The Goal Of Reconciliation

 More images of the country's centennial year are seen here.

Canadian accomplishments on the world stage. Northern Dancer was a Canadian horse, one of the great horses in racing history, and the first Canadian to win the Kentucky Derby. Retired to sire more horses, his legacy is still present among racehorses today. In center, a suitcase belonging to Glenn Gould, the Canadian classical pianist who was deemed a virtuoso of the industry. And Nancy Greene is one of the country's greatest Olympic athletes. 

Terry Fox left a big legacy behind that endures today. He was a runner who lost a leg to cancer, decided that he would raise money for the Canadian Cancer Society by running across the country from east to west. He started in St. John's, Newfoundland in April 1980, running the equivalent of a marathon a day, before cancer returned and cut his journey short near Thunder Bay in Ontario. He would die of cancer the following year, but each year, millions of people around the world follow his example to raise money in the fight against cancer, running in Terry Fox Runs. 

This is a prototype of his prosthetic leg.

Our relationship with our southern neighbours is one that has a big influence on us- for good and bad. SCTV was a comedy series of the late 70s and early 80s that also got broadcast south of the border. Rick Moranis and Dave Thomas played off the differences between countries in their characters, the Mackenzie Brothers.

On September 11th, 2001, the country offered shelter to incoming planes from around the world as America closed down its airspace after the terror attacks, taking in travelers who would have understandably been in a state of shock after that. This photograph dates to a ceremony one year after that day. 

We move into an area that looks at Canada through a series of themes. The first being the First Peoples, and it is a troubled one. Following Confederation, the government chose the wrong courses of action. Instead of treating as a partner, the choice was that of subjugation.

Inuit statues, but with a dark story to them. Tuberculosis outbreaks in the Far North in the 1940s and 50s required medical evacuations of patients to the south. Their families were often not even informed that their loved ones had died.

The residential school program was the darkest aspect of this oppression, with the intent to simply "civilize the Indian". Children were sent to boarding schools run by religious organizations, separated from families without understanding why, treated with neglect or abuse, and traumatized in ways that left lasting scars. This was a decades long scar on the country, with the last schools only closed in the 1990s.

This quote, by one of the missionaries involved in the program, spoke for itself.

Every dot on this map represents one of the residential schools. With the exception of Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick, each province and territory had them.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was active from 2008-15, tasked with documenting the history of residential schools and their impact on people across the country, gathering testimony and evidence, and making recommendations on how to right this terrible wrong. It was led by Murray Sinclair, an Ojibwe lawyer, judge, professor, and politician. His quote printed here is very wise.

The Country Drives Forward

These are rug hookings, of a puffin and a fish. They evoke the entry of Newfoundland into Confederation, which happened after people there voted to join Canada in 1949, becoming the last province, known today as Newfoundland and Labrador. With the exception of the partitioning of the Northwest Territories into the Northwest Territories and Nunavut at the end of the century, it was the last major change in the country's shape.

Joey Smallwood led the effort to join the country as the province's premier, and he is thus seen as a Father of Confederation, decades after the others.

Tommy Douglas was a premier of Saskatchewan who founded what would become the New Democratic Party of Canada. He established universal health care in Saskatchewan before going into politics at the federal level, and the federal government followed up on transferring that concept to the country as a whole.

The post-war decades were a time of significant change in the country. Fashions of the era are seen here.

Canada had used the Red Ensign as an unofficial flag- a combination of the Union Jack and the Canadian coat of arms. But a movement rose up for a national flag, with Prime Minister Pearson advocating for change. Hundreds of designs were proposed. I'm biased, but the winning design was just right. I can't imagine a better flag.

This is the evening dress of Marjorie Gehl, the daughter of a Canadian diplomat working in the southern United States. She made it herself to mark the country's centennial in 1967.

This photo is from July 1st of that momentous year. What was called Dominion Day and is now called Canada Day, with Parliament Hill being the center of attention, including a visit from the Queen. This photograph is actually taken by the great landscape photographer Malak Karsh, who spent his professional career photographing the country he loved so much.

1967 was also the year of Expo 67 in Montreal. This model was the Indian Pavilion, which deliberately sought to provoke questions about how indigenous peoples had been treated in the country's history.

A Dark Period Of Global Upheaval

Some recruitment posters from World War One, in both official languages, are seen here.

It was a war that had come at great cost. The country would never be the same.

This portrait by William Orpen is of Robert Borden, the Prime Minister of the country through the First World War.

With the amount of things Canadians had done during the Great War, Borden pushed for them to have a place in the peace negotiations, as well as a greater say for their place in the world. This was still a period in which the British decided foreign policy for their dominions, after all.

The Great Depression was a calamity in and of itself, with the collapse of the economy worldwide plunging the world into the darkness. Canada was hit by it as much as any other country. Here, this includes a quilt made by a church congregation women's organization.

The CBC (Radio-Canada in French) is a legacy of this period, founded as a public broadcaster.

World War Two would drive the world into more upheaval, but also bring us out of the malaise of the Depression. Canada joined Britain from the beginning of the war, and again, the country's military would distinguish itself throughout.

Two photographs taken during the war. Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King hosted two conferences at Quebec City for the western allies, with Winston Church and Franklin Roosevelt, and the Earl of Athlone, who was the governor-general at the time. At bottom, a photograph of King taken during his radio broadcast on VE Day.

Canadian industrial output for the war was total. The country was dedicated to winning the war.

And when it all came to an end, both in Europe and in Asia, the country would celebrate, welcome their sons, husbands, fathers, and brothers home, and grieve for those who never made it back.

New Era And The Bloodshed Of War

 More views inside St. Onuphrius today as I walked around the church.

Along the wall opposite from the church on this side were photographs and artifacts showing the progress of one of our western cities, Winnipeg, as the 19th century gave way to the 20th century.

Another look at the church.

Eatons was a retail company in Canada, and much of their business during this era was through catalogues.

I went to the last gallery, which starts in 1914 and goes to the current day. This display case includes a bust of Wilfrid Laurier, the prime minister whose time in office straddled the 19th and 20th centuries.

When war broke out in Europe, Canada would be in it from the beginning, and Canadian forces would do extraordinary things over four years of brutal warfare.

The Lee-Enfield rifle became the standard weapon for Canadians in that war. The tunic here belonged to Alexander Reid, who served in the ranks from the beginning, and served with bravery.

This painting is Gas Attack, Flanders, a 1915 painting by Alfred Bastien.

Canadians did things during that war that by all rights were impossible, but did them anyway. They earned a reputation as shock troopers. This photograph shows Canadian soldiers looking happy, and rightfully so- they had just won the Battle of Vimy Ridge.