Canada
Day
(Dominion Day)
July 1.
O
Canada! Our fathers' land of old
Thy brow is crown'd with leaves of red and gold.
Beneath the shade of the Holy Cross
Thy children own their birth
No stains thy glorious annals gloss
Since valour shield thy hearth.
Almighty God! On thee we call
Defend our rights, forfend this nation's thrall,
Defend our rights, forfend this nation's thrall.
Dr.
Thomas Bedford Richardson's version of O Canada, probably
the first English version to be heard publicly.
(Ref.: Canada
Day page from the Golden
GateGeneaology Forum site.)
A
Brief History. On July 1, 1867, the British North American
provinces, Canada East, Canada West, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick,
came together under the terms of the British North America
Act to become the Dominion of Canada.
In
1871, British Columbia (a Crown colony since 1858) joined
the Dominion upon being promised a rail link across the country).
It was followed in 1873 by Prince Edward Island, and in 1898
by the northern territory of Yukon (ensuring Canadian jurisdiction
over that region during the Klondike gold rush.
In
1905, Rupert's Land was divided into two new provinces: Alberta
and Saskatchewan while the rest of the northwest territory
became ... well - the Northwest Territories. Newfoundland
remained a British colony until 1949 when it finally became
Canada's tenth province.
(Ref.:
Communication
Canada's Fact Sheets - Canada's History.)
On
June 20, 1868, Governor General Lord Monck signed a proclamation
calling upon "all Her Majesty's loving subjects throughout
Canada" to join in the celebration of the anniversary
of Canada's birth under the British North America Act. This
holiday, to be held on July 1, was established by statute
11 years later, in 1879, as Dominion Day.
Oddly
enough, there appears to be no organized ceremonies (or at
least no records of any), except for the 50th anniversary
of Confederation in 1917 when the Centre Block of the Parliament
Buildings was dedicated as a memorial both to the Fathers
of Confederation and to the WWI veterans.
[NB:
Although Heritage Canada says there are no records of organized
ceremonies for Dominion Day, I found this Dominion
Day poster from Richmond Hill, 1872.]
It
wasn't until 10 years later, 1927, that another celebration
was held, this one again featuring an architectural theme
with the laying of the cornerstone of the Confederation Building
on Wellington Street and the inauguration of the Carillon
in the Peace Tower.
Only
since 1958 has the government arranged for an annual observance
of Dominion Day.
(Ref.:
Holidays
& Anniversaries section of the Canadian
Heritage site.)
Return
to top
Timeline.
Here's a brief timeline of Canada's history to the time of
Confederation.
-
1752
Canada's first newspaper, the weekly Halifax Gazette (March
23)
-
1760
British Conquest assured as Levis wins battle of St. Foy.
General James Murray appointed first British military
governor of Quebec.
-
1763
France cedes its North American possessions to Britain
by the Treaty of Paris.
-
1764
General Murray becomes civil governor of Quebec, his attempt
to appease French Canadians being met with anger by British
merchants.
-
1774
Carleton's recommendations are instituted in the Quebec
Act, introducing British criminal law, but retaining French
civil law and guarantees religious freedom for Roman Catholics.
-
1796
York becomes the capital of Upper Canada.
-
1812
The U.S. declares war on Britain (June 18) and the War
of 1812 begins. In 1813 they burn York (April 27) and
Laura Secord does her part during the Battle of Beaver
Dam (June 23). The war is ended by the Treaty of Ghent
(December 24).
-
1818
Canada's border defined as the 49th Parallel from Lake
of the Woods to the Rocky Mountains.
-
1836
Opening of Canada's first railway line, from St. Johns,
Quebec to La Prairie, Quebec.
-
1841
An Act of Union unites Upper and Lower Canada (Feb. 10)
as the Province of Canada.
-
1849
The boundary of the 49th Parallel is extended to the Pacific
Ocean.
-
1857
Queen Victoria designates Ottawa as capital of the Province
of Canada.
-
1867
Confederation. Britain's North American colonies united
by the BNA Act to become the Dominion of Canada. Sir John
A. Macdonald is Canada's first Prime Minister. Ottawa
becomes the capital of the Dominion.
(From
Canada History's Timeline)
Return
to top
The
Somme on Canada Day
It was
a magnificent display of trained and disciplined valour,
and its assault only failed of success because dead men
can advance no further.
Major-General
Sir Beauvoir de Lisle, Commander of the 29th British Division,
reporting on the efforts of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment.
The Battle of the Somme, an infantry offensive aimed at clearing
a path for the cavalry to the Channel through the German defences,
began July 1, 1916. When it was over there were 54,470 Allied
casualties, among them almost the entire 1st Newfoundland
Regiment.
Commemorative
poem by John Oxenham
Tread
softly here! Go reverently and slow!
