Archive for September, 2010

26 Sep

TODAY – SEP 26, 2010 – IN CANADIAN HISTORY

Posted by CAPER in History.

On This Day

 September 26
maple leaf Today's Canadian Headline....
1976 SWEET KICKS FOR WORLD RECORD IN BIG OMontreal Quebec – Montreal Alouette kicker Don Sweet notches his 17th and 18th consecutive field goals, setting a world record before 68,500 fans in the first football game played in Olympic Stadium; Sweet will run the string to 21 before missing.
1904

Also On This Day...

London England – Albert Henry George, Earl Grey 1851-1917 appointed Governor-General of Canada; serves from December 10, 1904 to October 12, 1911. An MP and former administrator of Rhodesia, Grey was a strong believer in the Empire and promoted imperial loyalty in his speeches. In 1909, he donated the Grey Cup to the championship of Canadian football.
1917

And in Today's Canadian Birthdays...

Réal Caouette 1917-1976
politician, was born on this day at Amos, Quebec in 1917; died in Ottawa Dec. 16, 1976. Caouette joined the Social Credit movement, and was elected to the Commons in 1946. He became leader of the Ralliement des Créditistes, and allied his group with Robert Thompson’s federal party in 1961. In the 1962 federal election, 26 out of the 30 Social Credit seats were from Quebec, and he effectively held the balance of power in Diefenbaker’s minority government. He broke with Thompson in 1963, but held his bloc together into he retired from ill health in 1976.

Also John Gray 1946-
playwright, was born on this day at Ottawa in 1946. Gray was raised in Truro, Nova Scotia. He attended Mt. Allison University and UBC in Vancouver, where he helped found the Tamanhous Theatre. In 1978 he staged his two-man Musical Billy Bishop Goes to War, which toured Canada to great acclaim. It opened on Broadway in 1980 and won the Governor General’s Award for Drama in 1983. His other works include the play 18 Wheels (1977), the musical Rock and Roll (1981) and the novel Dazzled (1984).
In Other Events….
1995 Toronto Ontario – AT&T Canada and three Canadian banks pay $250. million to become new owners of long-distance carrier Unitel Communications Inc; two biggest shareholders, Canadian Pacific Ltd. and Rogers Communications Inc., drop out of deal.
1994 Quebec Quebec – Jacques Parizeau sworn in as Quebec’s 26th Premier; after defeating Daniel Johnson in election.
1993 Niagara Falls, Ontario – Dave Munday takes his second plunge over Niagara Falls in a barrel; 53-year-old diesel mechanic from Caistor Centre, Ontario, the first person to make two trips over the Falls; previous trip in 1985.
1992 Toronto Ontario – Angus Reid/Southam News release poll saying Yes forces rapidly losing ground in referendum battle.
1991 Guiane – European Space Agency rocket launches Canada’s Anik-E1 (mass 2,977 kg) comsat from Kourou, French Guyana, aboard an Ariane 44P rocket.
1990 Ottawa Ontario – Danek Mozdzenski’s statue of Lester B. Pearson unveiled on Parliament Hill.
1990 Oka Quebec – Army officials take 34 men, 16 women and six children into custody from their stronghold in a drug treatment centre; most taken to military base at Farnham, Quebec; 78-day standoff ends.
1988 Seoul Korea – Canada’s Ben Johnson stripped of his 100 Metre Olympic Gold Medal and world record following a positive drug test; forced by the lOC to return the medal and disqualified from the games.
1984 Toronto Ontario – Queen’s Park extends $500,000 line of credit to ailing publisher McClelland & Stewart.
1984 California – Walter Pidgeon 1897-1984 dies at age 87; born Sept. 23, 1897 in Saint John, NB; TV/movie actor, singer; a major star for MGM, his movie career lasted from 1925 to 1978, best known for his performances in Madame Curie, Forbidden Planet, Mrs. Miniver.
1981 Moscow Russia – Canada signs five-year agricultural agreement with USSR; scientific cooperation, crop data exchange; Canada-Soviet Commission on agricultural issues founded.
1974 Ottawa Ontario – Canada Post opens the National Postal Museum.
1972 Moscow Russia – Canadian NHL All Stars fight back to tie series, defeating the Soviet team 4-3 in the third game in the USSR; series now tied 3-3 with one tie.
1970 New York City – Anne Murray’s hit song Snowbird peaks at #8 on the Billboard pop singles chart.
1969 Manicouagan Quebec – Hydro-Quebec names Manic 5 power dam the Daniel Johnson Dam in honour of late Quebec Premier Daniel Johnson 1915-1968.
1969 Manicouagan Quebec – Daniel Johnson 1915-1968 (père) dies after visit to open Hydro Quebec’s Manic 5 power dam; succeeded by Jean-Jacques Bertrand as Union Nationale Premier.
1966 New York City – Two FLQ members go on hunger strike in New York.
1963 Montreal Quebec – FLQ terrorists hold up a branch of the Royal Bank in Montreal.
1960 United Nations, New York – John George Diefenbaker 1895-1979 asks Soviet Union to resume disarmament negotiations; offers proposals for world peace; in address to UN General Assembly.
1958 Yukon – John George Diefenbaker 1895-1979 the first prime minister to visit the Yukon while in office.
1950 England – Sun turns blur over parts of the United Kingdom due to airborne sulphur particles from forest fires in Northern Alberta and BC.
1939 London England – Britain asks Canada to train Commonwealth airmen.
1918 France/Belgium – General Sir Arthur Currie’s Canadians lead final offensive against the Germans on the Western Front.
1896 Toronto Ontario – Toronto Stock Exchange lists first mining stocks.
1884 Montreal Quebec – St. Lawrence and Ottawa Railway leased to the Canadian Pacific Railway for 999 years.
1851 Kingston Ontario – Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine 1807-1864 resigns as co-Premier of the Province of Canada; will be appointed Chief Justice of Lower Canada.
1842 Montreal Quebec – Robert Baldwin & Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine asked by Lord Elgin to form the Province of Canada’s first liberal Executive Council; victory for Reformers, responsible government and French rights.
1826 Ottawa Ontario – Incorporation of Bytown; becomes City of Ottawa in 1855.
1819 Melville Island, NWT – Edward Parry anchors off Melville Island; first explorer to winter in the Arctic by choice.
1813 Amherstburg Ontario – William Henry Harrison’s 4,500 US troops land near Fort Malden to move against Proctor up the Thames; beginning of American military rule in western Ontario for the remainder of the War of 1812.
1766 Quebec Quebec – Government passes regulations licensing the sale of alcohol.
1751 Halifax, Nova Scotia – 1,000 immigrants from Wurtemburg, Germany arrive.
1634 Quebec – Father Jean de Brébeuf baptizes the mother of an Indian chief.
1613 France – Samuel de Champlain tries to get support for colonization and exploration in France.

