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Poem in your Pocket Day

Canadians across the country have poems in their pockets, from a pretty little haiku to historical epics to the latest pop earworm. Every year new poets give us wonderful and engaging works. But we can’t forget the strong Canadian poetic tradition captured by, among others, Bliss Carman’s romantic odes to landscape, Stephen Leacock’s biting satire, [...]

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NATO: When Canada Really Mattered

On April 4, 1949, the foreign ministers of Canada, the US, the UK, France and eight other countries signed the North Atlantic Treaty. An armed attack on one member would be an armed attack on them all.

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Historical Maps of Toronto: Q&A with Nathan Ng

Historical Maps of Toronto makes hard-to-find maps easily accesible on the web. Nathan Ng, brainchild behind the project, answers a few questions about maps, history and his love for both.

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James Marsh Retires from The Canadian Encyclopedia

The editor in chief of the Canadian Encyclopedia, James H. Marsh, will retire after 33 years of dedication and leadership. He remembers his journey from bookish kid to what he calls “the best job in the country.”

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The History of April Fools’ Day

Our French editor Myriam Fontaine traces the history of April Fools, from its origins in 1534 to its current tradition in Quebec where children “run after the April Fish.”

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“A Proud Canadian” or a Canadian Too Proud? Understanding Stompin’ Tom’s Nationalism

Last Wednesday, Canada lost its “national troubadour”, an “icon”, and “one of [its] most prolific and well-known country and folk singers”; a man who ranked 13th in CBC’s The Greatest Canadian list. Stompin’ Tom Connors is credited with writing three hundred songs, many of which are loudly and proudly Canadian. Upon his death, online tributes poured in from the CBC, politicians of all stripes, and even Sir Wilfrid Laurier’s fake Twitter account. NDP Members of Parliament paid tribute to Stompin’ Tom outside the House of Commons with their rendition of “Bud the Spud”. The Globe and Mail suggested that the mainstream media “patronized him as a novelty singer” and questioned whether he was given enough attention during his life. Everyone seemed to have a different story of their experience with Stompin’ Tom, but they were all general positive and “pro-Canadian”.

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Canada Soup: Stompin’ Tom, Colouring Books & Mountains of Sand

Canada’s folk hero Stompin’ Tom Connors has died at age 77. His songs of Canadian life, from Sudbury nickel miners to P.E.I. potato farmers and the joys of a good snowmobile, paint a picture of his great love for Canada. In his last letter to fans, Stompin’ Tom credits Canada’s beauty and inspiration as the source “driving me to keep marching on and devoted to sing about its people and places that make Canada the greatest country in the world.” Rest in Peace, Tom. [StompinTom]

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En cette Journée internationale de la Femme, une lettre à mes fils

En cette Journée de la femme, je prends le clavier pour vous écrire ces quelques lignes malgré vos sourires que je vois déjà pointer à l’horizon, vos roulements de yeux et vos soupirs aussi longs qu’une ligne entre A et Z.

Et pourtant…

Vous êtes de beaux jeunes hommes, des hommes et des pères en devenir, des amoureux et des fils qui savez composer avec la féminité. Vous les avez bien regardé ces jeunes filles à vos côtés, belles, rebelles, étudiantes modèles ou pas, compétitives et travaillantes, drôles, lumineuses et tendres. Sûres d’elles ou timides, elles vous ont éblouis mes gars, et charmés. Elles vous ont aussi fait de la peine.

J’ai voulu vous apprendre à parler émotions, à briser cet élan qui quelques fois, vous enfermait dans les couloirs de vos jeux vidéo. Une jolie main douce tendue vers votre mine renfrognée vaut mieux qu’un coup de poing dans le mur. J’ai voulu vous l’apprendre pour qu’à votre tour vous puissiez un jour, trouver des mots. Tendres, réconfortants pour votre amoureuse et un jour peut-être, pour vos filles.

