Extraordinary Canadians

Few athletes, even great ones, transcend their sport. Maurice Richard is one of them. Though uninterested in politics, he became a political figure who was instrumental in the reinvention of Quebec as a more modern and secular society. Though author Charles Foran has lived all over the world, he was reared on the Montreal Canadiens, and his time in Montreal only deepened his fascination for an eternal icon of the city: Maurice “Rocket” Richard.

Preacher, boxer, and devout social activist, Tommy Douglas is lauded for establishing many social programs that have come to define Canada, most notably the universal healthcare system. Vincent Lam brings his unique spin to the world of Tommy Douglas from the eyes of a medical doctor working within the system Tommy established.

As the founder and leader of the Party Quebecois, Rene Levesque made an instrumental contribution to the Quebec and Canadian identity: egalitarian, inclusive, and fair. Translator, political essayist, and author Daniel Poliquin, a great admirer of Levesque, while critical of some of his ideas, believes Levesque’s successes have made Quebec and Canada a better place.

Louis Riel shaped this country. But the myth of Riel and his fight for the Metis people would never have existed had it not been for his partner in arms Gabriel Dumont. For one tumultuous year Riel and Dumont fought a historic yet doomed battle, one that serves as a tragic reminder of what can go wrong when a government ignores the rights of its citizens. Award-winning novelist Joseph Boyden brings his a unique perspective to this great Canadian story.

Wilfrid Laurier governed Canada at a pivotal time in our history and was the calm centre of many political storms. The first French Canadian Prime Minister, Laurier was the pioneer of Canadian nationalism, helping create peaceful co-existence between French and English Canadians through compromise and patience. André Pratt is a political writer, journalist, and federalist thinker; he brings Laurier’s forgotten ideas into focus and demonstrates how they laid the foundations for modern Canada.

Marshall McLuhan foresaw our technological future decades before the technology even existed, and predicted the myriad changes that technology would have on the way we communicate, live, and think. Writer and artist Douglas Coupland in and of himself the natural child of McLuhanism, explores the unique life of this extraordinary Canadian.