Maureen Forrester (1930-2010), born in Montreal, Quebec, was one of the world's leading contraltos. After making her professional debut in 1951, she toured the world performing with virtually every major choir until the 1990s. In 1965 she began giving master classes. She was chairman of the voice department at the Philadelphia Music Academy from 1966 to 1971 and later taught part-time at the University of Toronto and the University of Alberta. Forrester was chair of the Canada Council 1983 to 1988, chancellor of Wilfrid Laurier University 1986-1990, and in 1986 she was honorary president of the International Year of Canadian Music. Maureen Forrester received many awards and recognitions including 30 honorary degrees. She was named a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1967, awarded a Canadian Music Council medal in 1983, received the Order of Ontario in 1990, and inducted into the Juno Hall of Fame. Wilfrid Laurier University named its recital hall in her honour and established a scholarship in her name.
Jacob 'Jack' Sebastian Heit was born on February 5, 1914 in Tramping Lake, Saskatchewan. He moved to Sudbury, Ontario, travelling by train at a cost of $6, and arrived on March 25, 1938. Heit took many odd jobs such as seasonal mail deliverer during the Christmas season in 1939 or work for Pioneer Construction in 1940. Other odd jobs included 'pick and shovel' work, farm work, house construction, cement drilling, and steel jobs. He worked for firms such as Red Brown Cement Products, Gustiana Company, and A.L. McGinn using his skills as a mechanic and blacksmith. He began his career at Falconbridge Nickel Mines Ltd in 1941 underground as a miner. He later became an Inspector for Mine Safety and First Aid. Heit was certified in basic Mine Rescue Training at the Sudbury Rescue Station in June 1948. By 1951, he received the Advanced Mine Rescue Training and in 1961 the Supervisory Advanced Mine Rescue Training. In May 1950, Heit was a member of the winning team of the inaugural First Aid Championship of Falconbridge Nickel Mines at a competition held in the Community Hall. Heit continued to compete in both local and Northern Ontario mine rescue competitions and won several times. Awards included the H.J. Fraser Trophy for defeating the top plant first aid team at Falconbridge.
Heit was also an avid volunteer with the Garson Volunteer Fire Department for 20 years (circa 1950 to February 1971). When Heit resigned from the fire department, he held the position of 'deputy fire chief.' He was also an amateur photographer and won 1st prize for the best photograph of the King and Queen's visit to Sudbury in 1939.
Jack Heit married Katherine 'Kay' Kraft (born March 4, 1918 in Allan, Saskatchewan) on February 5, 1940 at Christ the King Church in Sudbury, Ontario. They had five daughters, Diana (1941), Janet (1943), Marilyn (1947), Kathy (1948), and Susan (1954).
Heit retired from Falconbridge Ltd in 1976. He remained active in the community with bridge games, curling, and water skiing. For their 50th wedding anniversary, Jack and Kay Heit renewed their vows at the same church they were originally married.
Jack Heit passed away on November 5, 1999 at the age of 85 at Extendicare York in Sudbury, Ontario.
Flora Roy (1912-2008) was a professor at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario from 1948 until 1993. Roy received her BA and MA from the University of Saskatchewan and her PhD from the University of Toronto. In 1948 she became a professor in the English Department at Waterloo College (now Wilfrid Laurier University), and served as Department Chair for 30 years. Roy retired from full time teaching in 1978 but continued to teach on a part-time basis until 1993. She received the Confederation Medal in 1967, Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Medal in 1978, Wilfrid Laurier University Language Arts Award in 1984, and the Wilfrid Laurier University Alumni Association Distinguished Educator award in 1995. In 1988 Flora Roy received an honorary degree from Wilfrid Laurier University.
Jim Dufour was born in Thunder Bay, Ontario in 1945. He moved to Sudbury for work at INCO in 1964 at the Copper Cliff Iron Ore Plant. After a year in Copper Cliff, Dufour was moved to Stobie Mine where he worked for the next 34 years. At Stobie, Dufour performed a variety of tasks over the years including working underground. For the last 15 years of his career, Dufour was responsible for scheduling and training miners at Stobie. He co-ordinated the instuctors for training new employees on the history of mining, terminology, current practices, and safety. After 35 years at INCO, Jim Dufour retired in 1999.
