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Sender Mines (b. March 18, 1909, in Skuodas, Lithuania), a Lithuanian Jew and Holocaust survivor, was born to Mayer Mines and Rachel Aizen. He was the youngest of nine children. The family was poor and Sender left school at age eight to work on the family farm. He eventually learned to be a shoemaker, or bootleg maker. In 1936, Sender moved to Kaunas (Kovno), which was, at the time, the capital city of Lithuania. In 1937, he married his Uncle Yossel’s daughter, Chaja Mines (b. 1904), who had a daughter, Miriam (b. 1932; d. 1944). Sender and Chaja had a son, Emanuel Mines (b. 1938; d. 1944).

On June 22, 1941, the Germans invaded the Soviet Union. When they entered Kaunas on June 24, the city’s Jews were forced into the Kaunas ghetto. Sender was separated from his family when, in the winter of 1941, he was deported to the Riga ghetto in Latvia. Chaja, Miriam, and Emanuel remained in the Kaunas ghetto. On March 27 and 28, 1944, the “Children’s Action” took place. German troops and Ukrainian auxiliaries rounded up the ghetto’s children under the age of twelve, as well as the elderly and disabled. Around 1,200 victims were either taken to the Ninth Fort in Kaunas and executed or sent to Auschwitz and gassed. Miriam and Emanuel were among those taken and murdered.

In November 1943, the Riga ghetto was liquidated and Sender was transferred to Kaiserwald concentration camp. In August 1944, Kaiserwald was evacuated because of the approaching Soviet Army and prisoners were transported to Stutthof concentration camp, near Danzig, now Gdańsk, Poland. On April 25, 1945, the Soviets were again approaching and Sender and his fellow prisoners were evacuated by barge to Neustadt in Holstein, Schlesweig, Germany. In May 1945, they were liberated by the British Army. Sender remained at the displaced persons camp in Neustadt in Holstein until 1949.

Sender arrived in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, in January 1952. He found work at a shoe factory. While he was engaged to be married to Jennie Lifschitz (b. 1924; d. 2005), he discovered that his first wife, Chaja, had survived the war and, thinking that Sender had not survived, had remarried and also immigrated to Montreal. Sender and Chaja divorced in 1952. Sender and Jennie married in a synagogue on March 22, 1953.

In February 1954, Sender, Jennie, and Jennie’s daughter, Paula, moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, where they established a successful restaurant business and joined the Communist Party. They had three more children: a son who died at three days old; a daughter, Rachel; and a son, Michael. In 1967, Sender and Jennie separated. They divorced in 1981.

Sender Mines died August 26, 1982, in Vancouver.

Minn Sjolseth was born on November 4, 1919 in Oksendahl, Norway. Sjolseth started to draw and paint in early childhood, and began her formal artistic training in Norway and in Germany where she studied the Old Masters. In 1953, Sjolseth emigrated to Canada and continued her studies at the Regina School of Fine Arts with Kenneth Lockheed. She also studied graphic art at San Miguel de Allende Art Institute in Mexico.

Sjolseth settled in Vancouver, BC in 1957, where she opened a commercial gallery and began her career as a portrait artist. During this time, she also had two children, Laila and Fred Johnsen. In 1967 she closed the gallery and focused her artistic practice on documenting Indigenous peoples and their cultural productions in a realist tradition. In 1968, Sjolseth married the photographer and journalist Anthony Carter. Out of their travels to First Nations communities along the coast of British Columbia and Alaska throughout the 1960s and 1970s, Sjolseth produced a number of landscape and portrait paintings as part of her "North West Coast Native" series, while Carter undertook work for his books. In 2009, the Kamloops Art Gallery held an exhibition entitled "Somewhere Between" which explored Minn Sjolseth's and Anthony Carter's artistic partnership during this period.

In 1974, Sjolseth had the opportunity to travel to Arctic Norway and work with the reindeer-herding Lapps (also known as Sami people) to create a series of paintings called "Reflection of Lapland" which was shown at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle, among other institutions. In July 1977, she was selected as the only professional artist to be a member of the media accredited to the visit of H.R.H The Prince of Wales to Southern Alberta to commemorate the Centennial of the signing of Treaty 7. Sjolseth's work has been exhibited in juried group shows in Canada and the United States, as well as international solo exhibitions. Her paintings are in several international collections, including the collections of the Crown Prince Harald of Norway.

Sjolseth and Carter moved to the Kamloops area of British Columbia in 1980, first living at Pinantan Lake and later at Lac Le Jeune. She continued painting, creating the "British Columbia Interior" series, while also pursuing cross-country marathon skiing competitively.

