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Irving Martin Abella (b. 1940) is an author, historian and Professor of History at York University in Toronto, Ontario.

Abella has written a number of books dealing with Canadian labour history and the history of Jews in Canada.

James Cox Aikins, P.C. (1823-1904) was a farmer, member of the Legislative Assembly and Legislative Council, a Senator, a member of various Federal Cabinets, and a Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba.

James Aikins was born in Toronto and was educated at local school and Victoria College, Cobourg. He became a farmer in Peel County and in 1854 was elected as a member of the Ontario Legislative Assembly for Peel County, which he held until 1861. In 1862 he was elected to the Home District seat (Peel and Hamilton counties) in the Legislative Council, which he held until confederation. In May of 1867, he was called to the Senate of the new Dominion, and sat until May of 1882. In 1869 he was made a minister without portfolio, and was sworn in as a Privy Councillor and as Secretary of State for Canada. He held the post of Secretary of State until 1873, and was given the post again in 1878. In 1880 he was made Minister of the Interior, and in 1882 he became the Lieutenant-Governor of Manitoba and Keewatin, a term which expired in 1888. He turned to business activities until 1896, when he was recalled to the Senate.

Aikins was also treasurer of the Methodist Missionary Society and President of the Methodist Social Union. He also served as vice- president of the Ontario Prohibition Alliance.

In private business, Aikins held directorships in several companies, including the Freehold Loan and Savings Company, the Ontario Bank, the Loan and Deposit Company, the Manitoba and Northwest Loan Company, and the Trusts Corporation of Ontario.

In 1845, Aikins married Mary Elizabeth Somerset, by whom he had four daughters and three sons. The eldest daughter, Helena, married the Reverend Donald George Sutherland, son of Captain James Sutherland, in 1872.

The Alexandra Studios was a Toronto, Ontario-based photographic studio.

The studio was started by Louis J. Turofsky in 1911 and occupied a number of Toronto locations until it ceased operations in 1976. The studio seems to have evolved through a number of name changes, including Alexandre Studios from 1915-1921, and then known as Alexandra Studios from 1922-1953. From 1954-1963 the business was known as Turofsky Photographers. In 1964 the firm again was known as Alexandra Studio, becoming the Alexander (or Alexandra) Studio-Turofsky from 1973 to 1974, after which it appeared to have the name of Alexander Studio.

Photographers employed by the studio included Louis J. Turofsky, Nathan Turofsky, Harold Crellin, and Roy P. Mitchell. It would appear that Louis and Nathan Turofsky no longer were involved with the studio after 1960, after which date Crellin and Mitchell ran the business. From 1973-1974 Crellin was President of the company, with Mitchell as Secretary-treasurer. From 1975 until the closing of the studio in 1976, Mitchell appears to have been the President of the company.

Frank X. Amoss was a railway engineer and later became manager of Arthur Balfour and Company.

Amoss was born in Corinth, Ontario around 1890, and became a resident engineer for the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway Company, working on the National Transcontinental Railway in Northern Ontario and Quebec during the early twentieth century. Serving in France during World War I, Amoss achieved the rank of Captain. Settling in Hamilton, Amoss later became Ontario manager of Arthur Balfour & Co. He died sometime in the 1960s or 1970s.

Elizabeth Anderson, the widow of William Anderson, lived in Toronto and later, in Barrie, Ontario.

Anderson lived at 204 Berkeley Street, Toronto. She later lived with her niece, Anna Gowan (nee Ardagh) in Barrie.

The Annex Residents' Association was established to promote issues and concerns relating to the Toronto neighborhood known as the Annex.

Anthony Usher Planning Consultant is a Toronto-based firm, formed in 1984, that provides professional services in land use, resource, recreation and tourism planning.

Anthony J. Usher, founder and principal of the firm Anthony Usher Planning Consultant, has since 1972 undertaken projects to integrate the public interest and concerns of the environment with the aims of municipalities, conservation authorities, Aboriginal governments, provincial and federal agencies, developers, voluntary associations and landowners across the Province of Ontario.

Involvements of the firm include proposals for alternative resource management strategies, preparation of impact assessment reports, natural heritage planning, policy and program evaluation and development feasibility analyses. Public consultations typically constitute an integral part of the firm's research process.

