Florence Annie Bridgewood Lawrence. 
Born January 1, 1890, Hamilton, Ontario. Died December 28, 1938, Beverly Hills, California, U.S.A. This petite Canadian born actor is universally acknowledged as the world’s 1st movie star. At age four she was performing as “Baby Flo, the Wonder Whistler” on vaudeville. In the pioneer days of filmmaking, credits with the names of actors were not important. She became known simply as the "Biograph Girl". In 1915 she tried to help someone in a studio fire and was badly burned. She never achieved her former active career. By the time of her death she had appeared in 250 films! Her biography, Florence Lawrence, the Biograph Girl: America's First Movie Star was written by Kelly R Brown and published by McFarland, 1999.(2021)

Barbara Lally Pentland. 
Born January 2, 1912, Winnipeg, Manitoba. Died February 5, 2000, Vancouver, British Columbia. Barbara studied music at the Juilliard School of Music, New York City, U.S.A. and the Bershire Music Centre in Massachusetts, U.S.A. One of the 1st Canadian composers to use avant-garde techniques, she has helped introduce two generations of young Canadians to modern Music. She taught at the Toronto Conservatory of Music from 1943 through 1949 and then at the University of British Columbia until 1963. In 1977 she received a Diplôme d'honneur from the Canadian Conference of the Arts. She composed for piano, orchestra, chamber ensemble and voice. She was named to the Order of Canada in 1989. (2019)

Ginette Laurin. 
Born January 3, 1955, Montreal, Quebec. Ginette trained as a gymnast as well as a dancer of modern dance and ballet. began her choreographic career in 1979. She founded her own company in 1984, O Vertigo. She has also  done work with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Introdans in the Netherlands, and for films. She also taught at the Université du Québec, Montréal. The company appeared at Expo 86 and won the Jean A. Chalmers Award. In 1987 she was profiled in the documentary film, Dance for Modern Times. Since 1986 the company has returned to appear in Europe, the United States of America, Denmark, Singapore, Hong Kong, and Japan. In 2003 she earned the Cinedance Award for Best Direction at the Moving Pictures Festival, Toronto.  In 2015 she was invested with the Order of Canada. (2021)

Jeanne Le Ber. 
Born January 4, 1662, Montreal, Quebec. Died October 3, 1714, Montreal, Quebec. Jeanne was the goddaughter of Jeanne Mance (1606-1673) As a young girl Jeanne had a dowry of 50,000 écrus and was the most eligible girl in New France. However, Jeanne decided to live the life of a recluse and at 18 she withdrew from the world  leaving her home only to go to mass. She grew even more withdrawn and retired to a cell at the rear of the church of the Hôtel -Dieu. She wore haircloth undergarments and corn husk shoes and cut off all attachments to her family.. She gave large financial assistance to the building of a new church for the sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame and a three floor apartment directly behind the alter became her living quarters. On June 24 1685 she took a vow of perpetual seclusion, chastity, and poverty. Because of her social rank she retained an attendant who lived in seclusion with her. She also received visitors from time to time. She has been studied and her life used as a character in a modern mystery novel Death du Jour by Kathy Reichs in 1998. Kathy Reichs, a forensic anthropologist had been a member of a team to verify the authenticity of Jeanne Le Ber's bones. In 1943 the Recluse Sisters were founded in Alberta having inspiration of Jeanne Le Ber. In 2004 a federal electoral district was named in her honour. Source: D C B (2021)