<!– “Accelerated change invokes the gyroscopic or principles of rigidity. Also, to high-speed change no adjustment is possible. We become spectators only, and must escape into understanding.”
Herbert Marshall McLuhan 1911-1980
1960 –>

26 Sep

DO YOU REMEMBER – 1

Posted by CAPER in History.

Hey, do you remember when you mother pulled a straw out of the straw broom to stick it into a loaf of bread or cake to test whether it was done or not? CAPER

26 Sep

OBIT – JOSEPH (EARL) MACLELLAN

Posted by CAPER in Food, Obituaries.

Obituaries (09/17/10)
MacLellan, Joseph Earl Joseph passed away peacefully from Alzheimer’s disease on September 14, 2010 in Nanaimo, BC. He was born March 11, 1923 in Alder Point, Cape Breton Nova Scotia. He was the youngest of 13 children and pre-deceased by his parents Mary and George, brothers and sisters Jack, Margaret, Ronald, Don, Simon, Wilhelmina, Billy, Christine, Francine, Dave, Bill and Elizabeth. Joseph is survived by his wife of 47 years Mary, children Ula and Ian (Melissa), grandchildren Zackary and Hannah, plus numerous relatives and friends. Joseph resided in Nanaimo for 55 years. He was a very quiet, shy man known for his exceptional work ethic and unwavering faith in God. He was creative in designing and building many projects, whether it be his own violin, several houses or his commercial fishing boat the “ÃM.V. Ree ”Ä. Joseph was a member of St. Peter’s and a member of the Knights of Columbus. The family would like to thank Gerry Simpson for all her help and the staff at Nanaimo Travellers Lodge for their excellent care over the past 6 months. Prayers will be held on Sunday September 19, 2010 at 7pm at St. Peters Church. Funeral Mass in his memory on Monday September 20, 2010 at 11am. at St. Peter’s Church. Telford’s of Nanaimo 250-751-2254 205747
(Nanaimo Daily News)

25 Sep

TODAY – SEP 25, 2010 – IN CANADIAN HISTORY

Posted by CAPER in History.

On This Day

September 25
maple leaf Today's Canadian Headline....
1956 FIRST DIRECT DIALING TO EUROPEClarenville, Newfoundland – Canadian Overseas Telephone Company (COTC), the British Post Office and American Telephone & Telegraph open the first direct dial transatlantic calling service with an exchange of greetings between London, Ottawa and New York. The new $42 million cable from Oban, Scotland, jointly owned by the three firms, consists of two lines laid 30 km apart on the ocean floor.
1871

Also On This Day...

Montebello Quebec – Louis Joseph Papineau dies at his seigneury at Montebello; first elected to Lower Canada Assembly in 1809; became leader of French-Canadian Patriotes and sparkplug of Rebellion of 1837; later became too radical for mainstream populace of Quebec, and died in obscurity.
1932

And in Today's Canadian Birthdays...

Glenn Herbert Gould 1932-1982
pianist, was born on this day at Toronto in 1932; died in Toronto Oct. 4, 1982. Gould studied at the Royal Conservatory of Music and soloed with the Toronto Symphony at age 14. His brilliant 1955 recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations won him instant global acclaim. He toured in Europe and the USA, and from 1961-64 co-directed the summer music program at Stratford, but he disliked the public life, and in 1964 retired from the stage, preferring to record in the studio. His contrapuntal clarity and unorthodox performances of Bach and Beethoven as well as Shoenberg and Hindemith became well known. He did CBC TV and radio documentaries and wrote for magazines and newspapers. He died of a massive stroke, apparently due to complications from medication, at age 50.Also Ian Dawson Tyson 1933-
country singer, was born on this day at Victoria BC in 1933. Tyson wanted to be a rodeo cowboy, but an accident at age 19 ended that dream, so he learned to play the guitar, moved to Toronto in 1959 and started to sing in coffee houses, where he teamed up with Sylvia Fricker, and in 1960 they started performing as Ian and Sylvia, marrying in 1964. In 1961 they cut their first album, and Ian’s song Four Strong Winds became a major world hit. In 1970 they pulled together their Great Speckled Bird country rock band, and started a CTV network show, Nashville North, later the Ian Tyson show, but their professional and marital lives split under the strain. While Sylvia hosted a CBC radio folk show Touch The Earth from 1975-80, Ian went off to Nashville, but returned in 1978 to tour solo. He set up a cattle ranch in Ontario, then moved to Alberta, and got into cowboy poetry. In 1983 he produced Old Corrals and Sagebrush, followed by Ian Tyson (1984) and Cowboyography (1986- winner of 1987 Juno for Best Country Male Vocalist).

