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Create AccountMesser, who began playing the violin at five, learned fiddle tunes from local players - his uncle Jim Messer, Bowman Little, Charlie Bell, and others - and Scottish and Irish songs from his mother. At seven he was performing at barn dances, weddings, and other social gatherings in the area.
KATHLEEN EDWARDS had a serious classical musical upbringing, of the sort suitable for the daughter of a senior Canadian diplomat. She played violin from age 5 to 17, studied with National Arts Centre Orchestra violinist Karoly Sziladi and was part of the Ottawa Youth Orchestra.
Walter E. Harris, OC, Gitxsan artist and hereditary chief (born 10 June 1931 in Kispiox, BC; died 12 January 2009). Harris developed the “’Ksan style of Northwest Coast Art” based on Gitxsan culture and history.
Edmund Alleyn, painter (born 9 June 1931 in Québec City, QC; died 24 December 2004 in Montréal, QC).
John Henry Walker, wood engraver, illustrator (born 1831 in Ballamony, Northern Ireland; died 1899 in Montréal, QC).
Zacharie Vincent, known as Telariolin, was an Aboriginal artist (born 28 January 1815 in the village of Jeune-Lorette, Québec — formerly Village-Huron, today the Wendake Reserve; died 9 October 1886 in Québec City).
Tony Burgess, novelist, screenwriter and musician (born 7 September 1959 in Toronto, ON).
Jackie Richardson, actor, singer (born 1947 in Donora, Pennsylvania). Jackie Richardson is an award-winning singer and actor whose career spans more than five decades. She has been called Canada’s reigning queen of jazz, blues and gospel, and has received a Maple Blues Award for lifetime achievement. She is also a Gemini Award and Dora Award-winning actor who has appeared in numerous musical theatre productions, films and television series. In 2014, the Toronto Star named Richardson one of 180 people who have helped shaped the city since it was founded. She was made an Honorary Member of the Order of Canada in 2021.
Farley Mowat, OC, author, environmentalist, activist (born 12 May 1921 in Belleville, Ontario; died 6 May 2014 in Port Hope, ON). Farley Mowat is one of Canada's most widely read authors. His books have been translated into 52 languages and have sold more than 17 million copies around the world. His works are bitterly attacked by some, highly praised by others; few readers remain neutral. His subject is frequently the defense of the natural world: his famous Never Cry Wolf (1963) is credited with changing the stereotypically negative perception of wolves as vicious killers. Sea of Slaughter (1984) chronicles the destruction of species in the North Atlantic. His Virunga: The Passion of Dian Fossey (1987) is a biography of the well-known primatologist.
Raymond Moriyama, CC, O. Ont, architect, planner (born 11 October 1929 in Vancouver, BC). A Companion of the Order of Canada and winner of a Governor General’s Award in Visual and Media Arts, Raymond Moriyama is recognized for several landmark buildings both in Canada and abroad. He is renowned for his sensitivity in considering and addressing human scale, for his humanistic approach to design, and his ability to connect architecture with nature and landscape.
Patrick Watson, CC, television producer and host, filmmaker, author, actor (born 23 December 1929 in Toronto, ON; died 4 July 2022). Patrick Watson is perhaps best known as a creator, producer and co-host of CBC TV’s popular and influential current affairs program This Hour Has Seven Days (1964–66). He was a noted journalist and filmmaker and the creative director and principal writer of the original Heritage Minutes. He also served as chairman of the CBC during its controversial restructuring in the early 1990s. Watson was named an Officer in the Order of Canada in 1981. He was promoted to Companion in 2001.
Bertha Skye, cook, entrepreneur, Indigenous Elder (born 1932 on Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation, SK). From a young age, Skye learned to cook and used her talent to feed those in her community. She was chosen to participate in the 1992 Culinary Olympics, where she and her teammates won several medals, including a gold for Skye’s corn, bean, and squash soup (also know as Three Sisters soup). Among other advisory positions, Skye has served as an Elder in Residence at various post-secondary institutions in Ontario.
This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on November 11, 1996. Partner content is not updated.
It was a radiant day last summer when Carol SHIELDS returned home to Winnipeg, a shimmering day in early July. But by late afternoon, the heat was beginning to take its toll, and it would be some time before the city's canopied elms would work their evening magic, casting shadows down the boulevard.
Isabelle Panneton's catalogue includes some 20 works, which have been performed both in Quebec and abroad, notably in Paris, Vienna, Geneva, and Brussels.
Paul Kane, painter (born 3 September 1810 in Mallow, County Cork, Ireland; died 20 February 1871 in Toronto, ON).
Gwendolyn MacEwen, writer (born 1 September 1941 in Toronto, ON; died 30 November 1987 in Toronto, ON).
ON A COLD January afternoon three years ago, novelist and teacher David Bergen was walking home from his day job at Winnipeg's Kelvin High School when he spotted a teenage girl seated on the railing of the Maryland Bridge, her legs dangling above the Assiniboine River.
Maureen Jennings, writer (born 23 April 1939 in Birmingham, UK). A talented writer with a keen eye for setting, character and dialogue, Maureen Jennings has helped put historical crime fiction on the Canadian literary map. She has published three series of novels as well as nonfiction, short stories and stage plays, and is best known for her Detective Murdoch series of historical crime novels. Inspired by the career of Ontario detective John Wilson Murray, the Murdoch books have been adapted into the popular, long-running television series Murdoch Mysteries (2008–).
