Hugh Duncan (“Howdy”) McPhail was born 14 March 1915 near Bankend, Saskatchewan. His early schooling was in Prince Albert, and in 1934 he won a hockey scholarship to Notre Dame College in Wilcox, Saskatchewan. He attended the University of Saskatchewan from 1938-1942, graduating with a BSc in agricultural economics. Just over a week after writing his final exams, Howdy enlisted in the air force, learning how to fly in a de Havilland Tiger Moth at the Prince Albert Elementary Flying Training School. He served throughout the war, surviving a bail-out over Sweden and flying 28 missions. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for “his unselfishness, splendid record, and high degree of courage…”. Initially a Sask Wheat Pool field man, Howdy established McPhail Airways in North Battleford (later, McPhail Air Services Ltd.) in 1952. During the spring and summer he sprayed crops; offered flying lessons; and began taking aerial photographs of farms and towns throughout the West and extending into BC, Ontario, and the United States. Farm photographs were ordered by the farm owners, often as small prints and in some cases, hand-tinted (a young Allan Sapp was one of the people hired to do this). Products were later expanded to include greeting cards and for images of towns, postcards and calendars. By 1962 he effectively stopped his aerial photography. He continued to operate McPhail Air Services until 1981. He was inducted into the Saskatchewan Aviation Hall of Fame in 1995; into the Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1999; and a park in North Battleford was named in his honour. Howdy died in March 2001. [Source: Bill Waiser, Portraits of an Era).

Joanne McTaggart, indisputably one of Canada’s premier runners of the 1970s, was born in Regina in 1954. She moved to Saskatoon for Grade XI and graduated from Walter Murray Collegiate, where she once won five events at the school meet. McTaggart also started to compete on behalf of the Saskatoon Track and Field Club. She was named to Canada’s national track team in 1972 while in Grade XI. She qualified for the relay team at the 1972 Munich Olympics but Canada didn't send a team. McTaggart enrolled at University of Saskatchewan (B.Ed. 1977) in 1974. In her rookie year with the Huskies, she won conference championships in the 40 yards and 300 metres. That same year she was Western Canadian Junior Champion in the 50 and 200 metres and the Canadian senior indoor 200 champion. McTaggart won 10 conference titles in her four years with the Huskies, highlighted by a world record performance of 38.2 seconds in the 300 metres at the 1975 indoor CWUAA (CIS) meet in Edmonton, Alberta. McTaggart qualified for the Canadian team at the 1975 Pan-American Games, won a bronze medal in the 4x100-metre relay and half an hour later, was invited to run the 4x400-metre relay where Canada held off the Americans and the Cubans to win the gold medal. At the 1976 Montreal Olympics, Joanne competed in the 200 metres and finished fourth in the 4X100-metre relay. McTaggart was inducted into the University of Saskatchewan Athletic Wall of Fame in 1984; the Saskatoon Sports Hall of Fame in 1994, and the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame and Museum in 1996.

Michaud had considerable experience as an actor, director, and playwright, in addition to working for CBC Radio-Canada. In October 1993, Clausson and Michaud co-founded Oscar Wilde & Company, a theatre group in Regina, the only gay theatre company on the Canadian prairies. Its primary mandate was to produce plays about AIDS and gay issues, as well as other important social and political issues. [With material from Clausson [email] and Michaud, “Introducing Oscar Wilde & Company”].

George John Millar received his BA from the University of Toronto in 1939, and worked at the Banting Institute from 1939-1941. He joined the air force in 1941 and carried out medical research for the RCAF until he was honourably discharged in 1943. Millar joined the Department of Physiology and Pharmacology at the University of Saskatchewan in 1946, and received his PhD from the U of T in 1950. One of his areas of research involved the chemistry and physiology of heparin, a substance which prevents coagulation of the blood and is useful in the treatment of thrombosis.

Michael Millar, nicknamed “Bear” for his stature is a talented musician and was a long time member of the prairie band Humphrey and the Dumptrucks, popular in Western Canada throughout the seventies. He has played piano, bagpipes, bass, jug, and guitar, as well as performed vocals. Aside from his involvement with this musical group, Millar also spent some time working at the Saskatoon Food Bank, and maintained a continual involvement in Saskatchewan’s music scene, participating in the Saskatoon Musicians Association, supporting the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra and serving on the Status of the Artist committee.

