not simply accept the residential-school system. Indigenous peoples fought against – and engaged with – the state, schools and other key players in the system. For the duration of the residential-school era, parents acted in the best interests of their children and communities. The children responded in ways that would allow them to survive.

Gérard Bouchard, Québécois historian and sociologist, internationally renowned public intellectual (born 26 December 1943 in Jonquière, Quebec). His work covers a variety of topics, namely nationalism, collective identity and imaginary, the Québécois society and diversity management. In 2007-2008, Bouchard and philosopher Charles Taylor co-chaired the Consultation Commission on Accommodation Practices Related to Cultural Differences in Quebec.

Quenten Doolittle, composer, violinist, violist, teacher, conductor (born 21 May 1925 in Elmira, New York).

James George Eayrs, political scientist, educator (born 13 October 1926 in London, England; died 6 February 2021 in Toronto, ON). Educated at the University of Toronto, Columbia and London School of Economics, Eayrs was Eric Dennis Memorial Professor of Political Science and Government at Dalhousie University. He taught at the University of Toronto (1952–80) and at Dalhousie University (1980–92) and was editor of the International Journal (1959–84).

Adolphus Egerton Ryerson, Methodist minister, educator (born 24 March 1803 in Charlotteville Township, Norfolk County, Upper Canada; died 18 February 1882 in Toronto, Ontario). Egerton Ryerson was a leading figure in education and politics in 19th century Ontario. He helped found and edit the Christian Guardian (1829) and served as president of the Methodist Church of Canada (1874–78). As superintendent of education in Canada West, Ryerson established a system of free, mandatory schooling at the primary and secondary level — the forerunner of Ontario’s current school system. He also founded the Provincial Normal School (1847), which eventually became the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE). Ryerson also served as principal of Victoria College, which he helped found in 1836 as the Upper Canada Academy. He was also, however, involved in the development of residential schools in Canada. This has led to increasing calls to rename Ryerson University (now Toronto Metropolitan University) and other institutions named in his honour.

Alfred Schmitz Shadd, educator, physician, farmer, politician, pharmacist, editor, civic leader (born 1870 in Raleigh Township, Kent County, ON; died 1915 in Winnipeg, MB).

Richard (Templar) Semmens. Musicologist, teacher (born 27 December 1950 in Vancouver, BC; died 2022 in London, ON). B MUS (British Columbia) 1973, M MUS (British Columbia) 1975, PH D (Stanford) 1980.

David Lloyd Blackwood, CM, O Ont, printmaker, painter (born 7 November 1941 in Wesleyville [now New-Wes-Valley], NL; died 2 July 2022 in Port Hope, ON). David Blackwood was considered one of Canada's most important etchers (see printmaking). Dubbed “Newfoundland’s gothic master” by the Globe and Mail, Blackwood’s work often depicts the treacherous seafaring life of his native Newfoundland. He taught at Trinity College School in Port Hope, Ontario, and served as honorary chair of the Art Gallery of Ontario.

Irving Martin Abella, CM, O Ont, FRSC, historian, professor, administrator (born 2 July 1940 in Toronto, ON; died 3 July 2022). Irving Abella was a professor of history at York University from 1968 to 2013. He was a pioneer in the field of Canadian labour history and also specialized in the history of Jewish people in Canada. Abella was co-author of the book None Is Too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe 1933–1948, which documented antisemitism in the Canadian government’s immigration policies. Abella served as president of the Canadian Jewish Congress from 1992 to 1995 and helped establish the Centre for Jewish Studies at York University. He was a Member of the Order of Canada and the Order of Ontario and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Audrey Bernice Farnell, soprano, teacher (born 28 July 1921 in Amherst, NS; died 11 September 1995 in Toronto, ON). Audrey Farnell enjoyed a prominent career as both a soloist and recitalist. After winning the 1945–46 Singing Stars of Tomorrow competition, she performed with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir, the Montreal Elgar Choir, the Halifax Choral Society and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra, among others. She also performed for Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip during their first Royal Tour of Canada in 1951. Farnell later taught at the Alberta College Music Centre and at the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Northern Youth Abroad is a registered not-for-profit charity. Since 1998, it has provided education and travel opportunities for over 550 young people, aged 15 to 22, from every community in Nunavut and the Northwest Territories. The programs are designed to foster cross-cultural awareness and global citizenship, while building the self-confidence and self-esteem necessary to help develop life and career goals.

Although the first residential schools in Canada were established with the intention of assimilating First Nations children into Euro-Canadian culture, Métis and Inuit children were also institutionalized in such facilities. Métis children experienced similar day-to-day conditions to those of other students in residential schools, but they were often considered “outsiders” by their peers and administrators. This perception affected their experiences within these institutions in particular ways.

Robert England, teacher, railway administrator, civil servant (born 15 September 1894 in Portadown, Northern Ireland; died 14 June 1985 in Victoria, BC). England had a varied education and an even more varied career. However, his contributions to Canadian society were primarily in the fields of rural education, immigration and cultural pluralism, veterans’ rehabilitation and citizenship.

Angela Sidney (née Johns), (Stóow Ch’óonehte’ Máa), CM, Elder, storyteller, author (born 4 January 1902 near Carcross, YT; died 17 July 1991 in Whitehorse, YT). Of Tagish and Tlingit descent, Sidney was one of the last fluent speakers of the Tagish language. A storyteller, Sidney recorded and preserved the stories, traditions, languages, place names and genealogies of her people. She was the first Indigenous woman from Yukon to be appointed to the Order of Canada.

The Underground Railroad was a secret organization. It was made up of people who helped African Americans escape from slavery in the southern United States. The people in this organization set up a system of routes that escaped slaves could travel to find freedom in the northern United States and Canada. In the 1800s (the 19th century) between 30,000 and 40,000 escaped slaves travelled to British North America (Canada) through the Underground Railroad.

(This article is a plain-language summary of the Underground Railroad in Canada. If you are interested in reading about this topic in more depth, please see our full-length entry on The Underground Railroad.)

Marguerite Marie Gignac, soprano, teacher (born 17 July 1928 in Windsor, ON; died 4 May 2022 in Maplewood, Minnesota). Artist Diploma (RCMT) 1951, DMA (Michigan) 1989. She studied 1939-48 at the Music School of the Ursulines in Windsor and then enrolled at the RCMT, where she worked with Ernesto Vinci; during the summers 1950-2 she was a pupil of Edith Piper at the Juilliard School in New York. She was organist 1943-7 at Sacré-Coeur Church in LaSalle, Ont.

(Mary) Alma Brock-Smith, (b Sheasgreen). Pianist, teacher, born Concord, Mass, 21 Feb 1908, died 18 Oct 2009, naturalized Canadian 1971; ATCM 1927. As a young woman she lived in Saskatoon. She taught there privately 1924-34 and studied 1927-38 with Lyell Gustin.