20 TRUE CANADIAN HEROES

A CELEBRATION OF THE GREAT TRAILBLAZERS, VISIONARIES AND INVENTORS WHO'VE SHAPED OUR COUNTRY

- Ali Amad AND Sarah Liss

Charles “Checker” Marvin Tomkins

1918-2003

The Cree speaker who helped win WWII

As a member of a classified project that involved encrypting sensitive information during the Second World War, Tomkins was accustomed to keeping secrets. He was so good at it, in fact, that it wasn't until when documentary filmmakers came calling shortly before his death in 2003 that Tomkins's family first learned that he had served as a Cree code talker-a member of a unique military intelligence unit made up of Indigenous servicemen.

A Métis Cree speaker, Tomkins grew up in a large family in Grouard, Alberta. Stationed in England in 1940, he was tasked with encrypting messages into Cree. These would then be sent elsewhere in the field, where another Cree code talker would translate the information back into English. Tomkins and his fellow Indigenous encryption officers played an integral role in transmitting intelligence and protecting the troops.

Portia White

1911-1968

The singer who broke barriers

As a Black artist, White was one of the first to shatter colour barriers in Canada. Born in Truro, N.S., she trained as a contralto at the Halifax Conservatory of Music. In the 1940s, she entranced audiences worldwide with her powerful renditions of Think on Me and He's Got the Whole World in His Hands.” Despite the international acclaim, White faced constant racism and was often barred from restaurants and hotels in the cities she toured. But she never gave up. “Nobody ever told me to sing,” White once said. “I was born singing.