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Article

Music at the Shaw Festival

The festival acquired the Royal George Theatre in 1980 and, with an ongoing refurbishing program, has transformed it into a small Edwardian opera house, the site (with the exception of 1990) of annual productions of operetta or musical theatre.

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French in the West

The French came to the North-West from Montréal in search of furs and an overland route to the Mer de l'Ouest which would lead to a short route to China (see coureurs de bois).

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Ethnic Literature

In Canadian English, the term "ethnic" has been used to designate those immigrants who do not belong to Canada's founding European cultures: the Catholic French and the Protestant Anglo-Celtic.

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Feast of the Dead

The Feast of the Dead was held by the Huron whenever a large village shifted location, about every 10-15 years. The bodies of all those who had not died violent deaths were removed from their temporary tombs and buried in a common ossuary - a deep pit lined with beaver robes.

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Finnish Canadians

Between 1835 and 1865, several hundred immigrants from Finland settled in Alaska (which was part of Russia at that time). Many moved down the coast to British Columbia (see Sointula). Some early Finnish immigrants to Ontario worked on the construction of the first Welland Canal, which was completed in 1829. The 2016 census reported 143, 640 people of Finnish origin in Canada (25, 875 single responses and 117, 765 multiple responses).

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Central Coast Salish

Central Coast Salish peoples historically occupied and continue to reside in territories around the Lower Fraser Valley and on southeast Vancouver Island in Canada. They include the Squamish, Klallum, Halkomelem and Northern Straits peoples.

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Jewish Writing

Yiddish and Hebrew writing began to appear in Canada before WWI when large numbers of Jews arrived after fleeing pogroms in tsarist Russia. In 1851 there were barely 450 JEWS in Canada; in 1901 there were almost 17 000, and suddenly there was a Yiddish reading public.

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Ukrainian Writing

Ukrainian Writing in Canada began in the 1890s with the first major wave of UKRAINIANS. The first story was written in 1897 by Nestor Dmytriw while he was visiting Calgary, and the first poem in 1898 by Ivan Zbura near Edmonton.

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Music at Expo 67

Expo 67 was the largest event among the celebrations marking Canada's centenary. It ran from 28 April to 27 October 1967, and its theme was “Man and His World.” The exposition was located on 400 hectares (ha) of man-made islands in the St Lawrence River adjacent to Montréal.

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Michif

Michif is a language spoken by Métis peoples mostly in parts of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, North Dakota and Montana. Michif is mainly a combination of Cree and French, but the language also borrows from English and other Indigenous languages, including Ojibwe. Michif is considered an endangered language. In 2016 Statistics Canada reported that 1,170 people identified as Michif speakers. While Michif is the most commonly spoken Métis language, it is not the only one; others include: French Cree, French Michif, Bungi and Brayet.

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Names

Personal names carry history, traditions, identity, spiritual meaning and hopes. The history of Canada includes both developments and controversy in naming. Naming has been an issue for many aboriginal communities. The use of European-origin names instead of traditional names is one example.

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Pacheenaht

The "Pacheedaht" or "Pacheenaht" ("sea-foam-on-rocks people") take their name from the former village site of "p'aachiida" (pronounced "pah-chee-da") at the head of Port San Juan Bay on southwest Vancouver Island.

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Cowichan Sweater

The Cowichan sweater is a garment created in North America with a distinctly patterned design knitted out of bulky-weighted yarn. It originated during the late 19th century among the Cowichan, a Coast Salish people in British Columbia. Historically also called the Indian sweater or Siwash sweater (a derogatory Chinook word for Indigenous people), the Cowichan people reclaimed the name after the 1950s as a means of emphasizing their claim to the garment. The popularity of the sweater by the mid-1900s thrust Cowichan sweaters into the world of international fashion, where they have been appropriated by non-Indigenous designers. Nevertheless, several knitters from various Coast Salish communities around Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia continue to create and sell authentic sweaters. In 2011, the Canadian government recognized Cowichan knitters and sweaters as nationally and historically significant.

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The 1969 Amendment and the (De)criminalization of Homosexuality

From the earliest days of colonization to 1969, sodomy laws made sex between men illegal in Canada. In addition, a law enacted in 1892 made “gross indecency” between men illegal. This included anything that indicated same-sex attraction, including simple touching, dancing and kissing. The law was extended to women in 1953. In 1969, however, sodomy and gross indecency laws were changed, making such acts legal under some circumstances. The parties involved had to be 21 years of age or older and conduct their affairs in private. Sodomy and gross indecency remained illegal outside of the home or if three or more individuals were involved or present. Thus, Canada’s Criminal Code continued to equate homosexuality with criminal behaviour under many circumstances.

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Innu Nikamu

An annual festival of traditional and contemporary Indigenous music, featuring hunters and musicians from Québec.

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Ethnic Studies

Ethnic studies are concerned with the study of groups who share a sense of peoplehood, based on a belief in a common origin, culture or physical traits. These studies embrace a wide range of disciplines, eg, history, SOCIOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY, other SOCIAL SCIENCES, EDUCATION and the humanities.

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Polish Music in Canada

The first Polish settlement in Canada was established by Kashubian peasants in the early 1860s in Renfrew County, south of Pembroke, Ont. In 1875 a Polish parish was organized and a church built at the place which became the village of Wilno in the 1880s.

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Music at Expo 86

World exposition sanctioned by the International Bureau of Expositions, held in Vancouver 2 May-30 Oct 1986. The theme, Transportation and Communication, celebrated the centenaries of the founding of Vancouver and the arrival on the Pacific coast of the first passenger train.