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Émile Genest. Actor and radio host. (Quebec City, 27 July 1921 - Hallandale, Florida, U.S., 17 March 2003) This actor enjoyed a long career in television and film, in Quebec and Hollywood, in both English and French.

Camille Laurin, politician and psychiatrist (born 6 May 1922 in Charlemagne, QC; died 11 March 1999 in Vaudreuil-Dorion, QC).

Stephen Butler Leacock, FRSC, humorist, author, academic (born 30 December 1869 in Swanmore, England; died 28 March 1944 in Toronto, ON). Stephen Leacock was the English-speaking world’s best-known humorist between 1915 and 1925. He was awarded the Mark Twain Medal for humour, the Royal Society of Canada’s Lorne Pierce Medal and the Governor General’s Literary Award for non-fiction. Trained as an economist, historian and political scientist, he served as a professor in the Department of Economics and Political Science at McGill University from 1903 to 1936. The Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour was established in his honour in 1947. He was designated a National Historic Person of Canada in 1968.

Jean-Marie Lapointe, OC, OQ, singer, songwriter, comedian, actor, politician (born 6 December 1935 in Price, QC).

Olive Patricia Dickason (née Williamson), CM, Métis journalist, historian, university professor, author (born 6 March 1920 in Winnipeg, MB; died 12 March 2011 in Ottawa, ON). Dickason was the first scholar in Canada to receive a PhD in Indigenous history. Her ground-breaking research and books about Indigenous and Métis history and culture transformed how Canadians perceive the origin of their country and Indigenous peoples. Dickason’s work inspired a new generation of scholars, helping to launch Indigenous studies as an area of scholarly research. She received an Order of Canada in recognition of her achievements.

The Massey Commission was formally known as the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences. It was officially appointed by Prime Minister Louis St-Laurent on 8 April 1949. Its purpose was to investigate the state of arts and culture in Canada. Vincent Massey chaired the Commission. It issued its landmark report, the Massey Report, on 1 June 1951. The report advocated for the federal funding of a wide range of cultural activities. It also made a series of recommendations that resulted in the founding of the National Library of Canada (now Library and Archives Canada), the creation of the Canada Council for the Arts, federal aid for universities, and the conservation of Canada’s historic places, among other initiatives. The recommendations that were made by the Massey Report, and enacted by the federal government, are generally seen as the first major steps to nurture, preserve and promote Canadian culture.

Robertine Barry (pen name: Françoise), journalist, publisher, author and feminist (born 26 February 1863 in L’Isle-Verte, Canada East; died 7 January 1910 in Montreal, Quebec). The first French-Canadian woman journalist, she was also a founding member of the Fédération nationale Saint-Jean-Baptiste and the first vice-president of the Canadian Women’s Press Club.

From 1944 to 1945, Jewison served with the Royal Canadian Navy overseas. After World War II, he attended Victoria College at the University of Toronto, where he wrote and directed the first All-Varsity Revue.

Jennifer Hodge de Silva, née Hodge, documentary filmmaker (born 28 January 1951 in Montreal, QC; died 5 May 1989 in Montreal). Jennifer Hodge de Silva was a pioneering African Canadian filmmaker of the 1970s and 1980s. She was the first Black filmmaker to work consistently with both the National Film Board and the CBC. She produced an acclaimed and influential body of work known as realist social issue documentary. Her highly regarded film Home Feeling: A Struggle for Community (1983), co-directed with Robert McTair, is widely taught in film studies programs throughout Canada.

Lorena Gale, actor, playwright, activist (born 9 May 1958 in Montreal, QC; died 21 June 2009 in Vancouver, BC). Lorena Gale was an award-winning actor and playwright who achieved a strong body of work in Canadian theatre. Her acclaimed 1995 play Angélique tells the story of Marie-Joseph Angélique, an enslaved Black woman who was hanged in Montreal for arson in 1734. Gale spent a season with the Shaw Festival and served as artistic director of Montreal’s Black Theatre Workshop. She also appeared in more than 130 films and television series. In 2009, the Union of BC Performers created the Lorena Gale Woman of Distinction Award in her honour.

