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Create AccountThe 64-year-old Lamer, whose 29 years on the bench make him the longest sitting federal judge in the country, tells the story during a 90-minute interview in his panelled chambers overlooking the ice-rimmed Ottawa River. It is the eve of the long-awaited and momentous hearings on File No.
Jean Drapeau, CC, GOQ, lawyer, politician, mayor of Montréal 1954¬–57 and 1960–86 (born 18 February 1916 in Montréal, Québec; died 12 August 1999 in Montréal). Jean Drapeau’s longevity as a politician was such that during his 29 years as mayor of Montréal, seven prime ministers and nine Québec premiers took office. He gave Montréal its largest piece of urban transit infrastructure, the Montréal metro, and two of its greatest moments: a 1967 World Exposition celebrating Canada’s centennial that drew 50 million visitors, and the 1976 Olympic Summer Games. However, he also presided over the decline of Montréal as Canada’s business capital and largest city.
Innovation is the successful application in a real economic or social context of something new that may or may not be an invention.
Mackenzie Bowell, KCMG, editor, publisher, politician and prime minister of Canada 1894–96 (born 27 December 1823 in Rickinghall, Suffolk, England; died 10 December 1917 in Belleville, Ontario). Bowell was a prominent Orangeman and served as Grand Master of the Orange Order in British North America from 1870 to 1878. He was a newspaper editor and publisher before entering federal politics. Bowell represented North Hastings in Canadian Parliament from 1867 to 1892 and was a Conservative senator from 1892 to 1917. He served as Conservative prime minister from 21 December 1894 to 27 April 1896 and was one of only two federal leaders to direct government from the Senate rather than the House of Commons. Pressure from his own Cabinet forced Bowell’s resignation in 1896; he was the only prime minister to suffer that fate. However, he remained a senator until his death.
IT'S NOT THE kind of crowd given to chants, placards, or burning brands. Greying, neatly pressed, well-mannered, they line up patiently at the open microphone.
This article was originally published in Maclean’s magazine on May 9, 2005. Partner content is not updated.
JUST ABOUT EVERYTHING you hear repeated about Stephen HARPER does more to obscure than reveal him. He's said to be a policy wonk at heart.Roberta Lynn Bondar, CC, OOnt, FRSC, astronaut, neurologist, physician, educator, photographer (born 4 December 1945 in Sault Ste Marie, ON). Bondar became the first Canadian woman and second Canadian in space when she flew aboard the American space shuttle Discovery in 1992. A doctor specializing in the nervous system, she is a pioneer in space medicine research. Bondar is also an exhibited and published nature photographer. She established The Roberta Bondar Foundation to educate people about environmental protection through art, and she currently serves as one of the organization’s directors.
Michael Richard Weir, CM, OOnt, golfer (born 12 May 1970 in Sarnia, ON). Mike Weir is widely considered the one of the greatest Canadian golfers, and one of the best Canadian athletes, of all time. He became the first Canadian man to win one of professional golf’s four major tournaments when he won the 67th Masters Tournament in 2003. In total, he won eight events on the Professional Golf Association (PGA) Tour, tying him with George Knudson and Sandra Post for the most wins by a Canadian professional golfer (surpased by Brooke Henderson in 2019). Weir won the Lou Marsh Trophy as Canada’s top athlete in 2003 and is a three-time winner of the Lionel Conacher Award as the country’s best male athlete. He has been inducted into the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame and Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame. He has also run a winery and several charitable foundations.
CBC Radio Orchestra (CBC Vancouver Chamber Orchestra 1938-80; CBC Vancouver Orchestra 1980-2000). Longest-lived regularly performing Canadian radio orchestra, and last remaining radio orchestra in North America.
“Respectfully dedicated to the memory of the late ‘Buster’ Thorsteinson, a sportsman and gentleman.”
