War Museum

 I headed for the Canadian War Museum for a November visit that actually turned into two visits- one some days prior to Remembrance Day, and then on Remembrance Day itself to continue where I left off. The current building is out at Lebreton Flats, designed to look like a bunker, very fitting for its subject matter. As one of several national museums in the region, its mission is to tell the story of Canadian military history- at home and abroad.

The Barney Danson Theatre is a lecture hall and theatre used regularly in the Museum. Outside its primary entrance is this plaque, along with a display case featuring a medal set. Barney Danson enlisted in the military in 1938, anticipating the coming Second World War. He was wounded in action in Normandy, blinded in one eye by shrapnel. Danson went on to a business career before going into politics, serving as the Minister of National Defence. He would be instrumental in advocating and fundraising for a new War Museum to replace the original one, and so the theatre is named in his honour.

The current special exhibit is running until the end of February. Close To Conflict: Canada And The American Civil War looks at that terrible cataclysm of the 19th century and its effect on the development of Canada.

Two different ways of life, two neighbours. This is a border marker from the 1840s originally found at the Maine/ New Brunswick border.

The Civil War would have a critical role in Canada becoming a nation on its own.

What had been the British North American colonies had shared a reasonable relationship with the Americans after the hostilities of the Revolution and the War of 1812. But with Americans turning on each other and making war against each other, that relationship would drastically change.

This exhibit has been very well done, and I expect I'll pay another visit before it's all said and done.

The passage of the Fugitive Slave Act in 1850, with its consequence that nowhere in the free Northern states could be said to be safe, extended the lines of the Underground Railroad into Canada, which had no slavery. Black people escaping slavery had already gone into Canada earlier, but that act made it a necessity.