The Bonds Between Countries

 Continuing on where I left off yesterday, the friendship between Canada and the Netherlands, forged in the crucible of war, is as strong as ever.

It includes a history of immigration and tourism between both countries.

It includes the birth of a Dutch princess on Canadian soil during the War; Princess Margriet continues to make visits to the country to this day.

This large scale photo is ideal for photo ops.

There's a Dutch store in Nepean that I go to on a regular basis; they were one of the vendors in the park this year. I popped in, and bought these. I haven't had these cookies in years.

And I bought a biography of Malak Karsh, the landscape photographer who is deemed the father of the festival. It includes many of his photos.

History

 Continuing on where I left off yesterday, there is a raised circular bed here where the tulips were just starting to show. On the far side are display panels telling the story of the Tulip Festival.

The festival is a legacy of the Second World War, and the liberation of the Netherlands by Canadian soldiers. That has resulted in an enduring friendship between the two countries.

Nazi Germany occupied the Netherlands during the war, as they did so many other places, and the people suffered greatly. These were my people- my parents were children during the war, and their families immigrated afterwards.

While Queen Wilhelmina operated out of London to keep hope alive for her people, her daughter Crown Princess Juliana was sent to Canada for safety, with her daughters. She lived in Ottawa, spending her time advocating for the Dutch people. Her husband, Prince Bernhard, spent the war helping his mother-in-law in London, but visited when he could.

Princess Margriet was born in Ottawa. The Canadian government designated Juliana's maternity suite at the Civic Hospital to be extraterritorial to ensure the baby's Dutch citizenship.

She was christened at St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, with her father and grandmother having had made the voyage to attend. The service was broadcast by the CBC, and sent to Radio Orange for broadcast to the Netherlands. The photos on this panel were taken by the portrait photographer Yousuf Karsh, who was already on his way to becoming the pre-eminent portrait photographer of the century. 

By war's end, Canadian soldiers liberated the Netherlands, and were welcomed as heroes by the Dutch. That bond has carried on through the decades since. The Dutch Royal Family, and the country itself, began a tradition of sending tulip bulbs to Canada. The country itself imported more each year for planting.

Princess Margriet has returned often to Canada; she attended this year's opening of the Tulip Festival.

The Karsh family had immigrated gradually from Armenia to settle in Ottawa. Where Yousuf Karsh found fame as a portrait photographer, his brother Malak Karsh found his own fame as a landscape photographer. It was Malak who proposed the idea of a festival, and thus he is considered the father of the Tulip Festival.

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.

City Daily Photo Theme Day: Best Of The Year

Gatineau is on the Quebec side of the Ottawa River, and part of the National Capital Region. I don't get over there nearly enough (unless you count twice a month when I'm standing on the provincial border at the Portage Bridge, for a post I'll be showing in the coming days). The city takes part in Winterlude in February, where Jacques Cartier Park, which lies along the river, is turned into a big playground with snow slides.

This wood carving caught my eye.

Steel drum musicians were here.

Snow carvings are expected to be here, and this year, beavers were carved into the back of the giant mound where snow sliding takes place. For scale, note the people in this shot.

Alcoves are built with ice benches put in for photo ops.

Leaving, I photographed this house that caught my eye. It houses offices for a social service agency these days, and looks like it has been there a long time, and added onto over time.

Spring changes things, and I took this photo of the Canadian Museum of History for the Shadow theme day. The curatorial wing is at left, while the exhibition wing is in the background.

The city also takes part in the Tulip Festival. There's a bed of tulips where the Portage Bridge comes into Gatineau that I always photograph.

This is along the river, with Parliament Hill across the water, near the Museum of History. The flowerbed is in honour of the photographer Malak Karsh, who was the man who proposed the idea of a festival of tulips. He took a famous photograph of the river from here decades ago- a photograph that spent many years on the Canadian one dollar bill, while his brother Yousuf Karsh's photograph of the Queen was on the other side of that bill.

The Museum of History is a wonder inside, particularly its Grand Hall, with its collection of totem poles.

More tulips- these are in Jacques Cartier Park.