Search for "New France"

Yvan Bienvenue, poet, playwright, producer, translator, publisher (b at Saint-Hyacinthe, Qué 14 August 1962). Yvan Bienvenue studied playwriting at the École nationale de théâtre du Canada in the late 1980s and co-founded the Théâtre Urbi et Orbi with Stéphane Jacques in 1992.

Alan Cumyn, writer (b at Ottawa 1960). Alan Cumyn was born and grew up in Ottawa. He spent one year at Royal Roads Military College in Victoria, BC, and then transferred to Queen's University, where he completed a BA in English and History.

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.

Barrie Phillip Nichol, "bpNichol," writer, sound poet, editor, teacher (b at Vancouver 30 Sept 1944; d at Toronto 25 Sept 1988). bpNichol's tragic early death in 1988 robbed us of one of Canada's leading experimental writers, and a truly generous individual and imagination.

Ann-Marie MacDonald, playwright, actor, novelist, (born at Baden-Baden, West Germany 29 Oct 1958).

Alison Calder, poet (born in London, England on 21 Dec 1969).

Austin Chesterfield Clarke, novelist, short-story writer, journalist (born 26 July 1934 in St. James, Barbados; died 26 June 2016 in Toronto, ON).

Bonnie Sherr Klein, director, producer, author, motivational speaker, disability rights activist (b at Philadelphia, Penn 1 April 1941).

Afua (Ava Pamela) Cooper, educator, historian, performance artist, poet (born 8 November 1957 in the Whithorn district of Westmoreland, Jamaica), is considered one of the most influential and pioneering voices in the Canadian dub poetry and spoken word movement. Her poems are published in numerous regional, national and international journals and anthologies. Afua Cooper also has CDs of her performances that make her work well known to the global community. In addition to her renown as a performance artist, she is an internationally-ranked historian. She has taught Caribbean cultural studies, history, women's studies and Black studies at Ryerson and York universities, at the University of Toronto and at Dalhousie University.

Maria Campbell, O.C., Cree-Métis writer, playwright, filmmaker, scholar, teacher and elder (born 26 April 1940 in Park Valley, SK). Campbell’s memoir Halfbreed (1973) is regarded as a foundational piece of Indigenous literature in Canada for its attention to the discrimination, oppression and poverty that some Métis women (and Indigenous people, in general) experience in Canada. Campbell has authored several other books and plays, and has directed and written scripts for a number of films. As an artist, Campbell has worked with Indigenous youth in community theatre and advocated for the hiring and recognition of Indigenous people in the arts. She has mentored many Indigenous artists during her career.

Andrew Suknaski, poet (born at Wood Mountain, SK 30 July 1942; died at Moose Jaw, SK 3 May 2012).

Author Lee Maracle reflects on the presentation of the summary of the report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission by Justice Murray Sinclair on 2 June 2015.

Anna Harriette Edwards Leonowens (born 6 November 1831 in Ahmadnagar, India; died 19 January 1915 in Montreal, Quebec). Anna Leonowens was an educator, author and lecturer who became famous as the British governess to the wives and children of King Mongkut (Rama IV) of Siam (now Thailand) in the 1860s. After leaving Siam, she emigrated to Canada, where she advocated for women’s suffrage, taught at McGill University and helped found what is now the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design. She was the inspiration for Margaret Landon’s historical novel, Anna and the King of Siam (1944), and the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical The King and I (1951).

Ludger Duvernay, newspaperman, editor, printer, politician, Patriote (born 22 January 1799 in Verchères, Lower Canada; died 28 November 1852 in Montréal, Canada East).

​Thaïs Lacoste-Frémont, women’s rights activist, journalist, speaker (born 18 October 1886 in Montréal, Québec; died there 6 April 1963).

John Wesley Dafoe, journalist and liberal reformer (born 8 March 1866 in Combermere, Canada West; died 9 January 1944 in Winnipeg, Manitoba).

Alphonse Desjardins, journalist, parliamentary reporter, founder of the Desjardins Group (born 5 November 1854 in Lévis, Québec; died 31 October 1920 in Lévis, Québec).

Marie Arzélie Éva Circé-Côté, journalist, writer and librarian (born 31 January 1871 in Montréal, QC; died 4 May 1949 in Montréal, QC). A poet and playwright, Éva Circé-Côté was the city of Montréal’s first librarian as well as the curator of the prestigious Philéas Gagnon collection. Throughout her career as a journalist, she wrote over 1,800 pieces for about a dozen newspapers under several pseudonyms. A progressive, secular free thinker, she fought for compulsory education and the status of women.

Joseph-Israël Tarte, journalist and politician (born 11 January 1848 in Lanoraie, Canada East; died 18 December 1907 in Montréal, QC). A brilliant, caustic and often impulsive polemicist, Tarte was the owner and editor-in-chief of several newspapers throughout his career, including Le Canadien, L’Événement, La Patrie and the Quebec Daily Mercury, which he used to support various political factions and causes.