En cette Journée de la femme, je vous dis : <<Allez à la rencontre de ces belles, mes fils, avec tout l’amour et le respect qu’elles méritent… mais sans jamais, jamais oublier, qu’à vous aussi, elles le doivent >>.

C’est cela je pense, l’égalité.

PS : Le texte est fini…vous pouvez respirer maintenant…

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Jack: The Jack Layton Biopic

“Love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we’ll change the world” - Jack Layton

Less than two years after NDP leader Jack Layton’s death, a biopic that tells the story of his political and romantic life will premiere on the CBC. Jack recounts the love affair between Layton and Olivia Chow, his wife, as well as Layton’s career in Toronto municipal politics, his ascent to the national stage, the NDP’s successful federal election campaign and his fight with cancer that led to his untimely death just a few weeks later. Jack stars Rick Roberts as Layton and Sook-Yin Lee as Olivia Chow. Jack will premier on CBC on Sunday, March 10.

Visit The Canadian Encyclopedia for more on Jack Layton and his amazing race.

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March 8 is International Women’s Day

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Women’s Worker’s Strike in 1912.

International Women’s Day is one of the few celebrations observed in Canada that is the product of dissident or reform movements. Its origins go back to 1909 when the American Socialist Party held an event honouring the 1908 garment worker’s strike in New York, where women protested against gruelling working conditions in the city’s factories. The following year there was a women’s conference in Copenhagen and from a motion by two German socialist women, International Women’s Day was declared.

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The Canadian Flag: Distinctively Our Own

On February 15, 1965, at hundreds of ceremonies across the country and around the world, the red and white Canadian maple leaf flag was raised for the first time.

In Ottawa, 10,000 people gathered on a chilly and snow-covered Parliament Hill. At precisely noon, the guns on nearby Nepean Point sounded as the sun broke through the clouds. An RCMP constable, 26-year old Joseph Secours, hoisted the flag to the top of a specially-erected white staff, and a sudden breeze snapped the maple leaf to attention.

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Canadian Romantic Movies, Eh?

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A still from the 1998 film “Last Night” starring Sandra Oh and Don McKellar.

Canadian filmmakers have long maintained an uneasy relationship with romantic films – comedy or drama – at least in their classical form. If the Hollywood version ends by finding stability in couples (and the famous last kiss), the typical Canadian romantic comedy leaves its lovers alone and somehow unfulfilled. They tend to be off-kilter, with only a few actually telling a romantic tale straight up. In a country more famous for producing seriously deranged love stories such as Lynne Stopkewich’s Kissed and David Cronenberg’s Crash, notable Canadian romantic movies have been few and far between. Here’s a sampling of the best half-dozen for your Valentine’s Day viewing – and some even have a happy ending.

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Canada Soup: Space Jams, A-Frames and Black History Month

Get ready for a space jam! For the first time ever, music has been made from space. Astronaut Chris Hadfield and Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson sang live together – Hadfield from the International Space Station and Robertson and a youth choir from Toronto. Their song, I.S.S. (‘Is Somebody Singing)’, written by Hadfield and Robertson, premiered on Friday morning. Watch it above. It’s pretty catchy! [CBC]

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The Great Black North: Contemporary African Canadian Poetry

The Great Black North: Contemporary African Canadian Poetry, edited by Valerie Mason-John and Kevan Anthony Cameron (Frontenac House, 2013).The first national anthology of poetry by African Canadians will be released in celebration of Black History Month this February. Published by Frontenac HouseThe Great Black North: Contemporary African Canadian Poetry features the works of over 90 poets across Canada.

The poets are a diverse bunch in terms of form, history and geography. From big cities to small towns, the west coast to the Maritimes and beyond Canada’s borders to countries of origin like Somalia, Nigeria, Jamaica and Kenya, these poets bring a diverse voice and a unique history that weaves together the struggles and victories that have formed the African-Canadian experience.

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Music for the Lunar New Year

Dancers in the 2010 Chinese New Year Parade, Vancouver (courtesy Vancouver Sun).