Myrtle Alice Cook - McGowan. Olympic Medalist
née Cook. Born January 5, 1902, Toronto, Ontario. Died March 18, 1985, Elora, Ontario. A true sporting enthusiast, Myrtle excelled at tennis, ice hockey, basketball, bowling, cycling, and canoeing. In 1917 she became a member of the women’s national track and field team. In 1923 she helped established the Toronto Ladies Athletic Club, the first of its kind for women in Canada. Later formed the Mercury Athletic Club with Hilda Strike (1910-1989). Myrtle was one of the one of six women, known as the ‘Matchless Six’, to compete in the Olympic Games for Canada. In the Amsterdam Summer Olympic Games of 1928 she won the gold medal in the women’s 4 X 100 meters with Fanny Rosenfeld (1904-1969), Ethel Smith (1907-1978), and Jane Bell (1910-1998). In 1929 she married journalist Lloyd McGowan. Continuing in competitions in the 100 meter and 60 yard events were also won by Myrtle through to 1931. After the 1928 Games she took up journalism with the Montreal Star newspaper writing a weekly column ‘In the Women’s Sport Light’. It was as a ski journalist that she was inducted into the Laurentian Ski Hall of fame. She was even asked to coach the Montreal Royals men’s baseball team in base running. She was also involved in training military recruits during World War ll (1939-1945). Myrtle was a member of British Empire/Commonwealth Games Committee throughout her life and a member of the Olympic Committee from 1932 through 1972. She became known as "Canada's First Lady of Sport," and in 1949 she was inducted into the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame followed in 1955 with inclusion in Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame and the Temple de la renommée du pantheon des sports du Québec in 1974. Athletic Canada presents the Myrtle Cook Trophy for Young Athlete of the Year. Sources: The Canadian Encyclopedia Online (accessed 2008); Paul Patton, “Cook led the way for women athletes” in the Globe and Mail, March 22, 1985 Page 23.

Nancy Ruth
Born January 6, 1942, Toronto, Ontario. Nancy Ruth describes herself as Canada's first feminist philanthropist. With less that 5% of funding from private foundations and corporations going to women and girls her philosophy remains: "If women don't give to women and girls, who will?" She would try various professions including jewellery designer, fundraiser, management consultant, and of all things a professional clown! As an activist, Nancy Ruth was part of the 1981 push for the inclusion of the equity clauses (15 & 28) in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In the 1990's she dropped the use of her family name, Jackman. She was a founding mother of what was at the time Canada's largest women's history website www.coolwomen.ca, of The Womens' Legal Education and Action Fund (L E A F / F A R J), and of the Canadian Women's Foundation / Foundation des Femmes Canadiennes, which founded, among other things, the "White Ribbon Campaign". In 1986 she endowed Nancy's Chair at the Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, to raise awareness of women's issues engaging distinguished scholars in women's studies Nancy Ruth holds three honourary degrees and the Order of Canada. In March 24, 2005, Prime Minister Paul Martin appointed her to the Senate of Canada. During her time in the Senate she was part of several controversies including that senators feeling entitles to a high lifestyle at public expense. She also campaigned to have the official words of 'O Canada' be more inclusive. She retired from the Senate January 6, 2017. Some of her papers are contained in the collections of the Library and Archives Canada. In the fall of 1994 she was appointed as a Member of the Order of Canada. In the spring of 2021 the book: The unconventional Nancy Ruth by Ramona Lumpkin was published.  (2024)

