Alan Francis Brooks was born on August 20th, 1917 in London, England and was raised in Montréal, Quebec. He would go on to join the Royal Canadian Armed Forces and serve overseas with the Bomber Command during WWII. After the war, he earned a degree in Chemical Engineering at McGill University in Montréal, which led to a job with mining company Cominco Ltd. (currently known as Teck Resources Ltd.) in Trail, British Columbia. The facility he worked at had a large smelter that used a significant amount of power, causing him to become attentive to cheap power alternatives. As such, Alan was highly interested in hydroelectric projects being undertaken in the Pacific Northwest, especially the Columbia River Treaty and the Columbia Basin Project. In pursuit of the former, he dedicated time outside of work to actively following local news coverage of the treaty and filling twenty-six scrapbooks with newspaper clippings detailing its development.

Alan’s job with Cominco also prompted transfers that would take him to Montréal, Calgary, and Vancouver, where he would eventually settle down and retire. In retirement, he spent his time photographing nature, continuing his lifetime hobby of collecting stamps, and becoming a member of the Golden Agers Hiking Club as well as the philatelic group The 21 Club. He remained in Vancouver until the end of his life at the South Granville Park Lodge retirement facility. Alan passed away on November 26th, 2015 at the age of 98, surrounded by family. He was predeceased by his first wife Audrey Holmes Brooks and his second wife Muriel Floud Brooks and he is survived by his daughters Carolyn and Louise and grandchildren Ryan, Brendan, and Alexa.

Dr. Jacob Edwin Brouse was an early New Denver physician, and graduate of McGill University. His father and sons were all also doctors. In 1895 he moved to New Denver, British Columbia, where he opened the communities first hospital. In 1896 he became a coroner for the Slocan Mining division of West Kootenay electoral district. In 1897 he built the Slocan Hospital, which remained in use until the 1980s. By 1917, he left New Denver, passing in 1925, but not before leaving his name and legacy throughout the area. The town of Brouse is named for him, as well as Brouse Lodge, an independent living facility built on the site of his hospital. Two biographies have been written about Dr. Brouse: “Early Years: Dr. J.E. Brouse & his Slocan Hospital” by G.H von Krogh, 2023, and “New Denver’s frontier doctor: Doctor Jacob Edwin Brouse, 1868-1925” by John Brighton, 1984.

Poet Audrey Alexandra Brown was born in Nanaimo, British Columbia in 1904. In 1948 Brown won the Lorne Pierce Medal for her contribution to Canadian literature. Brown also published "The Log of a Lame Duck" (1936), which is a journal that Brown kept while in hospital with rheumatic fever.

Garth Brown a founding member of the NDP, ran as a candidate for Point Grey in 1966 and was active in TEAM campaigns from 1968 to 1972. He chaired the NDP Labour Policy Committee (1973-1979) and was a campaign chairman in 1981-1982 for Vancouver/Little Mountain. Brown worked at the Eburne Sawmill as Plant Chairman and headed the Plant Committee through most of the 1970s, and was an active committee member in the 1980s. As Regional Co-ordinator of the LESC/CLC (1979-1982), Brown was at the centre of labour education in B.C., co-ordinating CLC programs and advising other organizations.

Edward Killoran Brown was born in Toronto in August 1905. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1926 and taught at Toronto and Manitoba's English Department. He won a Governor General's Award for non-fiction in 1943 for On Canadian Poetry.

Frank Herbert Brown was born in Birmingham, England, on April 26, 1894 to Edwin and Elizabeth (Attridge) Brown. He had one sister, "Madge" Ada Brown. His father eventually remarried; Brown’s stepmother was Florence Brown. Frank H. Brown studied at Queen’s University in Belfast, Ireland, matriculating with honours. He married Elizabeth McIlroy, daughter of Rev. Jas. McIlroy, on April 28, 1917, and had two sons: Dr. Thomas C. Brown and Alex G. Brown. Brown died on January 16, 1975.

Brown moved to Canada in 1911 to join the staff of the Canadian Bank of Commerce. He served in WW1 as a private with the 196th battalion (western universities) in 1917, though his health restricted him to clerical duties and returned him to work at the Bank by the end of the year. Brown remained on staff at the Bank after the war, rising in rank, becoming an inspector at the head office in 1927 and Assistant Corporation Executive from 1929 to 1936, doing business reorganization work, part of which took him to Cuba in 1934 on an inspection tour to see the CBC manager there. In 1939 he was appointed Superintendent of the home office.

