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Sir David Kirke, trader and privateer, first governor of Newfoundland (born at Dieppe, France c1597; died near London, England 1654). Kirke, with Sir William Alexander, Earl of Stirling, formed the Company of Adventurers, which was granted patents by King Charles I. It gave them the right to trade and settle in Canada. Kirke was the owner of the first recorded Black chattel-slave in New France, Olivier Le Jeune. 

Sven Börje Johansson, CM, choreographer, reindeer specialist (born in Säffle, Värmland, Sweden on 29 August 1924; died 17 October 2018 in Victoria, BC). Johansson participated in the Canadian Reindeer Project, the Geological Survey of Canada and founded the non-profit Discovery Dance Society.

Samuel Wilmot, pisciculturist, farmer, politician (born 22 August 1822 in Clarke Township, West Durham, Upper Canada; died 17 May 1899 in Newcastle, ON). Samuel Wilmot established one of North America’s first fish hatcheries on his farm in Newcastle, Ontario. He began as an amateur working in his basement and became a leading authority on fish culture. Wilmot established 15 hatcheries across Canada and his designs influenced other hatcheries in North America.

John (“Jack”) Thomas Miner, also known as “Wild Goose Jack,” conservationist, lecturer (born 10 April 1865 in Dover Center, Ohio; died 3 November 1944 in Kingsville, ON). In 1904, Jack Miner created one of North America’s first bird sanctuaries. He was also one of the earliest to attach bands to the legs of migratory birds for the scientific study of their habits. Over the course of his lifetime he banded over 90,000 ducks and Canada geese, often inscribing bits of biblical scripture on each band. His records of these birds and their migratory patterns helped persuade the Canadian government to ratify the Migratory Birds Convention Act in 1917.

Joey Angnatok, hunter, fisherman, social entrepreneur, businessman, community leader (born May 1976 in Nain, Newfoundland) has worked with university researchers and his fellow Inuit for more than 30 years collecting climate and other environmental data. At the end of each fishing season, he turns his fishing boat into a marine research vessel.

Marcelle Gauvreau, Quebec scientist, botanist, educator, administrator, writer and journalist (born 28 February 1907 in Rimouski, QC; died 16 December 1968 in Montreal, QC). A botanist by profession, Marcelle Gauvreau made her mark as a teacher, writer, journalist, administrator and faithful collaborator of Frère Marie-Victorin (Conrad Kirouac). Through her books, articles, talks, the school she established, and her desire to promote public interest in plant life, she encouraged many Quebecers to learn about plants and to love nature in the 20th century.

Ferdinand Alphonse Fortunat Larose, agronomist (born 1 April 1888 in Sarsfield, Ontario; died 29 January 1955 in Montreal, Quebec). Throughout his career, Ferdinand Larose focused on agriculture in the United Counties of Prescott and Russel in Eastern Ontario. He is best known for having created the vast Larose Forest in a part of the counties which had become arid after intensive deforestation in the 19th century. The agronomist was also a leader for Franco-Ontarian cultivators. He chaired several cultivator associations and promoted agricultural training for Franco-Ontarians.

Josephine Henrietta Mandamin, Anishinaabe elder, water-rights advocate, Anishinabek Nation Chief Water Commissioner (born 21 February 1942 in Wiikwemikoong Unceded Territory, Manitoulin Island, ON; died 22 February 2019). Mandamin, known as “Grandmother Water Walker” and Biidaasige-ba (“the one who comes with the light”), was a world-renowned water-rights activist. She walked around the Great Lakes from 2003 to 2017 to bring awareness to the problems of water pollution and environmental degradation on the Great Lakes and on Indigenous reserves in Canada. For her activism, Mandamin was awarded the Anishinabek Lifetime Achievement Award (2012) and the Governor General’s Meritorious Service Cross (2018). Her great-niece, Autumn Peltier, followed in Mandamin’s footsteps, becoming the next generation’s “water warrior.”

Samuel de Champlain, cartographer, explorer, colonial administrator, author (born circa 1567 in Brouage, France; died 25 December 1635 in Quebec City). Known as the “Father of New France,” Samuel de Champlain played a major role in establishing New France from 1603 to 1635. He is also credited with founding Quebec City in 1608. He explored the Atlantic coastline (in Acadia), the Canadian interior and the Great Lakes region. He also helped found French colonies in Acadia and at Trois-Rivières, and he established friendly relations and alliances with many First Nations, including the Montagnais, the Huron, the Odawa and the Nipissing. For many years, he was the chief person responsible for administrating the colony of New France. Champlain published four books as well as several maps of North America. His works are the only written account of New France at the beginning of the 17th century.

Roy Lewis Taylor, botanist (born 12 April 1932 in Olds, AB; died 2 May 2013 in Nanaimo, BC). Throughout his career, Taylor held numerous leadership positions at botanical gardens and societies in both Canada and the United States. Taylor was also a founding director of Botanic Gardens Conservation International, an organization working toward the conservation of threatened plants.

Joseph Whiteside Boyle (born 6 November 1867 in Toronto, ON; died 14 April 1923 in Hampton Hill, Middlesex, United Kingdom). Nicknamed Klondike Joe, Boyle founded a gold mining company and became a millionaire in the aftermath of the Klondike gold rush. During the First World War, he equipped a machine gun unit and was a spy with the British secret service in Russia and Romania. He also reorganized the Russian military supply network, rescued Romanian prisoners of war and became the confidant and possibly lover of Queen Marie of Romania.

Fredrick Bodsworth, nature writer (born at Port Burwell, Ont 11 Oct 1918, died 15 Sep 2012).

Archibald Stansfeld Belaney, alias Grey Owl, writer, conservationist (born 18 September 1888 in Hastings, England; died 13 April 1938 in Prince Albert, SK). Grey Owl was a well-known conservationist and writer in the 1930s.

Joshua Slocum, sea captain and author (b at Wilmot Township, NS 20 Feb 1844; d at sea sometime after 14 Nov 1909).

Eenoolooapik, also known as Bobbie, Inuk traveller, guide (born circa 1820 in Qimisuk [or Qimmiqsut], Cumberland Sound, NT; died in 1847 in Cumberland Sound, NU). Eenoolooapik provided British whaling captain William Penny with a map of Cumberland Sound that led to the rediscovery of that area 255 years after English explorer John Davis first saw it. The geographic information Eenoolooapik provided to whalers led to years of permanent whaling camps in Cumberland Sound.

Joseph-Elzéar Bernier, arctic mariner (born 1 January 1852 in L'Islet, QC; died on 26 December 1934 in Lévis, QC). Captain of the government steamship Arctic, Bernier led seagoing expeditions into the Arctic between 1904 and 1911, certifying Canada's claim to the northern archipelago (see Canadian Arctic Exploration; Arctic Archipelago).

John Stuart McIntosh, organist, teacher (born 14 June 1932 in Simcoe, Ontario; died 13 April 2016). ARCT 1954, B MUS (Toronto) 1956, M MUS (ESM) 1961, AAGO (Associate American Guild of Organists) 1967, DMA (ESM) 1973.