#OnThisDay, 30 Mar 1982, Bertha Wilson was sworn in to the Canadian Supreme Court. She is the first woman appointed to sit on it.
When she had started at law school in 1955, she was reportedly advised to 'take up crocheting' instead.
Her 1988 ruling decriminalised abortion in Canada.
Dear Canada - a love letter composed by # by #TimThompson, sports video editor.
#Canada #CanadianCulture #CanadianHistory #CanadianMusic #CanadianArt #DearCanada #TommyDouglas #AnneMurray #MichaelJFox #GordonLightfoot #Painters #GroupOfSeven #FirstNations #Art #Music #History #Culture
"Chinese and Indigenous communities have shared histories. We faced hardships together while mining for gold in the British Columbia gold rush and experiencing the rugged Canadian weather and terrain.
There are many graves on First Nations territories when Chinese people died from the flu and from the building of the railway, crushed by landslides, collapsing tunnels and premature blastings (Mittelstedt, 2014). The First Nations communities took in the Chinese railroad workers and care for their grave sites to this day (Mittelstedt, 2014). We enjoyed economic success and partnerships that were respectful and mutually beneficial (Ma, 2012). Chinese people leased lands (on First Nations) to farm and then hired Indigenous people to help farm the land (Mathur et al., 2011, p. 74). The Chinese built elaborate gold-mining operations among First Nations communities and perhaps most importantly our communities intermingled and there were many marriages between Chinese men and Indigenous women. In 1891, 98% of Chinese people in Canada lived in British Columbia (Barman, 2013, p. 1), which explains why there are such intimate ties between Chinese people and our First Nations communities in British Columbia. Unsurprisingly, one in six Chinese men created a family with a local Indigenous woman (Barman, 2013, p. 1)."
https://fccrwc.com/chinese-and-indigenous-history-relationships-canada/
#OnThisDay, 6 Jan 1971, the Militant Mothers of Raymur, 25 women from the Raymur Place housing project in Vancouver, blockaded railway tracks to get a pedestrian overpass installed. 400 children from the housing project had to cross the tracks - while trains were running - to get to and from school.
The bridge was built and is now named after the women.
#WomenInHistory #OTD #History #WomensHistory #CanadianHistory #Histodons
Ah, missed that! My apologies. That Union Government did so many things it has been a big #CanadianHistory touch point for me, and I jumped the gun.
*In case you missed reading this when it was first published last year.*
#Canada’s #NationalParks Are #Colonial #CrimeScenes.
Many see wilderness as a right of citizenship. But the concept of Canada as untouched #nature is unrecognizable to #Indigenous people
In 2017, it felt like the whole country was swept up in the rah-rah celebrations around Canada 150. It was a collective anniversary, a chance to celebrate our history. Well, some of it, anyway. Tied to the many calls to explore the country and take stock of its many wonders, #ParksCanada released its Discovery Pass, which granted free entry to all national parks that year. These natural spaces “represent the very best that Canada has to offer,” it announced in a press release. “They are the essence of our country because they tell stories of who we are, including the history, cultures and contributions of Indigenous peoples.” But, as Robert Jago explored in his timely essay, Canada’s parks program was built on the displacement of Indigenous peoples and the capture of their territories—a form of “green colonialism.” Parks are wonderful spaces, but they have also acted as #political cover for the control of land, a tactic we still see used today.—Daniel Viola, senior editor, November 2023 issue.
https://thewalrus.ca/canadas-national-parks-are-colonial-crime-scenes/
The Canadian National film board, in honor of Wade Hemsworth's birthday, just reminded me of the existence if this video. (Does anyone know if CBC is still playing it?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=upsZZ2s3xv8
#OnThisDay, 27 Aug 1927, Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby sign a letter to the government of Canada. It starts the “Persons case” that decides whether a woman legally counted as a person or not.
The case finds women are ‘persons’, and eventually leads to women being appointed to the Canadian Senate.
The women who started the case become known as “the famous five”.
I am going down the rabbit hole with research for my new story. What I was originally planning to have as cosmic horror is becoming more and more eco-horror based on the history of New Brunswick. There’s so much going on here: expropriation for Base Gagetown and Mactaquac, huge amounts of DDT sprayed everywhere, rampant deforestation, and heavy testing of Agent Orange (and all the other rainbow herbicides). Who needs Cthulhu when there’s corporate/military/industrial poisoning on a grand scale? And that’s not even getting into the fracking. #Writing #Research #NewBrunswick #CanadianHistory
‘A lack of compassion’: Canada’s shameful #history of #medical #colonialism.
Dr. Shaheen-Hussain has written a #book on the subject. Fighting for a Hand to Hold: Confronting Medical #Colonialism against #Indigenous Children in Canada (2020, McGill-Queens University Press) shines a light on the decades-long cruel practice of separating children from their families during emergency medevacs from northern and remote regions of Quebec.
How The American Civil War Made Canada #history
#civilwar #canadausa #canadianhistory
The Canadian story of the American Civil War, told in two parts. Through the eyes of the Canadians who helped start the war, to those who fought it, to the leaders influenced by it, we unravel one of the most pivotal events in the continent's history. From the pubs of Saint John to the docks of Halifax, from Southern Ontario battlefields to the battlements of Quebec City, find out which Canadians were on the right and wrong sides of history. This is the story of two nations facing each other down over a tenuous border for a century, and the war that changed everything.