Helen Gregory MacGill.  
née Gregory. Born January 7, 1864, Hamilton, Ontario. Died February 27, 1947, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.. Helen was the first woman to graduate from Trinity College of the University of Toronto (U of T) and the first woman in the British Empire to receive a degree in music. Her dream was to become a concert pianist. Helen went  on to earn her Masters Degree in 1889. In 1890 Helen had a job as a foreign correspondent for Cosmopolitan magazine which sent her to Japan.  As a journalist she also wrote articles which appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, Toronto Globe, the Vancouver Daily World and People's Magazine. In 1890 she married F. C. 'Lee'' Flesher after a whirlwind courtship. Sadly Lee died in 1901 leaving Helen with two small boys to be cared for. In 1902 Helen married James 'Jim' Henry MacGill and the couple had two daughters. She was a member of the University Women's Club where she was served as president and was chairman of the Committee for Better Laws for Women and Children in British Columbia. In 1909 she was a founding member of the Vancouver branch of the Canadian Women's Press Club and was also a founding member of the Vancouver Music Society. In 1911 she spearheaded a group of 12 women's organizations to purchase the Vancouver Women's Building which provided meeting space for women's groups, classes writing, speaking, and conduct and even provided inexpensive day care. It was the first such centre in Canada. In 1912 she self-published her book, Daughters, Wives, and Mothers in British Columbia - some Laws Affecting them.  When women were granted the vote and the right to run for and be appointed to public office in 1917 she was the 1st woman of the region to be appointed a judge of the juvenile Court. She would hold this post for 23 years retiring at the age of 81. During her time as judge she studied juvenile delinquency and worked to improve the social welfare system. She was also a feminist advocating for women's rights, the right to vote, and for changes for both women and children in legal reform. She was a member of the British Columbia Minimum Wage Board and a co-founder of the Vancouver Business and Professional Women's Club in 1923. She also was a staunch supporter of the Canadian Federation of Business and Professional Womens' Clubs which she saw formed in 1930. She was also a member of the International Juvenile Court Judges Association and the Welfare Subcommittee of the United Nations. One of her daughters, Elsie Gregory MacGill (1905-1980), would inherit her feminist outlook. Elsie would writer her mother's biography, My Mother the Judge: A Biography of Helen Gregory MacGill, published in 1955. Source: My Mother the Judge.

Elizabeth Annie McGillivray Knowles. 
née Beach. Born January 8, 1866, Ottawa, Ontario.  Died October 4, 1928, Lancaster, New Hampshire, U.S.A. A painter of considerable recognition she specialized in nature studies. She studied under Farquhar McGillivray Knowles (1859-1932) and student and teacher were married in 1895. After their marriage the couple toured Europe returning to Canada and opened a studio in Toronto that would become a hub for artists. She was elected an associate of the Royal Academy of Art in 1908. She was also a member of the Ontario Society of Artists and served on the executive of the Heliconian Club of Toronto. The couple relocated to New York in 1915 where they lived on their yacht before moving to an apartment in Manhattan in New York. In 1919 she was elected as a member of the National Association of Women Painters and Sculptors. While living in New York the couple continued to exhibit their works in Canada as well as across the U.S.A. She went on to become a member of the Pennsylvania Society of Miniature Painters, the Brooklyn Society of Miniature Painters, the Washington Watercolor Club, the American Watercolor Society and the League of American Pen Women. By 1927 the couple were in Riverton, New Hampshire, U.S.A. Samples of her works are preserved in the National Gallery of Canada, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario, and Parkwood Museum, the home of Canadian businessman Sam McLaughlin,(1871-1972), Oshawa. (2024)

Félicité Angers. 
Born January 9, 1845, La Malbaie, Quebec. Died June 6, 1924, Quebec City, Quebec. This was the pen name of Laure Conan, author of nine novels of French Canadian life. She was a witness to her time. She was the first French Canadian female novelist. All her novels centered on the three driving forces of French Canadian life, family, nation, and religion.

Honorah 'Norah' Mary Holland - Claxton 
Born January 19, 1876, Collingwood, Ontario. Died April 27,1925, Toronto, Ontario. Norah moved to Toronto with her family in 1989. After completing high school she worked for the Dominion Press Clipping Bureau for several years Prior to joining the Toronto Daily News.  She went on to work  as an assistant editor of the Canadian Courrier and with the Macmillan Company of Canada. A cousin to the famous Irish writer, W. B. Yeats, this Canadian novelist toured Ireland on foot in 1904. She published several of her works and in her own day she was a well-respected poet. Her works appeared in the Canadian Courier, Canadian Magazine, Toronto Daily News, and the Toronto Globe newspaper. In 1922 she married Lionel William Claxton who was also a writer. She also published short stories and a play. Her collected works were published in, Spun-yarn and Spintdrift in 1918 and  When Half Gods Go in 1924. (2024)

