Environmental and cultural activist, poet, singer-songwriter and filmmaker Zachary Richard is a native of Louisiana, a descendant of the Acadian deportation. Living in both the U.S. and Canada, he has recorded music in French and English, and his work has reinvigorated Cajun musical traditions. He has also published three volumes of poetry, receiving the prestigious Prix Champlain in 1998.  His documentaries have chronicled the lives of the Acadian people. Zachary Richard is co-founder of ...
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Ingrid Parent is University of British Columbia chief librarian and president-elect of the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions.  She has held a number of positions in the federal government, and has worked with international bodies such as UNESCO.  The future of libraries is the digital age is a focus of her work.
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Leonard Lee is a Saskatchewan-born inventor and entrepreneur. An engineering and economics graduate, he worked as a civil servant before launching Lee Valley Tools, the internationally-known gardening and woodworking mail-order phenomenon. He subsequently launched three more successful companies, Veritas Tools, Algrove Publishing and Canica Design, a medical/surgical instrument company. 
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Joé Juneau, NHL player, graduate engineer and founder of a hockey education program in Nunavik, played on the silver medal-winning 1992 Canadian Olympic team and on five Stanley Cup finalist teams. On retirement, he became partner and account manager at Harfan Technologies until he brought organized hockey to Inuit youth.  
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The Right Honourable David Johnston is Canada’s 28th governor general. A lawyer by training, he taught at four universities, and served notably successful tenures as principal of McGill University and president of the University of Waterloo. He has also served on many key advisory committees shaping public policy, and has authored or co-authored two dozen books.
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Jules A. Hoffmann, an internationally renowned biologist, shared the 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his 1996 discoveries concerning the activation of innate immunity, specifically, how fruit flies fight infections.  His work has allowed us to understand the similar defence mechanisms employed by other living beings, including humans. It has promising applications in areas such as defences of the pest mosquito, the vector of malaria and autoimmune disease.  Dr. Hoffmann...
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Bernard Grandmaître had a rich career in public service. He was an Ontario MPP from 1984 to 1999, and served as a cabinet minister, holding the portfolios of revenue, municipal affairs and Francophone affairs. In this latter role, he played a key role in 1986 passage of the landmark French Languages Services Act, which guaranteed the right of individuals to receive services in French from the Ontario government and other designated bodies. Prior to his time at Queen’s Park, he was active in mun...
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Lise Bissonnette joined the influential Quebec newspaper Le Devoir in 1974, serving as editorialist, editor-in-chief and publisher, and establishing herself as a leading opinion maker. After leaving Le Devoir, she oversaw the creation of Quebec’s Bibliothèque et Archives nationales and the Grande Bibliothèque, an ultramodern library in Montreal. She is also an accomplished novelist and essayist.   
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For more than two decades, Kenneth Roth has helped raise awareness of human rights atrocities and given voice to the most vulnerable on our planet. Under his leadership, Human Rights Watch has grown enormously in the causes it defends, in its geographic reach and in its stature. Much of his life has been defined by his commitment to justice, accountability and freedom for all.
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Samantha Nutt, Founder and Executive Director of War Child Canada, is a medical doctor with more than fifteen years of experience working in war zones.  Committed to peace, human rights and social justice, her humanitarian work has benefited hundreds of thousands of war-affected children globally. Dr. Nutt’s work has been widely recognized and she has received many honours, including the Order of Ontario.
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