Jim Stapleton was a student at Waterloo Lutheran University (now Wilfrid Laurier University) from 1961 to 1965.
John Hamilton Bush (1909–1977), primarily known as Jack Bush, was a Canadian painter best known for his Abstract Expressionist style. Born in Toronto, he lived in London, Ont. and Montreal during his early years. Jack Bush began his career in advertising, working in his father’s firm, Rapid Electro Type Company in Montreal. During this time, he studied at the Art Association of Montreal with Edmund Dyonnet and Adam Sherriff Scott. In 1928, he transferred to the company’s office in Toronto, where he took evening classes under Frederick Challener, John Alfsen and Charles Comfort at the Ontario College of Art. Bush’s early work as a painter was influenced by Comfort and the Group of Seven, and throughout the 1930s and ‘40s he produced largely landscape and figurative paintings. His first exhibition was with the Ontario Society of Artists in Toronto in 1936.
In 1934, Jack Bush married Mabel Mills Teakle, a family friend from Montreal, and together they had three sons, Jack Jr (b. 1936), Robert (b. 1938) and Terry (b. 1942). In 1953, dissatisfied with Canada’s place in the international contemporary art scene, Bush and several other Toronto abstract artists founded the group Painters Eleven. William Ronald, another member of Painters Eleven, and an artist who had worked in New York, introduced U.S. art critic Clement Greenberg to the group, which led to a lasting friendship between Bush and Greenberg. The contact with Greenberg in 1957 led to Bush’s international breakthrough in the early 1960s, beginning with his 1962 exhibition at the Robert Elkon Gallery in New York. Between the late 1950s and mid ‘60s, Bush painted in loose brushstrokes with diluted oils, staining paint onto unprimed canvas. In 1966, concerned by the health hazards associated with oil-based paints, he switched to water-based acrylics, less textured than oils but more brightly coloured.
In 1964, Jack Bush’s work was included in Greenberg’s Post-Painterly Abstraction at the Los Angeles County Museum, an exhibition that travelled to Minneapolis and Toronto. Along with Jacques Hurtubise, Bush represented Canada at the Bienal de São Paulo (Brazil) in 1967. In the year preceding his death in 1977 (from a heart attack), he received the Order of Canada. That same year, the Art Gallery of Ontario mounted a retrospective exhibition of his abstract works that travelled to several Canadian galleries. Jack Bush’s work is in the collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario, the National Gallery of Canada, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, London’s Tate Gallery and others.
Dr. Allon Peebles was born October 20th, 1900 in New Westminster. He graduated from UBC in 1920 and had a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia. Dr. Peebles taught economics at the University of California and at Columbia had worked with a committee in the United States on the costs of medical care. A medical and labour research economist, he was chairman of B.C.’s first Health Insurance Commission in 1936 and helped fashion the later B.C. Hospital Insurance Service. The 1936 Health Insurance Act was written by Peebles and Harry Morris Cassidy. In 1941, Peebles went to Ottawa as first executive director of the Unemployment Commission and was in charge of the labour department’s research and statistics. He wrote several books on medical facilities, insurance and care. After retiring from the labour department in 1947, Allon Peebles entered private business in Chatham, Ontario. He died in Ottawa on March 13, 1962.
The Querney family first came to Sudbury, Ontario in 1937 from Toronto, Ontario due to Ernest T. Querney's new position as Manager of the Northern Electric Company Limited. Ernest & Marjorie Querney's son Alan Querney was born November 3, 1929 in Toronto.
In 1972, Bill Muirhead, a family friend, sold his family's business (Muirhead Stationers Limited) to Alan Querney. After Alan Querney's sons graduated university, they became co-owners of the business as well. Tom Querney (trained in economics, Chartered Accountant) became the general manager, Bill Querney (McMaster, Commerce Degree) the furniture warehouse manager, and John Querney (Laurentian, Commerce Degree) the sales manager of the office furniture section. Alan Querney retired around 2002 and Tom Querney became President of Muirheads.
In May 2005, the Querney family sold Muirheads to Grand & Toy, an OfficeMax company. They became the largest commercial office products company in Northern Ontario.
In 2009, John and Bill Querney decided to leave Grand & Toy and start their own office supply business. Querney's Office Plus opened to the public at 67 Elm Street (right beside the former location of Muirheads), Sudbury, Ontario on July 19, 2010 with the grand opening celebration on October 21, 2010.
