Search for "New France"

(Mary) Frances James. Soprano, teacher, b Saint John, NB, 3 Feb 1903, d Victoria, BC, 22 Aug 1988. She spent her childhood in Halifax and Montreal and took her main formative studies on a four-year scholarship at the McGill Cons with Walter Clapperton.

Charles Albert Edwin Harriss, composer, impresario, educator, organist-choirmaster, conductor (born 16 December 1862 in London, England; died 31 July 1929 in Ottawa, ON).

George Baird, CM, architect, critic, educator, author (born 25 August 1939 in Toronto, ON).

After a leave-taking recital, Fischer left for London to complete her training at the RCM 1919-22 with Cecilia M. Hutchinson.

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.

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.

Augustus Stephen Vogt, choral conductor, educator, administrator, organist, pianist (born 14 August 1861 in Washington, Canada West; died 17 September 1926 in Toronto, ON).

Ronald William Collier, OC, trombonist, composer, arranger, conductor, teacher (born 3 July 1930 in Coleman, AB; died 22 October 2003 in Toronto, ON).

Robertson William Davies, CC, OOnt, writer, journalist, professor (born 28 August 1913 in Thamesville, ON 28 Aug 1913; died 2 December 1995 in Orangeville, ON).

Laure Waridel, CM, CQ, social activist, author, environmentalist, lecturer and columnist (born 10 January 1973 in Chesalles-sur-Oron, Switzerland). Regarded as one of the 25 most influential political personalities in Québec, Laure Waridel holds an honorary doctorate from the Université du Québec à Rimouski, the Insigne du mérite from the Université de Montréal, and the rank of Knight of the Order of La Pléiade. She is a co-founder of Équiterre, a Québec organization that encourages individuals and governments to make choices that are fair, ecological and consistent with the principles of solidarity. The author of a number of books and essays on environmental issues, Waridel has contributed to many magazines, such as Voir and Reader’s Digest, in addition to hosting the radio show Acheter, c’est voter on Radio-Canada. She is currently strategic advisor for CIRODD, an interdisciplinary centre for research on operationalization of sustainable development. This centre is based at Polytechnique Montréal, and its membership includes over 80 researchers.

(Albert) Richard Johnston. Teacher, administrator, composer, editor, critic, b Chicago 7 May 1917, naturalized Canadian 1957, d Calgary 16 Aug 1997; B MUS (Northwestern) 1942, M MUS (ESM, Rochester) 1945, PH D (ESM, Rochester) 1951. His first teacher was Ruth Crazier-Curtis.

Jane Vance Rule, CM, OBC, writer, teacher and activist (born 28 March 1931 in Plainfield, NJ; died 27 November 2007 in Galiano Island, BC). Rule was a ground-breaking novelist and essayist whose work explored the lives of lesbians, beginning at a time when homosexuality was still a crime in Canada (see LGBT Rights in Canada). Her first novel, Desert of the Heart, is perhaps her best known. It was adapted into the film Desert Hearts in 1986. Rule is the author of seven novels and several collections of essays and short stories. She was awarded the Order of British Columbia in 1998 and the Order of Canada in 2007.

Robert Turner (Comrie). Composer, radio producer, teacher, b Montreal 6 Jun 1920, died Winnipeg 26 Jan 2012; B MUS (McGill) 1943, M MUS (Peabody College) 1950, D MUS (McGill) 1953.

Otto Joachim. Composer, teacher, violist, violinist, b Düsseldorf 13 Oct 1910, naturalized Canadian 1957, d Montreal 30 Jul 2010; hon LLD (Concordia) 1994. Joachim's father, Emil Joachimsthal, was an opera singer. Joachim studied the violin 1916-28 at the Buths-Neitzel Conservatory.