Amazing people, events and places which infuse the country with life
Professor Burton and grad students Hillier and Prebus developed the first practical electron microscope that focused a beam of electrons for illumination As with most inventions in the world, advanced ideas build on the information of other bright ideas, and innovation climbs up to stand on the shoulders of previous innovation. Such was the case […]
Enthusiastic in his second career, John Macoun’s extensive study of plant and animal life became the basis for today’s Canadian Museum of Nature. An immigrant from Northern Ireland at age 19, John Macoun came to Seymour Township, Upper Canada (now Eastern Ontario) in 1850 with his parents. He was born at Maralin, Ireland on April […]
The Winton Phaeton was a ‘horseless carriage’, the first automobile fuelled by gas in Canada. Colonel Moodie brought the car home to Hamilton, Ontario. With the black bonnet up, perhaps the Winton looked all the part of a classic carriage for two as it drove along the streets of Hamilton, Ontario. But something was missing… […]
Interested in fossils and dinosaurs, teenager Wendy Sloboda made a significant discovery in southern Alberta: fossilized eggshells. Eyes scanning the terrain, carefully scraping and digging, 19-year-9ld made an amazing discovery at Milk River Ridge in 1987. Fossil hunting at Devil’s Coolee near Warner, Alberta, the young scientist uncovered a large round shape. Wendy Sloboda was […]
Three post offices were opened in Canada by Ben Franklin – Montreal, Trois Rivieres and Quebec City. He also established a courier service between cities. Long before Confederation, before the War of 1812, and even before the American Revolution, settled regions of Canada and the United States were known as British North America. Amenities and […]
Women took on jobs when men were drafted to fight in WWII. New and challenging careers opened to women in munitions factories, sciences, and job sites – anywhere men worked. Women Took the Lead As men (and a number of women, too) trudged off to European battle sites in World War Two, their jobs in […]
In 1898, two young miners found placer gold on Pine Creek in northern BC. The gold rush was on, and the town of Atlin swelled into a boom town. Perhaps with tingles of excitement, two young men stood in the government’s Registry Office on July 30, 1898. Staking their rights, Kenny MacLaren and Fritz Miller […]
Tossing aside the chains of racism in the United States, Mifflin Gibbs came north to Canada. While discrimination was still evident in Canada, the black man could control is own life. He could vote. He could raise an unencumbered family. He could run a business. And he could participate in local government. In Victoria, British […]
A small paper stamp sold at Christmas brought in enough money to fund buildings and research, and help those with lung disease, now through the Canadian Lung Association Who would have thought that a stamp would build a hospital? Or that the simple stamp would provide x-rays or medical tests? A postman in Denmark thought […]
Cairine Mackay Wilson dedicated her time to bettering the lives of women, children and refugees Cairine Wilson was born Cairine Reay Mackay on February 4, 1885 to the upper-class Mackay family who made their home in Montreal, Quebec. They were a strict Presbyterian family of Scottish background. Her father was Robert Mackay, politician and member […]
Surviving several gun battles and eluding manhunts by the Mounties for weeks, trapper Albert Johnson was cornered and shot dead. Who was Albert Johnson? The stark beauty and unusual possibilities draw adventurous spirits to Canada’s far north. Men – and women – make the arduous journey, some exploring for riches in gold or furs, others […]
The first passenger steamship built in Upper Canada was constructed at the village of Bath, on the shore of Lake Ontario. The large ship was driven by two paddle wheels. Travel in early Upper and Lower Canada was slow, difficult and, well… uncomfortable. There were no air-conditioned cars, no trains speeding along rails and certainly […]