Close To My Heart

 Displayed here is a letter from Philippe Lariviere, a Canadian soldier, to his sweetheart. He would never see her again, dying in the First World War.

This Memorial Cross was given to his loved ones.

Canadian women served as nurses, and saw many horrors.

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

This photograph depicts Canadian soldiers, jubilant in the wake of a hard fought victory. Over the course of the war, Canadians developed a reputation as shock troopers, doing things that simply couldn't be done- but they did them anyway.

A group of artists had been friends going back before the war, but in 1920 began to formally exhibit their work together. They were called the Group of Seven, and their art would prove to be hugely influential ever after in Canada. Two works by members are here.

This painting is of Robert Borden, the Prime Minister who saw the country through the war and pushed for a place in the peace talks at Versailles.

The Depression hit Canada as hard as it did elsewhere.

This quilt is the work of a number of women in an Anglican church of the west, made for a fundraiser to alleviate suffering of the time.