Mabel Aston McIntosh. 
née Ashton. Born January 11, 1922. In 1944 Mabel married Alex McIntosh. In the early 1960's Mabel took an interest in the Quebec Society for the Protection of Birds (P Q S P B). She read to educate herself and practiced what she learned in the field and learned additionally from other expert bird watchers. To finance her field trips she sold Avon Products out of her home. She even lectured at local schools and became interested in the scientific study of birds. Mabel was the mother of three children and her married life was not a happy one. It was difficult for her being totally dependant on her husband for her living expenses. She was elected to the Board of the P Q S P B and was editor of the Newsletter. She saved what she could and in 1971 Alex moved out of the family home. Her children were also living on their own by this time. After the breakdown of her marriage her passion became an obsession. She became involved with scientific activities such as the Breeding Bird Survey. She attended night school to learn commercial art and soon took a position as a draughtsman with Bell Telephone Company. She would grow and develop into a noted North American ornithologist. She travelled to South America and Africa. She has contributed data to scientific studies and published articles on hawk migration. In 2019 she received the Sovereign's Medal for Volunteers from the Governor General.  Source: Great Dames. (2019)

Frances Brooke. 
née Moore. Born January 12, 1724, Claypole, Lincolnshire England. Died Jan 23, 1789, Seaford, England. She used the pseudonym Mary Singleton Spinster for her early writings and in 1755-1755 she founded a magazine she called The Old Maid which ran for 37 issues. Married in 1756 she gave up her publication. She joined her husband, the Rev. John Brooke, garrison chaplain at Quebec, from 1764 -1768. She wrote what may be described as the 1st Canadian novel The History of Emily Montague (4 vols. London 1769 reprinted in 1931) which was set in Quebec City. The work provides a vivid description of the Canadian landscape and social life including scandals of the time. Back in England she would pen additional novels but no more with a Canadian setting. She was also a playwright, essayist, librettist and stage director. She was well known in the London literary and theatrical circles.

Marie-Geneviève Drapeau. 
née Noel. Born January 13, 1766, Saint-Antoine-de-Tilly, Quebec. Died November 17, 1829.  Marie-Geneviève married Joseph Drapeau in 1782 but became a widow with his death in 1810.  As a wife she had no rights nor power but as a widow she had the same rights as an adult male. This was a law entitled Coutume de Paris. She took over the family businesses and rented out houses, businesses and lands. The monies were invested in real estate. She was a well known and respected business personality of her day. Upon her death her estate was divided evenly among her 6 daughters who ably continued the family businesses.

Carrie Matilda Derick. 
Born January 14, 1862, Clarenceville, Quebec. Died November 10, 1941, Montreal, Quebec. Carrie attended Clarenceville Academy and received her teacher training at McGill Normal School in 1881. She was teaching when she was just 15 and by the time she was 19 she was a school principal!  She would go onto study for her Bachelor degree at McGill University, Montreal in 1890 as top of her class. She began teaching at the Trafalgar Institute for Girls in 1890, while also working part-time as McGill's first female botany demonstrator. She went on to earn her Master's degree in 1896 and then on to study at the Academy of Science, London England, Harvard University, USA, and Bonn University, Germany. Although she completed the required research to earn a PhD from University of Bonn, Germany she did not receive her degrees because the university did not give degrees to women.  Returning to Canada to Canada and McGill in 1905 she was promoted to Assistant professor at one-third the salary of male colleagues. In 1909 she took on the role of chair for the Department of Biology when the former head was ill. Upon the death of the ill professor in 1910 Carrie continued as Chair of the department for another three years. In the 1910 American Men of Sciences Carrie was listed as one of the few women in the publication. In 1912 McGill searched for a male head of the department. In 1912 she  was officially appointed as professor and Carrie became the 1st woman professor at an university in Canada. A feminist and activist she was President of the Montreal Suffrage Association from 1913 through 1919. She believed strongly in Birth control the need for mandatory school attendance and care for 'abnormal' children.  From 1920 to 1937 Carrie was the 1st Woman on the Protestant Committee of Public Health in Quebec. She did not receive a raise in pay for this promotion or a seat on the faculty as she was considered  to hold 'courtesy title' only. Carrie would found the McGill University Genetics Department. Upon retirement from McGill in 1929 due to poor health she was awarded the honorary title of Professor Emerita making her the 1st Canadian woman to hold this tile.  She was also and activist in women's rights. and a co-founder and a life member of the National Council of Women.  Montreal boasts of a Carrie Derick stree. McGill University created the Carrie M. Derick Award for Graduate Supervising and Training. In 2007 Carrie Derick became designated as a National Historic Person. Google, the internet search engine created a 'Google Doodle' in recognition of her 155th birthday January 14, 2017. (2021)

