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Sir Charles Tupper was born in Amherst, Nova Scotia on July 2, 1821. He was educated at Horton Academy in Wolfville and graduated with his M.D. from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland in 1843. On his return to Canada he established a medical practice and pharmacy in Amherst. In 1846 he married Frances Morse, with whom he had six children.

Tupper’s political career began in 1855 when he was elected as a Conservative candidate in the provincial legislature. He went on to serve as Premier of Nova Scotia between 1864 to 1867 and is considered largely responsible for the province joining Confederation. In 1867 Tupper successfully ran for Federal Parliament and became an important figure in national politics, leading the Conservative Party from 1896 to 1901 and serving briefly as Prime Minister in 1896. Tupper died in England on October 30, 1915.

Ron Ulrich has worked as a director and artistic director with many major theatre companies across Canada, and is perhaps best known for his work with American comedies and musicals. He received a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Saskatchewan and graduated from the National Theatre School of County.

He was the artistic director of various theatre companies across Canada, including the Huron Country Playhouse in Grand Bend, Ontario (1983-1985); Stage West Canada (1985-1993); the Muskoka Festival, Gravenhurst, Ontario (1992-1994); the Mayfield Theatre in Edmonton, Alberta (1994-2000); and Neptune Theatre in Halifax, Nova Scotia (2000-2008). Since 2008, he has been the artistic director of Theatre Aquarius in Hamilton, Ontario.

Heitor Villa-Lobos was one of the foremost composers of the twentieth century, combining elements of music indigenous to Brazil and Latin America with Western classical music. His work is heavily influenced by Johann Sebastian Bach (e.g., Bachianas Brasileiras), Richard Wagner, and Giacomo Puccini).

Born in Rio de Janeiro on March 5, 1887. he started learning the cello at age 6. Although his mother did not approve of his musical aspirations and wanted him to become a doctor, Villa-Lobos left home at the age of 18 and supported himself playing the guitar and cello while travelling around Brazil.

In 1915, his works were featured in a concert in Rio de Janeiro and the publishing firm Artur Napoleão began to publish his compositions. In this year, he also met pianist Artur Rubinstein, who performed his works across the world. From 1923 until 1929, he lived in Paris, composing, and organizing a number of concerts. In 1930, he became director of the São Paulo school system in Brazil and in 1932, he became in charge of music education throughout the country. In 1945, he established the Brazilian Academy of Music with Oscar Lorenzo Fernandez.

By the time of his death, in 1959, Villa-Lobos had written over 2000 compositions, including orchestral, chamber, instrumental, and vocal works. His guitar compositions, in particular, have become part of the standard repertory for the instrument.

Villa-Lobos married Lucília Guimarães, a pianist and teacher, in 1913. In 1936, he left his wife for Arminda Neves d’Almeida, who remained his companion until his death, Arminda took Villa-Lobos' name, although they never married. Many of his works are dedicated to Arminda, or "Mindhinha."

Mary Vingoe is a Canadian playwright, actor and theatre director. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she graduated from Dalhousie University and received the University Medal in Theatre in 1976. She completed her MA in Drama at the University of Toronto in 1977 and lived in Toronto for 13 years before returning to Nova Scotia. She was the founding Artistic Director of the Magnetic North Theatre Festival in Ottawa, and a co-founder of the Toronto feminist theatre company Nightwood Theatre, Ship's Company Theatre in Parrsboro, Nova Scotia, and Eastern Front Theatre in Halifax.

Vingoe has directed at major theatres across the country and has acted and written for stage, radio, television and film. She has been closely associated with the work of many Canadian playwrights, in particular Wendy Lill, for whom she has directed five world premieres, four of which were nominated for Governor General’s awards. She has received the Mayor’s Award for Achievement in Theatre, the Portia White Prize, and the Robert E. Merritt Award for Achievement in Theatre. In 2011 she was made an Officer of the Order of Canada.

J. Andrew (Andy) Wainwright is a poet, novelist and McCulloch Professor Emeritus of English at Dalhousie University. He was born 12 May 1946 in Toronto, Ontario, and received his BA in 1969 at the University of Toronto. He spent the early 1970s in Spain, Greece and England before moving to Halifax to pursue his MA (1973) and PhD (1978) in English at Dalhousie University. He began teaching at Dalhousie in 1979, with a focus on modern and postmodern (Canadian) literature, indigenous studies, gender studies, multicultural fiction and poetry, intercultural issues and popular culture.

Wainwright is widely published, with titles including World Enough and Time: Charles Bruce, A Critical Biography (1988); Landscape and Desire: Poems Selected and New (1992); (ed.) A Very Large Soul: Margaret Laurence’s Letters to Canadian Writers (1995); A Deathful Ridge: A Novel of Everest (1997); A Far Time (2001); (ed.) Every Grain of Sand: Canadian Perspectives on Environment and Ecology (2004); The Confluence (2007); and Blazing Figures: A Life of Robert Markle (2009).

He retired from teaching in 2008.

Peter Busby Waite was born in Toronto, Ontario, in 1922, to Cyril and Mary (Craig) Waite. He graduated from high school in 1937 while living in Saint John, New Brunswick. Peter received both his B. A. (1948) and M. A. (1950) in History from the University of British Columbia followed by completion of his Ph.D at the University of Toronto in 1954. Peter married Masha Gropuzzo in 1958. He has two daughters: Alica Nina and Anya Mary. He married Lorraine (Conrad) Hurtig in 2005.

Peter Waite worked at the Dominion Bank from 1937 to 1941. In 1941 he joined the Royal Canadian Navy, attaining the rank of lieutenant by the close of World War II, in 1945. Peter Waite started his teaching career as a lecturer, at Dalhousie University, in 1951. He was hired as an assistant professor in 1955, promoted to an associate professor in 1960, and gained full professorship in 1961. He headed the Dept. of History for nine years, from 1960 to 1968. Upon his retirement in 1988, he gained the title of Professor Emeritus of History, Dalhousie University. He has had numerous appointments as guest lecturer at other institutions. Peter B. Waite received honourary degrees from The University of New Brunswick, Memorial University of Newfoundland, Carleton University, Ottawa, Ontario, and Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Peter B. Waite has written 14 books and numerous articles for academic journals. He authored the two volumes of the “The Lives of Dalhousie University”, covering the period 1818 to 1980, published in 1994 and 1998.

Peter Waite is active in the historical community, both on a national and local level. He has been a member of: The Canadian Historical Association and was President, 1968-1969; Chairman of the MacDonald Prize Committee, 1976-1980; Humanities Research Council and was Chairman, 1968-1970; Historical Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, 1968-1977; National Archives Appraisal Board, 1979-1989; Chairman of the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme, Social Sciences Federation of Canada, 1987-1989; Board of Trustees for the Pubic Archives of Nova Scotia, 1972-1999; the Chalmers Prize Committee, Ontario History, 1987-2005; and the City of Halifax, Advisory Committee on the Preservation of Historic Buildings. Peter Waite is an Officer of the Order of Canada, appointed on October 21, 1992; a Fellow, Royal Society of Canada, elected in 1972; and a Fellow, Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society since 2002. Peter was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal in 2013.