Notable Canadians
Frederick Banting – Medicine (discovered insulin)
Norman Bethune – Medicine (pioneered mobile blood transfusion during Spanish Civil War and WWII)
William Lyon Mackenzie King – Politics (Prime Minister of Canada during the Great Depression and WWII)
Elsie MacGill – Engineering (first female aircraft designer, played a key role in producing Hawker Hurricane planes during WWII)
John Grierson – Film (founder of the National Film Board of Canada)
Vincent Massey – Diplomacy (Canada’s first native-born Governor General, advocate for Canadian arts and culture)
Louis St. Laurent – Politics (Minister of Justice, future Prime Minister, and helped navigate Canada through WWII)
Tommy Douglas – Politics (Premier of Saskatchewan, advocated for public healthcare and social welfare programs)
Gabrielle Roy – Literature (author of The Tin Flute, which explored themes of poverty and social change)
Frank Scott – Literature/Law (poet and constitutional expert, founding member of the CCF, precursor to the NDP)
A.Y. Jackson – Art (Group of Seven painter, known for landscapes depicting Canada’s wilderness)
Lawren Harris – Art (founding member of the Group of Seven, painted abstract works after the 1930s)
Emily Carr – Art (painter and writer known for her depictions of Indigenous culture and the Canadian west coast)
Hugh MacLennan – Literature (author of Barometer Rising and Two Solitudes, focused on Canadian identity)
Nellie McClung – Women’s Rights (suffragist, social reformer, advocate for women’s rights during the Great Depression)
Agnes Macphail – Politics (first woman elected to the House of Commons, advocate for prison reform and social justice)
Margaret Eaton – Education (prominent social worker, advocate for higher education for women)
Adrien Arcand – Politics (leader of fascist movements in Quebec, pro-Nazi sympathizer)
Maurice Duplessis – Politics (Premier of Quebec, leader of the Union Nationale, opponent of organized labour)
Grey Owl (Archibald Belaney) – Conservation (prominent conservationist and advocate for Indigenous culture)
Clarence Decatur Howe – Politics/Engineering (Minister of Munitions and Supply during WWII, oversaw war production)
Emily Murphy – Women’s Rights (first female magistrate in the British Empire, social reformer, part of the “Famous Five”)
Mary Pickford – Film (silent film star, co-founder of United Artists, supporter of war efforts)
Lionel Conacher – Sports (multi-sport athlete, football, hockey, lacrosse, Olympic medalist)
Foster Hewitt – Broadcasting (pioneer of hockey broadcasting, famous for Hockey Night in Canada)
James Gladstone (Akay-na-muka) – Indigenous Rights (first Indigenous Senator in Canada, advocate for First Nations rights)
Adrienne Clarkson – Media (prominent CBC broadcaster, future Governor General of Canada)
R.B. Bennett – Politics (Prime Minister of Canada during the Great Depression, introduced the New Deal in Canada)
Jean-Paul Lemieux – Art (Quebec painter known for his work in social realism and portraiture)
Paul-Émile Borduas – Art (leader of the Automatistes, avant-garde artist movement in Quebec, co-author of Refus global)
George Beurling – Military (WWII fighter ace, one of Canada’s most successful pilots)
James Gladstone (Akay-na-muka) – Indigenous Rights (First Nations politician and activist, became Canada’s first Indigenous Senator in 1958, but was an advocate for Indigenous rights in the 1930s and 1940s).
Tommy Prince – Military (First Nations soldier from Manitoba who served in World War II and later the Korean War, one of Canada’s most decorated Indigenous soldiers).
John L’Heureux – Military (Métis soldier, one of the first Indigenous Canadians to serve as an officer in World War II).
Grey Owl (Archibald Belaney) – Conservation/Indigenous Identity (though not of Indigenous ancestry, Grey Owl adopted the persona of an Indigenous man and became a prominent conservationist and advocate for the protection of wildlife, gaining international recognition in the 1930s).
Doris Jean Labour (Métis) – Social Work/Activism (advocated for Métis rights and education during the 1930s and 1940s in Western Canada).
John Diefenbaker – Politics (future Prime Minister, opposition politician during WWII)
Mona Parsons – War Hero (Canadian resistance fighter in Nazi-occupied Netherlands during WWII)
Fanny Rosenfeld – Sports (Olympic athlete, “Canada’s Female Athlete of the First Half-Century”)
Maurice Richard – Sports (hockey player, one of the NHL’s greatest scorers during the 1940s)
Billy Bishop – Military (WWI fighter ace, helped promote Canada’s military aviation during WWII)
Gordon Sinclair – Journalism (prominent Canadian journalist and radio broadcaster)
Charlotte Whitton – Politics/Social Work (mayor of Ottawa, prominent advocate for social welfare and women’s rights)
Barbara Ann Scott – Sports (figure skater, won gold in the 1948 Olympics but was nationally recognized before then)
Charles Best – Medicine (co-discovered insulin, continued research in medical science during the 1930s and 1940s)
Mazo de la Roche – Literature (author of the Jalna series, popular novelist in Canada and abroad)
William Stephenson – Intelligence (Canadian spymaster, key figure in Allied intelligence operations during WWII)
Jean L’Heureux – Military (first Indigenous Canadian to achieve the rank of officer in WWII)
E.J. Pratt – Literature (poet known for his long narrative poems that explored Canadian themes)
Pegi Nicol MacLeod – Art (painter known for her depictions of wartime women and the home front during WWII)
John Buchan (Lord Tweedsmuir) – Politics/Literature (Governor General of Canada, author of The Thirty-Nine Steps)
Oscar Peterson – Music (jazz pianist, one of Canada’s greatest musicians, career began in the 1940s)
John McCrae – Military/Poetry (author of In Flanders Fields, though his legacy continued into WWII)
Tommy Holmes – Military (WWI and WWII veteran, recipient of the Victoria Cross)
Cairine Wilson – Politics (first woman appointed to the Senate, active in refugee and human rights issues during WWII) Barbara Ann Scott