David Suzuki
Environmentalist
"When we forget that we are embedded in the natural world, we also forget that what we do to our surroundings we are doing to ourselves.”
David Suzuki, scientist, professor, and activist, has cemented himself as one of the country's most prominent figures in the arena of environmentalism. Born in 1936, a third-generation Canadian of Japanese heritage, Suzuki spent several years living with his family in an internment camp in Slocan, British Columbia during the Second World War. Despite such unimaginable circumstances, Suzuki has publically recalled inklings of what would become a passion for the environment, “The Slocan Valley was a “paradise” with its wilderness and wildlife.” As an author of 52 books and host of the long-running CBC series, The Nature of Things, Suzuki has spent years educating Canadians on creating sustainable transportation, reducing pesticides, protecting our waters and endangered species, and taking action on climate change.
- Quan Nguyen
Terry Fox
Cancer Research Activist
“I want to try the impossible to show that it can be done.”
Terrance Stanley Fox (1958-1981) was a Canadian athlete, humanitarian, and cancer research activist. Fox was a determined athlete from an early age, competing in various sports, including basketball, soccer and rugby. At age 18, after experiencing recurring pains in his knee, Fox was diagnosed with osteogenic sarcoma - a type of bone cancer. After having his right leg amputated six inches above the knee, he became familiar with the pain that other cancer patients suffered and began training for a cross-Canada run in the hopes of raising 24 million dollars for cancer research. On April 12, 1980, Fox began his “Marathon of Hope” in St. John’s Newfoundland, averaging 42 km per day. However, after 143 days and 5,373 kilometres, he was forced to end his run outside of Thunder Bay because the cancer had spread to his lungs. Although he was unable to complete his run, Terry Fox’s legacy of hope and courage lives on and continues to aid in progressing cancer research.