• In 1963, Canadians of ethnicities other than French and English numbered 5 million. There were 7,966,000 anglophones and 5,554,000 francophones. In all, Canada's population was almost 19 million.

• The backgrounds of Commission members represented various Canadian ethnic groups. There were nine men and one woman. They were as follows:

• Co-chairs André Laurendeau and A. Davidson Dunton were French and English respectively.



• University of Ottawa professor Paul Wyczynski immigrated to Canada and was an expert in French Canadian literature.

• J.R. Rudnyckyj was also a new Canadian and the Slavic studies department head at the University of Manitoba.

• Another educator, Father R.P. Clement Cormier, was a French New Brunswicker. He was a social scientist and Saint Joseph's University's president.



• English Canadian professor Frank R. Scott taught law at McGill University.

• Toronto lawyer Royce Frith was formerly an Ontario Liberal Association president.

• Francophone writer and broadcaster Jean-Louis Gagnon was editor of a Quebec journal.

• Gertrude Laing won a French government scholarship to study at Paris's Sorbonne University. She was one of the first Canadians to win one. Laing, a Calgary housewife, was also active in social work.



• Jean Marchand headed up various organized labour movements, including the French Catholic arm of the Confederation of National Trade Unions.

• One of the so-called "three wise men," Marchand, along with Gérard Pelletier and Pierre Elliott Trudeau were encouraged to run for the federal Liberals in 1965.

• Marchand would later become a cabinet minister and Speaker in the Senate.