Dr. Robert Hamilton Coats 1874-1960
Born near here, Coats was educated locally and graduated in 1896 from the University of Toronto. In 1902 Mackenzie King, then Deputy Minister of Labour, persuaded Coats to become editor of the Labour Gazette. In this position he became convinced of the need for reliable government statistics. In 1915 he was appointed Canada's first Dominion Statistician and Controller of the Census. Coats drafted the legislation which established the Dominion Bureau of Statistics three years later. Twice a member of statistical committees with the League of Nations, he also served, after retiring in 1942, as a statistical advisor to the Ontario Government and to the United Nations. Coats was honoured by three Canadian universities and was a member of many foreign statistical societies.
Plaque via Alan L. Brown's site Ontario Plaques. Full page here.