Sjolseth died suddenly in a car accident in Lac Le Jeune on November 7th, 1995.

In the first years of the 20th century, the hill overlooking the city of Vancouver was barely developed. This area, known as Vancouver Heights, commands a magnificent view of the city, the north shore mountains, and the sea.
During the first decade, there was just a handful of people willing to brave the inconvenience of living in a remote area to dwell in such splendour. Among them were 10 Catholic families. They dreamt about establishing a Catholic community, a church, and perhaps even a school of their own. They knew it would take hard work and sacrifice to realize their dream.
In 1912, the Second Narrows Bridge and several industrial plants were built in this area. Archbishop Neil McNeil, recognizing the potential for greater development, requested aid from Toronto's Catholic Extension Society, to help purchase property at the corner of Pandora and Ingleton to build a small church and home for the priest. The $6000 construction expense was donated by Mr. Justice Kelly, who requested that the church be named Saint Helen in memory of his daughter, Helen. On August 11, 1912, Saint Helen's church was blessed.
12 years later, in 1923, a second dream was realized with the construction of Saint Helen's School. The Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul would staff the school for over 50 years, dedicating their lives to the education of thousands of children.
1936 began an era of unprecedented growth under the leadership of Msgr. Daniel Carey. In 1948, despite post-war hardships, he was able to inspire his community to build a new school. He then turned his attention to the over-crowded church and, in 1956, to the delight of the parishioners, the new Saint Helen's Church was blessed. By 1973, the demographics of Saint Helen's Parish had experienced a dramatic change. From the Anglo-Irish parishioners of the early years, Saint Helen's was experiencing a huge increase in parishioners of Italian descent. Archbishop James Carney, realizing the need to better serve these immigrants, asked the Scalabrinian Congregation to take the parish under its care.
The second era of physical growth and development in the parish would come under the direction of these missionary priests. The 1970s, with Father Joseph Ponti as pastor, would see the construction of a new rectory, a state-of-the-art hall/gymnasium, and a fully renovated school.
Father Joe's dream was the construction of a church, with this in mind, he began to purchase the necessary land. Succeeding pastors Father Angelo Calandra and Father Peter Sordi continued to work towards this dream, accumulating land and initiating the process. Father Claudio Holzer, upon assuming the responsibilities of pastor, took a firm hold of the dreams of his predecessors and shaped them into the reality of the new Saint Helen's Church.
From the beginning, St. Helen's Parish has been an active community participant in this area of Burnaby and continues to enjoy this participation not only here but in Metro Vancouver as well.
On August 11, 2012, St. Helen's Catholic Church and Parish celebrated its 100th anniversary.

-Information contributed by M. Tesan has been combined with information from the official website of the church.

Harry Minns was born in 1915 in Leeds, England. He moved to Richmond with his family in 1926 and attended Bridgeport Elementary School. During his school years, Harry was an avid soccer and lacrosse player. At the age of 16, he began coaching his first lacrosse team, the Blundell Midgets. Due to the Depression, Harry left school in 1931 to work on his father’s farm. He continued to play and coach lacrosse, and during the late 1930s played for the Brighouse Intermediate “A” lacrosse team. In 1936 he took a job at B.C. Packers in Steveston and worked there until 1940 when he joined the Canadian Army, where he was assigned to the Military Staff Corps as a physical training instructor. He was stationed in Victoria, and played on lacrosse teams with other soldiers. Following the war, Harry helped form the Richmond Soccer League, and in the 1950s was co-founder of a local amateur boxing club. He also coached and trained men’s and women’s softball teams. In the late 1950s and 1960s, Harry began working with hockey teams. He was a member of the Richmond Minor Hockey Executive, and worked as a trainer for several teams, including the Richmond Sockeyes Junior ‘A’ squad. In 1971, Harry was awarded Richmond’s Good Citizen award for his involvement with local sports. The year before his death, Richmond City Council voted to name the new user ice rink next to the Richmond Arena after him, and at the time of his death, he was honoured by many Richmond sports teams and organizations for whom he had worked as coach and/ or trainer and to whom he was known as "Silver."
Minns was married to Margaret (Peggy) Bathgate in 1946 and they had two sons together. From 1950 until his retirement in 1969, Minns worked as a letter carrier in Richmond. Following his retirement, he worked as the custodian of the Minoru Sports Pavilion. He died September 25, 1984.

Beverly Joan Mitchell completed her thesis A Critical Study of the TISH Group in 1972 and received a letter from Frank Davey, poet and editor of TISH, the same year commenting on her thesis.

