George Simpson: Blaze of Glory

Simpson’s explorations opened Canada from Labrador to British Columbia and from Yukon to Nunavut. He was knighted in 1841, then travelled around the world, predicting the fall of California to the United States, saving the Hawaiians from colonial occupation, and describing the mysteries of remotest Siberia. Praised as the governor who "combined the widest range of authority and the longest tenure of power ever enjoyed by one man in North America," he stands with Sir John A. Macdonald as one of the greatest Makers of Canada.