Browse "People"

Agnes Butcher. Pianist, teacher, b Edmonton 11 Apr 1915; ATCM piano1930, LTCM piano 1936. She began piano studies in Brockville, Ont in 1920, moved to Hamilton in 1924 and studied with W.H. Hewlett, then continued in Toronto in 1934 with Viggo Kihl and Charles Peaker.

Agnes Dennis, née Miller, teacher, feminist (b at Truro, NS 11 Apr 1859; d at Halifax 21 Apr 1947). Dennis succeeded Edith Archibald as president of the Halifax Victorian Order of Nurses 1901-46, and of the Halifax Local Council of Women 1906-20.

Agnès Grossmann, orchestra and choir conductor (b at Vienna 24 Apr 1944). After studies in piano performance at the Vienna Academy (1968), Grossmann embarked on a career as a soloist in Europe and Japan.

Agnes Grossmann. Orchestral and choral conductor, pianist, b Vienna, 24 April 1944; piano performance diploma (Vienna Academy) 1968, honorary D HUM L (Mount St Vincent) 1991, honorary D Univ (Ottawa) 2004.

Agnes Campbell Macphail, politician, reformer (born 24 March 1890 in Proton Township, Grey County, ON; died 13 February 1954 in Toronto, ON). Agnes Macphail was the first woman elected to the House of Commons (1921–40) and was one of the first two women elected to the Ontario legislature (1943–45, 1948–51). She was also the first female member of a Canadian delegation to the League of Nations. Macphail was a founding member of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (the forerunner of the New Democratic Party). She was a noted pacifist and an advocate for prison reform. As a member of the Ontario legislature, she championed Ontario’s first equal pay legislation (1951).

Agnes Maule Machar, novelist, poet, historian (b at Kingston, Ont 23 Jan 1837; d there 24 Jan 1927). An important reformist and literary figure in Victorian Canada, she was a prolific writer who published poetry, several novels and volumes of history and biography.

Agnes Nanogak, graphic artist (b on Baillie Island, NWT 12 Nov 1925, d at Holman [Ulukhaktok], Northwest Territories 5 May 2005).

The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated. Brainy poetic iconoclast, mischievous punk and cultural court jester, Gord Downie flipped the script of Canadian identity and took us on a quest to discover ourselves.

Ahousaht (Ahousat) is a Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation residing on the west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The word Ahousaht means “facing opposite from the ocean” or “people living with their backs to the land and mountains” in the Nuu-chah-nulth language. It is the largest of all the Nuu-chah-nulth nations, with a population of 2,224 in 2021.

William (John) Aide. Pianist, teacher, writer, b Timmins, Ont, 27 Mar 1938; LRCT 1959, Artist Diploma (Toronto) 1959, B SC music (Juilliard) 1962.

Aiko Suzuki, fibre artist (b at Vancouver 1937; d there 31 Dec 2005). Although not a weaver or tapestry designer in the traditional sense, she was one of a number of Canadian artists who have used fibres and textile techniques as a medium for expressing abstract concepts.

"Sister Aimee's" theatrical pulpit techniques made her the most publicized revivalist in the world - she toured the US, Canada, Britain and Australia.

At age three she began studying violin with Vivian Pritchard at a community music school in Nanaimo. She then continued at the Nanaimo Conservatory for ten years with Heilwig von Königslöw, whom she credits with inspiring her to pursue a life in music.

Aiyyana Maracle, multidisciplinary Haudenosaunee artist, performer, storyteller and educator (born 25 November 1950 on Six Nations of the Grand River, ON; died there, 24 April 2016). An Indigenous transgender woman, Maracle created art that focused on the decolonization of gender. Her work received critical acclaim and was widely inspirational. She is believed to have been the first Indigenous woman to have received the John Hirsch Prize. This is a prestigious national award for emerging directors in Canadian theatre.

Akeeaktashuk, sea hunter, sculptor, storyteller (b at Hudson Bay, near Inukjuak River, Qué 1898; d at Craig Harbour, NWT 1954). Akeeaktashuk was a jolly, robust and outgoing man with an astonishing talent for observing and keenly portraying humans, animals and birds in stone and ivory.