History from the podium
On a cold February day 1965, Canada’s new maple leaf flag rose above the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill for the first time. The so-called Great Flag Debate had been long and acrimonious. Now, Prime Minister Lester Pearson made a brief speech. His political adversary John Diefenbaker, seated nearby, used a handkerchief to dab a tear from his eye.
World War I ended on 11 November 1918. Canada’s fighting forces performed well, and some say that Canada forged its identity as an independent nation in the horrible furnace of war. The costs were great -- sixty thousand dead and thousands more who returned mutilated in mind and spirit. In 1921, Arthur Meighen, Canada’s prime... Continue Reading →
It will soon be 100 years to the day since the First World War ended on November 11, 1918. The war began in August, 1914, when Britain’s ultimatum for Germany to withdraw from occupied Belgium expired. The entire British Empire, including Canada, was automatically at war. The House of Commons was on summer break when... Continue Reading →
In 1864, the colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland planned to meet in Charlottetown to investigate a union among the British Maritime colonies. John A Macdonald and other representatives from Upper and Lower Canada invited themselves to the meeting and arrived by steamship. They proposed a wider union which would include... Continue Reading →