Carman Edgar Miller was born on October 11, 1907 in Milliken, Ontario. After graduating from high school in Markham, he enrolled at the University of Toronto and went on to earn three degrees: BA (1930), MA (1931), and PhD (1940). The Gertrude Davis Exchange Scholarship allowed Miller to study three semesters at Göttingen University in Germany in 1931-1932. He also spent 1934-1935 attending the Ontario College of Education. Dr. Miller taught at a number Toronto area high schools before accepting a post at the University of New Brunswick in 1941. He became Head of the Department prior coming to the University of Saskatchewan in 1946 as a Professor of Mathematics. He served as Head of the Department from 1964 until 1970. Professor Miller retired in 1973 and was named Professor Emeritus. Dr. Miller was active in the Saskatoon community as a supporter of the musical arts and also had a keen interest Slavic languages and literature. Miller was honorary president of the Saskatchewan Mathematics Teachers Society and was secretary-treasurer (1958-1960) and president (1962-1963) of the Faculty Club. He was also president of the Saskatoon branch of the Canadian Institute of International Affairs (CIIA) and the Humanities Association of Canada. He died in Saskatoon on June 6, 1988 at the age of 80.

James Rodger Miller earned his BA (1966), MA (1967) and PhD (1972) from the University of Toronto. His PhD thesis, “The Impact of the Jesuits’ Estates Act on Canadian Politics, 1888-1891,” was under the supervision of D.G. Creighton. He joined the University of Saskatchewan in 1970 as assistant professor history, and by 1979 had been promoted to full professor. In 2001 he was appointed Canada Research Chair in Native-Newcomer Relations. Dr. Miller is a nationally recognized historian and the author or editor of nine books and numerous articles in leading academic journals. Skyscrapers Hide the Heavens (1989), a history of Indian/white relations in Canada, was recognized as an 1993 outstanding North American book on the subject of human rights by the Gustavus Myers Centre for the study of Human Rights; Shingwauk's Vision, widely regarded as a seminal work on Native residential schools, was named the co-winner of the non-fiction category of the Saskatchewan Book Awards (1996) and winner of the J. W. Dafoe Prize for the book which best contributes to the understanding of Canada or its place in the world (1997). He was named a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, was awarded the University of Saskatchewan Distinguished Researcher award, and received the SSHRC Gold Medal for Achievement, that agency’s highest honour. His current research centres on reconciliation for residential school survivors, and education for Aboriginal youth.

Isabelle Mills was educated at the University of Manitoba and Columbia University, where she received her Ed.D. She was a member of the Music and Education faculties at Brandon College (now University) before her appointment in the Department of Music at the University of Saskatchewan. Her teaching responsibilities included courses in Canadian music, church music, and music methods at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Her special teaching and research interest was Canadian music, of which she was a strong proponent. Dr. Mills retired in 1991.

Dale Bernard Miquelon was born 27 September 1940. He earned a BA from the University of Alberta (1963), an MA from Carleton University (1966) and a PhD from the University of Toronto (1973). He worked for the National Historic Site Division in Ottawa from 1963 to 1964, and was a summer session lecturer at Laurentian University in 1966, prior to joining the faculty of the University of Saskatchewan's department of history as an assistant professor, in 1970. Miquelon remained with the University throughout his career, earning the rank of full professor in 1979, serving as the Associate Dean of Arts and Science (Humanities and Fine Arts) from 1984 to 1989, and as department head from 1990 to 1995. From 1989 to 1991 he had a concurrent appointment as an adjunct professor of history with the University of Manitoba. Miquelon is the author of Dugard of Rouen: French Trade to Canada and the West Indies, 1729-1770 and Society and Conquest: The Debate on the Bourgeoisie and Social Change in French Canada 1700-1850, contributed to several books, and is the author of numerous articles and reviews. He retired from the University in 2006.

Elizabeth Allison Mitcham (nee Brown) was born in Tisdale, Saskatchewan. Her public and high school education was taken at schools across Canada: Saskatchewan, Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta. She earned degrees at the University of Saskatchewan (BA 1952) and the University of New Brunswick (MA 1954, PhD 1972). She taught at Mount Allison University, prior to accepting a position as professor of English and Comparative Canadian Literature at the University of Moncton in 1968. In 1978, when Mitcham was made full professor, she was one of the few women in North America at that time to have achieved that academic rank. Mitcham was a prolific author, having written over 30 fiction and non-fiction books and children’s literature, as well as scores of poems and articles. She received an honorary degree from the University of Moncton and was named professor emerita upon her retirement in 1989.