Scottish born David Salmond (Scotty) Mitchell was an influential Shuswap resident. In his native Scotland, he was trained as an architectural draftsman, He immigrated to Canada in 1889 and worked in Vancouver until he filed for a homestead in Canoe in 1901.

When the federal governments fish hatchery was established at Tappen in 1901, he was appointed as its first, and only, superintendent, continuing in that capacity until the hatchery was abandoned in 1916. Mitchell was widely recognized as an expert on salmon and their propagation.

An outdoors man, he prospected for minerals throughout the Shuswap district and knew its mountains and valleys. At the same time, he was delving into the natural and human history of the area. He particularly respected and admired the way of life of the First Nations People, and in a report to the Fisheries Department, noted their sustainable lifestyle.

The artifacts related to the archival collection are held in the Salmon Arm Museum's collection and consists of personal effects, survey equipment, cartography tools, maps, and geological samples.

Mitchell was a curious fellow. He took up a homestead at Larch Hills. Mitchell's later years were spent reading widely, writing pioneer stories and essays, prospecting, and subsistence farming until his death at the Kamloops Provincial Home, February 8, 1951 at age eighty-three.

The Rev. Tadashi Mitsui graduated from Tokyo Union Theological Seminary in 1956 and immigrated to Canada in 1957 to serve Columbia Street United Church in Vancouver. He was ordained within The United Church of Canada in 1958, and served the Vancouver Japanese United Church until 1967. He later served as a chaplain and lecturer in Lesotho (1969-1974); and worked with the World University Service in Switzerland (1975-1978); the Canadian Council of Church (1979-1988); then as Executive Secretary of Montreal-Ottawa Conference of the United Church (1991-1995). After retirement, Mitsui moved to Lethbridge, Alberta.

George Gordon Moe received a B.S.A. and an M.Sc. from McGill's MacDonald College, and in 1929 received a Ph.D. from Cornell University. He joined the Department of Agronomy at U.B.C. in 1919 as an assistant professor. He became an associate professor in 1922, and was acting head of the department in 1925 when Dr. P.A. Boving was on sick leave. Moe was on leave from the department in 1927 and 1928 while studying for his doctorate. In 1930, Moe became a full professor and head of the department until his retirement in 1954. At that time he was appointed professor emeritus. Besides Moe's teaching activities, he was also active in in research that investigated the development of a new strand of rhizoma alfalfa. Other areas of research were soil testing, fiber flax, potato index studies and cooperative seed projects with the Dominion Experimental Farms. These cooperative seed projects resulted in the certification of several Elite and foundation seed stocks. Moe was involved in the work of two university administrative bodies. He was a member of the Library Committee from 1926 to 1936, and was Secretary of the Senate from 1930 to 1936. Moe also participated in numerous organizations pertaining to the study and development of agronomy. These organizations include: the Agronomy Conference from 1920 to 1926, the Graduate Studies Committee of the Canadian Society of Technical Agriculturalists from 1922 to 1926, the Provincial Seed Board, the B.C. Fertilizers and Agricultural Poisons Board, the Pesticides Requirements Committee, the Agricultural Supplies Board, the Vancouver Local Employment Committee, the Lower Fraser Valley Field Crop Committee and the Forage, Pasture and Range Committee.

Barbara Monk Feldman was born in Québec in 1953. A composer of mainly chamber works, she studied composition with Bengt Hambræus at McGill University in Montréal from 1980 to 1983, where she earned her master’s degree in Music. She then went on to study with Morton Feldman – whom she later married – at the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1984 to 1987, earning her PhD on the Edgard Varèse Fellowship. Following her doctorate studies, she served on the faculty at Ferienkurse in Darmstadt in 1988, 1990, and 1994 and has guest-lectured at the Hochschule der Künste in Berlin as well as universities in Canada and the United States.

Throughout her career, her works have been performed in Asia, Europe, and North America and her research in music and the visual arts has led to collaborations with numerous artists, including Stan Brakhage, whose hand-painted film Three Homerics was created specifically for use with her piece Infinite Other. In 2001, she founded the Time Shards Music Series at the Georgia O'Keeffe Museum in Santa Fe and has since served as its artistic director.

Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Benning Monk was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba. In 1907, he enlisted with the active militia and in 1908 became a gunner with the 13th Battery, Canadian Field Artillery (Manitoba Regiment). He later went into law and real estate. He moved to Victoria in 1908 and started work in the City Engineer's Department. He established his own real estate firm with Roger Monteith, and among other real estate activities sought to develop the coastal town of Clo-ose, B.C. as a resort. In World War I he served with the 54th Battalion and fought in Vimy Ridge. He was Commanding Officer of the Gordon Head Cadet Training Camp at the present campus of the University of Victoria, 1940-1941, and became a liaison officer of the U.S. Army from 1942-1944. From 1930 on, Monk campaigned actively for a uniquely Canadian flag and submitted numerous designs to the competition for a new flag in 1968.