Also Ron ‘Mighty Mite’ Stewart 1934-
football running back, was born on this day at Toronto in 1934. Stewart started his 13 season CFL career with the Ottawa Rough Riders in 1957; in 1960, his best year, he rushed for 1020 yards on 139 carries, and scored 15 touchdowns; then helped the Riders win the Grey Cup, setting a CFL record of 287 yards rushing in a single game; led the League in rushing in 1964 (867 yards); played a key role in Grey Cup wins in 1968 and 1969, when he caught Russ Jackson passes for two touchdowns – one for 80 yards; won Shenley Award as top Canadian 1960; Jeff Russell Memorial Trophy 1960, 1967; had career total of 983 carries for 5690 yards, 42 touchdowns rushing. and 25 touchdowns receiving.
In Other Events….
1996 New York City – Quebec diva Céline Dion reaches #1 on the Billboard Top 200 for record sales.
1992 Montreal Quebec – Royal Bank CEO Allan Taylor releases study showing costs of breakup of Canada, says a No vote would be disastrous for the economy; 15% drop in living standards by 2000; each Canadian $4,000 poorer, 720,000 jobless, 1.25 million to emigrate to US. Three days later, the Canadian dollar shows its biggest drop in value since the Depression.
1991 Calgary Alberta – Stan Waters dies at age 71 of brain cancer; commanded Canadian Army 1973-75; pursued business career after retirement; one of the founding members of the Reform Party; campaigned for a ‘Triple-E Senate’ – elected, efficient and providing equal representation of the provinces, and won an 1989 provincial vote held in Alberta to recommend who would fill the province’s vacant seat in the Canadian Senate; not a legal election, and Ottawa refused to confirm the appointment, but it was accepted in June of 1990 by Prime Minister Mulroney.
1989 Quebec – Robert Bourassa re-elected Premier of Quebec; provincial Liberals take 50% of the popular vote and 92 out of 125 seats; PQ 40.2%, Equality Party 4.6%; Jacques Parizeau elected, and becomes Leader of the Opposition.
1985 Ottawa Ontario – Marcel Masse resigns from the Mulroney Cabinet.
1983 Ottawa Ontario – British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher arrives in Canada for 3-day state visit.
1979 Montreal Quebec – The Montreal Star newspaper stops publishing after 110 years.
1976 Montreal Quebec – Montreal Expos baseball team play their last game at Montreal’s Jarry Park; move into Olympic Stadium – the Big O.
1975 Pickering Ontario – Ottawa halts construction of new Toronto International Airport at Pickering.
1973 Stratford Ontario – Robin Phillips 1938- appointed Artistic Director of the Stratford Festival, succeeding Jean Gascon 1920-.
1971 Toronto Ontario – International Typographical Union ends seven-year strike against Star, Telegram and Globe & Mail; three major Toronto newspapers.
1968 Manicouagan Quebec – Daniel Johnson 1915-1968 (père) flips a switch to start electricity generation at Hydro Quebec’s Manic 5 power dam.
1962 Toronto Ontario – Anglo-Dutch giant Shell Oil pays $55 a share for Canadian Oil Companies and ‘White Rose’ brand name; $130 million sale scandal points up need for laws to govern inside trading.
1960 Montreal Quebec – Jean Drapeau founds his Montreal Civic Action Party/ le parti de l’Action Civique de Montréal.
1950 Quebec Quebec – Start of three-day federal-provincial conference at Quebec City; to devise amending formula for BNA Act.
1944 Arnhem Holland – British General Bernard Montgomery defeated in week-long Battle of Arnhem; in Operation Market Garden, British airborne troops were dropped to capture bridges over Dutch rivers, outflanking the German defensive line. Canadian engineers help ferry out the survivors.
1942 Pacific – Squadron Leader K. A. Boomer downs Japanese fighter off Alaska; RCAF’s only air combat in North America.
1942 Montreal Quebec – Montreal holds civic welcome for 17 Canadian soldiers wounded in the Dieppe raid.
1940 Pacific – Canadian armed merchantman ‘Prince Robert’ captures German ship ‘Weser’ off Mexican coast.
1926 Ottawa Ontario – William Lyon Mackenzie King 1874-1950 sworn in as Prime Minister; until Aug. 7, 1930; replacing Arthur Meighen, PM since June 29.
1926 Montreal Quebec – National Hockey League grants NHL franchises to Chicago Black Hawks and Detroit Red Wings.
1885 Battleford Saskatchewan – Kapapamahchakwew (Wandering Spirit) tried for treason and sentenced to hang for involvement in North West Rebellion.
1872 Toronto Ontario – David Lewis Macpherson 1818-1896 organizes Interoceanic Railway Company to bid for transcontinental railway contract.
1844 Montreal Quebec – Canada defeats US in first international cricket match.
1839 Montreal Quebec – Lower Canada government deports 58 patriotes to exile in Australia.
1815 Winnipeg Manitoba – Metis leader Cuthbert Grant c1796-1854 attacks fort at Red River settlement; remaining settlers leave two days later.
1810 Kingston Ontario – First issue of The Kingston Gazette; now the Whig-Standard.
1775 Montreal Quebec – Vermont revolutionary Ethan Allen captured by British troops as he rashly leads an attack toward Montreal before the Army of the Continental Congress arrives; the leader of the Green Mountain Boys a prisoner in an English jail for three years.
1763 London England – Montague Wilmot d1766 appointed Governor of Nova Scotia; takes office in May, 1764.
1750 Halifax, Nova Scotia – Nova Scotia fixes wage of laborers at 18 pence a day, with a rum and beer provision; first recorded government wage fixing in Canada.
1726 Nova Scotia – Some Acadians sign a British oath of allegiance on condition they do not have to fight the French.

