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Donna F. Johnson dedicates her life to advocating for women. Her deep-rooted passion for uniting women in supportive groups is evident through her extensive career. From 1986 to 2002, Johnson worked at Lanark County Interval House, where she provided crucial support to women facing domestic violence.

In 1990, she co-founded "Women's Urgent Action," a feminist group based in Ottawa, which highlights her commitment to feminist activism. Her feminist perspective has led to the creation of significant works such as "Waking Up the Dissident: Transforming Lives (and Society) with Feminist Counselling" (2020). Additionally, her 1998 conference talk, "How One Canadian Community is Responding to the Murder of Women," was presented at the International Conference on Family Violence, and she has contributed numerous articles to the Ottawa Citizen.

Following the tragic 1989 Polytechnique shooting, Johnson inspired the establishment of The Ottawa Women's Monument, which stands in Minto Park, Ottawa, as a tribute to the victims of male violence.

Donna F. Johnson is a faculty member at the Feminist Institute of Social Transformation at Carleton University in Ottawa. She continues her work in raising awareness and combating violence against women, hoping for a better future for women.

Jozef G. Cincík was a Slovak painter, sculptor, graphic artist, set designer and art historian. He was born on March 8, 1909 in Clopodia, Romania. His parents Gabriel Cincík and Jolana Lenkeyova had moved to Romania, where Jozef was born. The family returned to Slovakia in 1914. Jozef Cincík attended the Law School at Charles University in Prague in 1928 and later attended Comenius University of Bratislava where he received a Doctorate in Philosophy in 1936 in the History of Fine Arts and Archaeology. He held several teaching positions, including Professor of the History of Fine Arts. He also worked as a lecturer and secretary at the Slovak Institute of Science and Arts at Matica Slovenska and was the Conservator of the History and Art Monuments of Middle Slovakia. Jozef Cincík also wrote extensively on the history of Slovak Art, history and archaeology.

In 1946 he moved to the United States, where he taught Christian Archaeology and Fine Arts at St. Bede Academy in Illinois. He also worked as a graphic artist, painter and sculptor.
Jozef Cincík died on January 28, 1992 in Pennsylvania, USA.

Ján Lud'o Doranský was born in Trstená, Orava (northern Slovakia, near the Tatra Mountains) on May 28, 1911. He was the third son of Vendelin Doranský, a bookbinder, and Anna, who owned a stationery store. He had two surviving siblings: Ondrej (Andrej), a priest who opposed the Communist regime, and his sister Ilona (Helena).

As a child and teenager, Ján was passionate about literature, poetry, and music. After high school, he enrolled in the music conservatory in Bratislava with aspirations of becoming an opera singer. However, his parents encouraged him to pursue a different path. He began studying law at the University of Bratislava, but after two years, he switched to notarial studies.

Ján L. Doranský held various positions in remote areas, including one in Ubla, where he met his future wife, Mary Jakl. During this time, he was drafted for compulsory military service. In February 1938, Ján and Mary were married at the Greek-Catholic Church in Ubla. The following year, World War II broke out, and the Hungarians annexed Eastern Slovakia, including Ubla. The Doranský family fled to Trstená and later moved to Bratislava, where Ján had a new assignment.

During the war, Mikulaš Gaček, a writer and friend of General Ferdinand Čatloš, approached Ján about helping to establish a Cultural Affairs Division within the Ministry of National Defense. Ján quickly assembled a group of artists, writers, photographers, and filmmakers, created an army press, and even produced a documentary. He also served on the Russian front. Ján’s experiences with the Slovak army during the war are detailed in the book From the Carpathians to the Caucasus. While in Bratislava, Ján and Mary had two children: Maria Anna (Mary) and Louis (Ľudovit, Ludo).

In 1945, fearing retribution from the advancing Red Army, the Doranský family fled Bratislava. After staying in Austria, Bavaria, Assisi, Rome (as guests of Karol Sidor at the Vatican), Naples, and Bremenhaven in Germany, the family finally arrived in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on February 8, 1950. Over the next several years, both Ján and Mary held various jobs. Mary worked as a babysitter, button-maker, cleaner, lampshade stretcher, toy production worker, florist, and administrative assistant. Ján, on the other hand, worked as a refrigerator deliveryman, construction worker, guard, and assistant insurance broker.

