Canadian Pioneer Research Articles

A random walk through Canadian contributions on empirical processes and their applications in probability and statistics

AbstractIn this article, we present a review of important results and statistical applications obtained or generalized by Canadian pioneers and their collaborators, for empirical processes of independent and identically distributed observations, pseudo‐observations, and time series. In particular, we consider weak convergence and strong approximations results, as well as tests for model adequacy such as tests of independence, tests of goodness‐of‐fit, tests of change point, and tests of serial dependence for time series. We also consider applications of empirical processes of interacting particle systems for the approximation of measure‐valued processes.

Canadian pioneer in continuing medical education

Dr John N. Premi, the family physician who started the practice-based small group learning program, died peacefully on February 19, 2021. Dr Premi attended medical school at the University of Toronto in Ontario, interned at the Hamilton General Hospital, and then became an active family physician

Canadian Pioneers of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis: A Brief History.

This is an historical account of Canadian pioneers working in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in the 1970s and 1980s. Key contributions included the development of specialized clinics, the ALS Society of Canada, human motor unit estimates in vivo, use of transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), the dementias of ALS, the importance of neurofilaments and axonal flow, neuroinflammation and immunity related to ALS, use of tissue culture to study pathogenesis, and the story of ALS in Guam. Their work set the stage for future generations of ALS physicians and scientists to bring about meaningful therapies and hopefully a cure for ALS.

Emerging Peptide Science in Canada

Emerging Peptide Science in Canada

A Library Where Research Meets Community

A Collection Built by a Chinese Canadian Pioneer, Seto More<BR>UBC’s Most Treasured Rare Chinese Collection from Fang Family<BR>Chung Collection<BR>Korean Canadian Heritage Archives<BR>Lunar New Year Celebration<BR>Active Community Partner : Capturing Migrant Family Histories and Sharing Cross-Cultural Stories<BR>Key Reference<BR

Roscoe Reid Graham (1890 to 1948): A Canadian Pioneer in General Surgery

Roscoe Reid Graham, a Canadian surgeon trained at the University of Toronto, was a true pioneer in the field of general surgery. Although he may be best known for his omental patch repair of perforated duodenal ulcers-often referred to as the "Graham patch"-he had a number of other significant accomplishments that decorated his surgical career. Dr. Graham is credited with being the first surgeon to successfully enucleate an insulinoma. He ventured to do an essentially brand new operation based solely on his patient's symptoms and physical findings, a courageous move that even some of the most talented surgeons would shy away from. He also spent a large portion of his career dedicated to the study of rectal prolapse, working tirelessly to rid his patients of this awful affliction. He was recognized by a number of different surgical associations for his operative successes and was awarded membership to those both in Canada and the United States. Despite all of these accolades, Dr. Graham remained grounded and always fervent in his dedication to the patient and their presenting symptom(s), reminding us that to do anything more would be "meddlesome." In an age when medical professionals are often all too eager to make unnecessary interventions, it is imperative that we look back at our predecessors such as Roscoe Reid Graham, for they will continually redirect us toward our one and only obligation: the patient.

Ida Halpern: A Post-Colonial Portrait of a Canadian Pioneer Ethnomusicologist

The work of Ida Halpern (1910–87), one of Canada's first musicologists and a pioneer ethnomusicologist, has been largely ignored. This essay illuminates her most important contribution to the musical development of this country: the documentation of Native musics. Halpern devoted some four decades to recording and analyzing over five hundred songs of the Kwakwaka'wakw, the Nuuchahnulth, the Haida, the Nuxalk, and the Coast Salish First Nations of British Columbia—a truly remarkable achievement considering that a large part of her fieldwork was conducted during a period when it was illegal for Native cultures to be celebrated, much less preserved. The author discusses the strengths and weaknesses of her methodology as well as some factors affecting the reception of her work by academic peers and by the communities she worked with. While Halpern did not always thoroughly investigate context, she endeavoured to write heteroglossically and to invent a theory that accounted for the music of these songs.

Holistic Education: A Pioneer Narrative

This article is based on the personal narrative of a Canadian pioneer woman who grew up during the 1920s and 1930s. The story epitomizes a holistic approach to learning, which embodies facets of family, community, and the land. Conceptualized through narrative inquiry, the purpose of the article is to capture an innovative meaning for holistic education. I employ Deweyan philosophy as an analytical lens for her story and provide pedagogical relevance to the narrative.