Robert Thomas Stevens [Roberto Tomaso Stefanizzi] was born in Cellara, Cosenza, Calabria, Italy on February 23, 1896 to Gaetano Stefanizzi and Gaetana Caliguiri. At the age of 6, he immigrated to Canada with his uncle Francesco Steffanzzi (aka Frank Stevens d. 1941 age 70) in 1902 while the rest of his family remained in Italy.
As a teenager during the first world war, Stevens operated a commissary at Nobel for the explosives plant employees. Stevens enjoyed being an entrepreneur and in 1918, he decided to venture into the film industry by opening his first theatre in Sudbury on Elm Street East. His theatre business thrived and over the years, Stevens expanded his business with the acquisition of additional theatres in Sturgeon Falls, Creighton Mine and Sault Ste. Marie. For a few years, Stevens also owned a theatre in Espanola. In August 1939, Stevens opened the large Regent Theatre on Elm Street in Sudbury. This theatre was well known for its size in Northeastern Ontario.
On December 4, 1923, Robert Stevens married Florence Boucher, a nurse originally from Whitefish, Ontario. The ceremony was held in Little Current, Ontario. They had six children; Joseph 'Robert' Guy (1924-1968), 'William' Alfred (1926-1988), 'Thomas' Joseph (1928-), Anne Marie (1930-2004, married name Ripley), John (1931?-), and Margaret Theressa (1934-).
During the second world war, Robert Stevens, along with many other Italian-born Canadians, was closely monitored by authorities. On August 24, 1940, Stevens was a patient at St. Joseph’s Hospital, suffering from a slight ailment. At 10 a.m. he was arrested on charges, under the Defence of Canada Regulations, for during August 14 to 20, 1940 “making statements intended to, or likely to, prejudice recruiting, training, discipline and administration of His Majesty’s forces,” and “making statements intended to, or likely to, cause disaffection to His Majesty.” He was escorted from his hospital room to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police headquarters for questioning. Afterwards, he was taken to the courthouse. Stevens was denied bail by the Magistrate and placed in a prison cell at the Sudbury District Jail until his trial three days later. Stevens plead guilty to the first charge and was fined $25. The second charge was dropped.
Robert Thomas Stevens became ill in January 1943 and passed away at St. Joseph's Hospital in Sudbury on February 13, 1943 at the age of 46.
The Canadian Art Club was a Toronto-based exhibiting society active from 1907 to 1915. The club brought together the work of most of the leading Canadian painters and sculptors of the day, largely from Toronto and Montreal but also from abroad, for its annual exhibitions. It was formed by seceding members of the Ontario Society of Artists who rejected what they perceived as that group’s parochialism and low artistic standards. Among the founding artist members were W.E. Atkinson, Archibald Browne, Franklin Brownell, Edmund Morris, Homer Watson (first president of the club) and Curtis Williamson. The artists were soon supported by a considerable number of members who were not artists (referred to as ‘lay members’ in documents). Part of the club’s purpose was to encourage expatriate Canadian artists, such as J. W. Morrice and Clarence Gagnon, to associate with the club and to exhibit in Canada. It succeeded in affording sympathetic reception in Toronto for prominent Quebec artists of the time, like Marc-Aurèle de Foy Suzor-Coté. After the death in 1913 of Edmund Morris, honorary secretary and chief organizer, the club declined amid disputes between members until it ceased to function in 1915. The Canadian Art Club was formally dissolved about 1933.
The Art Institute of Ontario (AIO) was incorporated in 1951 to circulate art exhibitions, lecturers, and instructional programmes to venues in smaller communities. The idea of an art institute had been discussed informally as early as 1948, and the Art Gallery of Toronto had organized circulating exhibitions. The AIO was formed when a grant from the Ontario Department of Education made it possible to sponsor a travelling exhibition throughout the province. Later grants from the Atkinson Foundation, the Canada Council, and the Province of Ontario Council for the Arts supported AIO’s operations. The AIO was an alliance of several Ontario visual arts institutions and organizations. Its founding members were the Art Gallery of Hamilton, Art Gallery of Toronto (now Art Gallery of Ontario), Hart House (University of Toronto), London Public Library & Art Museum, National Gallery of Canada, Ontario Association of Architects, Ontario Society of Artists, Royal Ontario Museum, Willistead Library and Art Gallery (Windsor) and the Windsor Art Association. The AIO maintained close ties with the Art Gallery of Ontario throughout its existence. It was absorbed into the extension programme of the AGO in 1968.