Dancers in the 2010 Chinese New Year Parade, Vancouver (courtesy Vancouver Sun).

Sunday, February 10 marks the Lunar New Year. For others it has already been the new year for some time. For Jews, the year 5774 will begin on September 5. For Thais, Cambodians and Laotians the new year will be celebrated in April.

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Le mois de l’histoire des Noirs: Jackie Robinson

La saison de baseball de 1997 fut consacrée à la mémoire de Jackie Robinson, ce joueur noir qui brisa les chaînes du racisme dans les ligues majeures il y a un demi-siècle. En commémoration du courage, de l’intégrité et de l’excellence de Robinson en tant que joueur et modèle pour les jeunes, tous les joueurs des ligues majeures ont porté une insigne commémorative, et toutes les équipes canadiennes et américaines ont retiré le chandail portant le numéro 42.

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La liberté et une ferme: promesse faite aux Loyalistes noirs

Rose Fortune, entrepreneure et loyaliste de race noire (avec la permission du Nova Scotia Museum).

Rose Fortune, entrepreneure et loyaliste de race noire (avec la permission du Nova Scotia Museum).

« La liberté et une ferme agricole! » Voilà une promesse attrayante pour des milliers d’Afro-Américains, surtout des esclaves en fuite, que les Britanniques encourageaient à joindre les régiments britanniques et à se battre contre les Américains. Se joignant aux dizaines de milliers de réfugiés américains qui avaient été en faveur des Britanniques durant la Révolution américaine, ils mettaient ainsi leur espoir d’un avenir meilleur dans le slogan des Britanniques. Les réfugiés quittèrent les états nouvellement indépendants en direction de la British North America (le Canada) et prêtèrent un serment d’allégeance au roi George III.

Au nombre de soixante-dix mille, ces Loyalistes se rendirent à la British North America : environ 35 000 dans les Maritimes et surtout en Nouvelle-Écosse : la plupart s’y installèrent en 1783 et 1784. Dans l’ensemble, il ne s’agissait pas d’un groupe homogène. Leur diversité sociale et culturelle était à l’image de la nation qu’ils fuyaient; il y avait des soldats, des civils, des riches, des pauvres, des Noirs, des Blancs et des Autochtones. La seule chose qu’ils avaient en commun était leur état de réfugié.

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Freedom and a Farm: the Promise to Black Loyalists

'This 1835 painting by Robert Petley shows a Black Loyalist family on the Hammonds Plains Road, with Bedford Basin in the background (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-115424).'

‘This 1835 painting by Robert Petley shows a Black Loyalist family on the Hammonds Plains Road, with Bedford Basin in the background (courtesy Library and Archives Canada/C-115424).’

“Freedom and a Farm.” The promise was exciting to the thousands of African-Americans, mostly runaway slaves, who were encouraged by the British to fight in British regiments against the Americans. They joined the tens of thousands of American refugees who had sided with the British during the American Revolution, and who pinned their hopes for a brighter future on the British slogan. The refugees left the newly independent states for British North America and pledged their loyalty to King George III.

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Black History Month: The Underground Railroad

Between 1840 and 1860, more than 30,000 American slaves came secretly to Canada to find freedom.

“When my feet first touched the Canadian shore, I threw myself on the ground, rolled in the sand, seized handfuls of it and kissed them.” These were the words of Josiah Henson recalling his first moments as a free man. Henson had escaped to Canada along the “underground railroad,” a network of secret paths, hiding places and safe houses that stretched from southern states to the borders of Canada. Like countless other immigrants, Henson came to Canada as a refugee escaping brutality and oppression.

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Black History Month: Jackie Robinson

The 1997 baseball season belonged to the memory of Jackie Roosevelt Robinson, the African American who broke Major League Baseball’s colour barrier fifty years earlier. In commemoration of Robinson’s courage, integrity, and determined excellence as a player and as a model for young people, every major league player wore a Jackie Robinson insignia, and Robinson’s uniform number, 42, was retired by every team in the National and American Leagues.

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