53 Notable Peacemakers
in Canada

Click here for peace monuments in Canada. | Click here for return to worldwide list of notable peacemakers (& for meaning of symbols).

1781-1843 - Sir Charles Bagot GCB - Diplomat and colonial administrator. Signed Rush-Bagot Treaty with USA in 1817. Governor General of Canada 1841-43.

1789-1883 - Josiah Henson - Slave, author, abolitionist & minister. Born in Maryland. Escaped in 1830 & settled at Dawn near Dresden, Ontario.

1813-1911 - John Freeman Walls - Slave in North Carolina. Settled near Puce (now Lakeshore), Ontario. His farmstead is now an Underground Railroad Museum.

1828-1910 - Leo Tolstoy - Novelist. Wrote "War & Peace" in 1869 & "Anna Karenina" in 1877. Helped Doukhobors move to Canada. P

1845-1914 - John Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll - Marquess of Lorne 1847-1900. 4th Gov General 1878-83. Remembered by places named for his wife Louise & his paraphrase of Psalm 121 ("Unto the hills around do I lift up").

1868-1933 - Emily Murphy - Women's rights activist. First female magistrate in British Empire. One of the "Famous Five" who argued that women are "persons" under Canadian law.

1874-1942 - Shaver Woodsworth - Methodist minister. Pacifist. Pioneer in the Canadian social democratic movement. P

1883-1979 - Cyrus S. Eaton. Investment banker. Founded the Pugwash Conferences which received the Nobel Peace Prize. 1995

1884-1951 - Sir Charles Arthur Mander - Public servant, philanthropist & manufacturer. Honorary chief Blackfoot tribe in Montana (USA). Dedicated Waterton-Glacier Intl Peace Park in June 1932.

c1885-19?? - Henry J. Moore - Lecturing horticulturist for Ontario Department of Agriculture in Islington, Ontario. Conceived Intl Peace Garden "commemorating peaceful coexistence of Canada & the USA."

1887-1967 - Vincent Massey - First fully accredited Canadian diplomat (to USA). First Canadian-born Governor General.

1889-1977 - Gertrude Harding - Suffragette. Moved to London in 1912. Remained as one of the highest-ranking members of the Women's Social & Political Union.

1896-1971 - George Brock Chisholm - Medical practitioner. First Director-General of World Health Organization (WHO). Advocated religious tolerance. 1959

1897-1972 - Lester Bowles (Mike) Pearson - Organized UN Emergency Force to resolve Suez Canal Crisis in 1956. Only Canadian recipient of Nobel Peace Prize. 1957

1898-2001 - Maxwell Cummings - Builder & philanthropist. His son Steven facilitated Montreal Holocaust Memorial Centre in 2003 (first major Holocaust museum in Canada).

1908-2006 - John Kenneth Galbraith - Keynesian economist, public intellectural, author & bureaucrat. US ambassador to India. 1985

1909-1990 - Lotta Hitschmanova - Journalist. Wanted by Nazis. Founded Unitarian Service Committee of Canada.

1915-1977 - Charles E. Brooks - Labour union activist. First president of the United Auto Workers Local 444 in Windsor. Assassinated by an upset employee of Chrysler Motors.

1918-2002 - Elisabeth Mann-Borgese - "Mother of the Law of the Sea Treaty" (1982). Daughter of Thomas Mann.

1919-2000 - Pierre Trudeau - Prime Minister of Canada 1968-79 & 1980-84. Worked for peace. 1984

1920-2006 - Peter Brock - Peace historian at University of Toronto. Specialized in history of pacifism & Eastern Europe. CO P

1923-Alive - Henry Morgentaler - Physician. Prominent pro-choice advocate who has fought numerous legal battles for that cause. 1975 w/Betty Friedan

1926-1987 - Margaret Laurence - Novelist. Outspoken supporter of peace, women's rights & other progressive causes.

1926-Alive - Jim Bohlen. Engineer. Peace activist in British Columbia (Canada). Helped found Greenpeace.

1927-2012 - Larry Ross - Founded NZ Nuclear Weapon Free Zone Cte in 1981, achieving 105 nuclear free zones & leading to the Nuclear Free Zone Act of 1987.

1928-Alive - Jean Vanier - Catholic philosopher turned theologian, humanitarian & founder of L'Arche, an international federation of group homes for people with developmental disabilities.