25 Sep

OBITS – SEP 25, 2010

Posted by CAPER in Obituaries.

Obituaries for September 25th, 2010

24 Sep

TODAY – SEP 24, 2010 – IN CANADIAN HISTORY

Posted by CAPER in History.

On This Day

September 24
maple leaf Today's Canadian Headline....
1927 BIRTH OF THE LEAFS Toronto Ontario – Conn Smythe changes the name of the NHL’s Toronto St Patricks hockey team to the Maple Leafs.
1988

Also On This Day...

Seoul, Korea – Canada’s Ben Johnson breaks his own world record to win the 100 meter gold medal in 9.79 seconds at the 24th Olympiad in Seoul. Johnson is forced by the lOC to return the medal and is disqualified from the Games after a positive steroid drug test two days later.
1948

And in Today's Canadian Birthdays...

Phil Hartman 1948-1998
actor, comedian, comedy writer, cartoon voice, was born on this day at Brantford, Ontario in 1948; shot by his mentally troubled wife May 28, 1998 in Encino, California. Hartman acted as Captain Coral on Pee Wee’s Playhouse, and was a regular on Saturday Night Live 1986-94, playing the Weekend Update anchor, Prez Clinton, Frank Sinatra. He has also done voice as Darkwing Duck’s Paddywhack, The Smurfs, Dennis the Menace, The Simpsons (attorney Lionel Hutz) and recently played NewsRadio’s Anchorman Bill McNeil. Here is a Phil Hartman filmography.