Georges St-Pierre (nicknamed GSP), mixed martial artist (born 19 May 1981 in Saint-Isidore, QC). Georges St-Pierre is considered one of the best mixed martial arts (MMA) fighters of all time. He retired from the the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) with a career record of 26–2. A UFC welterweight champion from 2006 to 2007 and 2008 to 2013, St-Pierre holds the record for the most title defenses in the UFC welterweight division with nine. In 2017, he defeated Michael Bisping to win the middleweight championship, making him the fourth fighter in UFC history to win titles in multiple divisions. St-Pierre was named the 2008, 2009 and 2010 Rogers Sportsnet Canadian Athlete of the Year, the 2008 Black Belt Magazine MMA Fighter of the Year, the 2009 Sports Illustrated Fighter of the Year and the 2009 World MMA Awards Fighter of the Year.
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.
The history of Indigenous art in Canada begins sometime during the last Ice Age between 80,000 and 12,000 years ago. To date, however, the oldest surviving artworks (excluding finely crafted, aesthetically significant stone tools) are datable to no earlier than 5,000 years ago.
Ernest Adolphe Côté, MBE, soldier, civil servant and diplomat (born 12 June 1913 in Edmonton, Alberta; died 25 February 2015 in Ottawa, Ontario).
Canada’s world-renowned and oldest-surviving mixed-voice amateur choir, the Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (TMC) was founded in 1894 by Augustus Stephen Vogt. Succeeding conductors have been Herbert A. Fricker (1917–42), Sir Ernest MacMillan (1942–57), Frederick Silvester (1957–60), Walter Susskind (1960–63), Elmer Iseler (1964–98) and Noel Edison (1997–2018). Each conductor has introduced new repertoire, both sacred and secular, including Canadian compositions and the Canadian premieres of major European works. The 137-voice choir includes a core of 20 professional singers, many of whom also participate in the Mendelssohn Singers, a 70-voice chamber choir. The choir has performed over the years at Toronto’s Massey Hall, Roy Thomson Hall and Koerner Hall. It has also made frequent appearances in the United States and has performed at such European festivals as the Edinburgh Festival, the Lucerne International Festival, the Festival Estival in Paris, the Flanders Festival and the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts (the Proms) at London’s Royal Albert Hall.
Sheila Watt-Cloutier (née Watt), OC, human rights and Indigenous rights activist, cultural preservation advocate, politician, writer and educator (born 2 December 1953 in Old Fort Chimo, QC). Watt-Cloutier is a respected Inuit leader who has received international recognition and acclaim in the areas of rights activism, environmental and climate change awareness and social justice.
David Adams Richards, CM, ONB, novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, Member of the Senate (born 17 October 1950 in Newcastle, NB). An acclaimed author of novels, short stories, memoirs, essays, poetry and plays, David Adams Richards is one of only three Canadian writers to be awarded a Governor General’s Literary Award for both fiction and non-fiction. Perhaps best known for his fictionalized accounts of his native region of Miramichi, New Brunswick, Richards’ work increasingly tackles complex explorations of conscience, morality, integrity and consequences. He has been compared to Leo Tolstoy, Albert Camus and William Blake. He has won the Giller Prize and two Gemini Awards, and is a Member of the Order of Canada and the Order of New Brunswick. He was appointed to the Senate in 2017 by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Brian McKeever, cross-country skier (born 18 June 1979 in Calgary, AB). McKeever has won 17 medals in men’s cross-country skiing and biathlon at the Paralympic Winter Games between 2002 and 2018.
Everything about Jack Layton's rally at Montreal's Olympia Theatre, the biggest campaign event ever staged by the NDP in Quebec, had a sort of retro air.
Mary Irene Parlby (née Marryat), Alberta MLA (1921–35), women’s rights advocate, activist (born 9 January 1868 in London, UK; died 12 July 1965 in Red Deer, AB). Irene Parlby served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) of Alberta for 14 years. She was the first woman in Alberta, and the second in the British Empire, to be appointed to a cabinet position. One of the Famous Five appellants in the Persons Case, Parlby was a compelling advocate for women’s rights. Known as the “Women’s Minister,” her career in activism and legislation was dedicated to improving the lives of rural women and children, such as with Alberta’s Dower Act in 1917. She was also a delegate to the League of Nations in 1930. However, she has also been criticized for her views on eugenics and for her support of Alberta’s Sexual Sterilization Act. She was named a Person of National Historic Significance in 1966 and an honorary senator in 2009.
