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ISBN: 0-9736246-0-4

Helen Sawyer Hogg-Priestley.  
née Sawyer. Born August 1, 1905,  Lowel, Massachusetts, U.S.A.  Died January 28. 1993 Richmond Hill, Ontario. Helen earned an undergraduate degree in Astronomy in 1926 at Mount Holyoke, South Hadley, Massacheutts, U.S.A. and took a position at the Harvard Observatory, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massacheutts, earning her master degree in 1928. Since Harvard University did not grant PhD's to women at this time she attended Radcliff University, Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S.A. to earn her doctorate degree in 1931.  In 1930 she married Dr. Frank Scott Hogg (d1951) and the couple had 3 children. In 1935 the family relocated to Toronto, Ontario where she worked at the beginning as a volunteer and then as a research assistant at the University of Toronto. A world expert who would receive numerous honours including being a Companion in the Order of Canada, she took her profession to radio and TV in a clear and understandable manner for all listeners. She wrote a book, The Stars Belong to Everyone and a weekly column in the Toronto Star newspaper from 1951-1981 called 'With the Stars'. She served as the 1st woman president of several astronomic organizations.  In 1976 she became a professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. She worked outside of the U of T in 1940-41 when she was acting Chairman of the Astronomy Department at Mount Holyoke College and again from 1955-1956 when she spent an academic year as Program Director for Astronomy at the National Science Foundation in Washington, DC, U.S.A.  In 1983 she became the 1st Canadian to be awarded the Klumpke-Roberts Award and the 1st Canadian women to have a Minor Planet (N0. 2917) named Sawyer-Hogg in her honour. In 1985 she married fellow Toronto Professor F. E. L. Priestley (d 1988). 

Anne Hébert.  
Born August 1, 1916, Sainte-Catherine-de-Fossambault, Quebec. Died January 22, 2000, Montreal, Quebec. Anne was the daughter of poet Maurice Hebert (1888-1960). She began writing at a very early age and by the time she was 20 the had been published in numerous periodicals. A poet, playwright, and novelist worked on Radio – Canada broadcasts and also wrote scripts for the National Film Board. In 1954 Hébert used a grant from the Royal Society of Canada to move to Paris, France, thinking that the city would be more receptive to her writing. She wrote in her native French language but most of her works have been translated into other languages. Les Chambres de bois, her 1st novel, was published in 1958 and won the Ludger-Duvernay Prize. In 1960 her published poems won the Governor General's Award and that year she was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. She was been awarded the Molson Prize in 1967. Her 1970 novel Kamouraska was a romantic and suspenseful work was set in 19th century Quebec won the Prix de libraries from France and was made into a movie in 1973. In 1975 and again in 1992 her novels earned her Governor General's Awards. The English translation of Le premier jardin, won the Félix Antoine-Savard Prize for Translation in 1991. An elementary school in Vancouver bears her name. In 2013, documentary filmmaker Michel Langlois released Anne des vingt jours, a biographical documentary. On September 8, 2003, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the  National Library of Canada (now Library and Archives Canada), Canada Post released a special commemorative series of postage stamps that included Anne. Stamp image used with permission from Canada Post

Marie-Anne Lagemodiére. 
née Gaboury. Born August 2, 1780 Maskinongé, Quebec. Died December 14, 1875 Saint Boniface, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Marie-Anne married Jean-Baptiste Lagemodiére ( 1778-1855) on April 21, 1806 and traveled with her fur trading husband. In 1806 she was one of the 1st white women to visit such outposts as Red River (later Winnipeg) and Fort Edmonton in the Canadian North-west. Her daughter, Reine, was the 1st legitimate white child to be born in the Canadian north-west in 1807. Marie-Anne led an adventuresome life and was the mother of eight children.  Marie-Anne has sometimes been called the Grandmother of the Red River and she is also the grandmother of Louis David Riel (1844-1865). He was the political leader of the Métis peoples who led rebellions against the Canadian government. In 1978 a fictionalized story about Marie Anne became a Canadian feature film. (2019)

Valerie Jean Knowles. 
Born August 2, 1934 Montreal, Quebec. Valerie completed degrees from Smith College, Northampton, Massacheutts, U.S.A.,  McGill University, Montreal, and Carleton University, Ottawa. This former history teacher is now a free lance writer who has been successful in writing for numerous newspapers, magazines and federal government departments. She uses her historical studies and archives  background to develop her contribution to historical writings of Canada. Her book, Strangers at Our Gates, has seen several editions and provides a complete overview of the history of Canadian immigration.  She has established herself as a biographer of note with her works on Cairine Wilson, Canada's 1st woman in the senate,  the award winning book Telegrapher to Titan the life of William C. Van Horne published in 2004, and collections of profiles of famous and obscure female figures of Ottawa in Capital Lives which were originally published her column in Fifty Plus magazine. Valerie and her husband live in Ottawa.

Anne Marie Loder-DeLuise. 
Born August 3, 1969, St John's, Newfoundland. An accomplished TV and movie actor, she always wanted to act. She took local classes in St John’s Newfoundland until she discovered theatre school. After university she attended the Ryerson Theatre School for Acting in Toronto. She had her 1st role in Family Pictures in 1993.  She Married actor and director Peter DeLuise in 2002 and the couple have one son. To date he most notable roles are Dr. Greene in Fifty Shades of Grey and Mrs. Briggs on the TV series Strange Empire for which she won the Leo Award from British Columbia for Best Supporting Performance by a Female in a Dramatic Series. (2019)

Greta Krause. 
Born August 3, 1907, Vienna, Austria. Died March 30, 1998, Toronto, Ontario. In 1923 Greta entered the Vienna Academy of Music and in 1930 she had earned her music teacher diploma. In 1935 she made her performing debut on harpsichord in Austria. By 1937 she was appearing on stage in London, England with the Boyd Neel Orchestra. In 1938 she immigrated to Canada settling 1st in Hawkesbury, Quebec before relocating to teach at Havergal College in Toronto. She was soon doing solo appearances on stage and on CBC Radio. As well as her classical works she performed 20th century harpsichord music. In 1958 through 1963 she founded the Toronto Baroque Ensemble. From 1965 through 1986 she and flutist Robert Aitken formed the Aitken Kraus Duo. In 1939 she had begun to teach piano and coach voice privately and at the Collegium Musicum (Toronto). She also taught at Banff and the Shawinigan Summer School of the Arts as well as at several universities. Confederation of University Faculty Associations for 'an outstanding contribution to university teaching' in 1973, was named an Outstanding Woman of the Province of Ontario in 1975, and received a Toronto Arts Award in 1990. In 1991 she was inducted into the Order of Ontario. She was inducted as a  member of the Order of Canada in 1992. Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia. Online (accessed August 2014) She received a citation from the Ontario

Elizabeth Carmichael Monk. 
Born August 4, 1898, Montreal, Quebec. Died December 26, 1980, Montreal, Quebec. In 1923 Elizabeth earned a degree in Law from McGill University, Montreal. She was the 1st woman to win the faculty’s gold medal for academic excellence. Unfortunately at the time she graduated women were not allowed to be called to the Bar in the province of Quebec. She would fight, cajole, and wait almost 20 years before she was called to the Bar. In 1934 she was admitted to the Bar in Nova Scotia but this was not home. On January 10, 1942, Elizabeth was on of four women to be the 1st women called to the Bar in Quebec. The other women were Constance Garner-short (1910-1959), Suzanne Raymond Filion and Marcelle Hémond-Lacoste. Elizabeth practiced corporate and became the 1st Quebec woman appointed as Queen’s Counsel. She worked with the Montreal Citizen Committee, the Quebec National Federation of University women and Canadian Federation of University Women. In 1991 she was the recipient of the Mérite du Barreau. (2019)

Yvonne McKague Housser. 
Born August 4, 1898, Toronto, Ontario. Died January 26, 1996, Toronto, Ontario. Yvonne began her studies in art at the Ontario College of Art (O C A) from 1915-1920. In 1921 she took one of what would be several year long trips to continue studies in art. Returning from France she turned to teaching at O C A. She had her 1st exhibition of her works at the Royal Canadian Academy which was followed in 1924 with an exhibition with the Ontario Society of Artists. After another year in France she was back teaching and from 1928-1931 she exhibited in 3 Group of Seven showings. In 1933 she was a founding member of the Canadian Group of Painters and the Federation of Canadian Artists. In 1935 she married Frederick B. Hauser, an author who wrote about the famous Group of Seven painters. In 1949 she retired from the OCA and taught in Kitchener at the Doon School of Fine Arts as well as at the Ryerson Polytechnical Institute (now Ryerson University) in Toronto. She also continued her trips to continue learning in Cape Cod, U.S.A., Mexico and the West Indies. She received the Baxter Purchase Award at the Ontario Society of Artists. In 1984 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. Her paintings are in the permanent collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, the Art Gallery of Hamilton, the McMichael Collection in Kleinberg, Ontario, the University of Toronto and Victoria University, Ontario, the Public Library and Art Museum in London, Ontario, and in many private collections. Sources: Yvonne McKague Hauser Collection. E.J. Pratt Library, University of Victoria Campus, University of Toronto. Online. Accessed July 2013. Yvonne McKague Housser Collections. National Gallery of Canada. Online (accessed July 2013)  Suggestion submitted by Jeanne Ouellette, Ottawa, Ontario.