Also Thomas Shoyama 1917-
economist, public servant, was born on this day at Kamloops. BC in 1917. Interned with other Japanese Canadians in World War II, Shoyama began his career in the Tommy Douglas government in Saskatchewan, and left for Ottawa in 1964 to work as a senior economist with the Economic Council of Canada. In the 1970s and 1980s he served as Deputy Minister of Energy, Mines and Resources, Deputy Minister of Finance and Chairman of Atomic Energy of Canada Ltd.
In Other Events….
1992 Toronto Ontario – Blue Jays’ Dave Winfield became the first 40 year old and the oldest major league player to knock in 100 RBIs. Winfield drove in four runs with a homer and a two-run double in and 8-2 win over the Baltimore Orioles.
1992 United Nations, New York – External Affairs Minister Barbara McDougall says Canada will cut UN peacekeeping grant if others don’t pay share; may pull out of Cyprus; 4,300 Canadian soldiers currently committed.
1991 Ottawa Ontario – Brian Mulroney 1939- presents 59 page ‘Shaping Canada’s Future Together’; blueprint for distinct society; elected Senate; will be taken across Canada by 30 member committee.
1990 Beauséjour, New Brunswick – Jean Chretien 1934- to run in federal by-election in Beauséjour, vacated by retiring MP Fernand Robichaud; represented St-Maurice 1963-1986.
1988 Seoul, South Korea – Canadian Ben Johnson sets world record in the 100 metre sprint at the Summer Olympic Games in 9.79 seconds against arch-rival, American Carl Lewis; later stripped of gold medal after testing positive for banned anabolic steroids.
1985 Montreal Quebec – Expo Andre Dawson get 6 RBIs in one inning (5th); ninth major leaguer to reach this mark.
1984 Moncton, New Brunswick – Queen Elizabeth II 1926- starts two-week Canadian tour with Prince Philip; visits New Brunswick, Ontario and Manitoba; tour delayed by the election.
1977 Vancouver BC – Ken Hinton of CFL British Columbia Lions returns a punt 130 yards.
1977 Ottawa Ontario – Canadian dollar drops to 89.88¢; Bank of Canada arranges US $1.5 billion standby credit; for first time since 1939.
1973 Ottawa Ontario – Canada officially recognizes new Pinochet military government in Chile.
1972 Moscow Russia – Canadian NHL All Stars defeat Soviet team 3-2 in second game in the USSR; USSR still leads series 3-2 with one tie.
1969 Toronto Ontario – Ontario bans use of pesticide DDT, effective January 1, 1970.
1967 St-Tite, Quebec – Opening of the first Festival western de St-Tite.
1965 Chatham England – Royal Canadian Navy commissions HMCS Ojibwa, first of three Oberon class submarines.
1965 United Nations, New York – Bruce F. Macdonald 1917- appointed to command United Nations India-Pakistan Observation Mission.
1962 Ottawa Ontario – John George Diefenbaker 1895-1979 opens Garden of the Provinces in Ottawa.
1959 Regina Saskatchewan – Ross Thatcher elected leader of the Saskatchewan Liberal Party, four years after quitting the NDP; later becomes Premier.
1958 Ottawa Ontario – Defense Minister George Pearkes decides to cancel the Canadian fire control and missile systems of the Avro Arrow program; a major step in the road to final cancellation Feb. 20, 1959.
1957 Montreal Quebec – Molson family acquires Montreal Canadiens hockey club.
1956 Ottawa Ontario – External Affairs requests withdrawal of G.F. Popov, second secretary of the Soviet embassy in Ottawa, for attempting to bribe an RCAF civilian employee.
1956 Washington DC – Canada signs atomic energy agreement with Britain and the United States in Washington.
1952 Toronto Ontario – Thieves make off with six boxes of gold bullion worth $300,000 from an unguarded building at Malton Airport. The gold, awaiting shipment to Montreal, is never found; likely flown to New York in a private plane and smuggled to Hong Kong.
1950 Toronto Ontario – Canadian military mission arrives in Tokyo; first Canadian unit dispatched to Korean conflict.
1945 Toronto Ontario – Edward Plunkett ‘E. P.’ Taylor 1901-1989 incorporates Canada’s largest holding company, Argus Corporation; a private investment company to handle his Canadian Breweries and other holdings.
1942 Contact Creek, Yukon – Alaska Highway opened at Contact Creek, 305 miles north of Fort Nelson, BC.
1941 London England – Canada joins eight other allied governments in pledging allegiance to the Atlantic Charter, an eight-point declaration issued by President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Prime Minister Winston Churchill.
1939 Quebec Quebec – Maurice Duplessis 1890-1959 calls Quebec election for Oct. 25, asks for ‘a vote for autonomy against conscription’.
1935 Edmonton Alberta – Alberta Social Credit Premier William Aberhart announces an issue of 10 year $25 Prosperity Bonds to be sold to Albertans; to help province clear its $150 million debt.
1905 Toronto Ontario – Henry Fleming the first to band a bird in Canada.
1901 Whitehorse Yukon – Telegraph connection completed between Yukon and southern Canada.
1897 Queenston Ontario – Niagara Falls Suspension Bridge Company and the Niagara Falls International Bridge Company open new double track steel arch bridge; upper floor leased to the Grand Trunk Railway.
1875 Lake Winnipeg Manitoba – Saulteaux, Swampy Cree and others sign Treaty #5 in Northern Manitoba; also adherents in 1908-10, total 160,930 sq km.
1859 Ottawa Ontario – Capital of the Province of Canada moves from Quebec City to Ottawa; previously in rotation at Toronto, Kingston and Montreal.
1844 Montreal Quebec – Start of first international cricket match; Canada defeats the US the following day.
1841 Montreal Quebec – Richard Jackson 1777-1845 appointed administrator of Province of Canada, serves until Jan. 12, 1842 as Commander-in-Chief of British North America.
1827 BC – HBC arms Talkotin Indians to help them drive off stronger Chilkotins.
1788 Nootka BC – First shipment of Canadian furs sent to China.
1766 London England – Guy Carleton named Lieutenant Governor of Quebec.
1761 London England – Henry Ellis d1806 appointed Governor of Nova Scotia; until Nov. 21, 1763; never comes to province to assume office.
1688 Mackinaw Michigan – Louis-Armand de Lom d’Arce de Lahonton 1666-c1716 sets out from Michilimackinac to explore west; will reach Mississippi River via Wisconsin River.
1685 Quebec – Playing cards used as money in New France when payship fails to arrive.
1683 Paris France – Jews expelled from all French possessions in America, including New France.
1669 Mackinaw Michigan – René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle 1643-1687 meets Louis Jolliet and Father Marquette at St. Ignace.
1647 Quebec Quebec – Building of Notre-Dame church in Quebec.
1646 Chambly Quebec – Isaac Jogues 1607-1646 taken prisoner by Iroquois, who blame them for smallpox and famine outbreak; abandoned by Huron guard at Fort Richelieu.

<!– “There can be no dedication to Canada’s future without a knowledge of its past.”
John George Diefenbaker 1895-1979
1964 –>


Today in Canadian History is written, compiled, edited and produced by Ottawa

24 Sep

CAPE BRETON RACISM – PT I

Posted by CAPER in Family, History.

CAPE BRETON RACISM

 

Black Coal Miner – Cape Breton

Cape Breton Black Settlement – In the early 1900’s many immigrants came to Cape Breton as laborers to work for the Dominion Iron and Steel Company. They settled in the city of Sydney and in the Cape Breton mining towns of Glace Bay and New Waterford. Among the immigrants to settle in Cape Breton were West Indian Blacks from Barbados, Grenada, St. Vincent, Guyana, and other Caribbean locations. Other Black settlers came from smaller Nova Scotia centers such as Guysborough and Tracadie. The plant hired individuals accustomed to tropical climates on the premise that they would be able to withstand the hot conditions associated with the steel making. One group of immigrants originally from the West Indies came over from Alabama because they were offered double the wages they were making. These individuals did not stay long as the harsh bitter winters were too difficult for them.  

The West Indian immigrants continued to immigrate to Cape Breton for the first few decades of the 1900’s. Following the first group of wage laborers, there arrived a group of West Indians who established small businesses in Whitney Pier. They were proud owners of grocery, book, and jewelry stores, and provided other services such as shoemaking, tailoring, carpentry, and plastering. The immigration also brought professionals from West Indies to Canada. One of the more socially prominent immigrants was Doctor Alvinus Calder, a native of Grenada, and a graduate of McGill University who set up a practice in Whitney Pier. A lawyer named F.A. Hamilton, from Barbados, practiced law in Sydney and published a province wide weekly newspaper about Blacks called The Gleaner.