Victoria Tennant.  
Born January 15, 1947, London, England. This prima ballerina of the National Ballet of Canada won international acclaim for her extraordinary versatility and dramatic power as she danced herself around the world for 25 years.  Retired from dance she turned her talents to writing and producing for television and theatre. She has written books for children and is doing freelance writing for notable Canadian magazines. She volunteers for charity and has bee chairperson for UNICEF.  She has received the Order of Canada. 

Hannah Maynard. 
née Hatherly.  Born January 17 1834, Bude, England.  Died May 15, 1918.  She and her husband, Richard, immigrated to Canada in 1852. Hannah learned photography and followed her gold prospecting husband to British Columbia where she began her own gallery.  Richard leaned the trade from her and became a landscape photographer.  Hannah was well known for her portraits.

Thérése de Couagne. 
Born January 18, 1697. Died February 26, 1764. She married Francois Poulin de Francheville in 1718 and was a widow in 1733. She became interested in business after her husband's death.  She would be known as an astute business woman and played an active role in New France economy.  She was the owner of the slave Marie Joseph Angelique. It was this slave who while trying to cover her escape would set fire to the widow's house in 1734 and the fire would get out of control burning much of the settlement. 

Charlotte Vale-Allen. 
Born January 19, 1941, Toronto, Ontario. Charlotte lived with an overbearing father who was physical with her. She left high school to take up her teen passion and studied formal night classes in acting. She once dressed as a messenger boy to take a fan letter to Bette Davis. Davis was smitten by the letter and she became friends with the young upstart. Escaping her home situation she moving to England and worked from 1961-64 in sleazy night spots to make a living. In the mid 1960’s she brought her career back to Canada. Married in 1970, she soon became an urban mother to a beautiful daughter. By 1975 the urge to write became strong and she wrote her only non-fiction book that would be called Daddy’s Girl about her abusive childhood. The subject of the book was not popular in that era and she would publish some fifteen works of fiction before she would get this ground breaking work to readers. She has penned over thirty books which have been grabbed up by the public, mainly in the United Kingdom where she is one of the most borrowed authors from libraries. Her books sell in over twenty countries but yet she is not overly recognized in Canada. She developed her own Press to publish her own commercial fiction  Her stories deal with strong feisty women who discover that they can take care of themselves when it comes to living with adversity. She also writes under the pen name of Katherine Marlowe. She divides her time between her home in Toronto and a second home in Connecticut. Sources: “Ignored at home. Successful abroad” by Diane Frances MacLean’s October 15, 1999: Canadian Who’s Who 2005 (University of Toronto Press, 2005)

Marcelle Ferron. 
Born January 20, 1924, Louisville, Quebec. Died November 19, 2001. A member of a group of artists known as Les Automatists she has worked in medium such as stained glass. She is primarily known for her dynamic paintings. She uses vibrant colours and fluid forms to cover her canvases.
 

