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Mercure, Pierre. Composer, TV producer, bassoonist, administrator, b Montreal 21 Feb 1927, d in an accident near Avallon, France, 29 Jan 1966; premier prix harmony, counterpoint, deuxième prix bassoon (CMM) 1949.

Bernard Labadie. Conductor, b Quebec City 27 Mar 1963; B MUS (Laval) 1986, premier prix harmony (CMM) 1988, deuxième prix counterpoint (CMQ) 1989. Labadie's interest in music, especially Baroque music, started when he received an album of Bach's Mass in B Minor at age 11.

William Arthur Steel, radio pioneer (b 3 Nov 1890; d at Ottawa 28 Nov 1968).

Wilson-McAllister Guitar Duo. Duo active 1977-89 and comprised of Donald (William) Wilson (b Elrose, Sask, 21 Feb 1952; B MUS Toronto 1975), and Peter McAllister (b Collingwood, Ont, 19 Aug 1954; B MUS Toronto 1977). Both were students of Eli Kassner.

Sir Samuel Hughes, teacher, journalist, soldier, politician (born at Darlington, Canada W 8 Jan 1853; died at Lindsay, Ont 24 Aug 1921). A Conservative and an enthusiastic supporter of Sir John A. Macdonald's National Policy, Sam Hughes was elected to Parliament for Victoria North in 1892.

Kathleen Howard. Contralto, b Clifton (Niagara Falls), Ont, 17 Jul 1880, d Hollywood 15 Aug 1956. She was a child when her English parents emigrated to Buffalo, but she returned to Canada in 1903 to tour as soloist with the Coldstream Guards.

Albert Clerk-Jeannotte. Tenor, teacher, administrator, b St-Hilaire (now Mont-St-Hilaire), near Montreal, 15 Jan 1881, d New York 21 Jul 1945. He began music study with his uncle, Alexandre-M. Clerk, and with Achille Fortier.

George Francis Gillman Stanley, historian, educator, lt-gov of NB (b at Calgary, Alta 6 July 1907; d at Sackville, NB, 13 Sept 2002).

Louise Bessette. Pianist, b Montreal 20 Jun 1959; premier prix chamber music (Conservatoire de musique du Québec à Montréal [CMM]) 1979; premier prix piano (CMM) 1980.

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.

The Basilian Fathers, or Congregation of St Basil, founded in France in 1822, are now centred in Toronto. They came to Canada in 1850 and in 1852 founded St Michael's College there.

Pierre Duval (born Ovide Coutu), tenor (born 17 September 1932 in Montreal, QC; died 31 May 2004 in Laval, QC). He took lessons from Frank Rowe in Montreal and from Rachele Maragliano-Mori 1956-7 in Rome and in 1958 at the Accademia Santa Cecilia. He continued his studies 1958-9 at the CMM with Dina Maria Narici.

The immigration of Laotian nationals to Canada is relatively recent, having begun in earnest in the late 1970s. After the withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam in March 1973, mainland Southeast Asia (former Indochina) was left at the mercy of revolutionary forces in the region. In 1975, at the end of a 20-year-long civil war, communist revolutionaries of the Pathet Lao (Lao State) movement took power, abolished the monarchy and proclaimed the Lao People’s Democratic Republic. Living conditions deteriorated in Laos, as they did in Vietnam and Cambodia. Former civil and military officials were sent to labour camps and their families were denied access to employment and education. These difficult economic conditions, combined with an increasingly forceful communist regime and violations of human rights, sparked a mass migration in the region. Like Vietnamese, Laotians left their country in makeshift vessels, facing perilous conditions on the Mekong River and then the China Sea. This is the origin of the name often used to refer to these migrants: “boat people.” From 1979 to 1982, Canada welcomed nearly 8,000 Laotians. Approximately 20 per cent were of Chinese origin. Supported by the federal government and private sponsor groups, they resettled in various parts of Canada. Today, however, the Laotian population is concentrated in Québec and Ontario. In the 2016 Census of Canada, 24,590 people reported being of Laotian origin.

Phyllis (Margaret) Mailing. Mezzo-soprano, teacher, b Brantford, Ont, 4 Nov 1929, d West Vancouver, B.C., 26 Nov 2004; ARCT voice and piano 1950, honorary FRHCM 1978.

Tessa Virtue, figure skater (born 17 May 1989 in London, ON) and Scott Moir, figure skater (born 2 September 1987 in London, ON). Virtue and Moir are the most successful Canadian ice dance team of the early 21st century, and were the first North Americans to win the Olympic Gold Medal for ice dance, at the 2010 Vancouver Olympic Games. At the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, they won silver in ice dance and in the team competition. They won gold in ice dance and in the team competition at the 2018 Olympic Winter Games in PyeongChang, becoming the most decorated figure skaters in Olympic history. They have also won four world championships (three senior and one junior), three Four Continents championships, nine Canadian championships (eight senior and one junior) and multiple Grand Prix events, including a Grand Prix Final.

Hesselberg, Edouard (Gregory). Pianist, composer, b Riga, Latvia 3 May 1870, d Los Angeles 12 Jun 1935. He studied at the Cons of the Moscow Philharmonic Society and privately with Anton Rubinstein.

Plume Latraverse, born Michel Latraverse, author, composer, performer and writer (b at Montréal 11 May 1946).

Georges (Joseph-Édouard) Dufresne. Tenor, radio producer, b Nicolet, Que, 21 May 1894, d Montreal 25 Jun 1973. After receiving his formal education at the Nicolet Seminary, he settled in Montreal, where he studied with Rodolphe Mathieu and Albert Clerk-Jeannotte.

Lynda Gaudreau, choreographer, artistic director, teacher, advisor (born at Sept- ëles, Qué). Lynda Gaudrea's academic background is in art history and philosophy from the University of Ottawa, Université de Montréal and Université de Québec à Montréal, and she trained in jazz and classical DANCE.

(Joseph René) Jacques (André) Beaudry, conductor (born 10 October 1924 in Sorel, QC; died 3 June 2017 in Sorel). BA (Montreal) 1945.