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Allan Brooks, 1913.
CA-K998Culture & sport

Allan Brooks, wildlife illustrator

Naturalist Allan Brooks won international recognition as a wildlife illustrator in the first half of the 20th century, influencing later artists. As Western Canada’s leading ornithologist he helped professionalize the field, and he collected thousands of bird and animal skins for major museum research collections. Through his illustrations and publications he introduced generations to the birds of North America.

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Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-27↗
Photo: William Edwin Gledhill (1888–1976) - photographer · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Rev. C.W. Gordon (Ralph Connor), right, with Dr. Francis Landey Patton, 1929.
CA-K946Culture & sport

Ralph Connor, novelist and churchman

Charles William Gordon, born in Glengarry, Ontario, was a Presbyterian minister and pastor of St. Stephen’s Church in Winnipeg from 1894 to 1924. As “Ralph Connor” he entertained and instructed millions with novels, many about the settlement of western Canada. An ardent Canadian nationalist, he worked for causes such as temperance and help for immigrants, and his optimism reflected the views of many Canadians of his time.

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Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-27↗
Photo: Wide World Photos · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
George A. Cox, portrait published in 1907.
CA-K782Economy & trade

George Cox, banker and insurance magnate

George Cox, after a business career in Peterborough, moved to Toronto as it challenged Montréal as Canada’s banking capital. President of the Canadian Bank of Commerce from 1890 to 1906, he expanded it into Western Canada, and as head of Canada Life he dominated the insurance industry from the mid-1890s until his death in 1914.

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Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: Unknown author · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Alexander James McPhail (University of Saskatchewan Archives).
CA-K575Economy & trade

A. J. McPhail and the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool

Alexander James McPhail, who came west from Ontario in 1899, worked to organize Prairie farmers politically and economically. As secretary of the Saskatchewan Grain Growers’ Association he worked tirelessly to create the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, becoming its first president in 1924, and helped form the Central Sales Agency for the three Prairie provinces’ crops.

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Photo: University of Saskatchewan · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
John Hendry, around 1910 (BC Archives).
CA-K572Economy & trade

John Hendry, British Columbia lumber pioneer

John Hendry built a lumber empire in western Canada. In 1891 his mills and logging operations, including the Hastings Mill, became the British Columbia Mills, Timber and Trading Company, the province’s first forestry conglomerate, which led the way in mechanized logging and integrated lumber production, transport and marketing.

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Contributor: Citizen.ca

Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: Unknown author · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
J. B. Tyrrell (Canadian Press Syndicate).
CA-K545History

J. B. Tyrrell, geologist and explorer

Joseph Burr Tyrrell of the Geological Survey of Canada (1882–1899) surveyed much of Western Canada and conducted scientific fieldwork in the Hudson Bay region and the northern tundra. Later a mining consultant in the Klondike and Northern Ontario, he is recognized for his work on glacial geology and for recovering and publishing David Thompson’s journal.

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Photo: Canadian Press Syndicate · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
Father Albert Lacombe, photographed before 1916.
CA-K385Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

Father Albert Lacombe, missionary in the West

From 1852, Oblate priest Albert Lacombe spent over 60 years seeking to convert Indigenous Peoples in western Canada to Christianity, founding missions such as St. Albert with Métis and Cree help and acting as a go-between during Treaty 8 talks. He was the first principal of the High River Industrial School in 1884–1885 and advocated separating children from their families and suppressing Indigenous languages.

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Photo: Unknown author · Photo licence: Public domain · Credit & context
The Peguis monument in Kildonan Park, Winnipeg, erected in 1923, photographed in 2011.
CA-K176Indigenous peoples & reconciliation

Chief Peguis and the Selkirk Treaty of 1817

Chief Peguis (1774–1864), a skilled hunter and diplomat, worked to protect the rights and interests of the Anishinaabeg of Red River and stepped in to save lives when fur trade hostilities threatened the Selkirk Settlement. He was one of five First Nations negotiators of the Selkirk Treaty of 1817, the first agreement permitting limited farmland access to settlers in western Canada.

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Verified against cited sourcesVerified on 2026-10-26↗
Photo: Wtshymanski · Photo licence: CC BY-SA 3.0 · Credit & context