Josefina Napravilova. 
Born January 21, 1914, Plzen, Czechoslovakia. Died February 20, 2014, Tabor, Czechoslovakia. When Josefina was still an infant, her father left to fight in World War l (1914-1918) and he did not return. She was brought up by her mother who instilled in Josefina humanitarian valued and strong nationalism. She began studies in law but was interrupted with the outbreak of World War ll (1939-1945) and Nazi occupation of her homeland. She met and married Karel Napravil and the couple first lived in Prague. At the end of the War Josefina set out to find Czechoslovakian children who had been scattered throughout Europe by the Nazi invasion. In May 1945 she joined the Prague uprising serving to care for wounded during the fight to liberate the city from the Germans. She joined the Red Cross handing out food and supplies to people freed from the concentration camps. It was at this time that Josefina heard about Czech children taken during the war. Hitler’s Nazi soldiers murdered adults in Czech villages and took the children to live with German families. While many of the children ended up in consecration camps and were murdered some of the children were given German names so that they could be assimilated as Germans. Josefina wanted to being the children home to Czechoslovakia. She traveled by any means she could and slept on benches at train stations if necessary. She followed clues and hunches using her deceive instinct and located 40 children. Josefina and Karel never had any children of their own and she loved to see the joy in the faces of the children she managed to help. After the death of her husband in 1948 she joined the International Refugee Organization which caused her to be stripped of her citizenship. She emigrated arriving in Halifax, Nova Scotia on December 6, 1949. She settled in British Columbia and worked in a bank. She retired in 1979 to Guelph, Ontario. A tireless volunteer in 1956 she helped Hungarians arriving in Canada and in 1968 she helped Czech refugees to Canada. Josephina was awarded the Masaryk Medal for her war efforts and in 1994 she returned to her beloved Czechoslovakia to live. In 2013 a book: Dreams and Memories by Josefina Napravilova was published. Source: Josefina Navratilova …second mother reunited Czech families by Katerina Cizek in the Globe and Mail March 8, 2014. Suggestion submitted by June Coxon, Ottawa, Ontario.

Laverna Katie Dollimore. 
Born January 22, 1922, Toronto, Ontario. Died October 24, 2011. After graduating from high school in 1938 she worked for various companies in Toronto at secretarial or bookkeeping. In 1942 she joined the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Service posted to HMCS Cornwallis in Halifax. After World War ll she returned to secretarial work in Toronto. In 1956 she passed the public service exam and began working at the Canadian Department of External Affairs and was posted in Egypt, Poland, and other countries. In 1969 she joined the International Commission for Supervision and Control in Laos where she earned the Canadian Peacekeeping Service Medal.  In 1977 she was working at the Canadian Embassy in Tehran, Iran with Ambassador Kenneth Taylor (1934-2015). She assisted in the ‘Canadian Caper’ which orchestrated the rescue of six American diplomats during the Iranian Revolution. Her heroic service was recognized with the Order of Canada. She retired from External Affairs in 1983. (2019)

Dora Ridout Hood. 
Born January 23, 1885, Toronto, Ontario. Died 1974. As a young widow with two children Dora supported herself by opening a small reading room in her house. She was one of the first book dealers in Toronto to specialize in 'out-of–print' Canadian books. The Dora Hood Book Room received royal warrant from Buckingham Palace to acquire Canadiana! She developed precise and profitable catalogue of Canadian books. After retiring from the Book Room she became an author herself producing two books.

