Monday, November 10, 2014

Canadian Week in Review - 10 November 2014

I have come across the following Canadian websites, social media websites, and newspaper articles this past week that were of interest to me, and I thought you might be interested in them, too.


Social Media

(Blog) 120th birthday of William George Barker, Canadian flying ace and Victoria Cross recipient
   November 3rd marked the 120th anniversary of the birth of William George Barker, Canadian First World War flying ace and Victoria Cross recipient.
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(Photos) From trenches and beyond: Six books illuminate Canadian military history
   Six books have been released by Canadian authors detailing Canada’s role in military conflicts from the War of 1812 to the First World War.
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(Video) WATCH: Former Canadian senator donates piece of WWI history to Okanagan Military Museum
   It was a momentous day for the Okanagan Military Museum Thursday as they welcomed a new piece of history into their collection.
   Just days before Remembrance Day, Senator Ross Fitzpatrick and his family donated a set of World War I medals to the museum.
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(Photos) Letters from First World War soldiers posted online through U of M project
   One Manitoba soldier named Fred Baragar was particularly prolific in his writing. He had studied English at the University of Manitoba, and wrote hundreds and hundreds of pages to home, most addressed “from the somewhere.”

Newfoundland

Author traces Newfoundland regiment's path 100 years later
   Michael Winter takes us along the winding path the men of the Newfoundland Regiment followed during the First World War. Winter's book, Into the Blizzard: Walking with the Newfoundland Dead, is part history, part travelogue, and part author's musings on how our modern minds contemplate the past.

Quebec

Half of Canadians learned 'a lot' about WW2 in high school: poll 
   The results of the Leger survey contradict longstanding concerns that we've largely forgotten our military history.

Ontario

Conservatives support NDP bill to make Remembrance Day a national holiday
   The Conservative government is throwing its support behind an NDP private member’s bill that would make Remembrance Day a national statutory holiday, as Canadians mourn the death of two Canadian soldiers killed in separate attacks on home soil.

Fighting in Flanders - Gas. Mud. Memory: New exhibition explores Canadian experience in Belgium during First World War
   This exhibition examines the challenges Canadian soldiers encountered while serving in the last region of Belgium still in Allied hands. It also delves into the memories that remain and highlights the iconic poem In Flanders Fields.

Untold 'story of ‘bravery': Heritage Minute chronicles Winnipeg Falcons, torn apart by WWI and reunited in pursuit of Olympic gold 
   Heritage Minute has created more than 70 short films on moments and characters taken from history. Many vignettes have become ingrained in memory — either from their content or from the frequency with which they run on Canadian television — and have emerged as a sort of national history teacher.

Honouring heroes with a history 
   The Montreal native and Brockville resident has a basement full of books and other information, scores of photographs and other memorabilia, documenting the Second World War and Korean War. 
   He is currently assisting in providing information for a revised history for his Second World War regiment, the Royal Regiment of Canada.

The Alton Mill’s contribution to Canada's efforts during the Second World War 
   During the Second World War, Canada contributed nearly $10 billion in manufactured goods towards the Allied effort.

It’s really a hometown story': John McCrae honoured in Guelph 
   Every year on Nov. 11, Lt. Col. John McCrae’s poem “In Flanders Fields” is recited as Canadians remember those lost in the line of duty and honour those who continue to serve. 
   The poem continues to resonate in Canada and Britain on Remembrance Day. On Thursday, a ceremony took place to honour McCrae in his hometown of Guelph, Ontario.

Manitoba

Manitoba soldier’s remains identified 96 years after WWI death
   Private Sidney Halliday, who lived on a farm near Minto, Manitoba before shipping off, has been identified as one of the soldiers whose remains were found in Hallu, France, in 2006.

Saskatchewan

Saskatoon to unveil war memorial honouring WWI soldiers 
   On Thursday at the City Archives, Saskatoon Mayor Donald Atchison will be unveiling a World War Book of Remembrance that documents every solider from Saskatoon and student at the University of Saskatchewan who enlisted and died while engaged in combat from 1914 to 1918.

Alberta

Flags of Remembrance fly in central Alberta 
   In the brisk October air of early morning on a dark highway in central Alberta, a quiet group of men and women stood sentinel alongside 116 Canadian flags waving in the breeze in remembrance of 116,000 Canadian war dead from 1900 to 2014.

11 Days of Remembrance: A salute to the history of salutes 
   Showing the public your palm in a salute goes all the way back to knights.
   “It started with knights raising their visor and saying ‘I have no weapons in my hand’,” said Capt. (retired) Jason Watt, South Alberta Light Horse regiment.

11 Days of Remembrance: Citizens of Burdett fought hard in First World War
   When the call came to fight for King and Country, small rural communities in Alberta were on side, perhaps accounting for proportionately more soldiers than larger towns and cities, because of their close ties to Britain, says a historian.

Story of the Week


The Archives of Ontario is offering a New WWI Speakers Series

The first speaker, Jane E. MacNamara from the Ontario Genealogical Society (OGS), will talk about Inheritance Interrupted: WWI reflected in Ontario Estate Files. The date of her talk will be Thursday, November 13, 2014.

The Great War cut short many lives and disrupted the expected passing of property and goods to the next generation. Laws were changed, society changed, the world changed. Drawing from estate files from across the province; this presentation will show examples of these changes and demonstrate how reading between the lines and understanding the process and implications of inheritance records can enhance family and local history—in any era.

The second speaker will be Stewart Boden, Outreach Officer & Exhibit Curator, Archives of Ontario, and the title of the talk will be Curating Dear Sadie: Love, Lives and Remembrance from Ontario’s First World War, from the current AO's onsite exhibit of the same name, which he researched and curated.

 The date of the talk will be Thursday, February 5, 2015, 6:30 pm - 7:45 pm.

Through Stewart’s presentation, the audience will hear about challenges that came from researching the Archives records, and taking different paths while curating the exhibit.

The series will be held in the George Spragge Classroom at the Archives of Ontario.

Admission is free, and a tour will be given of the new exhibit.

You can register online at http://www.archives.gov.on.ca/en/about/speaker_series.aspx

Reminder: Check the Canadian Week in Review next Monday for the latest in Genealogy, Heritage, and History news in Canada. It’s the ONLY news blog of its kind in the country!

The next post will be on 17 November 2014.