Search for ""

Displaying 261-280 of 697 results
Article

Louis-Ovide Brunet

Louis-Ovide Brunet, priest, teacher, botanist (b at Québec City 10 Mar 1826; d there 2 Oct 1876). After working as a parish priest for 10 years, Brunet was offered a position as a science teacher at his alma mater, the Séminaire de Québec.

Article

David Spencer

David Spencer. Patron, b Toronto 27 Oct 1915; BA (British Columbia) 1938. A lawyer by profession, Spencer became a member of the music section of the Community Arts Council of Vancouver after World War II and served as its chairman for two years.

Article

Saint André

Saint André (né Alfred Bessette), faith healer, religious counsellor (born 9 August 1845 in St-Grégoire-d'Iberville, Canada East; died 6 January 1937 in Montréal, QC).

Article

Tillson Lever Harrison

Tillson Lever Harrison, physician, surgeon, army officer, adventurer (b at Tillsonburg, Ont 7 January 1881; d near Kaifeng, China, 10 January 1947). Also known as a writer, raconteur and humanitarian, Tillson Harrison has been touted as Canada's second Norman BETHUNE and the model for Indiana Jones.

Article

Edward Pakenham

Edward Michael Pakenham, British army officer, military figure in the WAR OF 1812 (b County Westmeath, Ireland, 19 Mar 1778; d near New Orleans, Louisiana, 8 Jan 1815). On 28 May 1794, at age 16, Edward Pakenham became a lieutenant in the 92nd Foot.

Article

Black Hawk

Black Hawk (Black Sparrow Hawk, Makataimeshekiakiak), Sauk War Chief (b at Saukenuk, near Rock Island, Ill, 1767; d near Des Moines, Iowa, 3 Oct 1838).

Article

Erik the Red

Erik the Red (Eiríkr rauða in Old Norse and Eiríkur rauði in modern Icelandic, a.k.a. Erik Thorvaldsson), colonizer, explorer, chief (born in the Jæren district in Norway; died c. 1000 CE at Brattahlid, Greenland). An Icelandic settler of modest means who was exiled for his involvement in a violent dispute, Erik the Red rose in status as he explored Greenland and founded the first Norse settlement there. One of his sons, Leif Eriksson, led some of the first European explorations of the east coast of North America, including regions that are now part of Arctic and Atlantic Canada.

Article

Luke Fox

Luke Fox, also spelled Foxe, explorer (b at Kingston-upon-Hull, Eng 20 Oct 1586; d c 15 July 1635). He left for the Arctic in 1631, 2 days after Thomas JAMES left on a rival voyage.

Article

Elzéar Bédard

Elzéar Bédard, lawyer, judge, politician, mayor, Patriote (born 24 July 1799 in Québec, Lower Canada; died 11 August 1849 in Montréal, Canada East).

Excerpt

People on the Margins of the Halifax Explosion

In the early 20th Century, most North End residents of Halifax perceived themselves as being collectively disadvantaged, compared to wealthier South End residents. However, within the North End certain groups — notably racial minorities, the elderly, non-British immigrants, members of the military, and unmarried women with children — stood out as being particularly vulnerable. They were among the hardest-hit in the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion of 1917.

Excerpt

Children of the Halifax Explosion

Among the approximately 2,000 victims who died in the Halifax Explosion of 1917, one-quarter were children under the age of 18. Many other young people survived but would carry physical and emotional scars with them for the remainder of their lives. Dead and wounded children were the most poignant victims of the disaster.

Speech

George Brown: 1865 Speech in Favour of Confederation

George Brown played an instrumental role in establishing Confederation. As leader of the Clear Grits (forerunner of the Liberal Party) in Canada West, he set aside political differences and allied with his Conservative rivals John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier in 1864, with whom he pitched Confederation to the Atlantic colonies at the Charlottetown and Québec Conferences. From 3 February to 13 March 1865, politicians in the Province of Canada debated the terms of Confederation, offering some of the most compelling defences and critiques of the union of British North American colonies. In the following speech, delivered before the legislature of the Province of Canada on 8 February 1865, Brown explains his reasons for supporting Confederation.

Article

Sara Riel

Sara Riel, (also known as Sister Marguerite Marie), sister of Louis Riel, Métis Grey Nun and missionary, cultural liaison, teacher, founder of female Catholic lay organization (born 11 October 1848 in St. Boniface, Red River Colony [now Manitoba]; died 27 December 1883 in Île-à-la-Crosse, SK). Sara Riel strove to empower Métis people and women through English-language and Catholic studies. Her education and multilingual abilities made her a valuable mediator between conflicting cultures in the early Red River Colony. Today, a charitable organization established by the Grey Nuns of Manitoba bears her name.

Article

Thunderchild (Peyasiw-Awasis)

Thunderchild (also known as Peyasiw-Awasis or Kapitikow, Cree for “one who makes the sound”), Plains Cree chief (born 1849, likely along the South Saskatchewan River; died 29 June 1927 on the Thunderchild Reserve in Saskatchewan). Chief Thunderchild was a signatory to Treaty 6 in 1879. He was a strong defender of treaty rights and Indigenous land as well as traditional Cree lifeways. Thunderchild supported the right of every reserve on the Canadian Plains to have its own school.

Article

Isobel Gunn

Isobel Gunn (sometimes spelled Isabel, a.k.a. Isabella Gunn, John Fubbister and Mary Fubbister), labourer (born 10 August 1780 in Tankerness, Scotland; died 7 November 1861 in Stromness, Scotland). Gunn disguised herself as a man in order to work for the Hudson’s Bay Company in the 19th century. She travelled to Rupert’s Land (now Canada) to work in the fur trade and is believed to have been one of the first European woman in Western Canada.

Article

Donnacona

Donnacona, St Lawrence Iroquoian leader (d in France probably in 1539), headman of the village of Stadacona [near Québec City] during Jacques Cartier's voyages of 1534-36, protested when Cartier raised his cross in Gaspé in July 1534.

Article

Nahani

Nahani (also Nahanni, Nahane) is an Athapaskan word that has been used to designate Aboriginal groups in BC, the NWT and the YT. Nahani is an inaccurate and inappropriate name for any specific group or for any cultural-linguistic grouping.