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Matt Cohen, writer and translator, was born on 30 December 1942, in Kingston, Ont. He was educated at the University of Toronto, graduating with a BA in Political Economy in 1964, followed by a Master's degree in Political Science in 1965. He taught at McMaster University in the Department of Religion in 1967-1968. Cohen was Writer-in-Residence at Rochdale College (1968), University of Alberta (1975-1976), the University of Western Ontario (1981), the University of Bologna (1985), and Toronto Reference Library (1997). He also taught writing at the University of Victoria in 1979-1980.

In his own writing Cohen employed a variety of literary forms–short story, poetry, song, novella and full-length novel. He also wrote children's books using the pseudonym of "Teddy Jam". Cohen was the recipient of numerous awards and honours and his work has been translated into many languages. He died on 2 December 1999, shortly after winning the Governor General's Award for his novel Elizabeth and After. Cohen was married three times, first to Arden Ford, then to Susan Bricker and finally to Patsy Aldana. After his marriage to Susan Bricker ended, he lived for a time with Katherine Govier. In 1978 he met Patricia Aldana with whom he shared the rest of his life. Patsy had two children, Carlota ("Coca") and Seth McAllister, from an earlier marriage. With Patsy, Cohen had two children, Daniel and Madeleine. Cohen purchased a farm near Bellrock, north of Kingston, Ont. and lived there and also in Toronto until his death. Cohen and his family also lived for extended periods in Spain, France and Italy.

Luca Codignola-Bo, born in Genoa, Italy, in 1947, took his Master's degree in History at the University of Toronto in 1974. New France historian William J. Eccles was his thesis director. He then taught early Canadian and American history at the universities of Bologna (1975-7), Pisa (1976-90), and Genova (1990-2016). At Genova he was also member of the University's Senate (2012-5). In 2008-12 he was Head of the Institute of History of Mediterranean Europe (ISEM) of Italy's National Research Council (CNR). Dr Codignola-Bo has been active in a number of international associations and institutions, such as the International Council for Canadian Studies (President 1985-7), the Italian Association for Canadian Studies (President 1988-90), the Italian Committee for North American History (President 1989-91), the Association internationale des études acadiennes (President 2004-6), the Association internationale des études québécoises (member of the Conseil d'Administration 2005-10), the European Science Foundation, Standing Committee for the Humanities (Italy's representative 2005-8). He was awarded the Northern Telecom Five Continents Award in Canadian Studies (1988), the Special Government of Canada Award (2001), and a Doctorate honoris causa (D.Litt.) by Saint Mary's University (2003). He was also elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (2016). Over the years Dr Codignola-Bo has taught in several Canadian and American universities such as York (1990-4), Laval (1997, 2000), McGill (1998), Brown (2001), Toronto (2002), and Saint Mary's (2007, 2013-4). He has also been research associate at the Université de Montréal (1977, 1988, 1990, 1992), the University of Ottawa (1977, 1985), the University of London (1980, 1982-3, 2002, 2004), the John Carter Brown Library (1989, 2001), and the Library Company of Philadelphia (2003). At the time of the donation of his personal papers to McMaster University, Dr Codignola-Bo was Adjunct Professor (History) at Saint Mary's University (2005-17), Senior Fellow of the Cushwa Center for the History of US Catholicism of the University of Notre Dame (2016-8), and Professeur associé (Histoire) at the Université de Montréal (2016-9). He is best known for his work on the the Roman Catholic church in the North Atlantic area in the early modern era, and has also written on the history of early European expansion in the Atlantic region. Since 2016 Dr Codignola-Bo lives in Milan with his wife, Gabriella Ferruggia, a former professor of American literature. They have one daughter, Federica.

Bruce Cockburn is a well known Canadian singer and songwriter. He was born in Ottawa on 27 May 1945. After playing in Ottawa rock bands (The Children, Esquires, 3’s a Crowd), Cockburn became a folk singer with a humanist, poetic style combining elements of jazz, rock and reggae. His recordings include Sunwheel Dance (1971), In the Falling Dark (1976), Dancing in the Dragon’s Jaws (1979), Stealing Fire (1984), the singles collection Waiting for a Miracle (1987), The Charity of Night (1996), and Breakfast in New Orleans, Dinner in Timbuktu (1999). Cockburn has written songs in English and French; among his signature pieces are “Goin’ to the Country,” “Musical Friends,” his 1980 hit “Wondering Where the Lions Are,” “The Trouble with Normal”, "If I Had a Rocket Launcher" and “Lovers in a Dangerous Time.”

Concert touring and regular album releases in the United States, Australia and Europe have given Bruce Cockburn a solid international reputation. All 31 of Cockburn's albums were recorded on the Canadian label True North Records, while some distribution has been managed by the American companies Columbia Records and Rounder Records.

Cockburn is also well known as a social activist. His song “If I Had a Rocket Launcher” (1984) was inspired by a visit to Central American refugee camps on behalf of Oxfam. In 1986 he performed two benefit concerts that raised funds to help the Haida in their land claims struggle. He has also worked with the Unitarian Services Committee, Friends of the Earth and World Vision Canada. “If a Tree Falls” (1989) calls for an end to destruction of the world’s rain forests. The 1996 song “The Mines of Mozambique” documents the deadly impact of anti-personnel mines. After addressing the land-mine issue in dozens of interviews, Cockburn and singer-songwriter friend Jackson Browne headlined a fundraising concert in Ottawa on 3 December 1997 that marked the signing of a United Nations treaty banning their use.