Religion – The West Indians formed different social organizations and worshipped in the churches of their choice. The early West Indians worshipped at St. Cyprian’s, St. Albans, Trinity United, the United Mission, and St. Philip’s African Orthodox Church. St. Philip’s became the focal point of the Black West Indian community. It is also the only African Orthodox parish in Canada.

Whitney Pier Blacks Protest Conditions

St. Philip’s – St. Philip’s was established in 1921 as a result of a racial incident that occurred when the Black people of Whitney Pier were met with opposition to their attending a local church. Some blacks continued to attend services at the religious institutions. However, others did not feel comfortable attending and sought a church of their own. Thus came the need within the Black community of Whitney Pier for a church catering to their distinctive needs. Soon after the incident, members of the Black community applied to the African Orthodox Church in New York seeking permission to establish their own congregation in Sydney. Permission was granted and St. Philip’s African Orthodox Church was formed. St. Philips is proud of its African and West Indian background but welcome all races to the church. Often you will hear Archbishop Vincent Waterman state, “There is only one race – the human race.”

Education – Education was a motivating force in the lifestyle of most of the families from the West Indies. Education meant opportunity. The children of the West Indian families knew early in life they needed to have an education. Both the quality and quantity of education would determine their future and their pursuit of happiness. The West Indians came as people who were already well educated and taught their children the value of education.

(Many Cape Bretoners held unreasonable prejudices against Blacks. I remember once only a few years ago I asked this friend (?) of mine how was his brother doing and he told me he married a Black  woman from Sydney. “Bye he said, I can be in the living room and if she enters the kitchen I know she’s in the house because they have a smell about them, same as in the Pit, you could smell them.” And her a beautiful Registered Nurse. The only smell he could detect was his. CAPER)

Overcoming Obstacles – The West Indians who served in the First World War fought as well as any other Canadians and received a measure of recognition. However, these same men and women often had to win respect all over again in the streets of Cape Breton.  

Fewer job opportunities were available to Blacks than to other workers in the steel and coal industries. Jobs offered to black laborers were usually known as “dirty jobs” such as laborer in the coke ovens department of the steel plant. (This would be the area, which lead to one of the worst toxic sites in Canada). Blacks from the West Indies were among many cultural groups recruited to work in the coke ovens. Advancement in the steel plant and coalmines was highly unlikely for Black people.

(I borrowed much of my information on Racism in the following section from Isaac Saney from Halifax – CAPER)Racism – Who is to blame for racism? What is

its cause and aim? Is it merely a matter

of skin colour? Of genetics? Of so-called ‘human nature’?

 

Black in Bondage

The question may be asked: What lead to the destruction of this climate of mutual

respect? History gives one dominating answer: the Atlantic Slave Trade. While slavery

 is an ancient institution, for most of world history it was not a condition identified or

 linked to skin colour. What is often forgotten is that the Irish were bought and sold in

English markets in the Middle Ages. The Irish were the first people sold as slaves in

the Caribbean, totaling over 100,000. The Irish were white – as were the Acadian

people of Maritime Canada. Racism is a weapon of exploiters to single out or target

definite peoples for attack. It is not a matter of colour.

Early Black-White relations in North America – Early Black-white relations in

 North America are usually conceived as defined by the racial divide and inevitable

 conflict. The historical record reveals quite a different relationship: one in which

both blacks – those in servitude and those who had earned and won their freedom –

 and poor whites – the overwhelming majority of the white population – shared,

trial and tribulation. The idea of whiteness and white people, separate and apart f

rom blackness and black people did not as yet exist. This was to come later as a d

irect product of the development of racist ideology, not just to justify slavery but

 to drive a wedge between black and white.

Blacks and Irish were Enslaved in America – 1876

(Both my grand fathers were in their teens then – CAPER)

“Working together in the same fields, sharing the same huts, the same situation,

and the same grievances, the first black and white Americans, aristocrats excepted,

 developed strong bonds of sympathy and mutuality. They ran away together, played

 together and revolted together … In the process, the black and white servants –

the majority of the colonial population – created a racial wonderland that seems s

omehow un-American in its lack of obsession about race and colour. There was to

be sure prejudice then, but it was largely English class prejudice which was distri

buted without regard to race, creed or colour.”

Newly Arrived Miners from Georgia for Cape Breton Coal Mines

A most powerful feature of this early era is “the equality of oppression” between

white and black. Indeed, in the first years of slavery indentured white servants

were often treated as badly as enslaved Africans, with blacks and whites being

held in the same contempt and assigned similar tasks. White women not only

worked in the fields but were also flogged by the colonial authorities. Indentured

servants could be bought and sold like livestock, kidnapped, stolen, put up as stakes

 in card games and awarded – even before their arrival in America – to victors

in lawsuits.

 

Some examples illuminate the prevailing state of affairs. In 1663, white servants and black slaves in Gloucester Co., Virginia planned to stage a rebellion to win their freedom. Their plans were discovered and many were executed. In

New York in 1741, poor whites and slaves were accused of conspiracy. After a

trial 35 persons were executed. Bacon’s Rebellion was probably the most

dramatic example. This uprising of white frontiersmen, slaves and servants in

 1676 forced the English government to dispatch a thousand troops across the

Atlantic in order to restore order. A group of 80 Africans and 20 English servants

were among the last to surrender.

