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For the most part, the biographies that appear in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online reproduce those that were originally commissioned by the Dictionary of Canadian Biography for its print version and were republished, some with minor corrections, in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, Volumes I-XIV, CD-ROM (2000). A selection of biographies from unpublished volumes is also included. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography, whose first volume appeared in 1966, is a joint project of the University of Toronto and the Université Laval and presents the work of researchers and writers in many fields from across Canada and around the world.

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Persons have been entered under family name rather than title, married name, pseudonym, stage name, popular name, nickname, or name in religion: Donald Alexander Smith, 1st Baron Strathcona and Mount Royal; Florence Daly Lucas (Thompson); Louis Gonnet, named Brother Réticius; Marie-Françoise Huot, named Sainte Gertrude. Where possible the form of the surname is based on the signature, although contemporary usage is taken into account. Common variant spellings are included in parenthesis.

Names of aboriginal people have presented a particular problem, since a person might be known by his/her own name (written in a variety of ways by people unfamiliar with aboriginal languages) and by a nickname or baptismal name. Moreover, some aboriginal families, such as the Copes [see John Noel Cope], adopted family surnames. Aboriginal names have been used when they could be found, and, because it is impossible to establish original spellings, the form generally chosen is the one found in standard sources at the time of original publication; variants are included in parenthesis: Ahchuchwahauhhatohapit (Ahchacoosacootacoopits, Star Blanket). Métis, unless they remained wholly within aboriginal cultures, are entered under their "European" name: Louis Guiboche. To assist readers who go back to contemporary documents, the names of aboriginal bands have been given in a form likely to be found in those documents.

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