Mariana Assaf Khalil

Titanic survivor

Born in Syria in 1867; emigrated to Ottawa circa 1907.

Was a green grocer, and by all accounts a sharp businesswoman who sold produce to the carriage trade in the Canadian capital. In 1912, she travelled back to Syria to visit the two sons she had left behind when she first came to Canada.

After a family visit, she was returning aboard Titanic with a group of family members; she held third class ticket number 2696, £7 4s 6d.

She survived the sinking of the Titanic, probably in Collapsible C, and travelled on to her nephew David Shaheen, who lived at 150 Broad Street, Ottawa, Ontario.

Her first person account of the disaster appeared the in the Ottawa Citizen which can be found at :

http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org/syrian-womans-thrilling-narrative.html

http://www.encyclopedia-titanica.org

www.ottawacitizen.com

Suhayya Abu-Hakima

Technology entrepreneur, high-tech visionary

One of Canada’s very few female founders and CEOs in the field of technology.

Co-Founder, President/CEO of Amika Mobile Corporation launched in 2007 in Kanata (Ottawa).

Her first company, launched as a spin-off from NRC in 1998, is AmikaNow! ; over her tenure as a CEO,  has created over 180 jobs.

Holds a B.Eng. from McGill University, M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees from Carleton University specializing in Artificial Intelligence.

Is an adjunct Professor at University of Ottawa and has mentored countless undergraduate and graduate students in AI.

Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of the Ontario Centers of Excellence.

Has contributed to the Prime Minister's Task Force on Women Entrepreneurs and has given countless invited talks on entrepreneurship, AI as it pertains to messaging and security.

Was chosen Canada's Advanced Technology Entrepreneur in 2007; has filed 30 International patents in messaging and content analysis; has published and presented over 100 papers.

Was named to the Order of Ontario in 2011 for excellence and achievement.

http://www.amikamobile.com

http://news.ontario.ca

Dyane Adam

Psychologist, professor, researcher, bilingualism advocate

Born in Casselman, Ontario (near Ottawa); studied in Ottawa.

Holds a masters and doctorate degree in clinical psychology from the University of Ottawa.

Was teacher, researcher and Assistant Vice-President, French Programs and Services at Laurentian University in Sudbury.

Was appointed to the position of Principal at York University’s Glendon College in Toronto in 1994.

Became Commissioner of Official Languages in 1999, a position she held until 2006. Her role as Commissioner of Official Languages was as an ombudsman for English and French bilingualism in the federal government of Canada and as a promoter and supporter of linguistic duality both in the Canadian federal government and in Canadian society in general.

Acts as a special advisor and consultant to governmental agencies and Canadian universities.

Has consistently worked towards the recognition of the rights of the French-speaking minority, the status of women, health and education in Canada.

Served as the first President of the Forum of Canadian Ombudsman, from 2001 to 2005.

Awarded honorary doctorates by McGill University, the University of Ottawa, St-Paul University, Laurentian University, Université de Moncton and Collège Boréal.

Was made Chevalier de l’Ordre de la Pléiade by the Assemblée parlementaire de la Francophonie and Chevalier de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques in the Republic of France.

www.trudeaufoundation.ca
http://canadaonline.about.com
http://www.uottawa.ca

Louise Arbour

Justice on the Supreme Court of Canada

Born in Montreal, Quebec.

Fourth woman appointed to the position of Justice on the Supreme Court in Canada from 1999-2004.

Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Former justice of the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

Serves as President and CEO of the International Crisis Group since 2009.

Has published in the area of criminal procedure and criminal law, in both French and English. Has served as an editor for the Criminal Reports, the Canadian Rights Reporter, and the Osgoode Hall Law Journal.

Best known as a chief prosecutor for tribunals into the genocide in Rwanda and human rights abuses in Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Partial List of Awards:

• Has been awarded honorary doctorates by twenty-seven universities.
• Was honoured with the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award in 2000.
• Was awarded the Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights in 2005.
• Was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada and Companion of the Order of Canada in 2008.
• Became Grande Officière de l’Ordre national du Québec in 2009.
• Received the Colombian Order of National Merit, Grand Cross class and was named Commander of the French Legion of Honour in 2010.  
• Was named alongside former President of Brazil Luis Inácio Lula da Silva as the winner of the 2010 North-South Prize of the Council of Europe.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louise_Arbour

http://www.crisisgroup.org

Margaret Anglin

Broadway actress, director, producer

Born in Ottawa in 1876; died in Toronto in 1958.

Was actually born in the House of Parliament Speaker’s Chambers. Her father Timothy Warren Anglin was Speaker of the Canadian House of Commons at that time.

Her brother, Francis Alexander Anglin served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Canada from 1924 to 1933.

Had a career in New York City in the 1890’s, studied in Toronto and Montreal, and graduated from the Empire School of Dramatic Acting in NYC.