Factory 77, initially known as Galerie Scollard, was a Toronto artist-run gallery focused on art education which operated between 1976 and 1982. Galerie Scollard was established in Toronto in 1976 as a non- profit charitable organization by Dushka Arezina, a Yugoslavian emigrée, artist, and art historian. It was coined a “centre for education in vision” and was located on Scollard Street in Toronto. The gallery was operated by a Board of Directors of which Harvey Cowan was the chairperson and Kenneth Lund the president. Dushka Arezina sat on the Board of Directors as treasurer and was also the gallery’s executive director. Galerie Scollard ceased opera tions under that name in 1978 and was re-established as Factory 77 in November 1978 upon moving into a former carpet factory at 77 Mowat Ave. in Toronto’s Parkdale area. Factory 77’s operations were overseen by Arezina and a Board of Directors chaired by Lund, a Toronto lawyer. It aimed to present a broad view of contemporary visual arts by exhibiting established artists together with emerging ones. In the years between 1978 and 1982, the gallery mounted more than 13 exhibitions per year, featuring prominent Canadian artists such as Mary and Christopher Pratt, Lynn Do noghue, and Ken Danby. The gallery also placed significant emphasis on exhibitions by Eastern European artists such as Jiri Ladocha. The gallery aimed to foster student participation through exhibits of student and youth work, and placed significant focus on art education and appreciation outreach programs in elementary and secondary schools in the Toronto area. Due to financial and administrative difficulties, Factory 77 ceased operations permanently in February 1982.
The Ontario Fruit and Vegetable Growers’ Association (OFVGA) was established in 1859 as the Fruit Growers' Association of Ontario, making it one of Ontario and Canada’s oldest farm commodity organizations.
As the voice of Ontario’s fruit, vegetable and greenhouse farmers, the OFVGA is a nationally recognized not-for-profit association that advocates on behalf of Ontario fruit and vegetable farmers and the edible horticulture industry, and represents its members provincially, nationally, and internationally.
The scouting movement was founded in England in 1907 by Robert Baden-Powell, then a lieutenant-general in the British army. Scouting came to Canada in early 1908 with three troops established almost simultaneously in Merrickville and St Catharines ON and Port Morien, NS, and in 1912 the Boy Scout Association was granted a royal charter throughout the Commonwealth by King George V. The Canadian General Council of the Boy Scout Association, incorporated 12 June 1914, was a branch of the Boy Scout Association until 30 October 1946 when it became an independent member of the Boy Scout World Conference. The name was changed to Boy Scouts of Canada and to Scouts Canada in 1976.
The Beaver Valley Heritage Society began in the mid 1970s as a group of concerned citizens, and was incorporated in 1981 as a non-profit citizen's organization created to preserve and protect the natural environment of the Beaver Valley in Ontario. The Beaver Valley's territory runs through the four townships of Artemesia, Collingwood, Euphrasia and St. Vincent. It stretches over 25 miles, from Flesherton to Georgian Bay at Thornbury. The Beaver Valley Heritage Society endeavors to represent the interests of the Valley's residents and anyone who wishes to support the Society's objectives of opposing inappropriate development in the Valley. The Society supports development, provided it occurs in approved areas, and does not impact on wildlife, fishing, and the natural environment. The role of the Society is to present the views of its members in a coherent, concise and organized way to the decision-making bodies that have jurisdiction over the Beaver Valley.
The Seminette Club (1954-1970) was for the wives, and intended wives, of students at the Evangelical Lutheran Seminary of Canada, and Waterloo College (now Wilfrid Laurier University) in Waterloo, Ontario. The purpose of the club was fellowship, study, and discussion in preparation for the role of a pastor's wife.
OTWRC is a group of citizens' and agricultural groups who succeeded in cancelling the Ontario Waste Management Corporation's plans to build a hazardous waste plant in West Lincoln in the Niagara Peninsula. The group now comments on hazardous waste issues in Ontario and pushes for waste elimination.