Gary Geddes was born on June 9, 1940, in Vancouver, British Columbia.

He is a Canadian poet, writer, and professor. He studied at the University of British Columbia (B.A.) and the University of Toronto (M.A., Ph.D.). Geddes founded two literary presses in Ontario, Quadrant Editions, in 1981 and Cormorant Books, in 1986. He taught English and Creative Writing at Concordia University, Montreal, for twenty years (1978–1998). Then he returned to the West Coast, where he was appointed Distinguished Professor of Canadian Culture at Western Washington University (1998–2001). He also taught English at the British Columbia Institute of Technology and the University of Victoria, as well as serving as a writer-in-residence at Green College (UBC) and the Vancouver Public Library. In 2007, he received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Royal Roads University and, in 2008, the fifth annual Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence. In 2018, he received Freedom to Read Award presented annually by The Writers Union of Canada in recognition of work that is passionately supportive of free expression. The literary critic George Woodcock described him as Canada's best political poet. Geddes has written and edited over thirty-five books, including seventeen books of poetry, as well as fiction, non-fiction, drama, translation, criticism, and anthologies, e.g., "Snakeroot" (1973), "Sailing Home: A Journey through Time, Place & Memory" (2001), and "Medicine Unbundled: A Journey through the Minefields of Indigenous Health Care" (2017). He lives on Thetis Island, British Columbia.

Charlotte Leonora Geddie was born on March 10, 1822, in Merigomish, Pictou County, Nova Scotia.

About 1840, she married John Geddie (1815–1872), a clergyman, one of the pioneer missionaries of the South Seas. In 1846, she accompanied her husband to the New Hebrides, a group of islands in the South Pacific Ocean and landed on the island of Aneityum, inhabited by cannibals. Their missionary work among the islanders continued for many years, instructing and converting them, and frequently risking their lives in their endeavours to propagate the gospel. In 1856, their daughter Charlotte Anne joined them at Aneityum, helping her mother to teach the native women.

She died on January 1, 1916, in Malvern, Stonnington City, Victoria, Australia.

Rev. John Geddie was born on April 10, 1815, in Banff, Scotland.

He was a clergyman, one of the pioneer missionaries of the South Seas. In 1816, his family emigrated and settled in Pictou, Nova Scotia where he attended the Pictou Academy. In 1838, he was ordained as pastor of a congregation at Cavendish, Prince Edward Island. He studied the work of the London Missionary Society and in 1846, he was sent as a missionary to New Hebrides (now Vanuatu) landing on the island of Aneityum, inhabited by cannibals. His wife joined him and their missionary work among the islanders continued for over 20 years, instructing and converting them in the hope of eliminating some of their practices such as cannibalism, infanticide, and the sacrifice of the wives after the death of their husbands. He translated the Scriptures into two of the native languages, and after long laborious application, he produced the translation of the New Testament.

In 1839, he married Charlotte Leonora MacDonald (1822-1916). He died on December 14, 1872, in Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

After receiving his medical degree from McGill University in 1911, Harold J.G. Geggie (1886-1966) began practicing medicine in Wakefield, Quebec, as an assistant to Dr. Hans Stevenson. Shortly after Dr. Stevenson's death, Dr. Geggie left the practice in Wakefield to join the Royal Canadian Army Medical Corps in 1918. He was sent overseas to England, where he fostered an interest in pediatrics. After his return to Quebec, Geggie actively promoted rural family practice to young medical students and focused his attention on the foundation of a community hospital in Wakefield. On account of Dr. Geggie's efforts, as well as local support, the Gatineau Memorial Hospital was opened in March 1952. When his sons, Hans, David, and Stuart, finished their own medical training at McGill, each returned to Wakefield to practice at the hospital. Dr. Geggie wrote extensively on his 55 years of medical practice in the Gatineau region. His journals, compiled by his son and daughter-in-law, were published in the 1987 book "The Extra Mile."