Historical Heroes

Kenojuak Ashevak introduced Inuit art to the world (1927-2013).

Viola Desmond challenged segregation in Nova Scotia in the 1940s.

James Naismith of Ontario, explains the rules during one of the first experimental games of basketball (1891).

Marion Orr delivers fighter planes to Britain during the Second World War. Later becoming Canada's first female flight school operator (1943).

Frederick Banting and Charles Best, from the University of Toronto, announce the discovery of the diabetic drug insulin, saving countless lives (1922).

Emily Carr, a British Columbia painter, discovers the artistic inspiration that will drive her life's work (1871–1945).

During World War I, John McCrae wrote In Flanders Fields, a poem that is still recited across Canada on November 11th.

After a perilous journey, Laura Secord warns Upper Canada of an American attack during the War of 1812.