“In 1876, Governor Alexander Morris, appointed by federal Order-in-Council, was empowered as a Treaty Commissioner to negotiate a treaty with First Nations living within the limits of what would become Treaty Six. He, alone, had the authority to negotiate a lawful treaty; and he did with the Plains and Wood Cree Indians and other tribes of Indians between August 23-29 and on September 9, 1876… On February 11, 1889, the Montreal Lake Cree Band signed an adhesion to Treaty #6 under Chief William Charles. The Treaty adhesion gave them rights to 14,720 acres of land. Surveyor Ponton met with the Montreal Lake Cree Band and the Assistant Commissioner on September 17th. They discussed a reserve and decided upon the location of that reserve. The reserve, as surveyed by Ponton and containing 23 square miles of land, was set apart as Montreal Lake Indian Reserve #106.” (from mlcn.ca/history/)

Patricia Monture (later Monture-Angus) was a member of the Mohawk Nation from the Six Nations Grand River Territory. She obtained her BA in sociology from the University of Western Ontario (1983), her law degree from Queen’s University (1988) and her Master’s in law from Osgoode Hall Law School (Toronto) in 1998. In 1988 she filed a suit in Ontario’s Supreme Court arguing that as a member of a sovereign nation, she should not be required to take an oath of allegiance to the Queen in order to join the Ontario Bar. In response, the Law Society made the oath-taking optional. Monture taught law at both Dalhousie University and the University of Ottawa before being offered a position in the Department of Native Studies at the University of Saskatchewan in 1994. She was granted tenure in 1998 and obtained full professorship in 1999, and was during this period one of very few Indigenous women in a faculty position on campus—at one point being the only Indigenous person in the Department of Native Studies. In 2004 she joined the sociology department and became the academic coordinator of the Aboriginal Justice and Criminology Program (also known as the Indigenous People and Justice Program). Her work on Indigenous and women’s rights stretched far beyond her activities on campus, and she served on a number of major inquiries including the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the task force on federally sentenced women, and the task force on the use of solitary confinement in federal prisons. She was the 2007 recipient of the Sarah Shorten Award for the advancement of women, the 2008 Human Rights Action award from the Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies and in 2009 she received an Honourary Doctor of Laws from Queen’s University. She passed away at the age of 52 in 2010. A center for student success was opened posthumously in her name at the University of Saskatchewan.

Donald Freeman Moore was born in Norwich, Ontario on September 18, 1911. He attended the University of Toronto, receiving his MD in 1934, a B.Sc (Med.) in 1937, and a Certificate in Pathology and Bacteriology in 1945. That same year, he received an ad eundem gradum degree from the University of Saskatchewan. He worked as a Pathologist at Vancouver General Hospital and Regina General and Grey Nun's Hospitals prior to joining the faculty at the University of Saskatchewan as Associate Professor in 1945. He was promoted to full Professor in 1947 and served as Dean of the College of Medicine from 1967-1970. Dr. Moore died on April 26, 1974.

A civilian flying club aerodrome 7.4 km south of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, became a federal installation just after the outbreak of World War II and was called the RCAF Station Moose Jaw. A new aerodrome was completed in 1941 and the station was the site of the British Commonwealth Air Training Program (BCATP) which used Harvard and Oxford aircraft to train pilots from Commonwealth and other countries. RCAF Moose Jaw was de-commissioned in 1946 and returned to civilian use.

J.F. Morgan was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia. He earned a BA, BSA and MSA from the University of British Columbia, the last in 1942. Between 1943 and 1962 Morgan worked alternately at the University of Toronto's Connaught Medical Research Laboratory and the Department of Health and Welfare; during this time he also earned a PhD. He eventually was appointed Research Chief of the Department of Health and Welfare's Biochemical Laboratories in 1959. Morgan came to the University of Saskatchewan in 1962 as Director of the Saskatchewan Research Unit of the National Cancer Institute and Professor of Cancer Research. He published numerous papers in such areas as enzyme isolation, tissue cell nutrition, cell metabolism, tissue culture, and cancer research. He also served as editor of the "The Canadian Journal of Physiology and Biochemistry" and "Cancer Research." Morgan died in Saskatoon on 2 May 1976.