It should be emphasized that while African resistance and revolt, widespread and

numerous, was the crucial factor in the struggle to abolish slavery, Black people did

 not stand alone: either before or after the conscious creation of the colour line. This

 aid – overwhelmingly from the lower class persisted in the face of concerted efforts

by the slaveholders to eliminate anti-slavery opponents and organizations. Joining

this great struggle were white allies: who came in the main from among the poor …

 No, it was the ‘plain’ man and woman, the artisan and mechanic, the factory worker,

the yeoman and small farmer, the poor housewife who formed the bulk of the

membership of the Abolitionist societies, despite intimidations; who contributed

the largest part of the pennies and dollars with which the Abolitionist movement

 printed and distributed the pamphlets, petitions and papers appealing for justice

 and condemning oppression.


Sailor Removing Shackles from Freed Slave

While the ruling elites were terrified of black revolt, they were thrown into panic

 by the prospect of continued and widespread joint white-black rebellion. This

would threaten to overthrow the existing order. It was noted at the time  that in

the wake of these uprisings, particularly Bacon’s Rebellion, the plantation owners

concluded that “if freemen (i.e., whites) with disappointed hopes, should make

 common cause with slaves of desperate hope, the results might be worse than

anything that the Rebellion had done.” The Anglo-American ruling class, by

deliberate policy, drew the colour line between freedom and slavery, “on race lines:

any trace of African ancestry carried the presumption of slavery.”

As a result, the Virginia Assembly enacted various measures toward this end,

 including the slave codes that dictated discipline and punishment.  Virginia’s

ruling class, having proclaimed that all white men were superior to black, went

on to offer their social (but white) inferiors a number of benefits previously denied

them. In 1705 a law was passed requiring masters to provide white servants

whose indenture time was up with ten bushels of corn, thirty shillings, and a gun,

while women were to get fifteen bushels of corn and forty shillings. Also, the newly

 freed servants were to get fifty acres of land. This was done not so much to offer a

measure of freedom but out of fear of the lower class whites and to place a wedge

between them and the blacks.
  *Isaac Saney, editor of Shunpiking Magazone’s Black History Supplement, is on faculty, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS.”  

24 Sep

OBITS – SEP 24, 2010

Posted by CAPER in Obituaries.

Obituaries for September 24th, 2010

23 Sep

TODAY – SEP 23, 2010 – IN CANADIAN HISTORY

Posted by CAPER in History.

On This Day

September 23
maple leaf Today's Canadian Headline....
1973 CANADIAN AUTO WORKERS WIN PAY PARITYWindsor Ontario – United Auto Workers and Chrysler sign a contract giving Canadian auto workers wage parity with the US for the first time.
1787

Also On This Day...

Toronto Ontario – Guy Carleton, Lord Dorchester purchases the site of Toronto from three Mississauga Indian chiefs in a meeting near the site of the old French Fort Rouillé. The Toronto Purchase costs the British Crown £1,700 in cash and trade goods; the land is surveyed a year later, but not settled for another six years.
1912

Also On This Day...

New York New York –
Richmond, Quebec-born Mack Sennett releases his first Keystone Comedy movie, financed by two of his bookie friends. He is already a silent screen veteran, acting with fellow Canadians Marie Dressler and Mary Pickford. In 1914, he directed 35 comedies featuring his new star Charles Chaplin. In 1935, after directing a Buster Keaton movie, he went bust, and returned to Canada a pauper. Here he is with Chaplin at D. W. Griffith’s funeral in Hollywood in 1948.
1946

And in Today's Canadian Birthdays...

Anne Wheeler 1946-
film producer, director, writer, was born on this day at Edmonton, Alberta in 1946. Wheeler got a BSc in Mathematics from the University of Alberta, worked as a computer programmer, then returned to U of A for a Masters in Music Education. She started her film career at Filmwest with Great Grandmothers (1976), a short about pioneer women, then worked as a freelancer for the NFB, producing A War Story in 1981, about her father’s experiences as a Japanese POW in World War II. Wheeler has worked on over 26 award winning documentaries, docudramas, theatrical shorts, and TV dramas, including A Change of Heart (1984), Loyalties (1986), Cowboys Don’t Cry (1988), Bye Bye Blues (1990 – Winner of 3 Genies), Angel Square (1991) and the Diviners (1992-93 – her adaptation of the Margaret Laurence novel). Here is the Anne Wheeler filmography.

Also Walter Pidgeon 1897-1984
TV/movie actor, singer, was born on this day in Saint John, New Brunswick in 1897; died in Hollywood, California Sept. 25, 1984. Pidgeon had a long movie career, from 1925-78, and was a major star at MGM. He is best known for his roles in How Green Was My Valley (1941), Mrs. Miniver (1942), Madame Curie (1943) and Forbidden Planet (1956). Here is a Walter Pidgeon filmography.

Also Charles Ritchie 1906-1994
diplomat, diarist, was born on this day in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1906; died in Ottawa June 8, 1995. Ritchie had a successful career with External Affairs, from 1934-71, serving as Ambassador to Germany, the UN, the USA, NATO and the EEC and the UK He is known for his delightful and insightful diaries – The Siren Years (1974 – Governor General’s Award), An Appetite for Life (1977), Diplomatic Passport (1981) and Storm Signals (1983), as well as My Grandfather’s House (1987) a memoir of his childhood.