Prior to the existence of Anthony Usher Planning Consultant, Mr. Usher was a Senior Planner and Assistant Director of Hough, Stansbury and Michalski Limited (1978-1983), and Planning Analyst and Park Systems Planner with the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources (1972-1978). He received an M.A. in Geography (1973) and an M.B.A in Natural Resources and Economics (1979) from the University of Toronto. He was President of the Ontario Professional Planners Institute from 1992 to 1994, is a Registered Professional Planner (RPP) and a Member of the Canadian Institute of Planners (MCIP).

The Architectural Conservancy of Ontario (ACO) is non-profit, charitable organization set up in 1933 to preserve the historic built environment and nature landscape in Ontario.

A committee was set up and a brochure issued in Oct. 1932 for the organization of a "Society for the Preservation of Early Architecture and Places of Natural Beauty in Ontario." The Architectural Conservancy of Ontario was founded through the issuance of Letters Patent under the Ontario Companies Act on 1 Feb. 1933. The express purpose of the organization was to advocate the protection and conservation of Ontario's architectural and landscape heritage, to preserve buildings, structures and places in Ontario deemed to be of architectural merit, natural beauty or historic interest.

The main founder of ACO was Prof. Eric Ross Arthur. Other names prominent among the organization's first directors were: Vincent Massey, the architects Howard Dunnington Grubb, Alvan Sherlock Mathers, John MacIntosh Lyle, and Mackenzie Waters, the provincial historian Verschoyle Benson Blake, and the notable librarian William Stewart Wallace.

The ACO has been working to find economically viable uses for Ontario's historical assets, ensuring that the distinctive buildings of the past do not become parking lots or building sites for characterless new development.

The ACO developed a structure of many volunteers at both the local branch and provincial levels, with a central office, the ACO Council, an executive and an Advisory Board. In 2003 there were 11 branches throughout Ontario. Other branches have formed but ceased operations over the years. These branches develop and administer their own programs and fundraising events; work to preserve and restore local sites and structures; and publicize the need to maintain our architectural and landscape heritage.

The ACO publishes Acorn, The Journal of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, and holds an Annual General Meeting each November.

The Archives Association of Ontario was established in 1993 as a result of the amalgamation of the Ontario Association of Archivists and the Ontario Council of Archives.

As the professional association representing both archival institutions and archivists in Ontario, the Archives Association of Ontario provides professional advisory services, administers federal grants, and provides continuing education opportunities.

William Armstrong (1822-1914) was an artist, civil engineer, photographer, and draughtsman who travelled throughout Ontario, painting scenes of native life, habitat and scenic landscapes.

Armstrong emigrated to Canada from Ireland in 1855. He was a founding partner of Armstrong, Beer, and Hime, Photographers and Engineers, 1858-1862. Armstrong was named Associate of the Royal Canadian Academy in 1880. He exhibited his work with the Art Association of Montreal, the Ontario Society of Artists, the Royal Canadian Academy and the Upper Canada Provincial Exhibition.

Eric Ross Arthur (1898-1982) was born in Dunedin, New Zealand, and was one of Canada's most prominent architects and architectural historians.

Educated in England, Arthur emigrated to Canada, where he was appointed Professor of Architecture at the University of Toronto. He developed a strong interest in early Ontario architecture, and in 1932 he founded the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario, to promote interest in the preservation of Ontario's architectural heritage.

Arthur wrote a number of books of architectural history, including "Toronto: No Mean City" in 1963, (later revised with Stephen Otto in 1978); "The Barn: A Vanishing Landmark in North America" (with Dudley Witney, 1972); and "From Front Street to Queen's Park" (1979). He received numerous awards for his scholarship and activism on behalf of heritage preservation, including two L.L.D's, two Gold Medals (one from the Corporation of the City of Toronto), and the Order of Canada.

The Associated Goldfields Mining Company was a firm that operated in Larder Lake, Ontario during the Northeastern Ontario mining boom of the 1910s and 1920s.

Associated Milk Foundations of Canada was responsible for promoting milk consumption and, through public education, for increasing awareness of milk benefits.

The future Associated Milk Foundations of Canada was formed during the 1930s when the Ontario Whole Milk Producers' Association encouraged the Toronto Milk Producers' Association to set up a local organization to promote milk. The Toronto milk producers and the Toronto Milk Distributors' Association collected money to promote milk, eventually leading to the Milk Foundation of Toronto charter being adopted in 1938. Other Ontario markets such as those in Ottawa, Stratford, and Woodstock soon followed.