In 1941, Brown was seconded to the Department of Munitions and Supply at Ottawa as Associate Director-General of Munitions productions and became successively in 1942, Director-General of Munitions Contracts; Secretary, Joint War Production Committee of Canada and the United States; Assistant Deputy Minister and, finally, Financial Advisor from 1942 to 1946 in charge of contracts, financial arrangements, negotiations, etc.; Member, Control Committee, Sorel industries limited, 1942-1946. In 1946 he was appointed Deputy Minister for National Revenue (Taxation), undertaking a reorganization of the Canadian Taxation Division before retiring in late 1947 due to his health.

In July 1946, Brown was awarded the C.B.E. for war services.

Brown moved to Vancouver, B.C. in 1948, establishing a practice as a financial and industrial consultant. He held executive posts in many companies over his 27 years in Vancouver, including (though not simultaneously) the following:

President:

• The White Pass & Yukon Corp. Ltd.
• Georgia Recreations Ltd.
• Hecate Development Ltd.
• Kitimat Pulp & Paper Co. Ltd.
• Martin Paper Products Ltd.
• Pacific Coast Fire Insurance Ltd.
• Powell Stores Ltd.
  Vice President:
• Noctin Investment Corp. Ltd.
• Pacific Coast Fire Insurance Ltd.
  Chairman of the board:
• British Columbia-Yukon Railway Co.
• British Yukon Exploration Co. Ltd.
• British Yukon Navigation Co. Ltd.
• British Yukon Ocean Services Ltd.
• The British Yukon Railway Co.
• Pacific and Arctic Railway and Navigation Co.
• Pacific Coast Fire Insurance Ltd.
• Skagway Terminal Co.
• The White Pass & Yukon Corp. Ltd.
• Yukon Pipelines Ltd.
  Directorships:
• Anglo-Scandinavian Investment Corp. of Canada
• Betrust Investment Corp. Ltd.
• Canadian Vickers Ltd.
• Colonial Steamships Ltd.
• Fidelity Life Assurance Co.
• Georgia Recreations Ltd.
• Grosvenor International Ltd.
• Hawaiian Western Steel Ltd.
• Locana Corp. Ltd.
• Locana Securities Ltd.
• Loiselle Transport Ltd.
• McLennan, McFeely & Prior Ltd.
• MacMillan, Bloedel and Powell River Ltd.
• Martin Paper Products Ltd.
• Morrison Steel and Wire Co. Ltd.
• National Trust Co. Ltd.
• Neon Products of Canada Ltd.
• Neon Products of Western Canada Ltd.
• Noctin Investment Corp. Ltd.
• Pacific Coast Fire Insurance Ltd.
• Powell River Sales Co. Ltd.
• Redhill Investment Corp. Ltd.
• Scott Misener Steamships Ltd.
• West Coast Shipbuilders Ltd.
• Western Bridge and Steel Fabricators Ltd.
• Western Canada Steel Ltd.
• Westview Investment Corp. Ltd.
• The White Pass & Yukon Corp. Ltd.
• Yorkshire Corp. Ltd.

Brown maintained a lifelong interest in music, writing song lyrics and poems, performing in musicals, and generally supporting musicians and musical endeavours. He had trained early in life to be an opera tenor, but realized there was little opportunity, and so became involved in finance instead. He was also greatly interested in cancer research, participating in at least two national cancer societies. In the mid-1950s Brown formed an interest in stereoscopic (3D) photography, taking many photos and getting them developed into stereoscopic slides and View-Master reels.

J.G. Brown was born in Lakefield, Ontario and received his university and theological education in Toronto. After a few years in pastoral work in Ontario, he came to British Columbia and ministered in several congregations. Later, he was appointed to the Principalship of Ryerson Theological College. When, in 1927, Ryerson College and Westminster Hall were merged, he became the first Principal of Union College of British Columbia, affiliated with UBC. Under his administration, the main Union College buildings on campus were erected. He successfully faced the difficult task of guiding the College through the Depression and then World War II. After his retirement in 1948, he lived for three years in Oxford, England, until his return to British Columbia, where he assumed the pastorate of the Church of Our Lord in Victoria.

Lorne Brown was born in Belleville, Ontario, in 1908 but later moved with his family to Vancouver. He taught physical education at Kitsilano High School (1930-40). He worked in YMCA recreation services for the RCAF during World War II. Brown was Superintendent of Physical Education for the provincial Department of Education (1944-46) and served as Director of Health and Physical Education at the Provincial Normal School in Vancouver (1946-55). He earned his BPE (1952) and MA (1954) in Physical Education from Oregon. He joined the faculty of Education in UBC when the Faculty of Education opened that year, holding an associate professor position until his retirement in 1973. Brown served one term on Vancouver's Parks and Recreation Board (1967-68). His long-time enthusiasm for camping began at the YMCA's Camp Elphinstone, beginning in 1925 until he left in 1950 as the camp's co-director. Brown served as president of the BC Camping Association, The Canadian Association of Health, Physical Education and Recreation, and the Council of Outdoor Educators. He and his wife, May Brown, ran Camp Deka, a private boys' camp on Deka Lake near 100-Mile House in the Cariboo, from 1961 until he died in 1976.

