Search for "New France"

Gloria Saarinen (b Manson). Pianist, teacher, administrator, b Dunedin, New Zealand 21 Sep 1934, naturalized Canadian 1964; LRSM, B MUS (Otago, New Zealand) 1956, honorary ARAM (London) 1999.

Rosemary Sullivan, writer, professor, poet (b at Valois, Qué, 1947). Rosemary Sullivan's ancestors, whom she chronicles in The Guthrie Road (2009), moved from Ireland to Canada. Sullivan attended MCGILL UNIVERSITY, where she joined Radio McGill and became interested in feminism.

(Joseph) Robert (Fernand) L'Herbier (b Samson). Singer, administrator, songwriter, b Lévis, near Quebec City, 5 Feb 1921. He studied music for 12 years, and his teachers included Alphonse Tardif (piano) in Lévis and Mme Isa Jeynevald-Mercier (voice) in Quebec City.

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.

​Joseph Pierre Claude Gauthier, singer, songwriter and actor (born 31 January 1939 in Lac-Saguay, Québec).

Lefebvre, Gilles. Violinist, organizer, administrator, (Montreal June 30, 1922 - Montreal, May 27, 2001); honorary D LITT (Montreal) 1978, honorary D LITT (Sherbrooke) 1986.

​Filip Konowal, Ukrainian immigrant, Great War soldier, Victoria Cross recipient for valour at the Battle for Hill 70, patron of Branch #360 of The Royal Canadian Legion in Toronto, Parliament Hill janitor (born 25 March 1887 in Kutkiw, Ukraine; died 3 June 1959 in Ottawa, Ontario).

Pierre Perrault, OQ, film director, poet, writer (born 29 June 1927 in Montréal, QC; died 23 June 1999 in Montréal).

Giovanni da Verrazzano, explorer (born in or near Florence circa 1485; died in the West Indies circa 1528). Verrazzano explored North America’s eastern coastline on behalf of France, while searching for a westward route to China. His explorations demonstrated to Europeans that the coast from Florida to Cape Breton was continuous. He also provided Europeans with the first ethnographic account of Indigenous people north of Mexico.

Mavis Leslie Gallant, CC, writer (born 11 August 1922 in Montréal, QC; died 18 February 2014 in Paris, France). In 1950, 28-year-old Montréal native Mavis Gallant decided to do something that many, many before and after her have done.

Isaac Jogues, Jesuit missionary, martyr (b at Orléans, France 10 Jan 1607; d at Auriesville, NY 18 Oct 1646). Jogues entered the Society of Jesus in 1624. Sent to the Canadian missions in 1636, he was captured and tortured

Francis Mankiewicz, filmmaker (b at Shanghai, China 15 Mar 1944; d at Montréal, Qué 14 Oct 1993). His parents fled Nazi Germany, landing in France, then China and Montréal. He studied film in England at the

Jean Guyon, priest, artist (b at Château-Richer, Qué 5 Oct 1659; d at Paris, France 10 Jan 1687). Bishop LAVAL had great hopes for this young Canadian priest, who died before he could create any significant body of work.

1st Viscount Wolseley, Garnet Joseph Wolseley, soldier (b at Golden Bridge House, Ire 4 June 1833; d at Menton, France 25 Mar 1913). Wolseley served with the British army in India, the Crimea and China. In 1861 he was sent to

Jean Belland. Cellist, teacher, b Le Mans, France, 16 Jun 1895, d Montreal 7 Jan 1965; premier prix cello (Cons du Mans) 1911, premier prix cello (Paris Cons). After studies in his native city, he entered the Paris Cons in 1914.

Paul-Émile Borduas, painter (b at St-Hilaire, Qué 1 Nov 1905; d at Paris, France 22 Feb 1960). Leader of the Automatistes and main author of the manifesto Refus Global, he had a profound influence on art in Québec.

Raoul Blanchard, geographer (b at Orléans, France, 1877; d at Paris 1965). He was considered the father of modern geography in Québec, and exercised a profound influence on the future founders of geography departments at universities in Montréal and Québec.

Walter (Wladislaw or Wladyslaw) Eiger. Pianist, composer, arranger, conductor, teacher, b Lodz, Poland, 6 Feb 1917, naturalized Canadian ca 1955. Eiger received his musical training in France, at the University of Grenoble and the École normale de musique in Paris.

Brother Raymondien (b Auguste Schuller). Organist, composer, educator, essayist, b Brunstadt, a suburb of Mulhouse, Alsace, 6 Oct 1882, d Croix, northern France, 24 Aug 1947. He studied with the Christian Brothers of Belfort and entered their community in 1895.

Monseigneur Émile Grouard was energetic and inventive, having steamboats built on the Peace, Slave and Athabasca rivers. He was also respected by the Indigenous peoples of his diocese, and came to learn the Cree, Denesuline (Chipewyan) and Dane-zaa (Beaver) languages.