Caroline Louise Josephine Wells.
née Irwin. Born August 1856, Aurora, Upper Canada (now Ontario). Died March 17, 1939, Toronto, Ontario. Josephine married a farmer, a teacher, and eventually by 1882 a dentist, John Wells (died 1904) on March 9, 1877. The couple had five children, three of whom survived to become adults.. She assisted her dentist husband in his office located in their home. By October 20, 1893 Josephine Wells was the 1st woman to graduate from the Royal College of Dental Surgeons and the first woman licensed in dentistry in Ontario and possibly in Canada. The Ontario Dental Society elected her an honorary Member with voting privileges. She went on to receive her doctorate degree from the Trinity College in 1899. Josephine practiced her profession for 36 years in Toronto. She provided dental services at provincial mental hospitals in Toronto, Mimico, Hamilton, Orillia, and at the infamous Ontario Mercer Reformatory for Females. Josephine retired in 1928. Source: D C B  (2021)

Nancy Elizabeth 'Betty' Oliphant.  
Born August 5, 1918 London, England. Died July 11, 2004 St. Catharines, Ontario. Betty was encouraged by a doctor to take ballet as a means to help her breathing after she had suffered from pneumonia as a child. By the age of 17 she had opened her own dance school. Betty immigrated to Canada in 1947. By 1959 she was a co-founder of the National Ballet School of Canada and founding director from 1959-1979. She has also worked for ballet schools in Sweden, Denmark, and Russia. She is an Officer of the Order of Canada as well as many additional awards from the City of Toronto, France and the 125 Anniversary of Confederation Medal of Canada. She has also published her autobiography; Miss O: My Life in Dance. Sources: Canadian Encyclopedia  (2019)

Terri Lynn Clark. 
née Sauson. Born August 5, 1968 Montreal, Quebec. At age 9 she began playing guitar. She has always been obsessed with Country Music. In after graduating high school in Medicine Hat, Alberta in 1987 she worked at a local Chinese restaurant to save money to move to Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A. to follow her dream to be a professional country music singer. She worked and sang anywhere she could, "paying her dues" as a new singer for seven years. Her 1st album went triple platinum in Canada and platinum in the U.S.A. in 1991 she married Ted Stevenson and the couple had one son. The Canadian Music Association declared her Top New Female Artist in 1995 and she won album and song of the year in 1996. In 2001 she won a second Juno award for Best Country Female Artist. Divorced in 1996 She married Greg Kaczor in 2005 and the couple have a daughter. In 2012 she earned another Juno Award for Country Album of the year.. She loves to rollerblade and collects guitars. (2019)

Rina Lasnier.  
Born August 6, 1915, St-Grégoire d'Iberville, Quebec. Died May 9, 1997, St Jean-sur-Richelieu, Quebec.  Rina was a youthful playwright who blossomed into a renowned poet. She attended the Université de Montréal. Her 1st published work was a play in 1939. She published her 1st verses of poetry in 1941.  Her writings garnered her the Prix David in 1943 and again in 1974.  In 1957 she was awarded the Prix Dulemay. In the 1970’s her works were recognized with the 1971 Molson Prize, the 1973 Prix France-Canada and in 1974 the Lorne Pierce Medal. In 1987 she was inducted into the National Order of Quebec. (2020)

Mary diMichele. 
Born August 6, 1949, Lanciano, Italy. Mary immigrated to Toronto, Ontario with her family in 1955. In 1972 she completed her studies at the University of Toronto for her BA which she followed in 1974 with her Masters degree from the University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario. She was one of the poets included in the anthology Roman Candles (1978), and in The New Oxford Book of Canadian Verse (1982), edited by Margaret Atwood. Her 1st solo poetry book Tree of August was published in 1978 would be followed by several more poetry works. Her 1st novel Terror of Love  appeared in 2005. She was a founding member of the Association of Italian Canadian writers in 1986. Working as a freelance writer and editor she has worked with Toronto Live, Poetry Toronto, and the Toronto Star newspaper. She has held posts as writer-in-residence in Toronto, Regina, Banff, Montreal, Rome, Italy, and Bologna, Italy. In 1990 she became a professor of creative writing at Concordia University, Montreal, Quebec. Mary has received numerous awards for her books of poetry. Including a silver medal in the CBC poetry competition, duMaurier Award for Poetry, an Air Canada Writing Award, a Toronto Arts Award, and ARC Confederation Poets Award.   Source: the Canadian Encyclopedia Online (Last accessed July 2015) (2020)

Anna Haining Swan.  
Born August 7, 1846, Mill Brook, Nova Scotia. Died August 5, 1888, Seville, Ohio, U.S.A. Anna was one of 13 children who were born all normal sized babies. However, by the time she was five years old she was already 4’8” tall! As an adult she stood 7’6” tall (advertised as 8’) and weighed 350 pounds. At 16 the famous circus entrepreneur P.T. Barnum brought Anna and her mother to New York City, U.S.A. where she earned $1,000.00 a month at the American Museum on Broadway. She was partnered with Commodore George Washington Morrison who was 29” tall and weighed 24 pounds! She was almost killed in a fire at the museum on July 13, 1865 when unable to escape down the burning stairs she was too large to escape through a window. It took a block and tackle with 18 men to help her escape! While travelling to Europe she met Martin Van Bruen Bates who stood 7’ 22” (that is the description!) and weighed 470 pounds. The two were married June 17, 1871 in London, England. After a tour of Europe billed as the World’s largest married couple, they settled in Ohio, U.S.A. where they built a house with 14’ ceilings and furniture to suit their size. Anne would have two children who where born very large babies and unfortunately did not live past a few days. Some of her clothes and other personal articles are displayed at a museum in Tatamgouche, Nova Scotia, near the town where she was born. Source: Phyllis R. Blakeley, “SWAN, ANNA HAINING,” in Dictionary of Canadian Biography, vol. 11, University of Toronto/Université Laval, 2003–, Online (accessed August 2014) .

Dorothy Louise Walton. 
née McKenzie. Born August 7, 1909, Swift Current, Saskatchewan. Died October 17, 1981, Toronto, Ontario. Prior to 1932 she was a top ranked tennis player in Canada. After 1932 she switched to Badminton and became one of Canada’s best. After conquering the provincial and national titles in Canada she captured the All-England title that is equivalent to the world amateur championship. In 1950 she was voted one of the top six women athletes in Canada in the Canadian Press Poll. Dorothy was also a champion of social causes joining the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (I O D E) in the 1940's and in the 1950's she was a founding member of the Canadian Association of Consumers which advocated on behalf of women consumers. She served as the association president from 1950-1953. She became a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame in 1961. She was inducted into the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame in 1966. In 1971 she inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame. In 1973 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. (2019)

Elizabeth Manley.
Born August 7, 1965, Belleville, Ontario. When she was growing up her family moved from Trenton to Ottawa, Ontario. Elizabeth skated to win the bronze medal at the 1982 World Junior Championships in Oberstdorf, Germany and later that year she skated to a thirteenth finish in the World Champions as an adult. In 1982 she trained in Lake Placid, New York, U.S.A. but found she was homesick and depressed and soon found coaches back in Ontario. By 1987 she stood forth in the World Championships. She was Canada's top female skater in 1987 and 1988  she would win the hearts of her home country at the 1988 Olympics in Calgary with a silver medal. That same year she took a silver medal in the World championships. In 1988 she was  inducted into the Order of Canada. After the Olympic Games Elizabeth retired from competition. She performed in ice shows and television specials prior to becoming a coach and occasionally worked as a colour commentator for her sport.  Her home is Gloucester (Ottawa) Ontario where the city named an arena and a sports park in her honour. In 1990 she published her autobiography, Thumbs Up which she followed up in 1999 with the book, As I Am; My life After the Olympics. In 2006 she married former junior hockey player Brent Theobald. In 2014 she was inducted into the Canadian Sport Hall of Fame.  She has served as a spokesperson for mental health and for the Ovarian Cancer Canada's Winners Walk of Hope. She is also a commercial spokesperson for Herbal Magic, a weight loss company. (2019) (Check out the paper dolls in the Famous Canadian Women pages).

Deborah Ellis. 
Born August 7, 1960, Cochrane, Ontario. A self declared loner she started writing at 10 or 11 years old. Her books have won the Governor General’s Award in Literature in 2002, the Ruth Swartz Award, Sweden’s Peter Pan Prize,  the University of California’s Middle East Book Award, the Jane Addams Peace Award and the Vicky Metcalf Award. Her stories give western readers a glimpse into the plight of children in today’s developing countries. As a teen in high school she joined the peace movement and is also a longtime feminist . She pledged the earnings from her Breadwinner Trilogy, published around the world in seventeen languages, to Street Kids International and to Women for Women, an organization for Afghan girls in refugee camps in Pakistan. Book proceeds have also been shared with UNICEF.