Phyllis Lambert. 
née Bronfman. Born January 24, 1927, Montreal, Quebec. Phyllis showed artistic prowess at an early age. At eleven she was exhibiting her works in annual juried exhibitions at the Royal Academy of Arts and the Societé des sculpteurs du Canada. Phyllis earned her Bachelor of Arts at Vassar College, Poughkeepsie, New York, U.S.A. in 1948. May 17, 1949 she married Jean Lambert but sadly they became divorced in 1954 while living in Paris, France. In 1958 she entered the Yale School of Architecture but soon switched to the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago, U.S.A. by 1963 she had earned a Master's Degree and her family had her design the Saidye Bronfman Centre, Montreal, in honour of her mother.  working to revitalize the Shaughnessy Village area of Montreal. In 1975 she founded the heritage preservation group Heritage Montreal serving at the first president until 1983.In 1979 she founded the Canadian Centre for Architecture (C C A) an influential museum and research centre in Shaughnessy Village donating 750,000 shares in the family business, Seagram, to fund the Centre.  She won the National Honor Award from the American Institute of Architects for her work in Los Angeles. In 1985 she became a Knight of the National Order of Quebec and was promoted to Grand Officer in 2005. Also in 1985 she was inducted as a Member of the Order of Canada and this was promoted to the level of Officer in 1990 and promoted again to Companion in 2001. In 1992 she became an Officier of the Ordre des arts et des lettres de France. In 1997 she received the Hadrian Award from the World Monuments Fund. In 2006 she was awarded the Vincent Scully Prize by the National Building Museum, Washington D.C., U.S.A. In 2007 a documentary film was made entitled: Citizen Lambert: Joan of Architecture. In 2014 she received the Golden Lion Lifetime Achievement Award from the Venice Biennale of Architecture. She is also one of four prominent female architects profiled in the documentary, City Dreamers produced in 2018. (2021)

Emoke Jolan Ezsebet Szathmary. 
Born January 25, 1944, Ungvar, Hungary. Emoke emigrated to Canada and studied for her BA at the University of Toronto. By 1974 she had earned her PhD. That same year she married George Alexander. The couple have two children. Her academic career began at Trent University, Peterborough, Ontario and then to McMaster University, Hamilton Ontario. By 1989 she was Dean of Faculty, School of Social Sciences at the University of Western Ontario , London, Ontario where she went on to hold positions of Provost and Vice President (Academic). The family settled in Manitoba in 1996 where Emoke is President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Manitoba. While working full time as a mother and academic administrator she was editor for the Journal of Physical Anthropology (1995-2001) and President of the Canadian Association of Physical Anthology as well as writing numerous published articles and papers. In 2003 she became a member of the Order of Canada. The next year she was named one of Canada’s top 100 most powerful women by the Women’s Executive Network and the Richard Ivy School of Business. She was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 2005. Source: Canadian Who’s Who 2006 (2021)

Maureen Lorimer Roberts.
née McWilliams. Born January 26, 1915, Peterhead, Scotland. Died 2004, Ottawa, Ontario. Maureen graduated in medical studies from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1937. In 1939 she earned a diploma in child health from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. In 1940 she married Dr. Richard Roberts. In 1944 she left her son in England and served in the Indian Medical Service. After the World War ll, back in England, the couple established a medical practice near Canterbury. By 1948  they were in Halifax, Nova Scotia where Richard joined the Canadian Navy to earn money and continue in depth medical training while Maureen taught Pediatrics at Dalhousie University. Reading about Medic Alert bracelets and their success in the U.S.A., on June 18, 1961 they put up $1,000.00 to begin the Canadian Medic Alert Foundation which flourished with her efforts and dedication. In 1964 the couple joined a medical expedition and sailed to Easter Island. In 1966, posted to Ottawa, Maureen set up a genetic counselling service. In 1980 the retired Dr. Maureen worked with an Ottawa day care center. Sources: Charlotte Grey, ‘Maureen Roberts’ in the Canadian Medical Journal Vol. 131 November 15, 1984: Valerie Knowles, Capital Lives, Volume 2, 2010. (2020)

Rt. Hon. Ellen Louks Fairclough.
Born January 28, 1905, Hamilton, Ontario. Died November 13, 2004. Her first career was as an accountant. She owned her own firm when she was elected to Hamilton City council in 1946. In 1950 she was elected to the House of Commons in Ottawa. In 1957 she became the 1st woman to be appointed to the post of a Cabinet Minister in the Canadian Parliament. In 1989 she was presented with the Governor General's Persons Award. In 1992 the Queen invested her with the title "Right Honourable". She was made a Companion in the Order of Canada in 1995. You can read about her remarkable life in her memoirs which were published in 1995 under the title Saturday's Child.

