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H. Wade MacLauchlan, CM, OPEI, MLA, 32nd premier of Prince Edward Island (2015–19), president of University of Prince Edward Island (1999–2011), lawyer, academic (born 10 December 1954 in Stanhope, PEI). MacLauchlan was sworn in as premier of Prince Edward Island on 23 February 2015, becoming the province’s first openly gay premier. The former law professor and university president received the Order of Canada in 2008 and the Order of Prince Edward Island in 2014. He is the author of Alex B. Campbell: The Prince Edward Island Premier Who Rocked the Cradle (2014).

Sir Samuel Hughes, teacher, journalist, soldier, politician (born at Darlington, Canada W 8 Jan 1853; died at Lindsay, Ont 24 Aug 1921). A Conservative and an enthusiastic supporter of Sir John A. Macdonald's National Policy, Sam Hughes was elected to Parliament for Victoria North in 1892.

James Bertram Collip, biochemist, educator, co-discoverer of insulin (born 20 November 1892 in Belleville, ON; died 19 June 1965 in London, ON). Collip is perhaps best recognized for his work into endocrinological research. He was one of the first to isolate the parathyroid hormone. He also contributed to the discovery of insulin in 1922.

Antonio Alfredo Bradanovich, teacher, guitarist, arranger (born 6 October 1913 in Ladner, BC; date of death unknown). Tony Bradan was a Yugoslavian Canadian guitarist who played with Mart Kenney's Western Gentlemen and several CBC Radio orchestras. He also had a distinguished and influential career as a guitar teacher and has been called “the father of modern guitar styles in Canada.” His pupils included Ed Bickert, Rob Piltch and Kim Mitchell.

George Cornell Ebers, neurologist, researcher (born 24 July 1946 in Budapest, Hungary). Ebers has published extensively with more than 300 publications in peer-reviewed journals, three books, 25 book chapters, and multiple editorials to his name. He has contributed significant medical research into multiple sclerosis (MS). A former professor at Western University and the University of Oxford, Ebers was awarded the John Dystel Prize for Multiple Sclerosis Research.

Alexina Diane Louie, OC, OOnt, FRSC, composer, pianist, teacher (born 30 July 1949 in Vancouver, BC). Alexina Louie is one of Canada’s most celebrated composers. She writes music with an imaginative and spiritual blend of Asian and Western influences. Her compositions have earned many prizes, including multiple Juno and SOCAN Awards. Her most significant works include Scenes from a Jade Terrace (1988), Music for Heaven and Earth (1990) and Bringing the Tiger Down from the Mountain II (2004). Louie is the first woman to receive the Jules Léger Prize for New Chamber Music and served as composer-in-residence at the Canadian Opera Company from 1996 to 2002. An Officer of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, she has received the Order of Ontario, the Molson Prize and a Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement.

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.

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).

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.

John Beckwith, CM, composer, writer, educator, pianist, broadcaster, administrator (born 9 March 1927 in Victoria, BC; died 5 December 2022 in Toronto, ON). One of English Canada’s most distinctive composers, John Beckwith created a wealth of music rooted in his sensitive experience of the Canadian environment. Widely read and highly articulate in both official languages, he was dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of Toronto (1970–77) as well as a writer, administrator and broadcaster. A committed champion of Canadian music, Beckwith was for five decades one of the most important influences on Canada’s musical life. He was a Member of the Order of Canada and an associate of the Canadian Music Centre.

William Alexander Blaikie, PC, OC, politician, United Church minister, professor (born 19 June 1951 in Winnipeg, MB; died 24 September 2022 in Winnipeg). Bill Blaikie was an ordained United Church minister and a proponent of social gospel politics. A major figure in the New Democratic Party (NDP), he served as a Member of Parliament (MP) for 29 years. He sought the leadership of the federal NDP in 2003, placing second behind Jack Layton. After retiring from federal politics, he was elected to one term as a Manitoba MLA and served as minister of conservation. He was also an adjunct professor of theology and politics at the University of Winnipeg.

Sylvia Olga Fedoruk, OC, physicist, educator, 17th lieutenant-governor of Saskatchewan (1988-94) (born 5 May 1927 in Canora, SK; died 26 September 2012 in Saskatoon). Fedoruk was a medical physicist who helped advance cancer treatment (see Physics; Contemporary Medicine).

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.

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.

(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.