One of the Milk Foundation of Toronto's first accomplishments was to survey available health education materials for schools. Milk Foundations materials, as well as programs and policies were developed based on scientifically accepted health education standards.

In 1943, representatives from local Ontario milk foundations met and agreed that a provincial body needed to be formed. In 1946, seven local milk foundations merged to create the Associated Milk Foundations. In 1956, the name of the organization was changed to the Associated Milk Foundations of Canada. In 1968, the assets for the individual local Ontario milk foundations were transferred to the Milk Foundation of Ontario.

As of 2008, both the Dairy Farmers of Ontario and the Dairy Farmers of Canada carry out public education through advertising campaigns.

Association of Library Boards of Ontario was a political organization that promoted the preservation and expansion of the province's library sector before the Ontario Government.

With the economic downturn of 1978-1981 and the reduction of library funding, there was a concern amongst library boards at their lack of a political voice before the provincial government. Drawing its first executive from a cross-section of municipally-funded library boards, the Association of Library Boards of Ontario (ALBO) was formed to be more politically pro-active than the Ontario Library Association (OLA) was seen to be at that time.

Starting with the provincial Inflation Restraint Act of 1984, the ALBO pressured Ontario politicians for increased cultural grants and resisted the restrictions imposed by reorganization of Ontario's library system or from new copyright and censorship legislation. However, after almost a decade of political consciousness raising, the need driving the ALBO's existence began to falter as the larger OLA grew more politically active and long-term supporters moved onto newer challenges. Despite still having a substantial membership across Ontario, at their 1990 Annual General Meeting, the ALBO voted to merge with the Ontario Public Libraries Association and Ontario Library Trustees Association, both members of the Ontario Library Association.

Like the OLA, the Association attempted to segment itself into four sections dealing with large, medium, small / rural, and Aboriginal library boards but this internal division was more cosmetic than being actually meaningful to its operation.

The Association of Mechanics' Institutes of Ontario was formed in 1868 to provide centralized management over the various mechanics' institutes spread across Ontario.

The Association of Mechanics' Institutes of Ontario was formed in 1868.

Initially under the jurisdication of the Department of Agriculture, and later the Department of Education, the Association's primary task was to provide centralized management over the various mechanics' institutes spread across Ontario.

By 1881, government officials became concerned that the mechanics' institutes were not achieving their goals. In 1882 the Legislature passed the Free Libraries Act, which gave funding earmarked for the mechanics' institutes to free public libraries. It also provided for the transfer of the institutes' property to any municipality wanting to establish a free library.

No longer receiving public support, the Association disbanded in the 1890s.

The Association of Small Public Libraries of Ontario was founded to address the concerns of the two-thirds of Ontario's libraries serving rural and hinterland communities.

The history of Ontario's library associations consists of numerous organizations created to address the interests of each sector of the profession. Along with those bodies dealing with the concerns of medical, technical, academic, Francophone, and Aboriginal libraries, there were several province-wide organizations made up of the boards of large- and medium-sized institutions. In the early 1980's, out of this mix came the Association of Small Public Libraries of Ontario which was founded to address the concerns of the libraries serving Ontario's rural and hinterland communities.

During the next three decades, the Association often left the political lobbying on behalf of libraries to the larger professional organizations while focusing on the concerns of the small, often resource-poor, local libraries. This included such issues as achieving pay equity, the introduction of computers and micrographics, staff certification and specialization, and faltering municipal funding in the face of increased public demand.

With the founding of the larger and more integrated Federation of Ontario Public Libraries, many of the Association's members also joined the organization's small and medium size libraries caucus. Given that the two bodies were serving the same set of libraries, the Association voted in 2004 to dissolve as an independent body and merged with the Federation.

During 2005, the executive wound down the Association's activities and dispersed the monies remaining in their bank accounts to the membership. In June 2006, the Association's CEO formally turned the records over to the custody of the Administrative Assistant of the Federation of Ontario Public Libraries.

Donald Rodwell Austin (1927-2002) was the author of Carved in Granite: 125 Years of Granite Club History.

Donald Rodwell Austin (1927-2002) was a member of the Granite Club from 1968, where he served as Curling Convenor (1982-83). He began researching the club's history and he and co-author Ted Barris published Carved in Granite: 125 Years of Granite Club History in 1999. Austin was a member of the Friends of the Archives of Ontario and served as treasurer.

