Raasay
The poet Sorley MacLean was born in Osgaig, a small crofting community on the west coast of the island; perhaps his most famous poem is about "Hallaig", an abandoned community on the east coast. MacLean's writings often combine an ancient traditional awareness, with a modernist political outlook, in which Raasay, and the areas adjacent to it are frequently referenced. But while MacLean's work dwells on the brutality of war, of the Highland Clearances and modern exploitation, he also writes about nature. Thus, although the Clearances leave an empty landscape populated only by the ghosts of those evicted or forced to emigrate, "Time, the deer, is in the Wood of Hallaig".
Paul MacLean (ice hockey)
Born in Grostenquin, France, while his father was serving with the Canadian Armed Forces, MacLean moved to Canada at the age of two and grew up in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. As a youth, he played in the 1971 Quebec International Pee-Wee Hockey Tournament with a minor ice hockey team from Borden. Once, during a QMJHL game in which he was playing for the Hull Olympiques, a deal was made to send MacLean to the Quebec Remparts, but the trade was called off before the game ended, after he had scored five goals. In the 1978–79 season, MacLean led the Dalhousie University Tigers to the AUHC championship with 12 goals, 17 assists and 71 penalty minutes in 18 games.