Irma Sophia Coucill.  
Born August 8, 1918. Died November 29, 2015, Toronto, Ontario. An artist and editor, she began her career by working as artistic editor for various Canadian newspapers including the Globe and Mail, The Telegram, and the Star, all from Toronto. She is mainly known for her portraits of Canadian sports figures, prominent business figures, broadcasters and physicians. Her portraits number in the hundreds. In 1958 she completed 58 portraits for the Canadian Sport Hall of Fame which was located in Toronto at that time. She would go on to work for the Hockey Hall, the Business Hall, the Indigenous Hall, the Aviation Hall and the Medical Hall. For Canada's 1967 Centennial she did a book of portraits of the Fathers of Confederation. and are displayed in several Halls of Fame.  Her works have been used to produce commemorative coins and are also considered prominent pieces in several museums. She married Walter Jackson Coucill of the Royal Canadian Air Force and the couple had two children. (2019)

Miriam Alleyne Priscilla Renouf. 
Born August 8, 1953, St. John’s, Newfoundland. Died April 2014, St. John’s Newfoundland. Priscilla loved to sew as a youngster and as a teen she won a Miss Singer Sewing Contest. She attended Memorial University of Newfoundland earning both her B.A. and her M.A. She earned her PhD at Cambridge University, England. In 1981 she joined the faculty of Memorial University. She held the Canada Research Chair of North Atlantic Archeology. In 1992 she earned the President’s Award for Outstanding Research. She was a member of the 1st Board of Trustees of the Canadian Museum of civilization and a member of the Board of Directors for Historic Sites Association of Newfoundland and Labrador. She was also on the governing body of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. She was co-founder of an international research group called LINK, whose goal is to answer questions relating to past societies and how they coped with climate changes. She would also author several books in her field. In 1999 she married Roger Pickavance. Source: “Obituaries: Priscilla Renouf…a humanistic approach to archéologie.” By Joan Sullivan, the Globe and Mail, April 16, 2014.  Suggestion submitted by June Coxon.

Mabel Margaret DeWare. 
née  Keiver. Born August 9,1926, Moncton, New Brunswick. Died August 17, 2022, Moncton, Mew Brunswick. Mabel married Ralph DeWare (died 2005) in 1945. The couple had four children. Mabel enjoyed competitive curling and in 1963, as skip, she took her team to the provincial and Canadian championships where they became the 1st New Brunswick Canadian Ladies Curling Champions. In 1976 she was inducted into the New Brunswick Sport Hall of Fame and in 1987 the Canadian Curling Hall of Fame as a curler and a builder of the sport. Mabel was was elected the legislative Assembly of New Brunswick in 1978 and again in 1982. She served as a Minister of Labour and Manpower from 1978 through 1982, Minister of Community Colleges from 1983 to 1985 and Minister of Advanced Education from 1985 to 1987. She was appointed to the Canadian Senate in 1990 retiring when she turned 75. Several members of her family are active in the Girl Guide movement. She attended the dedication of the new Canadian Girl Guide Flag in the halls of Parliament Hill on February 22, 2000. She retired from the Senate August 9, 2001. (2024)

Micheline Coulombe Saint-Marcoux. 
née Coulombe. Born August 9 1938, Notre-Dame-de-la-Doré, Quebec. Died February 2, 1985 Montreal, Quebec. Micheline studied at the Ecole de musique Vincent-d'Indy, the Conservatoire de musique du Québec and the Conservatoire de Paris in France. She was a composer and teacher who played a profound role in the development of contemporary music in both North America and Europe. She was commissioned to write works for the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the Canadian Broadcast Corporation (CBC), and the Quebec Contemporary Music Society. In 1967 she earned the Prix d'Europe for her work. In 1969 she co-founded Groupe international de musique electroacoustique de Paris and back in Montreal she was co-founder of the Ensemble Polycousmie in 1971. She taught music at the Conservatoire de musique du Québec.(2019)

Arabelle 'Belle' Frances Patchen. 
Born August 10, 1874, St. Paul, Minnesota, U.S.A.  Died 1952,Haines Borough, Alaska, U.S.A.  As a child Belle had moved with her family to the American northwest coast. In 1898 in Spokane, Washington she married an older gentleman of local society named Allen and became a trophy wife. She was the talk of the town after a popular scandal when, for charity, she road a horse bareback sporting only pink tights with a short knee length skirt! She married a second time to Thomas Noyes and the couple headed north to Nome , Alaska in 1900. Here the couple adopted a half Inuit girl, Bonnie, in 1905. After the death of Tom, Belle married a third time in 1919 to surveyor, Bill Muncaster and the family took a honeymoon across two northern glaciers. The couple spent years searching for gold along the Canadian U.S.A. boarder finally staking a claim. Fighting off wolves, wolverines and severe winter weathers the scraped by with a meager earning that barely paid for expensive supplies. It is a common story of life in the north. In her 60’s she was teaching young men how to pack supplies and seek their fortune in the North. A true pioneer who embraced Northern life to the fullest.  Source: “Pioneer Woman of Squaw Creek”  by Michael Gates in Yukon News November 23, 2007 (accessed June 2011).

Edith Norma Shearer.  
Born August 10, 1900 or 1902, Montreal, Quebec. Died June 12, 1983, Woodland Hill, California, U.S.A.. The parents of Edith Norma and Athole (pronounce Ethel) registered the birth of both daughters but did not include their first names. When she was just nine years old she saw a vaudeville show and simply declared that she would be on stage one day! Norma would go on to become an actress of great repute and would always claim to be the youngest of the sisters. After the father's business collapsed and the family found themselves impoverished the mother left her husband and reduced family moved from Montreal to New York City, U.S.A. in 1920 working as performers and models. It was tough times but eventually Norma would make it to Hollywood where she would become one of the great stars at MGM Studios by 1925. She would marry the famous studio executive Irving Thalberg (1899-1936) on September 29, 1927 in the wedding of the year! The couple had two children. With the movie transition to 'talkies' her Canadian accent, not really American but also not foreign, was an asset to Norma.  She was the presented with the third top Actress Academy Award for her work in the film The Divorcee in 1930 She was the second Canadian woman to receive this award. She would be the first person to receive five Academy Award nominations for acting nominated an additional four times for the Best Actress award but only had the win in 1930. In 1938 she won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the Venice Film Festival.  She retired from acting in 1942. She married Martin Arrouge (1914-1999) in 1943. Her life story has been chronicled in several published biographies of herself and of Thalberg. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. June 30, 2008 Canada Post issued a stamp in her honour in the series Canadians in Hollywood. In 2015 she was inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame, Toronto. (2024).

Ellen Burka. 
née Danby. Born August 11,1921 Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Died September 12, 2016 Toronto, Ontario. As a youth she and her family were sent to the Westerberg Transit Camp by the Germans. Because she registered herself as the "Dutch National Figure Skating Champion the overseer of the camp allowed her to skate at the camp. Her parents and her grandmother were sent to Sobibor Extermination Camp and were killed. Ellen herself was sent to Theresienstadt Concentration Camp where she would meet artist Jan Burka. The two were married in Amsterdam in the Netherlands just two weeks after being freed from the concentration camp by the Russian Army. In 1950 the couple immigrated to Canada and settled in Toronto. There were divorced in the mid 1950's leaving Ellen a single parent of two daughters. She became a skating coach and was known for her unique blending of skating with ballet and modern dance.  A coach of renown she has seen her efforts crowned at 26 Canadian Olympic and World Championships when her pupils have received medals. She was the coach to Toller Cranston (1949-2015) who won six National Canadian championship titles and a Bronze medal at the 1976 Olympic Games, Innsbruck, Austria. In 1978 for her efforts elevating figure skating to an art form she was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada.  Her own daughter, Petra Burka, won a bronze Olympic Medal in the 1964 Olympic Games, Innsbruck, Austria.. Both are members of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. She is also a member of the Canadian Figure Skating Hall of Fame, the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame and the International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame. Ellen's second Daughter directed a documentary, Skate to Survive, in 2008 telling her mother's story. (2019)