Yea, let your soul go down upon its knees.
And with bowed head and heart abased strive hard
To grasp the future gain in this sore loss!
For not one foot of this dank sod but drank
Its surfeit of the blood of gallant men,
Who, for their faith, their hope, - for Life and Liberty,
Here made the sacrifice, - here gave their lives,
And gave right willingly - for you and me.
From this vast altar-pile the souls of men
Sped up to God in countless multitudes:
On this grim cratered ridge they gave their all,
And, giving, won The Peace of Heaven and Immortality.
Our hearts go out to them in boundless gratitude:
If ours - then God's: for His vast charity
All see, all knows, all comprehends - save bounds,
He has repaid their sacrifice: - and we --- ?
God help us if we fail to pay our debt
In fullest full and all unstintingly!
(Ref.:
EJO
& the Somme from the Elsie
Jeanette Oxenham Appreciation Society.)
Return
to top
Canadian
Inventions (or so we say):
Here are
some Canadian inventions culled from around the Web. We all
know about basketball and such, but these are a bit more unusual.
Furthermore, I'm calling into question our claim to Superman;
not that Joe Shuster didn't help create the superhero, but
that Superman himself was plagiarized.
As I found
them, I then searched for confirmation from the best sources
possible. As always, of course, source references are supplied.
-
Ginger
Ale: Ambiguous. Some claim it as Irish, others seem
to believe it was created by John McLaughlin who established
a soda water bottling plant in Toronto in 1890. In 1904,
perhaps bored with plain old water, he began experimenting
with different flavours and the same year introduced "Pale
Dry Ginger Ale" which would be patented in 1907 as
"Canada Dry Ginger Ale."
(Ref.: Canadian
Food Firsts from Canadian
Geographic)
-
Chocolate
Bar: It seems the Canadian-owned Ganong Brothers Ltd.
in St. Stephen N.B. is credited with introducing the five-cent
chocolate nut bar in 1910.
(Ref.: Canadian
Food Firsts from Canadian
Geographic)
-
Frozen
Food: I guess frozen things are a natural for Canada,
and apparently the first frozen food was fish from Canada's
East Coast. The whole story is fairly complex and worth
looking into. Colonel Clarence Birdseye claims credit
and had been working independently, but his products hit
the market a bit later.
(Ref.: Canadian
Food Firsts from Canadian
Geographic)
-
Instant
Mashed Potatoes: From one meal-time convenience to
another. In 1962, research scientist Edward Asselberts
created dehydrated potato flakes while working for the
Department of Agriculture in Ottawa.
(Ref.: Canadian
Food Firsts from Canadian
Geographic)
-
Electron
Microscope: Toronto University, 1938. A lot of people
put a lot of work into this, but it was Prof. E. F. Burton
who was the driving force behind the UofT project.
(Ref. Very
Early Electron Microscopy pages from the Physics
Department at the University
of Toronto.)
-
Retractable
Beer Carton Handle: Well natch. Steve Pasjac invented
the "Tuck-away-handle Beer Carton" in 1957 and
partygoers have been grateful ever since.
(Ref.: Eh!
= MC2 Canadians Contribute to Science from the Imprint
student newspaper out of the University
of Waterloo.)
-
The
Snowblower: Once again, natch. Sicard, whose Quebec
company still sells them, invented the snowblower in 1925.
The only question here is whether or not Quebec would
agree that it was a Canadian invention.
(Ref.: Top
Five Technological Achievements by Canadians, from
TechTV.)
-
Anti-Gravity
Suit: First workable antigravity suit, developed by
a Canadian team led by Wilbur R. Franks, was tested in
1941.
(Ref.: New
York Times article, posted by the Light
Quark Physics Group at
Indiana University.)
-
Superman:
Well, one of our Heritage
Minutes depicts the glorious Canadian origin of Superman
by Joe Shuster (half
cousin of Frank Shuster) who created the superhero
with Jerry Siegel of Cleveland Ohio, and as far as it
goes, it's true. But I've always suspected a certain amount
of plagiarism was involved.
In 1933, at the age of 17, Joe & Jerry invented Superman.
Their hero possessed super-strong powers and conducted
scientific experiments in his Arctic Fortress of Solitude.
They, and their creation, were ignored until 1938.
Also
in 1933, Doc Savage made his first appearance in The
Man of Bronze. The heroic doctor possessed super strength
(gained from early childhood training) and conducted experiments
in his Arctic Fortress of Solitude in the Arctic.
_________
(There is a good history of Superman at Redboots
and an interesting account of when "Superman
Worked at the [Toronto] Star". The Eighty-Sixth
Floor is one of the best Doc Savage sites on the Web.
Most Doc Savage books were written by Lester
Dent, one of the best, and most personally fascinating,
pulp-fiction writers of the day.)
Return
to top
|
