Rights

 Continuing where I left off yesterday. This glove belonged to Rick Hansen, who suffered a spinal injury. He didn't let that keep him down, launching the Man in Motion tour where he went in a wheelchair around the world in the 1980s, raising money for spinal cord research and becoming a national treasure along the way.

Sledge hockey sticks used by Canadian Paralympians are seen here, as well as a model for a wheelchair friendly playground.

One of our best ideas came from one of our greatest prime ministers, years before he occupied that role. Lester Pearson was the foreign minister during the Suez Crisis. It was his proposal to the United Nations that neutral soldiers serve as peacekeepers to resolve tensions that won him the Nobel Peace Prize.

One of the many Canadian peacekeepers who followed that example is Mark Isfeld, whose mother made little knitted dolls for children he met in his work clearing mine fields. He was killed on duty in 1994, but to this day, soldiers and humanitarian workers continue to give "Izzy" dolls.

The Peacekeeping Monument resides in Ottawa.

Canada is part of NATO, but has also advocated arms control, especially landmines, which continue to kill decades after war has ended.

The push for human rights on the world stage became an important matter for Canadians following the Second World War.

Lotta Hitschmanova dedicated her life to that cause. A refugee from Europe who came to Canada in 1942, she established a Canadian branch of the Unitarian Service Committee and spent her life working with those affected by war.

This is her service uniform.

For decades, the South African government's policy of apartheid resulted in opposition within and without the country. Canadian governments consistently spoke out against it. By the 1980s, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney advocated for economic sanctions in the Commonwealth, a policy of principle that put him at odds with his allies Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan, who would have preferred a less strident approach.

Rights

 The 1995 referendum was the closest the country ever came to coming apart. The separation of Quebec was narrowly defeated. Premier Jacques Parizeau, in an infamous speech that night likely influenced by liquor, blamed the loss on money and "ethnic votes."

Bilingualism is a force in the country.

The next thematic area looks at human rights, including voting, which in the aftermath of the Second World War began to be extended to groups that had been excluded, including First Nations peoples.

Multiculturalism has become one of our strengths over time.

The rights of women is also explored, particularly as a response to violence. One of the darkest chapters of the country's history is the killing of fourteen women at the Ecole Polytechnique in Montreal by a man best described as a misogynistic terrorist.

The Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms is a bill of rights entrenched within the Constitution.

Race and religion have long been difficult subjects, evolving over time. 

This installation is by artist Leila Binbrek, with each side of these two tables reflecting her western and Yemeni influenced backgrounds.

Viola Desmond was a civil rights trailblazer. Owner of a beauty school in Nova Scotia, she challenged the segregation policies of a movie theatre, a decade before Rosa Parks. Today her portrait is on the Canadian ten dollar bill.

I leave off here with where we'll pick up tomorrow, with a panel about the disabled- particularly disabled athletes.

The Crisis

 Picking up where I left off yesterday. The actions of the FLQ culminated in the October Crisis in 1970, with the kidnapping of a British diplomat and provincial cabinet minister. The federal government invoked the War Measures Act. By the end of the crisis, the diplomat was released, but the minister was murdered.

The province continued to question its future- as a province within country or as a country on its own. By 1976, a separatist party would win power in the province.

License plates reflect the change in leadership. The editorial cartoon at top shows the two rivals- the Quebec premier Rene Levesque (perpetually seen with a cigarette dangling from his lips) and the Canadian prime minister, Pierre Trudeau.

It came to a referendum over separation in 1980. Trudeau was one of the leaders of the No movement, to keep Quebec as part of Canada. Here video clips of both leaders play against each other in turn, this one being Trudeau making a speech at a rally on the subject.

The other features Levesque in the provincial legislature, with his own remarks on the subject.

The 1980 referendum did not get the result Levesque wanted. In 1995, separatists were back in power, and had another go at another referendum. 

Jacques Parizeau, the premier of Quebec, was one of the leaders of the Yes side. He is represented here by a puppet.

Another puppet, but this being a leader of the No side- the prime minister at the time, Jean Chretien.

The Rocket

 Before the turn of the century, through the advocation of the Inuit people, the federal government divided up the Northwest Territories in the Arctic into two, creating the new territory of Nunavut out of the eastern part.

The next thematic area looks at Quebec and Francophones in Canada. It begins with a man who remains a legend in the province and country long after his death. Maurice "Rocket" Richard was one of the greatest players in hockey history, playing for the Montreal Canadiens and earning the undying devotion of millions. One of his jerseys and one of his hockey sticks resides here.

In the 1960s, Quebec underwent what was called the Quiet Revolution- a time of societal transformation and a look towards modernity. 

Part of this came from the end of the premiership of Marcel Duplessis, who died in office after eighteen years in 1959. His iron grip on power gave way to new possibilities and a strong turn in a different direction.

Hydro-Quebec has had some big infrastructure projects in the interior in the post-war decades. One of those examples is the Manic 5 project. European readers will recognize Tintin at lower right- the creator once paid a visit to the area and left a sketch behind.

The project left a big mark that still resides in the province today. Some mementos of the time are seen here.

In 1967, Quebec saw the visit of the French president, who proceeded to stick his big nose where it didn't belong. Charles de Gaulle, the war hero (in his own mind) with an ego that could match that witless orange goon south of the border these days, paid a state visit to Canada. He made a speech at Montreal's city hall advocating an independent Quebec, setting off a diplomatic firestorm.

His speech is played on a screen above, the infamous Vive le Quebec libre speech. He was sent home by an angry federal government (rightfully so). I will always maintain that he did absolutely nothing in World War Two that couldn't have been done by others, that he took credit for things that were not his to take credit for, that France would have been better served if a lucky German sniper had taken him out in 1940, and that he is one of history's colossal assholes. I expect he's burning in hell these days, complaining about everything as usual.

The 1960s saw the rise of the Front de Liberation du Quebec (FLQ), a terrorist group that carried out a series of bombing attacks for years. Police equipment seen here speaks to the time.