Mavis Leslie Gallant.  
née de Trafford Young. Born August 11, 1922, Montreal, Quebec. Died February 18, 2014, Paris, France. As a youngster Mavis told stories to her paper dolls to keep herself quietly entertained. A four years of age she was sent to boarding school. Her father died when she was ten and her mother remarried and left for New York, U.S.A. without her daughter who would attend a multitude of different schools. She settled in her late teens in Montreal, Quebec. Here she married Johnny Gallant an Acadian might club entertainer who was soon a soldier in Europe. She was a working “Girl” at the National Film Board and a reporter at the Montreal Standard newspaper reluctantly hired to replace the men who were off fighting the war. She refused to write “girly” columns and was soon a feature writer for the paper. Her marriage disintegrated after the war and by 1951 she was submitting stories to the New Yorker magazine and off to Live in Paris, France. Her early years in Europe had her living  in many short-term situations in the south of France, Switzerland, and Spain. Eventually she settled in the Montparnasse district of Paris, France. This  was the home area of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus in the 1950s, and the site of many student demonstrations. Mavis chronicled the uprisings, initially for her personal notebooks, but eventually agreed to let The New Yorker publish them. They writings appeared in the column, Paris Notebooks. She received the Governor General's Award in 1981 for her work Home Truths: Selected Canadian Stories. She  would receive numerous honorary degrees, the Molson Prize from the Canada Council, the Canada-Australia Literary Prize, a tribute at the International Festival of Authors at Harbourfront in Toronto, the Blue Metropolis Literary Prize, the Inaugural Matt Cohen Prize, and the Pen Nabokov Award for career achievement. In 1981 she was made an officer of the Order of Canada and in 1993 this was upgraded to Companion of the Order of Canada. In 1983-1984 she returned to Canada as Writer-in-Residence at the University of Toronto. She was preoccupied with the past in her last years as she prepared her diaries covering the years from 1952 through 1969 for publication. The diaries were published in Toronto and New York in 2015. In her last  decade she was plagued by ill health and poverty but close friends rallied to support her ‘valiant spirit,' her coruscating wit, and her generous capacity for friendship.’  Source:  Sandra Martin. Writer Mavis Gallant dies at age 91, In the Globe and Mail February 18, 2014 ; The Canadian Encyclopedia. Online  (2020)

Hélène L. Shingles.  
Born August 12,1917, Poland. March 2009, Sarnia, Ontario. During world war ll she was working in a Warsaw, Poland, hospital when she was arrested and taken to a concentration camp by the notorious Nazi regime. She was eventually liberated from a forced labour camp by the Allied Forces. It took her two years to recover from the camp life. Once recovered she joined at United Nations team of doctors travelling across Europe helping displace war victims. In 1950 she emigrated to Canada settling in Sarnia, Ontario where she worked at odd jobs putting herself through dental school. She retired from her dental practice after 20 years of service. After her career as a dentist, Hélène started to volunteer for Meals-on-Wheels to bring food to the homes of people who were ill or older and unable to cook for themselves. She noticed many meals went uneaten. She found out that his was because of dental problems. She founded a charitable Dental Health Centre and volunteered her services to help out. Her dedication and service of others has not gone unnoticed. Dental association, her home city, her home province all honoured her. In 1997 she became a Member of the Order of Canada. This polish immigrant has truly honoured her Canadian citizenship.

Ruth Lowe - Sandler. 
Born August 12, 1914, Toronto, Ontario. Died January 4, 1981, Toronto, Ontario. Ruth was born with Canadian/U.S.A. parents and became a naturalized Canadian in 1942. She lived in California during her early teen years but by 16 she was promoting the sale of sheet music by playing the tunes on piano at Toronto music stores. Using the name Nancy Lee she worked in Toronto night clubs. In 1933 she worked with singer George Taggart on radio station C K N C. She sang with a female vocal trio, The Shadows and performed with some of the big bands of the era. In the mid to late 1930’s she was working with bands in the U.S.A. In 1938 she married Harold Cohen, a Chicago music publicist. He died during surgery the following year. Back in Toronto in 1939 she composed the song I’ll Never Smile Again describing her feelings after the death of her husband. She offered the song to a member of the famous Tommy Dorsey Band and Tommy Dorsey (1905-1956) gave the song to his male singer Frank Sinatra (1915-1998). It proved to be a big hit for the famous crooner. In 1942 she penned Put your Dreams Away for Another Day which was also picked up by Frank Sinatra who used the song as his closing theme song at his concerts. The song was also played at his funeral. The song was also covered by crooner Perry Como (1912-2001), Barry Manilow (1943-   ) and Canadian singer Gisèle MacKenzie (1927-2003). Ruth retired from performing in the early 1940’s but continued to compose. In 1945 she married Nathan Sandler and the couple had two sons. In 1982, just a year after her death, she was induced into the American Music Hall of Fame and given an honorary Grammy Award.  The Musical Ruthie is based on her life and was staged in 1990 in Toronto. Her story is also chronicled in the documentary I’ll Never Smile Again: The Ruth Lowe Story by Great North Productions Inc. in 2001. Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia,

Marie-Henriette LeJeune Ross. 'Granny Ross'. 
Baptized August 13 1762, Rochefort, France. Died May 1860, North East Margaree, Nova Scotia. Her family would emigrate and settle in Acadia only to be deported back to France twice as the area transferred back and forth from the France to England. As a young girl in France she married Joseph Comeau and in 1784 the young couple headed back to Cape Breton where he drowned leaving a young widow. Marie-Henriette married Bernard Lejeun dit Briard and after being a widow again in 1792 she married James Ross. She not only raised her family of 11 children but she became a known healer herbalist and midwife who traveled hundreds of miles tending to the care of the people of Nova Scotia for over 60 years. Her name and stories of her life deed have been passed down through the family from generation to generation merging fact and fiction. She is said to have killed two bears, one with a musket and one with a fire shovel! She is known to have spent hours in the forest studying plant life and learning the medical properties of the flora and fauna making her a knowledgeable scientist of her day. Sources : Canadian women in Science, Library and Archives Canada, accessed March 2006; Dictionary of Canadian Biography vol. lll p. 498-499

Gwendolyn Ringwood.  
née Phares. Born August 13, 1910, Anatone, Washington U.S.A.  Died May 24, 1984, Williams Lake, British Columbia. After graduating from the University of Alberta she worked as a secretary and later as registrar at the Banff Centre for the Arts were she wrote her 1st play The Dragons of Kent in 1935. She also studied playwriting at the University of North Carolina in the U.S.A. In 1939 she won an award from the Dominion Drama Festival for her tragic play Still Stands the House. In 1941 she received the Governor General's Award for outstanding service to Canadian drama. She was the 1st Canadian playwright to publish a volume of collected plays in 1982. The theatre in Williams Lake, British Columbia is named in her honour. The Writers Guild of Alberta presents the Gwendolyn Ringwood Drama Award. Source: The Canadian Encyclopedia.

Hilda May Cameron Young.
née Cameron. Born August 14, 1912, Toronto, Ontario. Died April 24, 2001, Toronto, Ontario. Hilda took up track and field events at the age of 14. She became Junior Canadian Champion in the high jump. She was considered too old to participate in the 1928 summer Olympic games so she studied to become a teacher. She began her teaching career in 1932 but still continued to compete in track and field. She represented Canada in the 1934 British Empire Games placing fifth in the 220 yards competition. In 1935 she was Canadian champion in the 60 metre sprint event. Hilda competed in the 1936 Olympic Games, Berlin, Germany where she and her team mates Mildred Jeanette Dolson (1918-2004), Hilda May Cameron (1912-2001), and Aileen Aletha Meagher (1910-1987) won the Bronze Medal in the 4 X 100 metre relay. That year she was named Best Female Athlete of Ontario. She retired from competition that same year.  She married W. Donald Young. She took retirement from teaching in 1973. In 1996 she was inducted into the Etobicoke Sports Hall of Fame. (2020)

Raynell Andreychuk. 
Born August 14, 1944, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. After graduating from the University of Saskatchewan she studied law at the University and began her own practice in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan In 1976 she was appointed a judge of the Saskatchewan Provincial Court after she had imitated Regina’s 1st family court. From 1977 through 1983 she served as Chancellor to the University of Saskatchewan. In 1985 she was appointed Associated Deputy Minister of Social Services for Saskatchewan. In 1987 she became High Commissioner to Kenya and Uganda followed by appointment as ambassador to Somalia and the Comoros. In 1988 through 1993 she was the Canadian Representative to the United Nations Human Rights Commission. In 1990 she was Ambassador to Portugal and Canada’s permanent representative the the United Nations (UN) Environment Programme and the UN Human Settlements Programme. In 1993 she was appointed to the Senate of Canada. Source: Raynell Andrechuk (Biography) Parliament of Canada. Online (accessed September 2014) .