#OnThisDay, 6 Jan 1971, the Militant Mothers of Raymur, 25 women from the Raymur Place housing project in Vancouver, blockaded railway tracks to get a pedestrian overpass to protect the 400 children who had to cross the tracks - while trains were running - to get to and from school.
The bridge was built and is now named after them.
#WomenInHistory #History #CanadianHistory #BlackHistory
(hat tip to @workingclasshistory who first posted this one)
As I Swedish Death Clean my house (though I’m not dying) I’ve come across something that I need to find a good home for. These are 3 issues of « Les aventures de l’Agent IXE-13, L’as des espions Canadiens » from the 1950s, that I found at the bottom of a cardboard box at a Quebec flea market.
I’d like to gift them to someone from Quebec with an interest in popular culture in 20th century French-speaking Quebec.
Any takers? (1/5)
@outofcontrol@phpc.socialAny Canadian Historians on Mastodon? Trying to figure out what institute this crest belongs too. On my Uncles (Mom’s side) sweater circa 1947-1950 most likely around Montreal. Possible Vancouver area, but I don’t think he had moved yet. Possibly military. We have very little to go on, as “Bill” committed suicide in ’77, my Mom didn’t cope well, and burnt a lot of his family papers and never talked about him.
#OnThisDay, 8 Oct 1643, Jeanne Mance opens the Hôtel-Dieu de Montréal - the first hospital in Canada.
Priceless artifacts found near untouched #Beothuk site in central #Newfoundland #Canada.
Beothuk Lake was the last refuge for Newfoundland's #Indigenous group. They struggled with European diseases, violent encounters, and losing crucial migration routes to colonization. Shawnadithit, widely recognized as the last Beothuk, died in 1829.
Among the items found were a pair of deer spears — metal rods taken from European settlements and sharpened at the tip to kill caribou; they're perhaps the best preserved
spears uncovered by #Archaeologists.
#Artifacts #AchaeologicalSite #IndigenousHistory #CanadianHistory #Archaeology
#OnThisDay, 27 Aug 1927, Emily Murphy, Nellie McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby sign a letter to the government of Canada. It starts the “Persons case” that decides whether a woman counted as a person.
The case finds women are ‘persons’, and leads to women being appointed to the Canadian Senate.
#CanadianHistory #WomenInHistory #Histodons
#ForestProtectors Arrested at #FairyCreek
By Brenda Norrell, Censored News, August 16, 2023
"Three forest protectors were arrested on Tuesday protecting the old-growth forests west of Victoria, as Canada continues to target #NativePeople with police operatives protecting the interest of destructive industries. The police ops are #BritishColumbia's C-IRG, the Community #Industry Response Group.
"Mourning the invasion of the #MilitarizedPolice squad who arrested the #ForestDefenders, who were his guests, #Pacheedaht #FirstNation Elder Bill Jones said, 'We are at the end times of our great forests.'
"Abolish C-IRG said, 'Due to the increasing amount of #indigenous-led anti-resource extraction movements in British Columbia, the Community-Industry Response Group was born. C-IRG is unique to British Columbia. They are militarized, have no budget limit, and the officers get paid handsomely to force #pipelines, #mines, #dams, and #logging through unceded #IndigenousTerritories, without consent. This is just another extension of the #RCMP’s original task- to remove and separate people from the land and enforce #ColonialRule. They do not keep us safe, they protect #capital."
Background: Back to Fairy Creek
"The last time the world was watching Fairy Creek, we witnessed the largest act of #CivilDisobedience in #CanadianHistory. Well over 1,000 Indigenous and non-Indigenous forest defenders were arrested by the RCMP over months of tense standoffs in 2021 as #activists sought to halt the logging of rare #AncientTrees.
"The courts hammered that movement, with charges and bail conditions keeping many away, and the tussle in the trees went dormant for most of the last two years.
"Until now.
"A new blockade, led by #IndigenousYouth and supported by non-Indigenous allies, has just been erected on a key bridge crossing an arterial logging road. The RCMP's specialized tactical team that responds to land defence actions is present and surveilling the camp. A raid could come any day, and having #media on the ground is of crucial importance to keep tabs on police and document the latest developments as land defenders seek to protect their unceded territories from old-growth logging."
Full article and more information:
https://bsnorrell.blogspot.com/2023/08/forest-protectors-raided-at-fairy-creek.html
@persagen@mastodon.socialTerry Fox: Canadian Hero
Just shared a pizza with / courtesy of my partner Carm in honor of B.C. Day - elsewhere known as (my preference) Terry Fox Day (1st Mon. in August). 
Legendary Canadian (Manitoba-born; B.C resident), cancer research fundraiser, my personal hero. RIP 
Terry Fox: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terry_Fox
* (b.1958-07-28; d. 1981-06-28) Canadian athlete, humanitarian, cancer research activist
...
#Canada ’s #first #museum #dedicated to #Chinese #Canadian #history will open in #Vancouver on the 100th #anniversary of #legislation that curtailed #immigration from #China .
#ChineseCanadianMuseum will open July 1, 2023 — one century after #GovernmentOfCanada #enacted the #ChineseImmigrationAct aka #ChineseExclusionAct
