Canadian women, they’ve always had it.
The stars draw curious hearts to thoughts of distant worlds. Dr. Alice Vibert Douglas gazed in fascination at twinkling stars as a devoted astrophysicist. Alice Vibert Douglas was born on December 5, 1894 to Methodist missionary parents in Montreal, Quebec. Sent to live with family in England when her parents died in 1904, Douglas […]
Dr. Helen Sawyer Hogg spent her life watching the skies through the lens of a telescope, searching for Globular Clusters, encouraging star-gazing and promoting astronomy A young student at Mount Holyoke College, Massachusetts in 1922, Helen Battles Sawyer was set on being a chemist. A class trip to watch the eclipse of the sun in […]
Hélène Boullé came to New France in 1620. Dissatisfied as a settler, she stayed only four years in Canada. Returning to France, she founded an Ursuline Convent. A bride at the tender age of 12, Hélène Boullé was given in marriage to Samuel de Champlain, one of France’s great world explorers, and early settler of […]
Imbuing paintings with colour and emotion, Paraskeva Clark also added dashes of political views. She was one of Canada’s most talented artists of the 1930s and ’40s.At the end of her long and flourishing career as a prominent fine artist, Paraskeva Clark made startling statements. Difficulties Faced by Women Artists “I would like to […]
Married to a man over twice her age, Frances Simpson came to Canada by ship and to Manitoba’s Red River by canoe. Her life in Canada was lonely and difficult. George Simpson was looking for a wife. The busy Governor of the Hudson’s Bay Company’s fur-trading business centred in Canada’s wilderness, George was respected and […]
The Rupert’s Land Act, 1868, set out the terms for the purchase of nearly 8 million acres from the Hudson Bay Company, but not all were pleased. The fur trade was slowing by the 1860s, the profit line dwindling for the Hudson’s Bay Company. The time was drawing nigh to rethink the firm’s businesses. Selling […]
While not permitted to serve as pilots, over 17,000 women joined the Royal Canadian Air Force during WW2 in jobs ranging from clerical duties to driver to air frame maintenance “We serve that men may fly.” The promotional poster words encouraged young Canadian women, aged 21 to 41 to join the Royal Canadian Air Force. […]
Beautiful, heartwarming native art, the works of Aboriginal painters and a sculptor, were components in series of postage stamps for Canada Post, issued Christmas 2002. Every Christmas, Canada Post issues festive postage for the holiday mailings of seasonal cards and packages. In 2002, a special series was produced: a set of three exceptional stamps featuring […]
Living in Amsterdam with her Dutch husband, Mona Parsons helped rescue downed Allied troops during WWII. But then the Nazis found the safe haven. Sentenced to death for treason, Mona escaped during a bomb raid. “Meine Herren. Guten Morgen.” The calm, steady voice took the German judge and the Nazi court by surprise. A woman […]
Charlotte Schreiber set several “firsts” for women artists in Canada, her realism painting skills opening doors in Royal Canadian Academy of Arts and others “The human hand, the finger nail, the foot, every portion of the living body, the parts of a flower, are divinely beautiful… it is a joy to paint them as they […]
An artist with immense talent in etching, Caroline Armington was commissioned in 1918 to create artwork for the Canadian War Memorials Collection. Emanating from her light and intricate touch, the artworks created by Caroline H. Armington captured the essence of the serene urban scenes. The hands that created memorable art through the delicate use of […]
Completing 11 missions as a black man, a black woman and a white man, Emma Edmonds of New Brunswick gathered information against the Confederates. The Union Army put out the call. Soldiers were needed to battle the Confederates in the American Civil War in 1861. After his fourth attempt, Franklin Thompson was accepted as a […]