In addition to these jobs, Ján was the producer and host of the CJMS radio show Voices of Canadian Slovaks, which aired every Friday.

In the early 1970s, Ján was diagnosed with cancer. He passed away on April 5, 1973. His funeral at St. Cyril and Methodius Church in Montreal was attended by many members of the Slovak community.

The WomynSpirit Festival originated when seven womyn met for a week-long camp, “Cakes for the Queen of Heaven,” in 1991 (relating to a religious education curriculum in feminist theology.) Participants decided to create an Ontario festival that would allow local Pagan women to meet and share their skills. They created what would become the WomynSpirit Festival Collective, in 1992.

The organization was founded as a feminist and Pagan non-hierarchical womyn’s collective that fostered women's spirituality, creativity and personal growth. WomynSpirit held festivals for ten years at the Ecology Retreat Centre in Hockley Valley, Ontario, before moving to different sites in Ontario, eventually returning to the Ecology Centre. Festivals include volunteer-run workshops and rituals as well as activities like chanting, yoga, and sacred circle, often held on Pagan holidays with a childcare program to allow working mothers to participate.

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Le WomynSpirit Festival a vu le jour lorsque sept femmes se sont réunies pour un camp d'une semaine, " Cakes for the Queen of Heaven ", en 1991 (dans le cadre d'un programme d'éducation religieuse en théologie féministe). Les participantes ont décidé de créer un festival ontarien qui permettrait aux femmes païennes de la région de se rencontrer et de partager leurs compétences. Elles ont fondé ce qui allait devenir WomynSpirit en 1992.

L'organisation a été fondée en tant que collectif de femmes féministes et païennes non hiérarchisé. Womynspirit a organisé des festivals pendant dix ans au Ecology Retreat Centre à Hockley Valley, en Ontario, avant de déménager dans différents sites en Ontario, pour finalement revenir au Ecology Centre. Les festivals comprennent des ateliers et des rituels, ainsi que des activités telles que le chant, le yoga et le cercle sacré, souvent organisés à l'occasion de fêtes païennes. Le programme de garde d'enfants permet aux mères qui travaillent de participer.

Joseph Staško was a Slovak politician, journalist, and librarian, born on August 1, 1917, in Sedliacka Dubová, Žilina (Slovakia). He completed his undergraduate studies at Comenius University in Bratislava and studied at the University of Paris (Sorbonne) from 1935 to 1942. He earned a Ph.D. in French Literature and Language from the University of Bratislava in 1942 and a Master's degree in Library Science from Columbia University in June 1963.

Although Staško did not engage in politics during the existence of the Slovak State, he joined the postwar Democratic Party and was elected to the Prague Parliament in May 1946. However, due to his autonomist views and his refusal to support Edvard Beneš as the postwar President of Czechoslovakia, he became estranged from the Democratic Party. He was subsequently arrested and charged with war crimes. Staško spent time in prison from 1946 to 1953 in Leopoldov and the Jáchymov uranium mines. Between 1953 and 1961, he worked as a manual laborer in various factories. In 1962, he left Czechoslovakia and arrived in the United States on May 24.

After obtaining his degree in Library Science from Columbia University in 1963, Staško began working at the New York Public Library, eventually becoming Chief of the Periodicals Department, where he worked until his retirement in 1983. His academic interests included history, economics, and political science, with a focus on Central European economies and political systems. Staško authored three books: History of Techniques in Trade, Slovaks in the U.S.A., and The April Agreement. He also edited The Shaping of Modern Slovakia and contributed to several journals on political and social science, presenting public lectures on Slovakia and its people.

In addition to his professional work, Dr. Staško was involved in various Slovak political and cultural organizations in the U.S. He served as president of the Slovak Historical Association of America and worked as an editor and writer for the SKS Bulletin and Horizont. Dr. Staško is recognized for his contributions to the preservation and development of Slovak history and culture, both in Slovakia and abroad.

In the mid-seventies, Dr. Staško launched an appeal to his Slovak compatriots and friends from all over the world, to participate in the creation of the Slovak National Archives in the United States. In response to this request, some of Dr. Staško's contemporaries donated their personal papers and other collections related to Slovak history and culture. Dr. Staško's project of the American-based Slovak National Archives did not materialize for lack of physical and financial resources. However, as a result of Dr. Staško's initiative, important documents were collected from various sources.

He passed away in 1997.