May Brown (née Adams) was born in Alberta in 1919 and moved with her family to Surrey, B.C., in 1927. She earned her teacher's certificate at the Provincial Normal School in 1940. She later obtained a Bachelor's degree from McGill (1947) and a Master's degree from UBC (1961), both in physical education. After teaching in several public schools, Brown joined UBC's Department of Physical Education (now the School of Kinesiology) in 1947. She remained at UBC until 1955, during which time she also coached the women's swimming and field hockey teams. In her honour, UBC Athletics instituted the May Brown Trophy in 2007 for each year's outstanding graduating female athlete. She was also involved with the YWCA and the Canadian Camping Association. In 1972 she was elected to the Vancouver Board of Parks and Recreation and remained on the Board until 1976, serving as chair for the final two years. In 1976, May Brown was elected to the Vancouver City Council and served four terms as a councillor until her voluntary retirement in 1986. She also ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 1978. In addition, Brown served on the Greater Vancouver Regional District Executive Committee and chaired the Planning Committee. She was also a director of the Pacific National Exhibition, Chairperson of the Vancouver Regional Transit Commission, and a Director of B.C. Transit. May Brown has been acknowledged for career achievements by a UBC Alumni Achievement Award, a Sport BC Award, a YWCA Woman of Distinction award, membership in the UBC and B.C. Sports Halls of Fame, and membership in the Order of British Columbia and the Order of Canada.

Rex Pendril “Pen” Brown was born in Vancouver in 1923 to Emma Bentall Brown and Philip Pigott Brown, both from Essex. Brown attended UBC at age 16. At age 19, Brown was called to serve the army in WWII, but received conscientious objector status. Brown objected the war on philosophical grounds, having read pacifist writings by Bernard Shaw and others. His mother, a member of the Society of Friends and the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, supported his conscientious objection.

Brown served his time in alternative service work camps at Kootenay National Park and Blubber Bay. He also served 30 days in Oakalla prison for refusing to complete work during his service. After the work camps, Brown worked as a bank teller in Vancouver. He was released from service in 1946. He married Elizabeth Dorothy Kovalcik in 1957, and the couple had two children, Rex and Marian. Brown was the lighthouse keeper at Pine Island, off the coast of British Columbia, from 1957 until a major storm damaged the station in 1967. The family then moved to Victoria, where Brown worked for the Coast Guard until retiring in 1989. He passed away on April 11 2018.

Rosemary Brown is remembered for her empowering speeches that inspired all who listened, but even more so for her contribution to Canadian politics, feminism, human rights, and international development. Rosemary was born in Jamaica on June 17, 1930. She moved to Canada in 1950 to attend McGill University where she obtained an undergraduate degree in Women’s Studies. In 1955, she relocated to British Columbia, where is earned a Master’s Degree in Social Work from the University of British Columbia and married Dr. William Brown after which she began a family. Drawn to feminism and the peace movement, Rosemary established the Vancouver Status of Women. In 1972, she became a Member of the Legislative Assembly (MLA) in the riding of Vancouver-Burrard and thus became the first Black woman elected to the B.C. legislature, where she served as a MLA for 14 years until 1986 when she retired from politics. In 1975, she sought the federal leadership of the New Democratic Party and lost to Ed Broadbent by a matter of 4 votes. As a MLA for B.C., Rosemary promoted equality and human rights. In her political campaigns she fought for the elimination of sexism in textbooks, against discrimination, and for the equality of women, as well as legislation on issues such as affirmative action and laws that protected rape victims. After leaving politics in 1986, Rosemary became the Ruth Wynn Woodward Endowed Professor at Simon Fraser University in Women’s Studies. In1988, Brown became CEO for MATCH International, an international development agency. Following this, she served as the organization’s Special Ambassador and then President. Between 1993 and 1996, Rosemary served as Chief Commissioner of the Ontario Human Rights Commission. Over her career, significant honors for Rosemary included earning many honorary doctorates from many Canadian universities including the University of Toronto, Dalhousie, and the University of Victoria, as well as being the 1995 recipient of the Order of British Columbia. Rosemary passed away on April 26, 2003 leaving behind three children, as well as many grandchildren.

Born in Prince Edward Island, Malcolm Bruce became an early member of the Canadian Socialist Party. Dissatisfied with what he believed to be the Socialists' laxness in revolutionary ideology, he co-founded the Revolutionary Worker's Party. Jailed for his association with an American criminal and then living in the Soviet Union as a Communist, Bruce later returned to Canada.