Her Excellency the Right Honourable Michaëlle Jean, C.C., C.M.M., C.O.M., C.D., is Canada’s Governor General and Commander-in-Chief. Born in Port au Prince, Haïti, Madame Jean and her family left that impoverished nation when she was a young girl, determined to build a new life for themselves in Canada. A deep commitment to social justice led Michaëlle Jean to pursue a successful career as a broadcaster. As Governor General, Her Excellency has made a dramatic difference, reaching out to Canadia...
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Françoise Héritier is a noted anthropologist and an honorary professor at the Collège de France, where she has directed both the Chaire d’étude comparée des sociétés africaines and the Laboratoire d’anthropologie sociale. Her research centres on the symbolic anthropology of the human body and on the workings of family structures and semi-complex marital kinship systems. Among her most notable accomplishments are the five years of groundbreaking field studies she led in Burkina Faso and in Mali....
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Raymond Breton is a world-renowned sociologist and a leading authority on how ethnocultural communities operate, and how they relate with one another. Throughout his long and impressive career, Dr. Raymond Breton has studied the linguistic and ethnic differences that define communities right across this country. In doing so, he has made an unrivalled contribution to our understanding of what it means to be Canadian. Dr. Breton is the author of 10 books and numerous other works. ...
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Alfred Bader is a true Renaissance man; an accomplished scientist, successful entrepreneur, renowned art connoisseur and philanthropist. After studies in chemistry at Queen’s University and Harvard, Dr. Bader founded the Aldrich Chemical Company, which is now the Sigma-Aldrich Corporation, one of the largest chemical firms in the world. A love of art led him to start Albert Bader Fine Arts in 1962, which has sold works to the Getty Museum, the National Gallery of Scotland, and the Rijksmuseum i...
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Yanick Villedieu is the host of Les Années lumière, a popular science-focussed radio program on Société Radio-Canada that he has helmed for the past 23 years. Under his guidance, the program has explored a galaxy of subjects, including engineering and technology, outer space and astronomy, the science of the brain, genetics, the environment, and many more. Mr. Villedieu, an award-winning broadcaster, author, and journalist, has also written a number of books on health and the health care system...
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Gail Valaskakis, PhD is the Director of Research for the Aboriginal Healing Foundation. She has dedicated herself to helping Aboriginal Canadians address many of the challenges they face. During an illustrious academic career, she focussed much of her work on the question of Northern and Aboriginal media and communications. In addition to her work within the Foundation, she was also a founding member of the first post-secondary institution in eastern Canada, Manitou College, designed specifical...
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Jozef Straus, PhD, DSc (Hon.), is the founder of JDS Uniphase and is recognized for his rare combination of scientific credentials, business acumen, and an unconventional and unpretentious approach to management. After launching JDS Fitel in 1981 with some colleagues, Straus led the firm through a period of unprecedented success. The 1999 merger with Uniphase made Straus’s firm one of the largest optical component makers in the world. ...
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Denise Robert is an Academy Award-winning film producer. As President of the Montreal-based independent production company Cinémaginaire, Ms. Robert has helped create many critically acclaimed, popular films, including Le Confessionnel, C’t’à ton tour Laura Cadieux, Mambo Italiano, and The Barbarian Invasions. Denise Robert has contributed to the flowering of Québécois cinema, the most vibrant and successful film scene in Canada. ...
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Michèle Rivet is the President of the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal.  Throughout her illustrious career, both here and abroad, Michèle Rivet has sought to extend human rights and ensure that the rule of law is enshrined in a growing number of countries. As President of the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal, Madame Rivet has continued her promotion of human rights, publishing writings on the rights of immigrant workers, on the questions of assisted suicide and euthanasia, and other issues. ...
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James Edward Newall, O.C., is the Chairman of the Board of Canadian Pacific Railway and NOVA Chemicals Corporation. Ted Newall has spent more than 30 years in the boardrooms of Canadian business, occupying the most senior management positions in some of this country’s most important companies. He has been CEO of Dupont Canada and NOVA Corporation and has also served on the boards of many of Canada’s leading firms.
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