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Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

Annamie Paul, leader of the Green Party of Canada 2020–21, lawyer, activist (born 3 November 1972 in Toronto, ON). Annamie Paul has worked as an advisor at the International Criminal Court in The Hague and with various international organizations devoted to preserving human rights and fighting climate change. She served as the leader of the Green Party of Canada from October 2020 to November 2021. She was the first Black Canadian and the first Jewish woman to be elected as leader of a major federal political party in Canada.

Mordecai Richler, CC, novelist, essayist, social critic (born 27 January 1931 in Montréal, QC; died 3 July 2001 in Montréal, QC). A singular figure in Canadian literary and cultural history, Richler remained, in the words of critic Robert Fulford, “the loyal opposition to the governing principles of Canadian culture” throughout his long and productive career. His instincts were to ask hard, uncomfortable questions and to take clear, often unpopular moral positions. Born into an Orthodox family in Montréal’s old Jewish neighborhood, a community he immortalized in his work, he was from the start a complex and uncompromising figure, at once rejecting many of the formal tenets of his faith while embracing its intellectual and ethical rigour. That tension, along with an innately absurdist vision of life, a raw, bracing comedic sensibility, and a fearlessness about speaking his mind, as both artist and citizen, ensured that nearly every word he published displayed a distinctive sensibility. No one else sounded like Mordecai Richler, and few other writers in Canada have ever demanded, and maintained, such a high profile as both an admired literary novelist and a frequently controversial critic. A Companion of the Order of Canada, two-time winner of the Governor General’s Award (1968 and 1971), and winner of the Giller Prize, Mordecai Richler is without question one of Canada’s greatest writers.

Onyenyechukwu (Onye) Nnorom, family physician, specialist in public health and preventive medicine (born 27 February 1981 in Montreal, Quebec). Nnorom is the associate director of the residency program in public health and preventive medicine at the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health. She also leads the Black health curriculum at the university’s medical school. Her work addresses the health inequities that racialized and immigrant communities face.

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a decentralized movement to end anti-Black racism. It was founded as an online community in the United States in 2013 in response to the acquittal of the man who killed Black teenager Trayvon Martin. Its stated mission is to end white supremacy and state-sanctioned violence and to liberate Black people and communities. The Black Lives Matter hashtag (#BlackLivesMatter) has been used to bring attention to discrimination and violence faced by Black people. BLM has chapters in the United States and around the world. There are five chapters in Canada: Toronto (BLM-TO), Vancouver (BLM-VAN), Waterloo Region, Edmonton, and New Brunswick.

Peter Vasilevich Verigin, Doukhobor leader (born 1859 in Slavianka, Russia; died October 1924 near Grand Forks, British Columbia). Exiled in Russia, Verigin immigrated to Canada in 1902. There, he became a powerful and controversial Doukhobor leader in Western Canada. Verigin died when the train in which he was travelling exploded, leading some to believe he was assassinated.

Korea was a single, independent country for 1,300 years before splitting in two after the Second World War. North Korea is today an isolated military dictatorship while South Korea is a liberal democracy. Almost all Korean immigration to Canada has been from South Korea. In 2016, the census recorded 198, 210 Canadians of Korean origin (177, 925 single and 20, 290 multiple responses.)

Community leader, philosophy professor, educator and political activist (born 9 May 1928 in Jacmel, Haiti; died 25 March 2002 in Haiti). He played an active role in founding the Maison d’Haïti, an organization that continues to play an important role in Montreal’s Haitian community. Chancy also worked to improve Quebec’s education system.

Prabhjote “Jyoti” Gondek (née Grewal), university professor, consultant, municipal politician, Mayor of Calgary 2022–present (born 1969, in London, UK). Joyti Gondek started out in community consulting and academia before serving one term (2017–21) as city councillor for Calgary’s Ward 3. She was then elected to succeed Naheed Nenshi as mayor of Calgary and became the city’s first female mayor on 18 October 2021.

Citizens Plus, also known as the Red Paper, was a report presented to the federal government on 4 June 1970. It was prepared under the leadership of Harold Cardinal and the Indian Association of Alberta. It was a response to the 1969 White Paper. The authors believed the White Paper offered a dire view of the future for Indigenous peoples.

Clayton “Clay” Charles Ruby, CM, lawyer, writer, activist (born 6 February 1942 in Toronto, ON; died 2 August 2022 in Toronto). Clayton Ruby was a lawyer, activist and social justice advocate. He specialized in civil rights, criminal law and constitutional law. One of Canada’s best-known defence attorneys, he was an impassioned defender of press freedom and an active member of Canada’s environmental movement. Ruby worked to ensure that all people receive equal access and treatment under Canada’s laws. His more notable clients included the surviving Dionne Quintuplets, Donald Marshall Jr., Guy Paul Morin, Michelle Douglas, Svend Robinson, Dr. Henry Morgentaler and the men charged in the 1981 Toronto Bathhouse Raids.

Belgians have contributed significantly to the economic, social and cultural development of Canada despite their relatively small numbers and their dispersion across the country. Originally, the majority of immigrants were Flemings whose settlement concentred in the agricultural regions of Québec, southwestern Ontario and Manitoba. Since 1945, Belgian immigrants have tended to be young, well-educated French-speaking professionals and entrepreneurs who prefer the urban centres, particularly in British Columbia and Alberta.

LifeAlexander Brott studied violin with Eugene Schneider and Alfred De Sève, and at age 11 performed as soloist in vaudeville.

Colin (Graham) Tilney. Harpsichordist, fortepianist, performer of Baroque keyboard music, teacher, b London 31 Oct 1933; BA modern languages and music (King's College, Cambridge) 1958, B MUS (Cambridge) 1959.

Edward Cornwallis, founder of Halifax in 1749, governor of Nova Scotia from 1749-52, military leader and governor of Gibraltar from 1762-76, (born 22 February 1713 in London, England; died 23 January 1776 in Gibraltar).

Edward Palmer, premier of PE 1859–63, politician, judge, lawyer, land agent (born 1 September 1809 in Charlottetown, PE; died 3 November 1889 in Charlottetown, PE).

Arnold Maria Walter, OC, musicologist, educator, administrator (born 30 August 1902 in Hannsdorf (Hanušovice), Moravia; died 6 October 1973 in Toronto, ON).

Augustus Stephen Vogt, choral conductor, educator, administrator, organist, pianist (born 14 August 1861 in Washington, Canada West; died 17 September 1926 in Toronto, ON).

Prisoners of War (POWs) are members of the military captured in wartime by the enemy. Since the late 19th century, international rules have governed the treatment of POWs, although these are not always followed. Thousands of Canadians have endured time as POWs in conflicts ranging from the First World War to the Korean War.

Olga Melikoff, Murielle Parkes and Valerie Neale were leaders of the parent group behind the creation, in 1965, of Canada's first bilingual education program, at Margaret Pendlebury Elementary School in the Montreal suburb of Saint-Lambert, Quebec. Their education activism laid the groundwork for the French immersion system in Canada. As a result of their efforts, Melikoff, Parkes and Neale are often referred to as Canada’s “founding mothers" of French immersion.