Inspired by reading the classics and a love for the Greek tragedies that centered on women, became the dominant dramatic actress of the first two decades of the 20th Century.

Earned wide recognition for her dramatic skills and was invited to work with Sarah Bernhardt.

Had her own Shakespearian touring group.

Performed her last show on Broadway in 1936.

The Canadian Encyclopedia Online Accessed 2000.

Encyclopedia Britannica online. Accessed 2000.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Anglin

Caroline Andrew

Professor, political scientist researcher

Director of the Centre on Governance, University of Ottawa.

Political scientist researcher on local politics, municipal government and urban development.

Former Dean of the Faculty of Social Science of the University of Ottawa, 1997-2005.

Distinguished university Professor, 2006-07.

Received the Ontario Francophonie Award (Francophile of the Year) from the government of Ontario during a special ceremony in Ottawa in 2006.

First Chair of the Board of Echo: Improving Women's Health in Ontario, 2007.

http://www.socialsciences.uottawa.ca
http://www.powerstudy.ca/profile/caroline-andrew
http://www.media.uottawa.ca

Catherine Ahearn

Writer

Born in Ottawa in 1949.

Obtained an M.A. from the University of Ottawa in 1971 and a Ph.D. in 1979 (French Literature).

Worked as a professor and writer until 1981 where she became the president of Poasis Properties Ltd. in Ottawa, Ontario.

First Poet Laureate of the City of Ottawa in 1982. The post was created to "help promote the City of Ottawa as well as enrich the lives of its citizens". It was Mayor Marion Dewar who made the position official, and named Ahearn the first Ottawa poet laureate; Ahearn wrote six poems a year for three years, and attended various civic and community group functions across the city.

www.endicott.edu
www.poetrymap.ca

Margaret Atwood

Writer

Born in Ottawa in 1939.

Prolific writer, internationally famous since the popular and critical success of her 1984 novel, The Handmaid's Tale.

Studied at the University of Toronto from 1957 to 1961 (E.J. Pratt Medal, 1961) and at Radcliffe College, Harvard (MA, 1962).

Among the most-honored authors of fiction in recent history; winner of the Arthur C. Clarke Award and Prince of Asturias award for Literature, shortlisted for the Booker Prize five times, winning once, and finalist for the Governor General's Award seven times, winning twice.

Began her career in the 1960s, teaching English and at first publishing poetry, short stories and literary criticism.

Her novels include Surfacing (1972), Cat's Eye (1988), Alias Grace (1996) and the 2000 Booker Prize winner, The Blind Assassin.

Recipient of many honorary doctorates, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Companion of the Order of Canada and Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

www.canadianencyclopedia.com
www.library.utoronto.ca

Rima Aristocrat

President and CEO of Willis College in Ottawa, Philanthropist

Lives and works in Ottawa.

Transformed a small secretarial school into a leading e-business and Internet training institute.

Maintains a leadership role in the high technology training industry.

The only Canadian represented on Microsoft's Education Council.

Initiated the first Canadian Academic Development Institute (CADI), implemented the first inter-provincial partnership between a university and a private college and launched the Canadian Aboriginal IT training initiative, TeKnoWave.

Received numerous awards for her contribution to education, including recognition in the Who's Who of Canadian Women, named as one of Ottawa's 100 most influential leaders, listed among 2000 of the world's respected individuals by Who's Who in the 21st Century.

www.williscollege.com

Tyseer Aboulnasr

Professor, Dean of Engineering, University of Ottawa, 1998-2004

"[…] knowledge gives you a tremendous amount of power and with power comes great responsibility". - Tyseer Aboulnasr

Joined the Faculty of Engineering at the University of Ottawa in 1987 as Assistant Professor and became Full Professor in 1997; served as Associate Dean from 1996–1998 and as Dean from 1998–2004.

First woman to chair the Council of Ontario Deans of Engineering, 2001-2002.

Recipient of the Ottawa-Carleton YWCA Woman of Distinction Award in 1999.

Named one of the top 100 influential people in Ottawa in 2001.

Fellow of the Humanitarian Institute of Canada in 2001.

Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering and Engineering Institute of Canada.

In 2005, named to the prestigious Order of Ontario.

www.president.uottawa.ca
www.genie.uottawa.ca

Lady Ishbel Gordon Aberdeen

Pioneer social reformer

1857-1939; born in Scotland, moved to Ottawa in 1893.

Wife of Lord Aberdeen, Canada's 7th Governor General from 1893 to 1898.

Received an honorary L.L.D. from Queen's University, the first time an honorary degree was conferred on a woman by a Canadian university.

Lady Aberdeen believed that women were a vast unused resource in Canada. She was instrumental in forming the National Council of Women.

Against the fierce opposition of the Canadian medical establishment, she created the Victorian Order of Nurses in 1897. Lady Aberdeen was chosen VON's first president.

First president of the International Council of Women.

www.collectionscanada.ca
http://thecanadasite.com/people/aberdeen.html