Herbert Alexander Bruce was born on September 28, 1868, in Blackstock, Ontario.

He was a physician, educator, and politician who served as the 15th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (1932-1937). He was educated at the University of Toronto (M.D., 1893), Vienna and Paris. Specializing in surgery, he rose to the top of his profession. In 1911, he founded the Wellesley Hospital in Toronto and became a professor of surgery at the University of Toronto. During World War I, he was appointed Inspector-General of the Canadian Medical Services. He produced the Bruce Report on the Canadian Army Medical Service, a frank criticism of medical care provided to Canadian soldiers serving overseas. The report was disowned by the government, and he was dismissed from his duties. Dedicated to public service, Bruce was appointed the 15th Lieutenant Governor of Ontario (1932-1937) and served as the Conservative member of Parliament for Parkdale, Toronto (1940-1946). In 1934, he condemned the state of Toronto's poorer neighbourhoods and was a vocal member of the Opposition during World War II. Bruce championed cancer care in the 1920s, social housing in the 1930s, better health care for the military and veterans, and the introduction of contributory health insurance in the 1940s. His autobiography "Varied Operations" was published in 1958.

In 1919, He married Angela Hall (1895–1982). He died on June 23, 1963, in Toronto, Ontario.

Canadian diplomat Jean Bruchési, born in Montreal, studied political science and literature in Paris and law at the Université de Montréal where he himself then taught and wrote about history and political science from 1927 until 1937. He then became assistant secretary of the province of Quebec till 1959. Next he began a diplomatic career, serving as Canadian ambassador to Spain, Morocco and then Argentina with extra missions to the Vatican as well as several African nations. He became a member of the Royal Society of Canada in 1940, then its president in 1953-1954 and was awarded many honors, including both the Pariseau and Ludger-Duvernay prizes in 1949, the J.B. Tyrrell Medal in 1951 and the Medal of the Académie des lettres du Québec in 1959.