Leila Wightman. 
née Schnurr. Born January 29, 1899, Mildmay, Ontario. Died November 22, 1976, Clifford, Ontario. .On October 14, 1925 Leila married Benjamin Wightman of Wightman Communications in Clifford, Ontario. His Father, Robert Wightman, had been a frustrated farmer whom Bell Telephone could not serve. Robert set up his own company in 1908 so he and his neighbours, could have a telephone. Leila acted as lead operator and office administrator for the telephone company after her marriage to Benjamin. At the same time the couple brought up a family of four children. In 1947 Benjamin died and Leila decided to keep the company going. This made her the 1st woman telephone company owner. In 1953 she instituted the superior 4-diget dial service while the much larger Bell Telephone Company systems which were still cranking the old magneto telephones. The new system was the most modern of its day and heralded the arrival of 24 hour service telephone service. Leila had set the company on the path to modernization that kept the company going. Leila was inducted as member of the Telecommunications Hall of Fame in 2006.  Sources: Telecommunications Hall of Fame  (accessed October 2011) ; also family provided vital information.

Dr. Lucille Teasdale-Corti. 
Born January 30, 1929, Montreal, Quebec. Died August 1, 1996, Lombardy, Italy. From the age of 12 she knew just what she wanted to do, she wanted to be a doctor. She studies at the University of Montreal and in 1955 was the 1st woman in Quebec to receive a diploma as a surgeon. She attempted to obtain training abroad but was turned down by American hospitals because she was a women. During her internship in Montréal Lucille met Piero Corti, a young Italian doctor studying pediatrics. His dream to establish a world-class teaching hospital in Africa. He had already heard about a small clinic near Lacor, a town not far from Gulu, a city in northern Uganda. It was little more than a dispensary with a few dozen beds, but he saw it as a starting point. In 1961, she joined forces with Corti, her future husband, and they worked in Uganda for more than thirty years. Dr. Teasdale would tend to as many as 300 outpatients each morning and perform surgeries in the afternoon. Dr. Teasdale performed more the 13,000 surgeries working through Idi Admin’s dictatorship, civil wars, epidemics and massacres. She received many awards for her life work including being an Officer of the Order of the Merit of the Republic of Italy in 1981, inducted as a member of the Order of Canada 1991, named a Grand Officer of the National Order of Québec 1995, and awarded the Saskawa Prize with her husband in 1996. This is the most prestigious distinction awarded by the World Health Organization of the United Nations. She died from aids which she contracted while operating on an infected soldier. Canada Post issued a commemorative stamp in her honour as part of the Millennium series, January 17, 2000. In 2001 she was inducted into the Canadian Medical Hall of Fame. Sources: Dr. Lucille Teasdale. Canadian Medical Hall of Fame Online (Accessed 2005) ; Lucille Teasdale. The Canadian Encyclopedia Online (Accessed 2005) ; Dawson, Joanna and Beverly Tallon. “Helping Heroes: Canadians who made a difference in the world.’ In Canada’s History February- March 2013

Gathie Falk. 
Born January 31, 1928, Alexander, Manitoba. In 1930 the family moved to southern Manitoba before finally settling in Winnipeg, Manitoba. At 16 Gathie left school to work to help her family. She would complete her high school education with correspondence courses. At 19 she and her lover relocated to Vancouver, British Columbia. She taught elementary school until 1965 when she decided to make her career in art. An artist who works with multimedia producing works in ceramics, painting and papier-mâché. She took her subjects from daily life such as a ceramic sculpture of fruit pies. She has has had group and solo exhibitions of her works across North America, France and Japan. Her works are collected by the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Winnipeg Art Gallery, the National Art Gallery in Ottawa as well as by private collectors. In 2002 she was inducted into the Order of British Columbia. In 2013 she earned the Audain Prize for Lifetime Achievement in the Visual Arts. (2017)