Natasha Henstringe.  
Born August 15, 1974, Springdale, Newfoundland and Labrador. Natasha and her family located to Fort McMurray, Alberta where she grew up. To begin her career as a model in Paris, France she had to leave home at the age of 14. The following year at 15, she had her 1st appearance on a magazine cover, the French edition of Cosmopolitan. She was soon appearing on television commercials for Olay and Old Spice. She burst onto the movie scene in 1995 in the science fiction-thriller film Species winning the MTV Movie Award for Best Kiss. She went on to film Species ll and lll. She had 2 roles in 1992 and 5 roles in 1998. In 1995 she married Damian Chapa but the marriage lasted only a year. Caracara was a 1999 film release and in 2000 is the The Whole Nine Yards and the sequel The Whole Ten Yards in 2004.  She and partner Liam Waite had two children. In 2006 she filmed the CTV original miniseries, Would Be Kings in Hamilton, Ontario winning a Gemini Award for her work. She continues to work with appearances on various TV shows. In 2011 she married Darius Campbell, a Scottish singer. The couple finalized their divorce in 2018. In 2017 she joined the #Me too Movement maintaining that she was a victim of misconduct and harassment. in the early 1990's.  (2020)

Dorothy Muriel Wylie. 
Born August 15, 1929, Toronto, Ontario. Died August 13, 2016, Toronto, Ontario. At 18 when Dorothy was considered too young by most schools she enrolled in St Michael’s Hospital School of Nursing graduating in 1950. As a working nurse she was known for being blunt and practical, always to the point. She studied for her Bachelor of Nursing at New York University in the U.S.A. in 1964 and earned her Master’s degree at Cornell University in New York State, U.S.A. in 1969. She was an early proponent of patient-centered care. She favoured hand on training and projects. In the 1970’s she worked at various leadership roles at Scarborough Centenary Hospital, Sunnybrook and at the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario. In 1978 she served as Vice-president of Nursing at Toronto General, the largest Hospital in the country at that time. She helped to launch the Ontario Provincial Nurse Administrators Interest Group and also the Journal of Nursing Administration which eventually was renamed the Canadian Journal of Nursing. She was elected as the president of the College of Nurses of Ontario. In 1982 she became a Fellow at Ryerson University, Toronto and taught at the University of and in 1989 she was associate professor at the University of Toronto. She retired from teaching in 1994. In 1885 she earned a second master’s degree in human resources development at American University in Washington, D.C., U.S.A. In 2001 Three women she mentored founded the Dorothy Wylie Health Leaders Institute that offers leadership education for nurses. Source; Obituary Globe and Mail September 9, 2016. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa Ontario.

Penny Martineuk Cooke.  
née O’Brian. Born August 16, 1919, Smoky Lake, Alberta. Died April 29, 2010, Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1944 shPenny  married Earl Cooke, (died 1969) who was serving in the Canadian Navy at the time. The couple would have three children. When she was scouted to play baseball by the All American Girls Professional Baseball League (AAGBL) she decided the high pay that was being offered was worth it. In 1945 she played with the Fort Wayne Daisies. That season she stole 43 bases in 83 games. The women in the AAGPBL wore one piece short skirted uniforms with knee socks, baseball shoes and caps. They played a grueling schedule to keep baseball going while the men served during World War ll. In 1988 the AAGPBL was included in the  National Baseball Hall of Fame Cooperstown, New York, U.S.A. In 1992, director, Penny Marshal used the AAGBL as inspiration to tell their story in the film A League of Their Own. In 1998 the AAGPBL Canadian members were inducted into the Canadian Baseball Hall of Fame, St Marys, Ontario. In 1981 she moved from Alberta to British Columbia to be closer to her children. Source: Obituary, The Vancouver Sun, May 8, 2010.; AAGPBL Online (accessed February 2014)  (2020)

Jacqueline 'Jackie' Lorraine Shepherd. 
née Le Drew. Born August 16, 1932, St John’s, Newfoundland. Died January 27, 2006. In the 1960’s, Jackie was a consumer advocate to be reckoned with and an activist to whom people listened. In 1967 she formed the Consumer Housewives Union and convinced members to picket food warehouses. A strong supporter of the New Democratic Party (NDP) in politics she was an unsuccessful NDP federal candidate for York West in 1968. She spearheaded a fight for better housing for low-income residents and helped convince the government of the day to pass legislation that banned landlords from refusing to rent to people with children.

Pat Annesley. 
Born August 17, 1936, Tesdale, Saskatchewan. Died February 27, 2012, Vancouver, British Columbia. At 15 she won a writing contest in which she was provided with a full scholarship at the Banff School of Fine Arts in Alberta. At 16 she won a National Newspaper Award. She was hooked. Journalism was to be her career. She worked at the Calgary, Albertan and the Herald, the Edmonton Journal newspapers in Alberta as well as the Winnipeg Tribune in Manitoba. While at the Tribune she met Fred Annesley, a fellow reporter. The couple married and had two children. She worked earning herself a daily column in the Toronto Telegram newspaper and later for MacLean's   magazine In the early 1970’s she ran Information Services for TVOntario. She retired to Vancouver in 1983 still dappling with some freelance writing. Source: Loves Lived by Belle Laderoule and David Cobb, The Globe and Mail, October 26, 2012. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario

Manitok Catherine Thompson. 
Born August 17, 1955, Coral Harbour, Northwest Territories. Manitok graduated from the Teacher Education Program in Fort Smith in 1977 and went on to teach in schools in Coral Harbour, Repulse Bay and Yellowknife until 1983. She remained in the education field for the next 12 years, holding the positions of Coordinator of Interpreter Services with the Stanton Yellowknife Hospital, Language Consultant, Inuktitut Programs Specialist and high school teacher. Manitok was also an active community volunteer, organizing the inaugural Keewatin Arts and Crafts Festival, music festivals, Rankin Inlet’s Hamlet Days and was a member of the Concerned Citizens against Drug and Alcohol Abuse. She also was a volunteer pastor for a small church in Repulse Bay. In recognition for her civic involvement she received the Volunteer Award for the Hamlet of Rankin Inlet. In 1994, she entered politics at the municipal level as a Counsellor for Rankin Inlet and was appointed to the Nunavut Social Development Committee. She was 1st elected to the Northwest Territories' Legislature for the riding of Aivilik in a by-election on May 8, 1995, and re-elected in October of the same year. While holding the cabinet portfolios of Minister of Municipal and Community Affairs and Minister responsible for the Women's Directorate she was a member of the Standing Committee on Finance, the Standing Committee on Agencies, Boards and Commissions and the Special Committee on Housing. On February 15, 1999, the 1st election for the new territory, she won a seat in the Nunavut Legislature for the Rankin Inlet South/Whale Cove riding. Manitok served as Nunavut’s 1st woman cabinet minister as Minister responsible for Public Works and Services and Minister responsible for the Nunavut Housing Corporation. In 2001 she was named minister of Community Government and Transportation and Minister responsible for Sport Nunavut. . Retiring from territorial politics in 2004 she ran as an independent candidate in the federal Canadian election in 2004 where she finished in 2nd place. Manitok now works as an official with the territorial Nunavut government.  She is married to Tom Thompson and the couple have two children.

Joan M. Boggs. 
Born August 18,1946. Joan attended Reed College, Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. to earn her BA in Chemistry and then the University of Toronto for her Masters in Chemistry in 1970.  Joan went on and earned her Doctorate from the University of Toronto in 1975. When she relaxes she goes hiking and canoeing or can be found gardening. Joan was a Senior Scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario from 1978 through 2013. She is also a professor at the University of Toronto. Dr. Boggs is the author/co-author of more than 85 papers which have appeared in various scientific journals. Source: Canadian Who's Who. (2019)

Seana Bridget McKenna. 
Born August 15, 1956, Toronto, Ontario. Seana graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada / École nationale de théâtre du Canada, Montreal, Quebec. She has been with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival  for more than two decades having appeared in more than 40 productions. She has also held top roles in productions at the Centaur Theatre, the Grand Theatre,  The Belfry Theatre, the Neptune Theatre, the National Arts Centre, the Manitoba Theartre Centre,  Theatre New Brunswick, the George Bernard Shaw Festival, the Canadian Stage company, The Royal Alexandria Theatre and the Tarragon Theatre. In 1997 she won a Genie Award for Best Supporting Actress in the film The Hanging Garden. She has also appeared in filmed Stratford productions. She is married to director Miles Potter and the couple have one son. In 2012 she was presented with the Queen Elizabeth ll Diamond Jubilee Medal and in 2018 she was inducted into the Order of Canada. (2019)

Agnes Benidickson. 
née McCaushland. Born August 19,1920, Chaffeys Lock, Ontario. Died March 23, 2007, Ottawa, Ontario. Although she was raised in Winnipeg Manitoba she decided to attend Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario where her father had served as chancellor. She earned a BA in 1941 and would return a while later in 1979 to earn a degree in Law. During World War ll she began working and serving with the Canadian Red Cross. In 1947 she married William Moore Benidickson (1911-1985) who would be an Member of Parliament and Senator of Canada. The couple had three children. From 1972-1974 she served as president of the Canadian Council on Social Development and from 1974 through 1983 she was President of the National Association of Canadian Clubs. 1980- 1996 she served as the 1st woman Chancellor of Queen’s University. In 1987 she was inducted as an Officer into the Order of Canada and in 1998 was promoted to Champion of the Order of Canada. In 1991 she was inducted into the Order of Ontario. Queen’s University named a beautiful gardened area the Agnes Benidickson Field in her honour.