Also Dominique Michel 1932-
comedienne, was born on this day in 1932. Michel is best known for her vivacious Radio Canada TV appearances (she is a staple of the Bye Bye New Year’s Eve show), and her performance in Denys Arcand’s The Decline of the American Empire (1986).
In Other Events….
1992 Tampa Florida – Quebec hockey player Manon Rhéaume plays in goal for Tampa Bay Lightning, giving up 2 goals on 9 shots in 1 period; first woman to play in a NHL exhibition game, and on one of the 4 major professional sports teams.
1992 Vancouver BC – Bill Comrie purchases BC Lions football team from the CFL.
1991 Fredericton, New Brunswick – Frank McKenna wins New Brunswick election with 46 seats, down from 58 seat sweep; anti-bilingual Confederation of Regions Party forms official opposition; CoR wins 8 seats; 3 PC, 1 NDP.
1991 Toronto Ontario – NY Islanders Mike Bossy & Denis Potvin inducted into the International Hockey Hall of Fame.
1990 Ottawa Ontario – Brian Mulroney 1939- appoints five new senators: James Kelleher, Trevor Eyton, Claude Castonguay, John Lynch-Staunton, Mabel DeWare; brings Senate up to strength.
1988 Seoul, South Korea – Canadian Ben Johnson sets world record in the 100 metre sprint at the Summer Olympic Games in 9.79 seconds against arch-rival, American Carl Lewis; later stripped of gold medal after testing positive for banned anabolic steroids.
1986 Canada – Gordie Drillon 1913-1986 dies; born Oct. 23 1913. Drillon was called up from the Syracuse Stars to the Toronto Maple Leafs to replace ailing Charlie Conacher; he played with Toronto until 1942, and was the last Leaf to win the NHL scoring title (1938).
1985 Ottawa Ontario – Fisheries Minister John Fraser resigned over the ‘tuna affair’; in 1986 he will be elected Speaker of the House of Commons.
1985 Montreal Quebec – Guy Lafleur dismissed from public relations post with Montreal Canadiens.
1971 Montreal Quebec – FLQ terrorist Bernard Lortie found guilty of the 1970 kidnapping of Quebec Labour Minister Pierre Laporte.
1969 Ottawa Ontario – Keith Holyoake Prime Minister of New Zealand starts visit to Canada.
1961 Quebec Quebec – Daniel Johnson 1915-1968, père, elected leader of the Union Nationale Party.
1961 Ottawa Ontario – Connie-Gail Feller dethroned after less than 6 weeks as Miss Canada because she returned home for a religious holiday without permission from officials; Feller, the first Ottawan to wear the crown, replaced by runner-up Miss Victoria.
1957 United Nations, New York – John George Diefenbaker 1895-1979 addresses UN General Assembly for first time.
1956 Toronto Ontario – Founding of the first Portuguese-Canada Club.
1925 Quebec Quebec – William Lyon Mackenzie King addresses the Liberal party conference in Quebec.
1915 France – Quebecker Joseph Tremblay the first Canadian soldier to dies at the front in World War I.
1908 Edmonton Alberta – Forty-five students attend first classes of the University of Alberta held on the top floor of an elementary school in Strathcona.
1907 Ottawa Ontario – Proclamation sets the fineness and weight of the silver and bronze coins of Canada.
1904 Fullerton NWT – Royal North West Mounted Police found post at Fullerton on Hudson Bay near Chesterfield Inlet.
1893 Eganville Ontario – Ottawa, Arnprior and Parry Sound Railway opens extension to Madawaska; will reach Depot Harbour at Parry Sound on Georgian Bay on Dec. 1, 1896.
1877 Blackfoot Crossing, Alberta – Crowfoot (Sahpo-Muxica) 1936-1890 signs Treaty #7 with other Blackfoot, Blood, Piegan, Sarcee and Stony chiefs, and Commissioner David Laird and Lt-Col James MacLeod of the NWMP. Gets 69,039 sq km; $12 per Indian; schools; farm instruction; acreage; Canada’s last major first nations treaty.
1874 Toronto Ontario – Toronto’s Grand Opera House opens with a performance of Sheridan’s Restoration comedy The School of Scandal.
1873 Winnipeg Manitoba – Ambroise-Dydime Lépine l834-1923 arrested for treason; president of the court-martial which condemned Thomas Scott in 1870.
1873 Toronto Ontario – Founding of Canadian Labour Union as central organization representing 31 unions; first convention of organized labour; membership fees at five cents every three months; disbanded in 1878 after failing to become a national federation.
1871 Montebello Quebec – Louis-Joseph Papineau dies at his seigneury of Montebello.
1844 Montreal Quebec – Charles Metcalfe, Baron Metcalfe 1785-1846 dissolves Parliament and forces an election.
1675 Kingston Ontario – René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle 1643-1687 becomes the proprietor of Fort Frontenac, after being given letters of nobility and the seigneury of Cataraqui; will settle the site and use the fort as a base for western exploration.
1644 Quebec Quebec – Governor Charles Huault de Montmagny c1583-c1653 lays the cornerstone of the church of Notre-Dame-de-la-Paix; with Father Lalemont.
1578 Bristol England – Humphrey Gilbert c1539-1583 sets sail on his first trip to North America for Queen Elizabeth; will be turned back at Cape Verde by the Spaniards.
1577 Gravesend England – Martin Frobisher c1539-1594 returns to England from his second voyage to the Arctic with 200 tons of ore as ballast; his three kidnapped Inuit, a man, woman and child, die a month later of influenza.

<!– “We have no scenario we get an idea, then follow the natural sequence of events until it leads up to a chase, which is the essence of our comedy.”
Mack Sennett 1880-1960
Keystone Cops director, producer
to Charlie Chaplin
1913 –>


Today in Canadian History is written, compiled, edited and produced by Ottawa Researchers © 1984-2002.

23 Sep

OBITS – SEP 23, 2010

Posted by CAPER in Obituaries.

Obituaries for September 23rd, 2010

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