| British Columbians are known for their vision, commitment and hard work. It’s these qualities our province has been built upon. Our history is full of individuals who set goals and achieved them. We all have our stories of success and accomplishment. Some are better known than others, but all have contributed to the success of our province. Learning about the achievements of other British Columbians can inspire all of us and provide insight into how to reach our goals. The following people are just a few examples of the British Columbians who dared to dream and took steps to achieve those dreams. 1) James Douglas Sir James Douglas is a legendary figure in British Columbia, from his fur trade days at Fort St. James to his dual governorship of Vancouver Island and British Columbia. He was a chief factor in the Hudson's Bay Company and was responsible for the construction of Fort Victoria in 1843. 2) Matthew Begbie Sir Matthew Baillie Begbie was British Columbia’s first judge. He travelled from England in 1858 to become one of the first officials of the new Crown colony of British Columbia. His efforts to establish law and order in the new colony continue to influence B.C.’s modern-day justice system. Begbie was knighted in 1875 and died in 1894. 3) Beverley McLachlin In 1988 Beverley McLachlin was appointed the chief justice of the B.C. Supreme Court. She is the first woman chief justice of the Supreme Court of Canada appointed in 2002 and only the third woman to serve in that court. 4) Nancy Green Raine Nancy Greene Raine captivated this country with sizzling Olympic and World Cup performances in the late '60s. Her career was crowned by Olympic gold and silver in Grenoble, France, in 1968. She defended her World Cup title that season and retired at 24. She was voted Canada's female athlete of the 20th century. In 2005, she was installed as the first chancellor of Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops. 5) Rick Hansen In 1985, Rick Hansen embarked on the Man in Motion World Tour to raise awareness of spinal cord injury, raise funds to support rehabilitation and highlight the capabilities of people with a disability. Today, he heads the foundation bearing his name that is dedicated to the field of spinal cord injury, including research, awareness and rehabilitation. 6) Marni Abbott B.C. Wheelchair Sports named Marni Abbott its female athlete of the century. She is a Paralympic gold medallist in wheelchair basketball and was also on the national swim team for the Canadian Wheelchair Sports Association. Abbott works with the Coaches' Association of B.C. and spends time touring B.C. schools, encouraging athletes to explore wheelchair basketball. 7) W.A.C. Bennett W.A.C. Bennett started out as a merchant in Kelowna and entered politics in 1941 as MLA for South Okanagan. In 1953 he was sworn in as Premier of British Columbia, a position he held for 20 years. During his time in office, Bennett led the province into an era of unprecedented modernization and prosperity. 8) Margaret Ormsby Dr. Margaret Ormsby is known most widely for her British Columbia: A History, published in 1958 to commemorate the centenary of the province. She was head of the history department at the University of British Columbia from 1964 to 1974. Ormsby received honourary doctorates from four British Columbia universities and the University of Manitoba. 9) H.R. MacMillan H.R. MacMillan was hired as chief forester by the B.C. government in 1912. His export company grew into forestry industry giant MacMillan Bloedel. By the mid-1930s, MacMillan represented roughly 40 per cent of B.C.’s lumber export sales. 10) Earle Birney Earle Birney received two Governor General’s Awards for literature, one in 1942 for David and Other Poems and another in 1945 for Now is Time. Birney is one of Canada's finest writers. While teaching at the University of B.C., Birney lobbied for the first-ever credit course in creative writing that later grew into a program offered by the first department of creative writing in Canada. 11) David Foster Producer/songwriter David Foster has received an unprecedented 42 Grammy nominations and has taken home 14 Grammy Awards. In 1993, Foster was named Billboard’s top singles producer and top R & B producer. He set up the David Foster Foundation to assist families with children needing organ transplants in Western Canada. 12) Diana Krall Born in Nanaimo, Diana Krall started studying the piano at age four. She was a teenager when she won a scholarship to Boston's Berklee College of Music. She is a superstar in the jazz world, and has won both a Grammy and a Juno Award. Her album When I Look in Your Eyes spent 52 weeks in the number 1 position on Billboard’s jazz chart. 13) Jean Coulthard Jean Coulthard was born in Vancouver in 1908. She was the first West Coast composer to receive wide recognition for her work. Coulthard spent 26 years teaching theory and, later, composition in the department of music at the University of British Columbia. When she "retired" in 1973, Coulthard had written and published a vast and important body of works in all genres. Some of her frequently performed works include Sonata for Cello and Piano, Québec May and the Variations on B.A.C.H. 14) Bryan Adams At the age of 18, pop musician Bryan Adams landed his first recording contract. He has won a dozen Juno Awards and a Diamond Sales Award for his album Reckless, which also became the best-selling Canadian album of all time. Adams holds the record for the longest standing number 1 record on the British charts. 15) Nancy Hodges Nancy Hodges was a columnist for the Victoria Times. She was also keenly interested in politics and was elected as a Liberal MLA for Victoria in 1941 and served in that role until 1953. In 1949, she became the Speaker of the B.C. Legislature, the first woman Speaker in the Commonwealth. For information, tools and tips on how to reach your dreams, explore the rest of the AchieveBC Web site. |
