Charles Foran
William Charles Foran, writer, journalist and educator (born at Toronto, Ont. 2 August 1960). The son of a FRANCO-ONTARIAN mother and IRISH Canadian father, Foran was raised in Toronto.
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Create AccountWilliam Charles Foran, writer, journalist and educator (born at Toronto, Ont. 2 August 1960). The son of a FRANCO-ONTARIAN mother and IRISH Canadian father, Foran was raised in Toronto.
Charlotte Gray, historian (born in England). Prior to immigrating to Canada from England in 1979, Charlotte Gray attended Oxford University, earning a BA in modern history and later pursuing post-graduate work at the London School of Economics.
Ulrich “Fred” Herzog, photographer, teacher (born 21 September 1930 in Bad Friedrichshall, Germany; died 9 September 2019 in Vancouver, BC). Fred Herzog was a professional medical photographer and a photography instructor at the University of British Columbia and Simon Fraser University. He is best known for his colour photographs of Vancouver street scenes, which documented working-class neighbourhoods and the downtown before they were transformed. His use of colour film was unusual for a fine arts photographer, and his work was largely overlooked for years. His first solo show — at the Vancouver Art Gallery in 2007, when he was 76 — received widespread acclaim.
George Brough, pianist, organist, harpsichordist, opera coach (born 25 February 1918 in Boston, Lincolnshire, England; died 15 September 2015 in Toronto, ON). George Brough was widely recognized as one of Canada's most skilful, reliable and versatile accompanists. Able to sight-read with tremendous proficiency, he provided secure support for hundreds of performers, from students in competitions to professional artists such as Heinz Holliger, Gervase de Peyer, Henri Temianka, Bernard Turgeon and Jon Vickers. He was an assistant conductor and accompanist with the Canadian Opera Company, an organist with the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, and taught at the Banff Centre for the Arts and the University of Toronto.
Jack Lawrence Granatstein, OC, historian, professor (born 21 May 1939 in Toronto, Ontario). One of the most prolific Canadian historians of his generation, Granatstein has written widely on Canadian history and current affairs. A professor of history until his retirement in 1995, Granatstein later became director and CEO of the Canadian War Museum from 1998-2000. He has written over 60 books and is an Officer of the Order of Canada.
Lynne Cohen, photographer, artist, sculptor, printmaker, filmmaker, teacher (born 3 July 1944 in Racine, Wisconsin; died 12 May 2014 in Montreal, QC). Award-winning photographer Lynne Cohen was perhaps best known for winning the inaugural $50,000 Scotiabank Photography Award in 2011. She also won the Canada Council for the Arts’s Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award in 1991 and a Governor General’s Awards in Visual and Media Arts in 2005. Her work focuses on everyday interior spaces and how changes in lighting and framing alter how the viewer perceives these environments. She was also a professor in the Department of Visual Arts at the University of Ottawa from 1974 to 2005.
Olive Patricia Dickason (née Williamson), CM, Métis journalist, historian, university professor, author (born 6 March 1920 in Winnipeg, MB; died 12 March 2011 in Ottawa, ON). Dickason was the first scholar in Canada to receive a PhD in Indigenous history. Her ground-breaking research and books about Indigenous and Métis history and culture transformed how Canadians perceive the origin of their country and Indigenous peoples. Dickason’s work inspired a new generation of scholars, helping to launch Indigenous studies as an area of scholarly research. She received an Order of Canada in recognition of her achievements.
Robin Poitras, CM, dancer, teacher, choreographer, administrator (born 1958 in Regina, SK). Robin Poitras is the co-founder and artistic and managing director of Regina-based New Dance Horizons. It is one of Canada’s most successful and groundbreaking contemporary dance organizations. It has played a crucial role in the development of contemporary dance in Saskatchewan since the mid-1980s. Poitras has received a YWCA Women of Distinction Award for the Arts, as well as lifetime achievement awards from the Regina Mayor’s Arts and Business Awards and the Saskatchewan Arts Board. She was made a Member of the Order of Canada in 2021.
Sandra Birdsell (née Sandra Bartlette), CM, Mennonite-Métis, short-story writer, novelist (born 22 April 1942 in Hamiota, MB). Birdsell’s fiction often investigates the lives of small-town characters, especially women. She has written novels, plays, radio dramas and scripts for television and film. Appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in 2010, Birdsell has been nominated for the Governor General’s Literary Award for English Language Fiction three times, and for the Scotiabank Giller Prize in 2001.
Thomas Watson Kirkconnell, university professor and administrator (born 16 May 1895 in Port Hope, ON; died 26 February 1977 in Wolfville, NS). A professor of English and Classics, Kirkconnell became one of Canada’s most prolific translators and the recipient of honours both at home and abroad. He was a founding member of the Humanities Research Council of Canada (now the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada). An early cultural pluralist, Kirkconnell promoted the tolerance and celebration of European cultures in Canada, a diversity he described using the tapestry metaphor.
Yolande Villemaire, teacher, writer (b at St-Augustin-des-Deux-Montagnes, Qué 28 Aug 1949). After studying dramatic arts at UQAM, where she received her BA (1970) and MA (1974), she taught creative literature at the Rosemont CEGEP.