1929-2012 - Sr. Rosalie Bertell - Nun. "Raised public awareness about destruction of biosphere & human gene pool, especially by low-level radiation." 1986
1929-Alive - Maurice Strong - Oil executive. First Exec Director of UN Environment Programme. President of Council of UN University for Peace.

1931-2013 - David Hartman - Rabbi & philosopher. Moved to Israel in 1971 & founded Shalom Hartman Institute. Helped build a more pluralistic & tolerant Israeli society.
1931-Alive - Robert MacNeil - News reporter & author. Paired with Jim Lehrer to create The MacNeil/Lehrer Report on PBS in 1975.

1932-2001 - David McTaggart - Athelete & environmentalist. Helped found Greenpeace International. Sailed own boat in 1972 to protest French nuclear weapons testing in the Pacific.

1936-Alive - David Suzuki - Academic, science broadcaster & environmental activist. Japanese heritage.

1938-Alive - Moshe Safdie - Architect of Holocaust Museum at Yad Vashem in Jerusalem, US Institute of Peace in Washington, DC, etc.

1939-Alive - Margaret Atwood - Poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist & environmental activist. Among the most-honoured authors of fiction in recent history. 1987

c1940-Alive - David Barr - Sculptor. Made "Sun Sweep" in 3 places on US/Canadian border & "Arctic Arc" on both sides of the Bering Strait.
c1940-Alive - Louis D'Amore - Consultant. Created International Institute for Peace through Tourism (IIPT) in 1986 & "Peace Parks Across Canada" project in 1992 ( Canada's 125th anniversary).

1942-Alive - Eric Nagler - Musician & TV personality. Moved to Canada in opposition to Vietnam War. Acquitted in 1972. Brother of Michael Nagler (qv). CO

1944-Alive - Jesse Winchester - Singer-songwriter. Moved from USA to Canada in 1967 to avoid the Vietnam War draft. CO

1945-1975 - Anna Mae Aquash - Mi'kmaq from Nova Scotia. Highest-ranking woman in American Indian Movement (AIM). Killed on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation.
1945-Alive - Andy Barrie - Host of CBC Radio's Metro Morning. Deserted US Army in 1969 after being ordered to Vietnam. CO
1945-Alive - Neil Young - Singer-songwriter. Advocate for environmental issues & welfare of small farmers. Co-founded benefit concert Farm Aid. Helped found The Bridge School in 1986.

1946-Alive - Roméo Dellaire - General, senator & humanitarian. UN peacekeeper in Rwanda. Ordered not to stop Hutu/Tutsi genocide in 1994.

c1950-Alive - Walter Davis - Executive Director, National Organizers Alliance (NOA). Moved to Canada to avoid draft during Vietnam War. CO
c1950-Alive - Michael Gauthier - Director of International Peace Garden Foundation (IPGF). http://www.peacegarden.com/allpdf/History%20of%20the%20IPG%20by%20John%20Stormon.pdf
c1950-Alive - John MacLeod - Professor of Landscape Design, Université de Montréal. Designed several peace gardens in Québec.
c1950-Alive - Jennifer Simons - Professor, Simon Fraser Univ. Award-winning educator in peace, disarmament, international law & human security. President of Simons Foundation.

1954-Alive - Steven Pinker - Experimental psychologist, cognitive scientist, linguist & popular science author. Husband of Rebecca Goldstein. 2006

1955-Alive - Bob Raeside - Teacher at Acadia University, Wolfville, Nova Scotia. Director of Flags of the World (FOTW) database.

1965-Alive - Jeffrey Skoll - Engineer. First employee & also first president of internet auction firm eBay. Noted philanthropist. Founded Skoll Foundation in 1999.

1970-Alive - Naomi Klein - Author & social activist. Known for criticism of corporate globalization. Wrote No Logo & The Shock Doctrine.

1973-2012 - Rebecca Tarbotton - Environmental, human rights & food activist. Executive Director of Rainforest Action Network (RAN).

c1982-Alive - Kimberly Rivera - Iraq War resister. First female US military deserter to flee to Canada. Deported in 2012. Designated a Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International. CO

1991-2007 - Aqsa (Axa) Parvez - Pakistani origin. Victim of "honour killing" by her father & brother in Mississauga, Ontario (Canada).

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