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Elizabeth May, OC, politician, environmental activist, lawyer, author, leader of the Green Party of Canada 2006–19 (born 9 June 1954 in Hartford, Connecticut). May served as a policy advisor (1986–88) to the government of Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and in 1989 became the founding executive director of the Sierra Club of Canada. In 2011, she became the first Green Party member elected to the House of Commons. May resigned as party leader in November 2019.

After assuming office on 26 June 1985, Peterson moved quickly on issues such as environmental protection, health care and francophone rights.

Christina Alexandra “Chrystia” Freeland, politician, journalist, editor and writer, Deputy Prime Minister of Canada, 2019–present (born 2 August 1968 in Peace River, Alberta). Chrystia Freeland is the Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for University-Rosedale and currently serves as Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. She is the first woman in Canada to hold the latter position. She has also served as Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Minister of International Trade. Notably, she handled the renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), as well as complicated diplomatic situations involving Ukraine, Russia, Saudi Arabia and China. Freeland is an award-winning journalist, editor and author of such books as Plutocrats: The Rise of the New Global Super Rich and the Fall of Everyone Else (2012).

Joseph “Joey” Roberts Smallwood, CC, premier of Newfoundland (1949–72), journalist (born 24 December 1900 in Mint Brook, NL; died 17 December 1991 in St. John's, NL). The leading proponent of Confederation in Newfoundland in the 20th century, Joey Smallwood played an important role in bringing the province into Confederation in 1949. He served as Newfoundland and Labrador’s first premier for nearly 23 years, and is sometimes referred to as “the last Father of Confederation.” During his lifetime, he was also called “the only living Father of Confederation.”

Thomas D’Arcy McGee, journalist, politician, poet (born 13 April 1825 in Carlingford, County Louth, Republic of Ireland; died 7 April 1868 in Ottawa, ON). Thomas D’Arcy McGee was dedicated to the cause of Irish national liberation. This pushed him towards revolutionary anti-British doctrine in his early years. However, he matured to become a staunch defender of British constitutional monarchy and a Father of Confederation. He was an advocate for minority rights at a time when the politics of ethnic and religious identity were intensely fraught. He was an incredibly eloquent public speaker and a passionate advocate for Canadian interests. However, his political transformation ultimately damaged his popularity with Irish nationalists, particularly the Fenians. He was assassinated in 1868.

H. Wade MacLauchlan, CM, OPEI, MLA, 32nd premier of Prince Edward Island (2015–19), president of University of Prince Edward Island (1999–2011), lawyer, academic (born 10 December 1954 in Stanhope, PEI). MacLauchlan was sworn in as premier of Prince Edward Island on 23 February 2015, becoming the province’s first openly gay premier. The former law professor and university president received the Order of Canada in 2008 and the Order of Prince Edward Island in 2014. He is the author of Alex B. Campbell: The Prince Edward Island Premier Who Rocked the Cradle (2014).

His political career began in 1984 with his election to Vancouver City Council. Two years later, Campbell became mayor, an office he held until 1993. During that time, he also served as president of the Union of BC Municipalities and chaired the Greater Vancouver Regional District.

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.

(Edward) John (Clavering) Oliver. Composer, guitarist, conductor, b Vancouver 21 Sep 1959; B MUS (British Columbia) 1982, M MUS (McGill) 1984, DMA (McGill) 1992.

On 9 February 2018, Gerald Stanley, a white farmer in rural Saskatchewan, was acquitted of murder and manslaughter in the killing of Colten Boushie, a 22-year-old Cree man. The acquittal caused great controversy but was not appealed by prosecutors. However, it led the Justin Trudeau government to abolish peremptory challenges, which allowed Stanley’s legal team to keep five Indigenous people off the all-white jury that acquitted him. In 2021, an investigation conducted by a civilian watchdog concluded that that the RCMP was insensitive and racially discriminatory toward Boushie’s mother, and that the police mishandled witnesses and evidence. A Globe and Mail investigation also found that the RCMP “destroyed records of police communications from the night Colten Boushie died.”

Recruited by Tommy Douglas in 1950, the Rhodes scholar became one of the CCF government's most valuable civil servants, first as a legal adviser to the province's embattled crown corporations, then as a senior official in the Treasury Dept.

James Alexander Murray, businessman, politician, premier of NB (b at Moncton, NB 9 Nov 1864; d at Sussex, NB 16 Feb 1960). A respected politician and forceful speaker, Murray represented Kings County 1908-20.