Susan Jacks. 
née Pesklevits. Born August 19, 1948, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.  Susan and her husband, Terry Jacks, formed  singing group called 'The Poppy Family'. Together they produced several albums of music. In 1969 their career soared with the hit song Which Way You Goin' Billy? which earned four Juno Awards. They began single careers in 1973 and ended their marriage. Susan would go on to have a single performer career in the 1980's. In 1983 she married Ted Dushinski of the Canadian Football League and that same year she relocated to Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A. releasing her new album Tall Dark Stranger which earned another Juno nomination. She and Ted have one son. After her new music label floundered she concentrated on songwriting rather than singing. She began a management position at a music publishing business and rose to be an executive Vice President of a successful telecommunications firm in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.A. In 2005 the couple returned to Canada where Ted died of cancer in 2005. In 2010 she was the recipient of a kidney transplant donated by her brother Billy. June 27, 2010 she was inducted into the British Columbia Entertainment Hall of Fame. In 2011 she performed as a Kidney Foundation of Canada benefit concert. After complications from kidney failure the recovered entertainer returned to performing and recorded a new album in 2018.  (2019)

Cynthia Cindy Nicholas.  
Born August 20, 1957, Toronto, Ontario. Died May 19, 2016, Scarborough, Ontario. At 16 years old Cindy bettered the record for swimming Lake Ontario. In 1975 she swam the English Channel in record-breaking time. In 1977 she became the 1st woman to complete a double crossing of the English Channel  She would go on to swim the Channel 18 more times including 5 two-way trips! Her honorary title was Queen of the Channel. In 1977 she was voted by the Canadian Press as winner of the Bobbie Rosenfeld Award as Canada's Tope Female Athlete of the Year. She received the Order of Canada in 1979. She is a member of the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame. She was inducted into the Ontario Sport Legends Hall of Fame in 2003. (2020)

Mobina Jaffer. 
Born August 20, 1949, Kampala, Uganda. In 1972 she earned a bachelor of law at London University, London, England. After immigrating to Canada she was called to the bar in British Columbia where she opened her own practice. She is married and the couple have two children. She was appointed Queens Counsel in 1993. She ran unsuccessfully for a position in the Canadian Parliament in a Vancouver riding in 1993 and also in 1997. 1994 through 1998 she was Vice President of the Liberal Party of Canada. From 1998 to 2003 she was President of the National Women’s Liberal Commission. She was appointed the Senate of Canada on June 13, 2001 by Prime Minister Jean Chrètien. She is the 1st Muslim Senator in Canada and the 1st of Asian descent. From 2002 through 2006 she was Canada’s Special Envoy in Sudan. 2002-2005 she served as Chair on the Canadian Committee on women, peace and security. 2003 and again in 2004 she was on the list of Canada’s Top 100 most powerful women. (2019)

Carrie-Anne Moss. 
Born August 21, 1970, Vancouver, British Columbia. When she was 11 she became a member of the Vancouver Children's Musical Theatre and  when in high school she toured Europe with the Magee Secondary School Choir in her senior year.  While modeling in Europe she obtained a movie role in a film being done in Spain. She began her North American acting career with appearances in TV and movies in 1991.  She was in several  TV series, Dark Justice in1991, Models Inc. in 1994, and F/X the Series in 1996.In 1997 she was nominated fro a Gemini Award for her role as a guest on the popular TV series Due South.  In 1999 she married actor and director, Steven Roy. The couple have three children. In 1999 through 2003 she appeared in the Matrix Trilogy, winning an Empire Award for Best Newcomer in 1999. In 2000 she earned an Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female in Memento. She has kept busy with additional movies earning a Genie Award for Best Performance by and Actress in a Supporting Role in the romantic drama Snow Cake in 2006 and a Vancouver Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress in a Canadian Film in Fido. Busy with numerous movies she has also tried voicing animated films such as the Clockwork Girl in 2013. Her career continues with her appearing in two to three films a year and numerous TV guest roles.  (2019)

Josée Chouinard.  
Born August 21,1969, Montreal, Quebec. Watching the 1976 Winter Olympic Games on television she fell in love with figure skating. In the 1980s she was winning medals at skating events and took the gold medal at the 1990 Skate Canada International event. She was 3 times Canadian figure skating champion, 1991, 1993 and 1994. Josée placed 5th at the World Championships in 1992 and 1994. She also finished in the top ten in the 1992 and 1994 Winter Olympic Games. She turned professional n 1994 and won the Canadian Professional Championships that same year and again in 1997. She coached at the Granite Club, Toronto, Ontario from 2002 through 2017 and at the Richmond Training Centre, Richmond Hill, Ontario.  She has served as an ambassador for the Heart & Stroke Foundation.  She married Canadian pair figure skater Jean-Michel Bombardier in 1997 and in 2005 the couple became parents to twins. The couple separated in 2006.  (2019)

Patricia Hy-Boulais.  
Born August 22, 1965, Phnom Penh, Kampuchea. Patricia and her parents escaped to the safety of Hong Kong when civil war broke out in Cambodia. This tennis player began her career as a teenager in Honk Kong until 1987. Patricia wanted to leave Hong Kong when the area was released by the British to China. Immigrating to Canada in 1988 she became a Canadian Citizen in 1991. Canadian Tennis Champion from 1992 through 1999. She has also represented Canada at  the 1992 Summer Olympic Games, Barcelona, Spain and the1996 Summer Olympic Games, Atlanta ,Georgia, U.S.A. After retiring from the professional tour, Patricia coached and mentored programs for high-performance players who were seeking to compete in top Division I universities and transitioning onto the tennis tour.Patricia has been inducted into the Canadian Tennis Hall of Fame and into the Hong Kong Tennis Hall of Fame. (2019)

Frances Marie Gage. 
Born August 22, 1924, Windsor, Ontario. Died November 26, 2017, Cobourg, Ontario. During World War ll Frances served as an intelligence officer with the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service (Wrens). A year after leaving the services she attended the Ontario College of Art, Toronto, graduating in 1951. She went on to study at the Art Student's League of New York, U.S.A. and L'Ecole des beau-arts in Paris, France. Returning to Canada in 1957 she began sculpting. In 1959 she traded one of her works , The Bear, in order to build her own studio on Birch Avenue in Toronto. Her works were exhibited internationally from Colorado, U.S.A., to Finland and London, England. She was over the years often commissioned to complete work by the provincial Government. She also did commissioned pieces for the Women's College Hospital, Toronto. In 1972 she completed The Jenny which commemorated the Wrens. (2019)

Elizabeth Minnie 'Betty' Lambert. 
née Lee. Born August 23, 1933, Calgary, Alberta. Died November 4, 1983, Burnaby, British Columbia. Betty married Frank Lambert in 1952. The couple had one daughter and were divorced in 1962. In 1956, while still a student at university, Betty earned the Brissenden Creative Writing Award followed the next year with the Macmillan Best Short Story Award. Betty graduated from the University of British Columbia in 1957. In 1965 she began working at the newly found Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, British Columbia, in the English Department. Betty is best remembered as a playwright including over 70 stage, radio, and television plays. Many of her works dealt with feminism, strong women and sexual violence. Her papers are held in the Special Collections and Rare Books at Simon Fraser University. (2020)

Jean Bruce Dawson. 
née Anderson. Born August 23,1912, Calgary, Alberta. Died August 4, 1999, Victoria, British Columbia. She graduated in 1936 as a nurse but with the great depression of the 1930's she was unable to follow her plans and continue studies to become a doctor. Her marriage to Douglas Dawson would lead to a family of four children and a relationship of some 60 years. When the family lived in Guyana, Africa, and Burma she volunteered her nursing expertise. While traveling in the tropics she gained an interest in painting. Jean had actually began studies at the Institute of Technology and Art in Calgary in the 1930's prior to studying to be a nurse and at the age of 74 years she earned her Bachelor Degree in Fine Arts from the University of Victoria in British Columbia. She enjoyed her art but seldom showed her work. She was a member of the Federation of Canadian Artists and joined a local portrait group and the Victoria Sketch Club. She continued her volunteer efforts by working for Meals on Wheels in her home community until she was 86 years old. (2019)

Susan Agnes MacDonald. 
née Bernard. Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe. Born Jamaica August 24,1836. Died September 5, 1920, England. Brought up in Jamaica and England she came to Canada to live with her brother. It was through her brother, Hewitt, that she met the Canadian politician, Sir John A. Macdonald. They married February 16, 1867. She was the 2nd wife for Sir John but as the wife of our first Prime Minister she Canada's first "First Lady".  She was intelligent and curious about life but she had little patience for the social graces and duties of the wife of a Canadian Prime Minister. In 1886, following the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway the Macdonald's set of on a transcontinental rail trip. Consumed by the beauty of the Canadian Rockies, the 50 year old woman raised concerns from the crew when she enjoyed part of the trip wrapped in blankets and perched atop a candle box on the locomotive's cow catcher! The diaries she wrote, now preserved in Canada's National Archives, provide a fascinating view of the early years of Canadian Confederation. She and Sir John had one daughter, Margaret Mary Theodora Macdonald, who was born severely handicapped, both mentally and physically (1869–1933). After her husband's death in 1891 she was raised to the peerage in his honour as Baroness Macdonald of Earnscliffe, in the Province of Ontario and Dominion of Canada. She eventually returned to England where she died and is buried. (2019)

