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Canada has been involved in various wars from the beginning of its colonial history. Just as the nature of these wars has changed over time, so, too, has their effect on Canadian women. Women have actively participated in war, from nursing and munitions manufacturing during the First and Second World Wars to the increasing involvement of Canadian women in the military.

The role of Black people within the history of the fur trade is rarely considered. Black people were rarely in a position to write their own stories, so often those stories went untold. This owes to a complex set of factors including racism and limited access to literacy. Black people are also not the focus of many historical documents. However, historians have identified several Black fur traders working in different roles, and even an entire family of Black fur traders who left their mark on history.

Joy Nozomi Kogawa (née Nakayama), CM, OBC, poet, novelist, activist (born 6 June 1935 in Vancouver, BC). Joy Kogawa is one of the most influential Canadian authors of Japanese descent. She is celebrated both for her moving, fictionalized accounts of the internment of Japanese Canadians and her work in the Redress Movement to obtain compensation and reparation for her community. She is a Member of the Order of Canada and the Order of British Columbia, as well as Japan’s Order of the Rising Sun.

Mortifee, Ann. Composer, singer, actress, b Durban, South Africa, 30 Nov 1947, naturalized Canadian 1961; BA (British Columbia) 1968. While studying English 1964-8 at the University of British Columbia, she began her career as a folk and blues singer-guitarist at the Bunkhouse.

Zoe Whittall, novelist, poet, journalist (b at South Durham, Que 16 Feb 1976). After growing up on a sheep farm in the rural Eastern Townships of Québec, Zoe Whittall moved to Montréal at age 18 to attend Dawson College and begin her writing career.

Nicolas Dickner, writer (b at Rivière-du-Loup, Qué 1972). After studies in literature and the visual arts, Nicolas Dickner found himself travelling in South America, where he held diverse positions in the not-for-profit sector (Dominican Republic), and as a website designer (Peru).

Kornelius (Herman) Neufeld. Choir conductor, educator, administrator, composer, b Nikolajewa, south Russia, 10 Dec 1892, d Winkler, Man, 14 Jan 1957. As a youth he studied voice at the Moscow Cons and with Max Pohl in Berlin and sang in Moscow's Simin Opera Chorus.

Margaret Visser, classicist, social anthropologist, writer (b 1940 in South Africa). Margaret Visser grew up in Africa, attending boarding school in the British colony of Northern Rhodesia (now Zambia). She went on to study at the Sorbonne, in Paris, before moving to Canada in 1964.

As the threat of another world war loomed ever larger, Canadians, far from the conflict, would face a difficult choice of whether to stand again with Britain or remain isolated and safe in North America.

"Two nations warring in the bosom of a single state" was Lord Durham's assessment of the relationship between Lower Canada's French Canadian and British Canadian communities in the 1830s.

John Neilson, newspaperman, publisher, editor, politician (born 17 July 1776 in Balmaghie, Kirkcudbrightshire, Scotland; died 1 February 1848 in Québec City, Canada East). A staunch moderate, John Neilson supported a greater balance of power in the colony. Sympathetic to French-Canadians, he was a deputy with the Parti canadien in the Legislative Assembly – which later became the Parti patriote – and broke away when the party radicalized in the 1830s. Though he opposed the party’s republican and nationalist policies, Neilson continued to fight for French-Canadians, heavily condemning the Union of the Canadas in 1841.

Frederick Temple Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, 1st Marquess of Dufferin and Ava, governor general of Canada from 1872 to 1878 (born 21 June 1826 in Florence, Italy; died 12 February 1902 in Bangor, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom). Dufferin and his wife, Lady Dufferin, were the first viceregal couple since Confederation to become prominent figures in Canadian society, touring all provinces and meeting with Canadians from a wide variety of regions and social backgrounds. Dufferin set key precedents for future governors general with his extensive travel and granting of academic and athletic honours to Canadians.

Andrew Hamilton Gault, army officer (born in England 18 August 1882; died at Montréal 28 November 1958). Of Canadian parents, he attended McGill University. Commissioned in the 2nd Canadian Mounted Rifles, he served in the South African War and joined the Canadian Militia on return to Canada.

Pierre (Hugues) Beaudet. Pianist, producer, b Thetford-Mines, Que, south of Quebec City, 20 Jan 1924. Brother of Jean-Marie Beaudet. He first studied piano with Léo-Pol Morin in Montreal. At the CMM 1943-6 his teachers were Germaine Malépart (piano) and Gabriel Cusson (ear training).

Odette de Foras. Soprano, teacher, b Savoie, France, ca 1895, d Calgary 31 Dec 1976 or 1 Jan 1977. She spent her youth in Paris and at the Château de Thuyset, near Lake Geneva. With her family, she settled ca 1903 in High River, south of Calgary.

(Joseph) Omer Dumas. Violoneux, composer, b St-Antoine-Abbé, south of Montreal, 1 Apr 1889, d Montreal 9 Jul 1980. He took up the violin in his youth and studied in Montreal after 1907. In 1912 he began playing in a small group for silent films.

Lee Gagnon. Tenor and alto saxophonist, flutist, arranger, composer, b Amqui, on the Gaspé Peninsula, south of Matane, Que, of US parents, 2 Sep 1934. His teachers at the CMM were Joseph Moretti (clarinet, 1952-6), Arthur Romano, 1954-60), and Rafael Masella (clarinet, 1956-9).

Danièle (b Dorice) Dorice (b Angers). Singer, teacher (born in Quebec City, Quebec, on 23 July 1935; died in Outremont, Quebec, on 12 March 2018). After singing in Quebec City cabarets, she performed in London, then made extensive tours in Europe, South America, and the Far East.

Roland “Rolly” Gravel served as a gunner with The Fusiliers Mont-Royal regiment during the Second World War. He was among the 6,000 troops who landed at the coastal port of Dieppe, France, on 19 August 1942. The attack was a disaster, and Gravel was taken prisoner. Learn all about the hardships Gravel faced as prisoner of war.

Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.