Amazing people, events and places which infuse the country with life
Dr. Gerald Bull spent his life researching, reinventing and creating new methods of missile launching. His munitions science eventually lead to his murder. Gerald Vincent Bull was born in the small town of North Bay, Ontario on March 8, 1928. He was raised by an aunt when his mother died and his father abandoned the […]
Haligonians watched with curiosity as Mont Blanc drifted to Halifax, the ship ablaze from an accident. Minutes later, the ship exploded, with many injured and killed Dateline: December 6, 1917 Halifax, Nova Scotia World War One Cast: The French ship Mont Blanc Fully laden with explosives, the Mont Blanc was slowly sailing toward the crowded […]
Never before and not yet again has such a storm battered southern Ontario. Dozens of people were killed, many more left homeless from Hurricane Hazel’s gales and floods “Water coursed through creeks where they had never before existed,” said Environment Canada’s website, “derailed trains and washed out roads. Rampaging rivers tore houses from their foundations, […]
Bloody battle was devastating for Canadian soldiers mired in deep mud, but recapturing Passchendaele Ridge was crucial. There were 15,000 Canadian casualties. An older city in Belgium, Ypres was not yet captured by Germans. Held by the British, it was a rounded bulge of land in Flanders Plain. A treacherous place for Allied soldiers, it […]
The medical establishment wasn’t ready for women, so Dr. Trout finished her training in the USA. She opened the Kingston Women’s School of Medicine on October 2, 1883 A career in medicine is something young women may choose easily today. They train at universities and medical colleges without a second thought. But in Jennie Trout’s […]
Arriving in the 1870s, the religious group immigrated to Manitoba to practice their pacifist faith in peace. But by not joining the WWI effort, they also lost the vote Living according to their spiritual beliefs was essential for the Mennonites. Unhappy and under duress in their European and Russian homelands, they searched for a place […]
The Battle of Britain was waged from July 10 – October 31, 1940. The German Luftwaffe attacked but, with the help of the RCAF and Canada, Britain was saved from capture. “For the first time in modern history the people of England are now to feel the full and direct impact of war on their […]
Dehydrated, exhausted and with feet cut and bleeding, Laura Secord pressed on to reach Lt. Fitzgibbon with the message that Upper Canada was about to be taken by America Quietly, unobtrusively, Laura Secord served the evening meal to the American soldiers billeted in her home against her will in June, 1813. Her husband, James Secord, […]
Frustrated by the inaccuracies of schedules on the train lines, Sir Sandford Fleming devised a system of Standard Time. His method was adopted in Canada and world-wide Sir Sandford Fleming was a multifaceted man of brilliance and led a life of influence and success. A professional in many aspects, as noted on Dictionary of Canadian […]
Built by Cawthra Mulock, the Royal Alexandra Theatre in Toronto was saved from demolition in 1962 by Ed Mirvish. His vision returned golden grandeur to the historic venue A sophisticated young man, Cawthra Mulock wanted to put Toronto, Ontario on the world’s cultural map. The son of an MP, Mulock was a stockbroker, a foundry-owner […]
Canadian Aladdin and T. Eaton’s offered complete house kits, from plans to lumber, cupboards to knobs, all precut and ready to construct on your own piece of land. “Manufactured in our mills in Ontario, New Brunswick and British Columbia, according to the most approved methods of modern construction, shipped complete, knocked-down flat, ready for construction…anyone […]
Not yet 20 years old, Harry Brown was a Canadian Private in the First World War. His determination to deliver an important message gave new meaning to the word bravery. At the young and fearless age of 18, Harry W. Brown (also known as John Harry Brown) left his calm life as a single farmer […]