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Gilles Ste-Croix, OC, street performer, businessman (born 1950 in La Sarre, Quebec). In 1984, Gilles Ste-Croix and Guy Laliberté transformed their troupe of street performers into Cirque du Soleil, the world’s largest circus production company and one of the world’s biggest live entertainment companies. Ste-Croix served as vice-president from the company’s founding and as creative director from 1988 until his retirement in 2014. He is a Companion of the Ordre des arts et des lettres du Québec and an Officer of the Order of Canada.

Toronto’s Chinatown, one of the largest in North America, is an ever-evolving neighbourhood defined by numerous cohorts of Chinese immigrants with a diversity of culture, traditions and languages. (See Chinese Canadians.) Also known as Chinatown West, it is one of three Chinatowns in Toronto, more of the large Chinese settlements are included from the inner suburbs, like Scarborough and North York, and outer suburbs, like Markham, Mississauga and Richmond Hill.

John George Shearer, Presbyterian minister, social reformer (b at Bright, Canada W 9 Aug 1859; d at Toronto 27 Mar 1925). Shearer left parish work in 1900 to become secretary of the LORD'S DAY ALLIANCE, editor of the Lord's Day Advocate and architect of the Lord's Day Act introduced in 1906.

Jens Haven, founder of the Moravian mission in Labrador (b at Wust, Jutland, Denmark 23 June 1724; d at Herrnhut, Saxony [E Germany] 16 Apr 1796). After 10 years at the Moravian settlement at Herrnhut (1748-58), he was sent to the Inuit Mission in Greenland.

Frank Henry Sherman, trade unionist (b at Gloucester, Eng 10 May 1869; d at Fernie, BC 11 Oct 1909). A former chapel preacher and coal miner, he became an ardent socialist and candidate for the Alberta legislature or Parliament in 1905, 1906 and 1908.

Léon Provancher, priest, naturalist (b in the parish of Bécancour, Qué 10 Mar 1820; d at Cap-Rouge, Qué 23 Mar 1892).

Brethren in Christ (identified as "Tunkers" in Canada in the 19th century) were a group of Christians who shared the Anabaptist belief in adult baptism.

Saint André (né Alfred Bessette), faith healer, religious counsellor (born 9 August 1845 in St-Grégoire-d'Iberville, Canada East; died 6 January 1937 in Montréal, QC).

Immigration of Cambodians to Canada is relatively recent. From 1980 to 1992, Canada welcomed more than 18,000 Cambodia refugees who were fleeing the Khmer Rouge regime. They settled in Canada’s major urban areas. In the 2016 Census, 38,490 people reported being of Cambodian ethnic origin. Over the years since Cambodians began immigrating to Canada, many Cambodian Canadians have become distinguished in their fields; examples include actress Ellen Wong, journalist Chan Tep and graffiti artist FONKi.

The history of Indigenous peoples in Canada begins much earlier than any other group living here — and is far more complex.

Tsimshian (Tsim-she-yan, meaning “Inside the Skeena River”) is a name that is often broadly applied to Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, speaking languages of the Tsimshian language family. In the 2016 census, 2,695 people reported speaking a Tsimshian language, with the largest concentration (98.1 per cent) living in British Columbia. Another 5,910 people claimed Tsimshian ancestry.

​It is often said that the Inuit have dozens of words to refer to snow and ice. Anthropologist John Steckley, in his book White Lies about the Inuit (2007), notes that many often cite 52 as the number of different terms in Inuktitut. This belief in a high number of words for snow and ice has been sharply criticized by a large number of linguists and anthropologists.

The Black Cross Nurses (BCN) is an auxiliary group intended for female members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA). The BCN was modeled on the nurses of the Red Cross. Its first chapter was launched in Philadelphia in May 1920. Under the leadership of Henrietta Vinton Davis, the BCN quickly became one of the UNIA’s most popular and iconic auxiliary groups. Offering a safe and inviting place for the Black community, UNIA halls became important cultural hubs in many cities and towns across Canada, where BCN divisions were also established. Although they were not professionally trained nurses, members of the BCN were expected to provide care and advice on matters of health and hygiene.

Christie Blatchford, journalist, newspaper columnist, writer, broadcaster (born 20 May 1951 in Rouyn-Noranda, QC; died 12 February 2020 in Toronto, ON). Christie Blatchford was one of Canada’s best-known journalists. In a career spanning five decades, she wrote for all of Canada’s national daily newspapers — the Globe and Mail, the Toronto Star and the National Post — as well as the Toronto Sun. She also published several books, including Fifteen Days: Stories of Bravery, Friendship, Life and Death from Inside the New Canadian Army (2008), which won the Governor General’s Literary Award for Non-Fiction. Blatchford won a National Newspaper Award for her columns in 1999 and was inducted into the Canadian News Hall of Fame in November 2019. She was a conservative writer who focused mainly on crime, human suffering and criminal justice. Her often controversial views prompted strong reactions and media responses.

George Copway, or Kahgegagahbowh, meaning "He Who Stands Forever," Mississauga (Ojibwa) translator, Methodist minister, lecturer, author (b near present-day Trenton, Ont 1818; d at Oka, Lake of Two Mountains, Qué Jan 1869).

Charles Bradley Templeton, evangelist, journalist, broadcaster, editor, author (b at Toronto 7 Oct 1915, d there 7 June 2001). Templeton began a career in journalism as a sports cartoonist.

David Anderson, Church of England bishop (b at London, Eng 10 Feb 1814; d at Clifton, near Bristol, Eng 5 Nov 1885). Grandson of a Presbyterian minister and son of an East India Co surgeon, he was educated at Edinburgh and Oxford (BA 1836, MA 1839, DD 1849).

The following article is a feature from our Vancouver Feature series. Past features are not updated.

George Sidney Brett, philosopher (b at Briton Ferry, Wales 5 Aug 1879; d at Toronto 27 Oct 1944).

Adrien Arcand, journalist, demagogue and fascist (b at Québec City 1899; d at Montréal 1 Aug 1967). A fanatical and shrill-voiced follower of Adolf Hitler, Arcand edited several newspapers and founded and led a series of far-right Québec-based political parties.