Doug and the Slugs had an upbeat, Motown-influenced pop-rock sound with a subversive bent. Formed in Vancouver and primarily active from 1977 to 2004, they were known for their fine musicianship, lighthearted melodies and exuberant live shows. They gained some exposure in the US thanks to their pioneering music videos, and had four gold-certified albums in Canada.

Joseph-Edmond-André Laurendeau was a French Canadian journalist, politician, playwright, and co-chairman of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism (born 21 March 1912 in Montreal; died 1 June 1968 in Ottawa). A lifetime French-Canadian nationalist, he helped prepare the way for Quebec's Quiet Revolution by redefining nationalist aspirations for an urban and industrial society.

Margaret Joan (née Sinclair) Trudeau (Kemper), author, actor, photographer, mental health advocate (born 10 September 1948 in North Vancouver, BC). Margaret Trudeau’s marriage to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau in 1971 made her a public figure overnight. The dissolution of their union occurred under withering public scrutiny at a time when traditional roles, for homemakers and political wives alike, were being challenged. As the wife of one prime minister and the mother of another — Justin Trudeau — Margaret Trudeau carved out a public role for herself after revealing her diagnosis with bipolar disorder. In two books and in well-received public speeches, she has been an outspoken advocate for people with mental health issues.

Charles Thomas "Stompin’ Tom" Connors, OC, singer, songwriter, guitarist, fiddler (born 9 February 1936 in Saint John, NB; died 6 March 2013 in Ballinafad, ON). One of the most iconic figures in Canadian music, Stompin’ Tom Connors was a working-class, salt-of-the-earth troubadour and perhaps the most overtly nationalist songwriter Canada has ever produced. His traditional country songs about Canadian people and places — such as “Bud the Spud,” “Sudbury Saturday Night” and “Big Joe Mufferaw” — were humorous, patriotic and widely popular, and reflected his extensive travels throughout the country. He was a passionate activist for Canadian music and culture, going so far as to return six Juno Awards in protest of what he saw as the organization’s favouring of expatriate Canadians over those with only domestic success. He received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the East Coast Music Awards, the Toronto Musician’s Union and SOCAN. He was made an Officer of the Order of Canada and inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame.

Filmmaking is a powerful form of cultural and artistic expression, as well as a highly profitable commercial enterprise. From a practical standpoint, filmmaking is a business involving large sums of money and a complex division of labour. This labour is involved, roughly speaking, in three sectors: production, distributionand exhibition. The history of the Canadian film industry has been one of sporadic achievement accomplished in isolation against great odds. Canadian cinema has existed within an environment where access to capital for production, to the marketplace for distribution and to theatres for exhibition has been extremely difficult. The Canadian film industry, particularly in English Canada, has struggled against the Hollywood entertainment monopoly for the attention of an audience that remains largely indifferent toward the domestic industry. The major distribution and exhibition outlets in Canada have been owned and controlled by foreign interests. The lack of domestic production throughout much of the industry’s history can only be understood against this economic backdrop.

This article is one of four that surveys the history of the film industry in Canada. The entire series includes: Canadian Film History: 1896 to 1938; Canadian Film History: 1939 to 1973; Canadian Film History: 1974 to Present; Canadian Film History: Regional Cinema and Auteurs, 1980 to Present.

Gérald Godin, poet, novelist, journalist, politician (born 13 November 1938 in Trois-Rivières, QC; died 12 October 1994 in Montréal, QC).

Lillian Allen, poet, vocalist, lyricist, community activist, teacher (born 5 April 1951 in Kingston, Jamaica).

Sean McCann, actor (born 24 September 1935 in Windsor, ON; died 13 June 2019 in Toronto, ON). Character actor Sean McCann appeared in more than 150 films and television shows in Canada and the United States. He received the Earle Grey Award, the lifetime achievement award for television acting from the Academy of Canadian Cinema and Television, in 1989 and won a Gemini Awardin 1999. He also worked for the Toronto Blue Jays as a baseball scout and an amateur baseball ambassador and served on the board of directors for the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame.

Certain dignitaries, explorers, and political and religious leaders have contributed to Canada's musical history through their own musical talents, as patrons of the arts or passively as dedicatees of Canadian compositions.