CANADIAN PIONEERS: Charles Leonard Huskins

CANADIAN PIONEERS: Charles Leonard Huskins

The Canadian Pioneer: The Genesis of Urban Food Policy in Toronto

This paper details the foundational history and the present dynamics of the Toronto Food Policy Council (TFPC) as an example of successful food planning and policy in motion. The TFPC connects food issues with a suite of agendas to make the food lens more visible and relevant to policymakers, businesses, citizens/eaters, chefs, farmers, food processors and activists, among others. Since the inception of the TFPC, advocacy, enabling and mediation have been essential tools to keep food in the spotlight. As an agile and resourceful organization, the TFPC multiplies its modest resources to make a remarkable contribution to the Toronto food landscape. Key ingredients in achieving this success are the ‘can do’ attitude of the staff and volunteer board, the use of multifunctionality principles and skilful issue management. Notable TFPC contributions include: seminal food policy reports and processes; the celebration of local food communities and their champions; the on-going integration of rural and urban issues; shifting the discussion from food security to food sovereignty; and, the recent launch of the Toronto Food Strategy. By acting as a positive force for social change in Toronto, the TFPC is able to activate transformations that results in a more ‘just city’.

CANADIAN PIONEERS: F. Clarke Fraser

CANADIAN PIONEERS: F. Clarke Fraser

Professor L. Joslyn Rogers: A Tribute to a Canadian Pioneer in Forensic Science

ABSTRACTThis invited article is a somewhat personal memorial and tribute to a wonderful, gentle man who was a dominant figure in forensic science in Ontario for fifty-six years, from 1911 to 1967. During this period, he witnessed, and participated in, the advances in science that transformed forensic science from the era of the microscope and the test tube to something we are more familiar with today, of laboratories that require computer software and hardware more than they do glassware and plumbing. His influence on several generations of students in his days at the University of Toronto, and on his younger colleagues (including this author) during his later career at the Centre of Forensic Sciences, had a major impact on analytical chemistry and forensic science in Canada and abroad.Author's Note: Because this is not a typical Journal article but rather is a brief personal recollection and tribute, the first person seems more appropriate and will be used throughout.

CANADIAN PIONEERS: Remembering Norma Ford Walker

CANADIAN PIONEERS: Remembering Norma Ford Walker

CANADIAN PIONEERS: John Kuspira

CANADIAN PIONEERS: John Kuspira

CANADIAN PIONEERS: William Frederick Grant

CANADIAN PIONEERS: William Frederick Grant

CANADIAN PIONEERS: Robert Hall Haynes

CANADIAN PIONEERS: Robert Hall Haynes

CANADIAN PIONEERS: Lap-Chee Tsui

CANADIAN PIONEERS: Lap-Chee Tsui

Loretto Academy Niagara (1861-1969): Education Under the Rainbow

This essay explores the origins of, and elements of teaching and learning at Loretto Niagara, a girls’ boarding and day school operated by the Irish-based Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary (The Loretto Sisters). Three key individuals shaped the development of Loretto Niagara: Michael Power, the first Roman Catholic Bishop of Toronto, Archbishop John Joseph Lynch, his second successor and Mother Teresa Dease, one of Loretto’s Canadian pioneers. Power was the bishop who invited the community to Canada; Lynch imagined a Catholic educational presence on the shores of the Falls and Dease contributed to the actualization of that vision. Through an analysis of archival sources, the paper argues that in the course of its 100 plus year existence, Loretto Niagara’s physical location gave shape to its overt and hidden curriculum. Its history documents the complexities of the intersection of gender and religion in the education of young women.

CANADIAN PIONEERS: R. Brian Lowry / PIONNIERS CANADIENS : R. Brian Lowry

CANADIAN PIONEERS: R. Brian Lowry / PIONNIERS CANADIENS : R. Brian Lowry

William Pollock Fraser (1867-1943) : Canadian pioneer plant pathologist-mycologist

William P. Fraser, the first Canadian-born plant pathologist-mycologist to be internationally recognized as such, began as an amateur collector of fungi, with emphasis on the plant rusts, while teaching school in his home province, Nova Scotia. He then became a widely acclaimed authority on the rusts and a professional plant pathologist-mycologist. He taught plant pathology and mycology, first at McGill University and then, after an interval as head of the first plant pathology laboratory in Western Canada, at the University of Saskatchewan. Fraser was a Canadian pioneer in research on physiological races of wheat rust; in the culture of heteroecious rust fungi, in forest pathology, and in the study of root and smut diseases of grasses in Western Canada.