Environmentalist David Suzuki and musical peer Gordon Lightfoot inducted Cockburn into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 2001. Cockburn is also the recipient of numerous other awards, including the Order of Canada. Bruce Cockburn continues to actively write and record music as well as support his humanitarian interests and causes. This biographical sketch has been adapted from The Canadian Encyclopedia.

The Co-operative Commonwealth Federation was founded in Regina, Saskatchewan in 1933 and became Canada's first national socialist-democratic party.

George Francis Clingan (1894-1964) of Virden, Manitoba joined the Canadian military in October 1915. He remained in the military, serving with the Cameron Highlanders of Ottawa during World War II. He was Commanding Officer in 1942. He rose to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. His daughter Peggy married Lt. Colin Murray who served with the 27th Canadian Infantry Brigade at the time it was based in Hannover, Germany as part of Canada's contribution to NATO.

Katherine May Clarke (née McLay) was born in 1940 in Clinton, Ont. She graduated in 1963 with an Honours BA from Trinity College, University of Toronto, in Art & Archaeology. After graduation, she rented a room in Peace House on the University of Toronto campus, operated by the CUCND (the Combined Universities Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament).

After a few months, she found herself invited to become the secretary at the CCND (Canadian Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament). She worked on behalf of the CCND between 1963 and 1965. In the summer of 1964, she joined a student delegation to Cuba during the 5th year of the Cuban revolution. In 1966 she worked for the Unitarian Service in Ottawa, in 1966-67 for CJOH-TV in Ottawa, and between 1968 and 1979 for the Royal Ontario Museum. She is married to Tom Clarke, and they have two children. Now retired, she resides in North Toronto.

Clarke Irwin was founded in 1930 by William H. Clarke, his wife Irene, and his brother-in-law, John Irwin. The company grew to become one of the chief publishing houses in Canada. In 1983 the publisher went into receivership, and the majority of its assets were purchased by the Book Society of Canada. For some time, Clarke Irwin was maintained as a separate entity, with its own name and imprint, operating as Clarke Irwin (1983) Inc. In the autumn of 1984, the Book Society of Canada changed its name to Irwin Publishing Inc.

George Clarke was the son of Sir William Clarke, England’s first Secretary at War (1661-1666), and his wife Dorothy. George himself became the fourth Secretary at War sometime before March 1690. The Battle of the Boyne took place in July of that year. He held an estate at Kilkenny in Ireland.

Austin Ardinel Chesterfield ("Tom") Clarke, author, was born in Barbados on 26 July 1934. His parents were Kenneth Trotman and Gladys Irene Clarke. His mother later married F.H. Luke. Clarke immigrated to Canada in 1956 and attended Trinity College at the University of Toronto for a short time. His interest in writing began early in life, and in the 1960s his short stories began to be published in Canadian and other periodicals. Clarke's stories and novels primarily centre around the plight of the immigrant West Indian in Canada, although his first two novels, The Survivors of the Crossing and Amongst Thistles and Thorns, take place in Barbados.

He was a member of The Immigration and Refugee Board from 1983 to 1993; he also held a position with The Ontario Film Review Board from 1984 to 1987. Clarke was the inaugural recipient of The Rogers Communications Writers' Trust Fiction Prize for his semi-autobiographical novel The Origin of Waves, published in 1997. His 2002 novel, The Polished Hoe, won the Trillium, Giller and Commonwealth prizes. His novel More was published in 2008. The author currently resides in Toronto, Ont. For further biographical material, please consult McMaster University's Library Research News (6, no. 1, Spring 1982) and Stella Algoo-Baksh, Austin C. Clarke: A Biography (Toronto: ECW Press, 1994). Clarke died in Toronto on 26 June 2016.

The Church of the New Jerusalem in Toronto is a sect that follows the teaching of Emmanuel Swedenborg.

The Churches of Christ are autonomous Christian congregations associated with one another through common beliefs and practices. They have roots in the American Restoration Movement. According to the manuscript this congregation started in October 1889 at Broadway Hall, moved to Brunswick Avenue, October 1897, and then to Bathurst Street in November 1902. The Elders of the church in 1904 were William Forrester, Duncan Stirling, James Stewart, and John Smart.

The Chromium Mining and Smelting Corporation Ltd. was founded in 1934 with its head office in Hamilton, Ont. At that time the company had a drilling operation near Collins, Ont. By the following year the company had established a plant in Sault Ste. Marie, occupying the facility previously held by Superior Alloys. Leo H. Timmins, of the Hollinger Gold Mine in Timmins, joined the company as president. In 1984 the company changed its name to Timminco Co. Ltd. In 2012, the company declared bankruptcy.

Andrew Gordon Chisholm, K.C., was a London, Ont. lawyer. While still studying law, he joined the 7th Fusiliers and served as a lieutentant in the North-West Rebellion of 1885. He ran for Parliament after that as a Conservative but was defeated.

He was called to the bar in 1888 and made a K.C. in 1921. He acted as solicitor for the Six Nations of the Grand River for about forty years. During that time he recovered for them lands valued at $300,000 and some $35,000 in cash according to a letter of 14 April 1942 to the Deputy Minister of Justice. Chisholm died suddenly on 11 January 1943 at the age of 79 while a Petition of Right was still before the courts.

Henry Cecil was the principal pseudonym for Judge Henry Cecil Leon who was born in Norwood Green Rectory, near London, England in 1902. He was called to the Bar in 1923, and served with the British Army during the Second World War. Later, appointed a County Court Judge in 1949, he served in this capacity until 1967. He died in 1976. The law and circumstances which surround it have been the source for many of Cecil's numerous short stories, books, and plays, and radio adaptations of his work.