John Montague (born 28 February 1929) is an Irish poet.

John Tait Montague was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia. After completing undergraduate work at the University of Western Ontario (1943), he went to the Institute of Industrial Relations at the University of Toronto where he received his M.A. (1947) and Ph.D. (1952). Montague worked in the federal Department of Labour from 1948 to 1962. He came to the University of British Columbia in 1962 as the first permanent director of the Institute of Industrial Relations and continued in this capacity until 1969. Montague also taught some labour economics courses at UBC.

Roderick Montgomery was born on December 31, 1913 in Stornway Rosshire, Scotland to Malcolm and Catherine Montgomery. His family moved to Prince Rupert during the 1930s after living in Calgary, Alberta where Roderick completed Grade 10. Roderick declared himself a logger when he enlisted for active service with the Canadian Army on August 1, 1942 in Vancouver. During the Second World War he was a private and served in Canada, the United Kingdom and Continental Europe. After the war he returned to Prince Rupert and worked for a time as a boom man at Sunnyside Cannery. He joined the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America in 1946 and worked for the Western Plywood Company, Skeena River Pile Drivers and Armour Salvage. He died on May 29, 1962 at the age of 48 and was buried at Sunnyside Cannery.

Peter Moogk was born in 1943 in West Chiltington, England to Canadian parents. Moogk received primary and secondary schooling in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Saskatchewan.

Moogk undertook his first two years of university studies at the University of Saskatchewan from 1961-1963. Soon after, he transferred to the University of Toronto, where he completed a B.A. Hons. degree in History in 1965. In 1966, Moogk completed an M.A. in History. By 1973, Moogk received a Ph.D. in History from the University of Toronto after defending a thesis titled “A Social History of the Craftsmen of New France.”

Moogk became an assistant professor in the University of British Columbia’s History department in 1969. He advanced to the position of associate professor in 1977 and professor in 2000. Moogk’s scholarly research focused on American loyalist history from 1774-1800; the social and cultural history of early French Canada, including Acadia, prior to 1800; eighteenth century European and colonial currency; Ontario’s Niagara region before 1867; and twentieth-century Canadian military history.

In addition to publishing several monographs and numerous articles, Moogk was an active member of many provincial and national historical societies, including the British Columbia Heritage Society, the Canadian Historical Association, the Canadian Numismatic Association, the United Empire Loyalists’ Association of Canada, and the French Colonial Historical Society. Moogk was also involved in local historical societies in the province which focused on transit history, including the Steveston Interurban Restoration Society and the Transit Museum Society.

Moogk’s contributions to academia and historical societies were affirmed by numerous awards, including the Saint-Marie Prize for outstanding contributions to seventeenth century Canadian History (1975) and the Alfred A. Heggoy prize of the French Colonial Historical Society for the best book on French colonial history published in 2000.

Moogk retired in 2005, and in 2006, he became professor emeritus.

Jacques Moon was born in Mundare, Alberta in 1922. He was a professional photographer and trained at Art Center School in Los Angeles. Moon lived in Squamish, B.C. during the 1950s and moved to Vancouver in 1962. His primary source of income was from his work as a purchaser for Pacific Great Eastern Railway/BC Rail. Moon was a long-time member of the United Church of Canada, attending Windsor United Church (Vancouver, B.C.) He died at Vancouver in 1997.

Albert Milton Moore (1918-2007) was born in Lancashire, England. He attended high school in Windsor, Ontario. Upon graduation, Moore attended Queens University where he received a Bachelor of Arts in Economics with Honors and a minor in philosophy. After joining the Royal Canadian Air Force, Moore spent four years at the RCAF Overseas Headquarters until he was discharged in December, 1945. In 1951, Moore earned a Master of Arts in Economics from the University of Chicago and where he also completed some post-graduate work in theory, international trade, and public finance. He was regarded as a Canadian taxation expert having served as research director and staff economist for a number of royal commissions, including one on gasoline price structure in BC. Before joining the UBC faculty, Moore was research associate with the Canadian Tax Foundation and an economist with the Canadian Pulp and Paper Association in Montreal. He became a UBC faculty member in 1959 and later served as Chairman of the department for three years. His publications include a book entitled Forestry Tenures and Taxes in Canada as well as numerous articles and monographs on such subjects as the Carter Royal Commission on Taxation, sales, and commodity taxes and taxation for the financing of higher education. In 1984, Moore was honored as Professor Emeritus of Economics. Moore died in 2007.