By no means complete....

A brief history lesson on some of the figures in the fresque.

#1 Jacques Cartier (1491-1557), was a French navigator hoping to discover a western passage to the wealthy markets of Asia who first explored and described the Gulf of St-Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River, which he named Canada. He is not the first "European" to have discovered Canada. Although there has been little to no evidence found of earlier discoveries it has been visited by the Irish and the Vikings during earlier centuries.

#2 Samuel de Champlain (1570-1635) Fouded Quebec City in 1608. His first voyage was in 1603, when he went to Canada on a fur trading trip. He traveled down the St. Lawrence river and into the Hudson Bay. His second trip he went looking for settlement land. On his third trip he found settlement along the St. Lawrence River that eventually became Quebec.

#3 Comte de Frontenac (1622-1698) A French nobleman and soldier by trade, Louis de Buade, comte de Frontenac et de Palluau was twice appointed Governor-General of New France. During his second term he fought off an attack by British General Phips near Quebec City in 1696.
He is credited with having retorted to a demand of surrender by the British by saying: "Non, je n'ai point de réponse à faire à votre général que par la bouche de mes canons et de mes fusils." ("I have no reply to make to your general other than from the mouths of my cannons and muskets.").

#4 Jean Talon (1626-1694) arived in Quebec City in 1665; sent by Louis XIV as intendant, Under his governance, New France prospered. He is the first and most highly regarded Intendant of New France. He attempted to diversify the colony's economy by encouraging agriculture, fishing, lumbering, and industry as well as the traditional fur trade. He approved expedition plans to seek a western passage to China. In 1666, he conducted the first census in North America, counting 3,215 of its residents.

#5 Louis Jolliet (1645-1700), born in Quebec, discovered and mapped the Mississippi River. Famous as an explorer, he was also an organist, a merchant, a cartographer and a professor at the Collège des Jésuites. The city of Joliet, Illinois, in the United States is named after him.

#6 Lord Dufferin (1826-1902), Frederick Temple Blackwood Marquess of Dufferin and Ava. was appointed as the third Governor General of the Dominion of Canada from 1872 to 1878. Quebec City owes him a lot; he fought to preserve the fortified walls around the city citing they would become part of the heritage of the city. During his term several well-known Canadian institutions, such as the Supreme Court of Canada, the Royal Military College of Canada, and the Intercolonial Railway, were established. His final public appearance as Governor General was to lay the foundation stone for Dufferin Terrace, the walkway overlooking the St. Lawrence River built to his own design. After Canada, he was posted to Russia and India.

#7 Felix Leclerc (1914-1988) was a French-Canadian folk singer, poet, writer, actor and Québécois political activist and the father of Québécois song, reviving the Québec chanson tradition. He was also extremely popular in France. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 1971, the National Order of Quebec in 1985 and became a Chevalier of the French Légion d'honneur in 1986. You can visit his house on the Île d'Orléans, the island in the St. Laurent river opposite Québec. It has become a monument to his chansons, life and work. There's a 9 minute video (in French) on YouTube you can watch here