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Shelton L. Brooks. Songwriter, pianist, comedian, actor, b Amherstburg, near Windsor, Ont, 4 May 1886, d Los Angeles, California, 6 Sep 1975. Brooks played organ and piano at home as a boy, and attended his preacher father's Nazery African Methodist Episcopal Church.

Steve Galluccio, playwright, screenwriter (b at Montréal, 9 Oct 1960). Steve Galluccio, whose plays are, for the most part, rooted in Italian immigrant behaviour, has written box office hits in both English and French.

Herb or Herbie (Herbert Anthony Charles) Spanier. Trumpeter, flügelhornist, pianist, composer, b Cupar, near Regina, 25 Dec 1928, d Toronto 13 Dec 2001. He played guitar and harmonica at five, bugle in Regina cadet bands, and trumpet in high school.

Alan Walker. Administrator, writer, teacher, radio producer, b Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England, 6 Apr 1930; LGSM 1949, ARCM 1950, B MUS (Durham) 1956, D MUS (Durham) 1965. He studied piano with Alfred Nieman at the GSM, London.

Donald Leslie McManus, bass, actor (born 30 August 1932 in Edmonton, AB; died 24 February 2020 in Toronto, ON). While studying voice 1950-8 in Vancouver with Anna Nicholls and William Morton, he made his acting debut (1952) at TUTS. Dramatic and singing engagements followed with such organizations as the Vancouver International Festival (1958, Commendatore in Don Giovanni), the Bastion Theatre in Victoria, the Vancouver Opera, Melodyland in Berkeley, Cal, and the J.C. Williamson Theatre Co in Australia, which invited him to perform in several Gilbert & Sullivan operettas.

John MacLennan Buchanan, premier of Nova Scotia 1978–90, senator 1990–2006, lawyer (born 22 April 1931 in Sydney, NS; died 3 October 2019). A master political campaigner, Buchanan was the longest-serving Conservative premier in Nova Scotian history, and was among the leaders who negotiated the accord to repatriate Canada’s Constitution in 1982.

Contemporary observers who may not be thoroughly familiar with the history behind Canadian cultural dualism often have trouble in decoding it. Although the idea of cultural duality appears in laws, in policies on education, religion and language, and in the formulation of the fundamental rights of the provinces, its historical foundations remain hard to define.

Michael “Pinball” Clemons, O Ont, football player, coach, motivational speaker (born 15 January 1965 in Dunedin, Florida). Michael Clemons is one of the most accomplished athletes in Canadian Football League (CFL) history and the first African American to coach in the Grey Cup. Known to many simply as “Pinball,” he is a CFL Hall of Famer and four-time Grey Cup winner with the Toronto Argonauts, earning three championships as a player (1991, 1996, 1997) and one as a head coach (2004). He is the all-time leader in total combined yards in CFL history (25,438). Clemons, a naturalized Canadian citizen, moved into an executive role in the Argonauts’ front office after retiring from coaching. He is involved with a number of charities, including the Pinball Clemons Foundation.

A pit house is a type of dwelling historically used by various Indigenous peoples living in the Plateau region of Canada. Partially built into the ground, pit houses provided warmth and shelter during the winter season. While pit houses no longer serve as common dwellings, they retain cultural significance for many Indigenous peoples. Archeological remains and replicas of pit houses can be found in various parts of Canada. (See also Architectural History of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.)

Léa Pool, CM, filmmaker, director, documentarian, screenwriter, producer (born 8 September 1950 in Soglio, Switzerland). Through her introspective films, Pool offers an approach to female characters that is stripped of all stereotypes. Exploring themes of love, exile and uprootedness, she attempts to draw viewers into a reflection on their own condition, through their own individuality. Often compared with the films of Marguerite Duras, Pool’s films focus on intimate emotions and attract a multigenerational audience. The recipient of many awards in Canada and abroad, Léa Pool is the first female director to win Best Film at the Gala du cinéma québécois.

Mary Helen Creighton, CM, song collector, folklorist, writer (born 5 September 1899 in Dartmouth, NS; died 12 December 1989 in Halifax, NS). A pioneering collector of Maritime folk music and folklore, Helen Creighton helped define Maritime culture.

Albert Hamilton Schultz, CM, actor, director, producer (born 30 July 1963 in Port Hope, Ontario). Albert Schultz is an award-winning actor, director and producer. He broke out as a leading man on the CBC TV series Street Legal before focusing his career on the stage. He co-founded Toronto’s Soulpepper Theatre in 1998. He served as its Artistic Director until resigning in January 2018 due to allegations of sexual assault and harassment.

William Herbert Dray, philosopher, professor (born at Montréal PQ 23 June 1921; died at Toronto ON 6 Aug 2009). After serving as a navigator in the RCAF (SeeMILITARY AVIATION) during the SECOND WORLD WAR, William H.

David Paul Cronenberg, CC, OOnt, FRSC, filmmaker (born 15 March 1943 in Toronto, ON). David Cronenberg is Canada’s most influential and internationally celebrated filmmaker. Dubbed the “Baron of Blood” and “the King of Venereal Horror,” he pioneered a commercial genre cinema in Canada with his at times controversial horror movies. His signature “body horror” films such as Shivers (1975), The Brood (1979), Scanners (1981), Videodrome (1983), The Fly (1986), Dead Ringers (1988), Naked Lunch (1991) and Crash (1996) have challenged audiences with provocative, even prophetic explorations of the relationship between sex, technology and violence. He is a Companion of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier of the Ordre des arts et lettres de France and a member of Canada’s Walk of Fame.He has won 10 Genie Awards and prizes at virtually every major international film festival, as well as lifetime achievement awards from the Governor General’s Performing Arts Awards, the Canadian Screen Awards, the Cannes Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival.

George Ramsay Cook, historian (born 28 November 1931 in Alameda, Saskatchewan; died 14 July 2016 in Toronto, Ontario). Educated at the UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA (BA), QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY (MA) and the UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO (U of T) (PhD), Ramsay Cook taught history first at U of T and later at YORK UNIVERSITY until his retirement in 1996.

Gordon Muriel Flowerdew, VC, farmer, rancher, soldier, (born 2 January 1885 in Billingford, Norfolk, England; died 31 March 1918 near Moreuil, France). During the First World War, Lieutenant Flowerdew led one of the last great cavalry charges in history and was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), the highest award for bravery among troops of the British Empire.

FM. Toronto rock band. Experimental by nature and pioneering in its use of synthesizers, it was formed in 1976 as a duo by the performance artist 'Nash the Slash' (electric violin and mandolin) and the keyboard player Cameron Hawkins and made its debut at the Toronto gallery A Space.

Archibald Alexander Alleyne, drummer (born 7 January 1933 in Toronto, ON; died 8 June 2015 in Toronto).

Nelson Frederick Symonds, jazz guitarist, composer (born 24 September 1933 in Upper Hammonds Plains, NS; died 11 October 2008.