''Canadian Who's Who'' is a

publication To publish is to make content available to the general public.Berne Convention, articl ...

containing

biographical A biography, or simply bio, is a detailed description of a person's life. It involves more than just basic facts like education, work, relationships, and death; it portrays a person's experience of these life events. Unlike a profile or curric ...

information about 13,000 notable

Canadians Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

. Because of the absence of biographical

fact-checking Fact-checking is the process of verifying the factual accuracy of questioned reporting and statements. Fact-checking can be conducted before or after the text or content is published or otherwise disseminated. Internal fact-checking is such che ...

by the publishers (e.g. candidates send in their own biographical details without any checking), ''Canadian Who's Who'' is not used as a reference by mainstream Canadian media, and is rarely, if ever, quoted as a source, according to a journalist listed in the publication.

Background

''Canadian Who's Who'' is published and distributed annually by

Grey House Publishing Grey House Publishing is an American publisher of directories and other reference books in business, health, education and other areas. Its corporate headquarters are in Amenia, New York. It also has a Canadian office in Toronto. In 2013, Grey ...

Canada with a bright-red binding and an online searchable version is also available through a subscription. The online, searchable, electronic version of ''Canadian Who's Who'' includes more than 11,000 archived biographies, in addition to the 13,000 biographies found in the 2014/2015 print edition. Every year the publisher invites new individuals to complete questionnaires from which new biographies are compiled. The publisher also gives those already listed in earlier editions an opportunity to update their biographies. ''Canadian Who's Who'' was first published in 1910 by the Ottawa branch of ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

''. In a rare reference to ''Canadian Who's Who'' in Canadian media, the ''

Peterborough Examiner ''The Peterborough Examiner'' is a newspaper that services Peterborough, Ontario and area. The paper started circulation in 1847, and is currently owned by Torstar and operated by its Metroland division. Between 1942 and 1955, it was edited by C ...

'' in 2009 found reading the 1910 edition to be "as rewarding as similar time spent surfing the web". In 1932, A.L. Tunnell acquired copyright from ''The Times'' and published a second edition in 1936. Tunnell usually published new editions every three years.

University of Toronto Press The University of Toronto Press is a Canadian university press. Although it was founded in 1901, the press did not actually publish any books until 1911. The press originally printed only examination books and the university calendar. Its first s ...

became the new publisher in 1978 and began an annual schedule of publication. In 1997 it began publishing on

CD-ROM A CD-ROM (, compact disc read-only memory) is a type of read-only memory consisting of a pre-pressed optical compact disc that contains computer data storage, data computers can read, but not write or erase. Some CDs, called enhanced CDs, hold b ...

. Third Sector Publishing took over from University of Toronto Press in March 2011, publishing editions up to 2015, before

purchased the publication in March 2016. There is no charge, nor is there any obligation, for the inclusion of a biography in the ''Canadian Who's Who'' but according to Elizabeth Lumley, a former editor of the publication, entrants must be outstanding in their field. Included are Canadians from

business Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...

academia An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

sports Sport is a physical activity or game, often competitive and organized, that maintains or improves physical ability and skills. Sport may provide enjoyment to participants and entertainment to spectators. The number of participants in ...

, the

arts The arts or creative arts are a vast range of human practices involving creativity, creative expression, storytelling, and cultural participation. The arts encompass diverse and plural modes of thought, deeds, and existence in an extensive ...

and

sciences Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

. In 1997, Canadian journalist Robert Fulford wrote that "Canadians chosen for inclusion submit their own entries, at whatever length they choose, and no one edits their egotism or whimsy". Fulford described the publication as "a book of 15,000 authors". In April 2018, ''Canadian Who's Who'' made a rare appearance in mainstream Canadian media in

Maclean's ''Maclean's'' is a Canadian magazine founded in 1905 which reports on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, trends and current events. Its founder, publisher John Bayne Maclean, established the magazine to provide a uniquely Canadian ...

, regarding the falsification of Canadian author Bill Gaston's biographical details.

References

External links

Grey House Publishing Canada

The Canadian Who's Who website
{{Authority control Canadian biographical dictionaries 1910 establishments in Canada