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Tuesday, March 5, 2024

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Introduction

Flag and Arms of Canada

Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's second-largest country by total area, with the world's longest coastline. Its border with the United States is the world's longest international land border. The country is characterized by a wide range of both meteorologic and geological regions. It is a sparsely inhabited country of 40 million people, the vast majority residing south of the 55th parallel in urban areas. Canada's capital is Ottawa and its three largest metropolitan areas are Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver.

Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy in the Westminster tradition. The country's head of government is the prime minister, who holds office by virtue of their ability to command the confidence of the elected House of Commons and is "called upon" by the governor general, representing the monarch of Canada, the head of state. The country is a Commonwealth realm and is officially bilingual (English and French) in the federal jurisdiction. It is very highly ranked in international measurements of government transparency, quality of life, economic competitiveness, innovation, education and gender equality. It is one of the world's most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration. Canada's long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its history, economy, and culture. (Full article...)

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Watercolor drawing, by Charles M. Lefferts, depicting the 2nd Canadian Regiment, Continental Line, uniform

The 2nd Canadian Regiment (1776–1783), also known as Congress' Own or Hazen's Regiment, was authorized on January 20, 1776, as an Extra Continental regiment and raised in the province of Quebec for service with the American Continental Army under the command of Colonel Moses Hazen. All or part of the regiment saw action at Staten Island, Brandywine, Germantown and the Siege of Yorktown. Most of its non-combat time was spent in and around New York City as part of the forces monitoring the British forces occupying that city. The regiment was disbanded on November 15, 1783, at West Point, New York. (Full article...)

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Arthur Lewis Watkins Sifton PC PC (Can) KC (October 26, 1858 – January 21, 1921) was a Canadian lawyer, judge and politician who served as the second premier of Alberta from 1910 until 1917. He became a minister in the federal cabinet of Canada thereafter. Born in Canada West (now Ontario), he grew up there and in Winnipeg, where he became a lawyer. He subsequently practised law with his brother Clifford Sifton in Brandon, where he was also active in municipal politics. He moved west to Prince Albert in 1885 and to Calgary in 1889. There, he was elected to the 4th and 5th North-West Legislative Assemblies; he served as a minister in the government of premier Frederick Haultain. In 1903, the federal government, at the instigation of his brother (who was then one of its ministers), made Sifton the Chief Justice of the Northwest Territories. After Alberta was created out of a portion of the Northwest Territories in 1905, Sifton became the first Chief Justice of Alberta in 1907 and served until 1910. (Full article...)

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Quebec City from Lévis at twilight

Credit: S23678 (Martin St-Amant)

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Men's field lacrosse game between North Carolina and Duke

Lacrosse is a contact team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively modified by European colonists, reducing the violence, to create its current collegiate and professional form. (Full article...)

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The History of women in Canada is the study of the historical experiences of women living in Canada and the laws and legislation affecting Canadian women. In colonial period of Canadian history, Indigenous women's roles were often challenged by Christian missionaries, and their marriages to European fur traders often brought their communities into greater contact with the outside world. Throughout the colonial period, European women were encouraged to immigrate to Canadian colonies and expand the white population. After Confederation in 1867, women's experiences were shaped by federal laws and by legislation passed in Canada's provincial legislatures. (Full article...)

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Dickson Falls, Fundy National Park, New Brunswick
Credit: Danielle Langlois.

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Current events

February 28, 2024 –: The Canadian government releases its report into the high-profile firings of two scientists from the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, Manitoba, in 2021, stating that the pair worked closely and covertly with the Chinese government. (National Post)
February 14, 2024 – Russia–United States relations, Russia and weapons of mass destruction: The U.S. holds emergency talks with allies, including Canada and the United Kingdom, on the Russian nuclear threat. (CBC)
January 30, 2024 – Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal: One former and four current National Hockey League players who took part in the 2018 World Junior Ice Hockey Championships are charged with sexual assault in London, Ontario, Canada in connection with the 2018 investigation. (CBC)
January 27, 2024 – Israel–Hamas war: The United Kingdom, United States, Australia, Italy, Canada, Finland, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and Germany suspend humanitarian aid to UNRWA over allegations that some UNRWA staff members were involved in the Hamas-led attack on Israel. (BBC News) (CBS News)
January 24, 2024 – Hockey Canada sexual assault scandal: Five players who took part in the 2018 World Junior Championship have reportedly been told to surrender to the police in London, Ontario, Canada to face sexual assault charges. (TSN)
January 23, 2024 –: A small passenger plane carrying workers to Rio Tinto Alcan's Diavik Diamond Mine, in Canada's Northwest Territories, crashes in the town of Fort Smith, killing six people and wounding another. (CBS News)

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... that when the Canadian baritone Iain MacNeal appeared as Odysseus in Dallapiccola's Ulisse at the Oper Frankfurt, a reviewer noted that he portrayed the "character's self-exegeses"?
... that the Steel River, in Northern Ontario, Canada, is one of the few rivers along Lake Superior's north shore never used for log drives?
... that in 1819 Michael O'Sullivan, a member of the Legislative Assembly of Lower Canada, fought a duel in Montreal with William Caldwell over a proposal to create the Montreal General Hospital?
... that Paul Joseph Cini, a Canadian skyjacker, thought that he could evade justice by parachuting from the plane before landing?
... that in 2019, the Canadian government's Translation Bureau began providing translation services in Dene, East Cree, Plains Cree, and Mohawk?
... that during the Stratford General Strike of 1933 the Canadian military was brought in, with machine guns, to which the strikers responded with a rally and a parade?
... that photographing Elliot Page for the cover of Time "really meant the world" to Canadian photographer Wynne Neilly?

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Like most major cities, Montreal needs easy highway access from its suburbs and surrounding areas. However, because Montreal was built on an island surrounded by three rivers, it can be entered by land only on a bridge or through a tunnel. Although the city was founded in 1642, it was not until 1847 that the first fixed link to the outside was established when a wooden bridge was built across Rivière des Prairies to Île Jésus, on the site of what is now Ahuntsic Bridge. Another bridge was built immediately afterward, a few kilometers west, which became Lachapelle Bridge, and another in 1849, Pont des Saints-Anges, to the east. The latter bridge collapsed in the 1880s and was never rebuilt. (Full article...)

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