Constance 'Connie' Marie Beattie.
Born August 24, 1924, Brockville, Ontario. Died August 21, 1949, Manitoba. Connie graduated from the University of Toronto's physiotherapy program in 1945. She served with the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps after graduation. In 1948 she joined the Toronto East General's physiotherapy department and was soon head of the department. She served as president of the Toronto Branch of the Canadian Physiotherapy Association. With an outbreak of poliomyelitis that struck during the winter of 1948-49 a physiotherapist was urgently needed to help treat Inuit victims in the Arctic settlement of Chesterfield Inlet on the west coast of Hudson Bay and Connie did not hesitate to volunteer. One sixth of the Inuit population in the immediate area were affected including many adults, leaving them with varying degrees of paralysis. A quarantine order covered more than one hundred thousand square kilometres surrounding the outpost. Connie committed to spending four months in Chesterfield Inlet working at St.Teresa Hospital. World newspapers picked up on the story reporting Connie would not live in an igloo but would live at the hospital. She spent time at first working at King George Hospital with Inuit who had been flown to Winnipeg for treatment. Her time in Winnipeg was also spent preparing to leave for the Arctic. There were no appropriate winter clothes at the Fort Osborne Barracks in Winnipeg so she shopped for her own clothing. Her luggage was somehow misplaced and she was forced to leave without it. According to colleagues she did remarkable therapeutic work among 40 polio patients working in the hospital in in igloos. When it came time to leave she was looking forward to reuniting with family and her fiancé, Dr. Guthrie Grant. The plane, carrying Connie and eight patients,  left Churchill at 6:00pm August 21 and the story of the missing 'mercy flight' being missing soon hit the North American Press. By August 23, the grim headlines reported that all 21 people on board the plane were killed in the crash. The Canadian Physiotherapy Association created the annual bursary program in her honour with preference to post graduate training and work in the treatment of Polio. In Brockville, Ontario, an arts and crafts building at Merrywood of the Rideau camp for children affected by polio was named for Connie. Source: Mercy Mission by Christopher. Rutty in Canada's History, May 2021.

Linda Hutcheon. 
Born August 24, 1947, Toronto, Ontario. Linda is an author, editor, translator, and a critic of art and literature which she combines with being a professor. Linda graduated from the University of Toronto and has taught at Seneca College and McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario prior to taking a position at the University of Toronto in 1988. Her interdisciplinary collaborative work with her husband, Dr. Michael Hutcheon, on the intersection of medical and cultural history, studied through the vehicle of opera, has yielded articles, book chapters and four completed books thus far. In 2000 she was elected President of the Modern Language Association of America, the 1st Canadian women to hold this position. She has received both the Killam Award and the Molson Prize for the Humanities, and was made a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1990 and an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2010. (2019)

Ethel Ruby Keeler.  
Born August 25, 1909, Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Died February 28, 1993. When Ruby was just three the family relocated to New York City, U.S.A. As a child at primary school she was able to take dance lessons one a wee from a visiting dance instructor. The teacher was so interested that she gave Ruby free lessons at her studio. At thirteen she auditioned for a chorus line by lying about her age. In 1923 she was working on stage for forty-five dollars a week to help her family. She would work her way in the entertainment world even working for the famous Ziegfeld Follies. A former speakeasy dancer and Broadway lead, she married musical star Al Jolson in 1928. Ruby was picked up with a contract at the Warner Brothers Studio. After several films she retired from the screen in 1941. She charmed audiences again in 1971 with a return to Broadway in the reprised musical No No Nanette for two seasons plus two seasons of tours. In 1974 Ruby survived a brain aneurysm and became spokesperson for the National Stroke Association. She always contended that she had a horrible singing voice, could not act, and that her dancing skills were not that good either. (2019)

Marie Saint Pierre.  
Born August 25,1961, Montreal, Quebec. Marie graduated from Collège Brébeuf with a diploma in arts and communications in 1981 and then graduated with a diploma in fashion design from Collège LaSalle, Montreal in 1987. Her enjoyment of designing clothes has lead her to establishing her own company Marie Saint Pierre Design Inc. in 1987. That year she became the 1st Canadian to stage a show at Collections In 1989 Saint-Pierre became the first Québec designer to participate at the Fashion Coterie of New York. Three years later she presented her collection in Singapore breaking into the international fashion scene.  Within a few years her work won recognition and awards from the industry including Vidal-Sasson-sponsored Buyer’s Designer of the Year in 1995 when she became the 1st Canadian to stage a show at Collections Créateurs in Paris, France and was awarded Designer of the Year by Elle Québec. The next year she introduced her line in the the United States. She has been subject of numerous newspaper and TV interviews and has been cited as “Canada’s most promising designer”  by the Globe and Mail newspaper in Toronto. Watch the labels of clothing you buy…it might just be from… She has created a wedding line and branched out to include jewellery, bags, scarves, seasonal accessories, home accessories and a fragrance line. She has created Sous Zero in 2004 which is a fund to provide woman and children in need with winter clothing. In 2006, Saint Pierre launched her Behind the Scenes Fashion Collection, a limited edition line of Bratz dolls made for children. She has been induced as a Chevalier in the National Order of Quebec. (2019)

Alice Jones.  
Born August 26, 1853,  Halifax, Nova Scotia. Died February 27, 1933, Menton, France. Alice had her early education in Halifax and travelled widely in England and Europe where she studied languages. This author developed the “new woman”  theme in her novels. She also wrote shot stories and travel articles for magazines. She used the pen name of Alix John for 1st novel, Night-Hawk published in 1902. In 1903 she was described as one of Canada’s leading women novelists. She relocated to France in 1905 but continued to include Canadian characters in her novels. Alice penned five novels. (2019)

Alice Evelyn Wilson.  
Born August 26, 1881 Coburg, Ontario. Died April 15, 1964 Ottawa, Ontario. During family canoeing and camping trips Alice became interested in fossils. She began studies at the University of Toronto but ill health caused her to withdraw from these studies.  She began to work in the Mineralogy Division of the University of Toronto Museum, thus beginning her career as a geologist. By 1909 she was able to complete her university studies and  obtained a permanent position as a museum technician at the Geological Survey of Canada in Ottawa as the 1st woman hired by the Geological Survey of Canada. As a paleontologist she described fossils in papers and books. By 1929 she had received a scholarship from the Canadian Federation of University Women and graduated with her doctorate in geology from the University of Chicago. Alice could not participate in field work that would have required her to live in remote regions camps with men. Instead,  Alice lectured and traveled to bring geology to the public, especially children. In 1930 she was one of the 1st two women elected as Fellows of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society  In 1935 she became a Member of the Order of the British Empire. In 1936 she was the 1st Canadian woman to be admitted to the Geological Society of American and in 1937 she was one of the 1st woman to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. Alice did complete some fieldwork at local sites in Ottawa and environs. In 1946 her Geology of the St Lawrence Lowland, Ontario and Quebec was published as the 1st major geological work in the area. From 1948 for a decade she lectured in paleontology at Carleton College (Now Carleton University. In 1991 the Royal Society of Canada established the Alice Wilson Awards for emerging women scholars. In 2005 Alice Wilson was inducted into the Canadian Science and Engineering Hall of Fame. (2019)

Maud Allan.  
née Ulla Maude Durant. Born August 27, 1873, Toronto, Ontario. (sources give varied dates of birth from 1873 to 1880) Died October 7, 1956, Los Angeles California, U.S.A. The family moved to San Francisco, California, U.S.A. and then in 1895 to Germany where Maud studied piano in Berlin. Maud changed her name to cover her relationship and scandal with her criminal brother who was hanged in 1898 for murder in San Francisco. The trauma of her brother's death was such that she abandoned her piano playing and took up dance. Maud became true pioneer of modern dance. Her costumes were very creative and were fashioned and sewn by herself. Her version of the Dance of the Seven Veils became somewhat notorious. In 1908 she published My Life and Dancing and she went on tour in England. She would continue to perform in Europe, North America, Australia, Africa, and Asia. By 1915 she was appearing in silent films. In 1918 she sued a British Member of Parliament who had called her a lesbian but she lost the case which became entangled in obscenity charges against her dance performance. There was a ban on public performances on the play by Oscar Wilde from which her dance was based. Her others crimes were also brought out during the trial to suggest sexual insanity in her family. Maud taught dance in the 1920's. From 1930 through 1942 she opened the West Wing School of Dance for slum children to learn dance in New York City, U.S.A. In 1937 she opened the West Wing School of Art in London, England, for underprivileged children. She continued to appear in films in the 1930's and early 1940's. (2019)

