Media Releases

Canada’s early entrepreneurs profiled in new book

December 7, 2011

TORONTO, ON – From the Abo­rig­i­nal chief who con­trolled the ear­ly Mar­itime fur trade to pio­neer­ing female saloon own­ers who made their mark dur­ing the gold rush, a fas­ci­nat­ing new book pro­files the entre­pre­neurs who shaped Cana­di­an his­to­ry.

“Canada’s Entre­pre­neurs: From the Fur Trade to the 1929 Stock Mar­ket Crash” con­tains 61 bio­graph­i­cal por­traits of key Cana­di­ans who ener­gized the country’s eco­nom­ic life and shaped the face of Cana­di­an busi­ness. The pro­files were cho­sen from the Dic­tio­nary of Cana­di­an Biog­ra­phy, a com­pre­hen­sive, his­tor­i­cal dic­tio­nary with offices at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to and Uni­ver­sité Laval.

“Mol­son, Red­path, Des­jardins, Labatt, Massey, Eaton. These names are as much a part of our nation­al iden­ti­ty as our hock­ey teams and our lit­er­a­ture, but few of us know much about the peo­ple behind them,” says John Eng­lish from U of T, who direct­ed the book’s cre­ation along with Réal Bélanger of Uni­ver­sité Laval. “This book brings to the fore research on the rise of Cana­di­an entre­pre­neuri­al­ism and show­cas­es Canada’s long-run­ning tra­di­tion of busi­ness inno­va­tion and growth.”

The book will offi­cial­ly be launched at 5 p.m. on Mon­day, Decem­ber 12 at Hart House at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to.

Mem­bers of the media and gen­er­al pub­lic are invit­ed to attend, but are asked to RSVP in advance to Loret­ta James at loretta.james@utoronto.ca or 416–978-6621.

EVENT DETAILS:

WHAT: Book launch for “Canada’s Entre­pre­neurs: From the Fur Trade to the 1929 Stock Mar­ket Crash”

WHERE: Hart House Music Room (2^nd floor), 7 Hart House Cir­cle, Uni­ver­si­ty of Toron­to

WHEN: Mon­day, Decem­ber 12, 2011 from 5 to 7 p.m.

For more infor­ma­tion, please con­tact:

Loret­ta James
416–978-6621
loretta.james@utoronto.ca