Thomas Trevor Baines (1850-1897) was a lawyer in Port Hope, Ontario during the late 19th century.

Thomas Trevor Baines was born in 1850, the son of Thomas Baines, Crown Land Agent for the Home District and Secretary of the Clergy Corporation, and Catherine (Banks) Baines. He received his education at Upper Canada College in Toronto.

Thomas married Maude Elizabeth Robertson in Port Hope on October 21, 1885. They had a daughter, Katherine Maude Baines.

Thomas Trevor Baines died in Port Hope, Ontario on January 23, 1897.

John R. Baird (1969-) has served as an Ontario Member of Provincial Parliament from 1995 to 2005 and as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons, representing the riding of Ottawa West Nepean, since 2006, serving as Progressive Conservative Cabinet Minister in the governments of Mike Harris, Ernie Eves and Stephen Harper.

John Baird was born on 26 May, 1969 in Nepean, Ontario. Prior to becoming a Member of Provincial Parliament (MPP), he obtained an Honours Bachelor of Arts degree in political studies from Queen's University and was elected president of the Conservative Party's youth wing in 1988. Baird served as a Special Assistant to Perrin Beatty, then Canada's Minister of Communications and Secretary of State for External Affairs. He was first elected MPP for the Ottawa-area riding of Nepean in June 1995. Baird was re-elected in 1999 and again in 2003 as the Member for Nepean-Carleton.

Baird sat on several Standing Committees and served in various capacities after the Conservative government first took office in 1995. He was Parliamentary Assistant in several government ministries including Labour, Management Board, and Finance. He was also Government House Leader. Premier Mike Harris appointed Baird as Minister of Community and Social Services and Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs in 1999, and later Minister Responsible for Children in February of 2001. As Minister, Baird was known for expanding the Government's Work for Welfare Program and championed the cause of people with developmental disabilities.

During the Ernie Eves government (April 2002-October 2003), Baird served as Deputy House Leader and P.C. Party Whip, as well as Minister Responsible for Francophone Affairs. In August 2002, he was appointed Minister of Energy, and was appointed Government House Leader the following year.

After the provincial election of October 2003, Baird served in Opposition as Francophone Affairs, Finance and Culture Critic and as Opposition House Leader. He continued to serve on the Legislative Assembly's Board of Internal Economy from May 2002 to May 2005. Before departing provincial politics, he was Opposition Deputy House Leader at Queen's Park.

During the federal election of 2004, Baird acted as Ontario co-chair for the Conservative Party of Canada and as Ontario co-chair for Stephen Harper's leadership campaign. In addition he was the co-chair of Jim Flaherty's Ontario PC leadership campaign.

Baird is a life-long resident of Nepean and ten-year member of the Royal Canadian Legion (Nepean Branch), an honorary member of the Nepean Kiwanis, and a lifetime member of Canada's largest Association of Community Living.

Baird was nominated on 5 May 2005 as the Conservative Party of Canada candidate for the next federal election in the federal riding of Ottawa West Nepean, confirming his intention to leave provincial politics. He resigned his seat in the Ontario Legislature, effective 29 November 2005. On 23 January 2006 he was elected as federal Member of Parliament. Baird served as President of the Treasury Board in the new Stephen Harper cabinet from 6 February 2006 to 3 January 2007. On 4 January 2007, Baird was sworn in as Minister of the Environment in Harper's second cabinet.

William Warren Baldwin (1775-1844) practiced both law and medicine at York (currently Toronto, Ontario) and was a leader of the reform party in politics.

William Baldwin was born in Ireland and was educated at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated in medicine. He moved to Canada in 1798, settling in York (later Toronto), where he practised both law and medicine. In 1803 he married Margaret Phoebe Willcocks, and in 1808 he was appointed Registrar of the Court of Probate. In 1809 he became a district court judge, and in 1815, he was made a judge of the surrogate court.

He became one of the leaders of the reform party in politics, being a member of the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada (1828-1830), of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada (1841-1843), and of the Legislative Council of Canada (1843- 1844).

He also was involved in various philanthropic societies, was a director of the Bank of Upper Canada, a member of both the Medical Board of Upper Canada and the York Board of Health, and was a president of the Toronto Mechanics Institute. Baldwin was also a member of St. James' Church in Toronto.