Over the past year Canada's History has been working on special editions of Canada's History Magazine and Kayak: Canada's History Magazine celebrating Canadians and their impact around the world.

In preparation for the project I attended a meeting of the Manitoba Council for International Cooperation last summer here in Winnipeg. At university I had taken several development courses and considered it as a possible career path. The picture I had of international development was young Canadians under 30 going abroad to help with development projects.

Instead what I saw at this meeting we're Canadians who had been working in development for over forty years. They worked with small local organizations that we're often very specific in the goals that they had set out. While Canada and the West share a rocky history of development, it's impossible to doubt the dedication and enthusiasm of the thousands of Canadians who have made it their life's work to improving living conditions around the world.

In the special issue of the magazine we profile seven Canadians who made an impact around the world, including George Atkins, the founder of Farm Radio International. I had the chance to sit down with George's daughter Louise Atkins in December at her home in Ottawa. You can watch the full interview here, but I've left a clip of some of the photos she shared below.  

It's a great story and one of many great Canadians that we're profiling in the magazine and online here at CanadasHistory.ca.