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Private Notes
Between 1840 and 1860, more than 30,000 American slaves came secretly to Canada and freedom
WORLD WAR I was known as The Great War, a name that referred to its international scale, its massive mobilization of men, munitions and supplies, and its terrible toll on human life. Some say that the young country of Canada came of age in this war. Canadians won glory in the Royal Flying Corps, where Billy Bishop and Raymond Collishaw survived long enough to become aces of the air, and Roy Brown downed the Red Baron. However, it was also in the gruesome war of the trenches that Canadians demonstrated their endurance and courage.
Jacques Plante broke with tradition and changed the face of hockey forever.
Jacques Plante was to become one of the National Hockey League's greatest goalies, but was never one to rest on his laurels. He would dare to be different and go against the game's "macho" traditions by wearing a protective face mask, and developed a very personal style of play in front of and behind the net.
The names of women are conspicuously absent from the lists of famous Canadian medical pioneers. During the 19th Century, while male physicians and surgeons were exploring new treatments and innovative medical procedures, Canadian women were struggling for the mere right to practice medicine. For them, acceptance into a medical school was a major achievement. The two women most responsible for breaking down the barriers and advancing medical training for women in Canada were Emily Stowe and Jennie Kidd Trout.
Superman leapt from comic books to radio serials in the 1940s, and on to the television screen by the 1950s. At the beginning of each episode a breathless announcer proclaimed that the caped superhero would once again defend "Truth, Justice and the American Way." Who would have thought that this great American hero was a Canadian creation?
Canadian peacekeepers are stationed in Cyprus to help diffuse tension between Greek and Turkish Cypriots.
Our governor general controlled by an elected assembly, instead of by us. It's a Canadian idea!
Individual women and men can achieve great things when they break with tradition. But history shows that nations, too, must forge new paths to realize their ideals.
By the late Nineteenth Century, the railroad had connected eastern Canada with the West Coast. The train offered new access to the vast western prairies - thousands of hectares of fertile soil.
Nellie McClung was a political activist. She was also a charmer with a gift for oratory and a delightful sense of humour. Her spirited leadership rallied others to the cause of women's suffrage in Manitoba in the early 20th century.
In the 1850s, many Québec families adopted Irish orphans, their parents dead from ship's fever on the Atlantic crossing
The Irish and the French Canadians share a part of history that goes back more than 150 years, at a time when waves of European immigrants were flooding into Canada, most of them arriving first in Québec. One tragic episode occurred in 1847.
After Columbus landed in the Western Hemisphere in 1492, European rulers sent explorers across the Atlantic to the Americas to claim territory and discover riches. The Spanish, Portuguese, English, Dutch and French all wanted a piece of the "New World" for themselves. Sometimes we forget that the "new world" was not new at all, but the ancient home of many people who were called "Indians" by the Europeans. Jacques Cartier came from the French court of King Francis I to explore North America. In 1534, on his first voyage, he explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
Dr. Wilder Penfield had a passionate desire to unlock the mysteries of the human brain. He revolutionized the techniques of brain surgery and made major discoveries about human cognition, memory and sensation.
Penfield's medical exploration began with the causes and treatment of epilepsy, which was considered incurable. In 1935 he set up the Montréal Neurological Institute, which brought together surgeons and scientists for co-operative projects in the research, diagnosis and surgical treatment of brain disorders.