Sarah Chalke. 
Born August 27, 1976, Ottawa, Ontario. Sarah would grow up in Vancouver British Columbia where she worked in musical theatre when she was just 8 years old. . Sarah began professional acting with children's television shows, she got her break in 996 when she became Becky Connor # 2 on Roseanne, the popular television show about the Connor family . She has appeared in movies and television, including Ernest Goes to School;  Beyond Obsession;  Dead Man's Gun; Neon Rider, and for nine years she had a role  on the NBC comedy Scrubs. She took up her role as Becky Connor on the reboot of the Roseanne show in 2018.  When not acting Sarah can be found on the ski slopes where she is a qualified instructor. Sarah and her life partner lawyer Jamie Afifi became parents for the 1st time in may 2016. She is an ambassador for the Audrey Hepburn Children's Foundation and in 2009 was ambassador for the Susan G. Komen Passionately Pink for the Cure program. (2019)

Irene Mary Spry.
 née Biss.  Born August 28, 1907 Standerton, Transvaal, South Africa.  Died December 16, 1998. Irene studied at the London School of Economics in England in 1924/5 and earned her graduate degree in economics at Girton College, University of Cambridge, England in 1928. She earned her Master's degree from Bryn Mawr College, Pennsylvania, U.S.A. Her academic teaching career began when she joined the Department of Political Economy at the University of Toronto in 1929. In 1938 she married Graham Spry (1900-1983), a Canadian broadcasting pioneer, business executive, diplomat and socialist. The couple had three children. The published works of of Irene on the Palliser Expedition of 1857-1860 are definitive studies. During the second world war she served on the Wartime Prices and Trade Board and the Commodity Prices Stabilization Corporation in Ottawa. In the late 1940's she co-founded with her husband Saskatchewan House in England where Graham Spry was serving as Agent-General for Saskatchewan in London from 1946 through 1967.  She represented the Federated Women’s Institutes of Canada at the Associated Country Women from 1954 to 1967 and was their executive chairman 1959 to 1965. She was a fervent supporter of Canada and of a social democratic approach to public policy. Returning to Canada in 1967 she taught at the University of Saskatchewan and in 1968 at the University of Ottawa. She formally retired in 1973  but becoming professor emeritus and continuing to teach until the early 1980's. She was giving lectures as late as 1995.  She was named an Officer in the Order of Canada in 1993.  Failing eyesight did not keep her from almost daily studies at the National Archives of Canada where she could be seen using a large magnifying glass in order to read documents. Sources: Canadian Encyclopedia ; personal knowledge.

Shania Twain. 
née Eileen Regina Edwards. Born August 28, 1965, Windsor, Ontario. She took the name of her step father and went through school as Eileen Twain in Timmons, Ontario. She enjoyed music and her family recognized her talent when she was young. So did the CBC who had her appear at 13 on the popular Tommy Hunter Show. When she was 21 her parents were killed in an auto accident and she took on the responsibility for her brothers and sisters by working in a lodge in Huntsville, Ontario where she had a chance to perform as part of her work. In 1990 when she signed her 1st recording contract with Mercury Nashville Records she changed her 1st name to Shania, which is from the aboriginal Ojibwa language, meaning 'I'm on my way'.  She was indeed! Her 1995 album, The Woman in me sold 12 million copies and her 1998 release Come on Over produced 8 world wide single hits. Her singing and her original writings of songs have won Grammy Awards, Juno Awards, Canadian and American Country Music Awards, and World Music Awards. In 2001 she took time from her busy career to give birth to a son and in 2003 returned to touring and performing to her adoring fans. In 2004 she and her husband purchased a ranch in New Zealand as a get away from their home in Europe. She has been honoured in her home town of Timmins with a museum dedicated to her life and career.

Lise Payette. 
née Ouimet. Born August 29, 1931, Montreal, Quebec. Died September 5, 2018, Montreal, Quebec. Lise began her broadcast career in Trois-Riviéres on radio in 1954. She would also work as editor of the weekly newspaper Frontier Rouyn-Noranda and host the radio show La Femme dans le monde at C K R N. Living in Paris, France for awhile she wrote for Petit Journal and the Canadian Chatelaine magazine. Back in Montreal she worked on the TV show Interdit aux hommes (prohibited to men) for Radio-Canada. In the 1960's she hosted a popular Radio Canada morning program Place aux Femmes. From 1965 to 1972, Payette worked on a series of animated television programs for the French and English networks of the CBC. From 1972 to 1975, Lise was the host of the TV series Appelez moi Lise and Lise Lib. Payette was appointed President of the Quebec National Holidays Committee in 1975. She turned politician and joined the 'Parti Quebecois'. In 1976 she was elected to the Quebec Provincial legislature where she was appointed provincial Minister of Consumer Affairs. She was not re-elected in the 1980 election and  her political career ended when she did not stand for re-election. She became a writer for television with a series of successful soap operas. In 1994 she was Woman of the Year with Canadian Women in Communications and in 1998 she was presented with the Grand Prize of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television. She founded the television production company Focus. In the 2000's she wrote columns for the newspaper Journal de Montreal and then Le Devoir. In 2001 she became an Officer of the National Order of Quebec followed in 2003 with a lifetime achievement award from the Quebec Business Women's Network. She was awarded the Pierre-Vadeboncœur Prize in 2012 and the Guy-Price Mauffette Prize in 2014. (2019)

Amanda Meta Marshall.  
Born August 29, 1972, Toronto, Ontario. Amanda studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto. She began performing when she was just 16 years old. Her powerful voice landed her a contract with Columbia Records in New York City, U.S.A. but it was Sony Music Canada that released her 1st album titled Amanda Marshall in 1995 was certified Diamond in Canada and her latter two albums were certified 3X Platinum and Platinum respectively. Her song “This could take all night” was part of the sound track of the movie Tin Cup.  She has also had a strong endorsement from Elton John. (2019)

Milena Gaiga. 
Born August 30, 1964, Port Alberni, British Columbia. In 1985 she began playing field hockey at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. She graduated in 1988 with her degree in Physical Education. In 1989 she returned to the University of Victoria to study for her Master's Degree and she also returned to the University Field Hockey Team.  In 1992 she was a member of the Canadian Field Hockey Olympic Team at the Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain. In 2015 she was inducted into the University of Victoria Sports Hall of Fame. She works as a manager with the provincial government of British Columbia in the Physical Literacy and Healthy Settings. (2018)

Helen Irene Battle.  
Born August 31, 1903, London, Ontario. Died June 17, 1994, London, Ontario. She earned her BA at the University of Western Ontario in 1923.One of the first women to enter the male dominated field of zoology.  she earned her PhD at the University Of Toronto in 1929 and was the 1st woman in Canada to earn a PhD in marine biology. She pioneered the use of fertilized fish eggs to study the effects of carcinogenic substances on development. The penetrating insights of her published papers were often accompanied with detailed pen and ink drawings done by her own hand. In 1949 she became a full professor. She always stated that her 1st love was teaching and many of her students visited their old professor years after their graduation.  In 1961, she co-founded the Canadian Society of Zoologists and became its President in 1962-1963.In 1967 she was presented with the Canada Centennial medal. In the 1970’s Battle took on the role of Associate Editor of the Canadian Journal of Zoology. She did her research for the National Fisheries Research Board, the Ohio State Fisheries Lab, the Atlantic Biological Station in St. Andrews, N.B., and the Marine Biological Lab in Plymouth, England. In 1975 she was selected by the National Museum of Natural Sciences in Ottawa as one of 19 outstanding women scientists in Canada and was represented in a travelling exhibit to mark International Women's Year. In 1977 Prof. Battle was the 1st woman to be awarded the F. E. J. Fry medal from the Canadian Society of Zoologists and within a few weeks she received the first J. C. B. Grant award from the Canadian Association of Anatomists. Many student awards and a memorial lecture are named in her honour at the University of Western Ontario. Sources: Canadian Encyclopedia  Online. (accessed June 2010); University of Western Ontario, A part of our History: Helen Irene Battle. (accessed July 2015)

Elaine Anna Fildes. 
Born August 31, 1926, Kingston, Ontario. Elaine  graduated from McGill University, Montreal, Quebec in 1948 with a bachelor of science degree having majored in physical education. She was an intercollegiate tennis champion from 1944 through 1947, she also played varsity basketball and badminton. She was the number one ranked female tennis player in Canada in 1947 and number two ranked singles player in 1949 and 1950. She also teamed-up with Patricia Macken (1926-   ) to become the toped ranked doubles team in Canada and qualifying for the U.S.A. national championships for three straight years beginning in 1947. In 1944 she served as manager of the McGill university tennis team in 1944 and as head coach in 1950. She also coached the McGill women's basketball team in 1947-1948. She would later teach at the University of Alberta where she was the coach of the women's tennis team. In 2006 she was inducted into the McGill University Athletics and Recreation Hall of Fame. (2024)