Canada - an alphabetical tribute
CANADA - FROM A to Z
(that's Zed not Zee!)
Here's a quick rundown of Canadiana; an A-to-Z collection of some of the people, places and things that have a place in the national tapestry of this great country:-
A is for Acadians, the French-speaking settlers of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick whose large-scale expulsion by the British in the 1700s inspired Henry Longfellow's poem, Evangeline. Some descendants still live in the Maritimes, others have a thriving culture in Louisiana, where they are known as Cajuns.
B is for the Bobbys, Hull, Orr and Clarke. Their versions of hockey -- Hull's whistling slapshot, Orr's end-to-end rushes and Clarke's gritty back-alley bravado -- shook up the old game in the 1960s and 1970s. - B is also for Basketball (which we invented)
C is for John Cabot, or Giovani Caboto, the Anglo-Italian sailor who first sighted the coast of what is now Canada in the summer of 1497. His voyage inspired both fishermen and explorers to follow in his wake.
D is for the Dionne Quintuplets. The birth of Annette, Emilie, Yvonne, Cecile and Marie in 1934 _ the first quints to survive more than a few days _ sparked world interest. Their exploitation at the hands of an Ontario government eventually led to a cash settlement 60 years later.
E is for Timothy Eaton, the Irish-born merchant who went on to found a department-store dynasty. In 1884, he introduced the Eaton's catalogue, which became a fixture in Canadian homes.
F is for Sir Sandford Fleming, the railway surveyor and construction engineer who was a driving force is establishing standard time. He also designed Canada's first postage stamp, the threepenny beaver of 1851.
G is for Glenn Gould, pianist extraordinaire. Gould was a star on the international concert stage and one of the first Canadian musicians to tour in Russia.
H is for Ned Hanlan, the great sculler and Canada's first world champion. He was born in 1855 and by 1879, was the undisputed champion of North American oarsmen. That year, he beat England's champion by 11 lengths in a race on the River Tyne. He successfully defended his world crown six times.
I is for Ice. In rinks, glaciers, bergs and Arctic packs, ice is a part of the Canadian world. In the days before community arenas, frozen ponds and rivers reared generations of NHLers. In winter, Ottawa's Rideau Canal becomes the longest rink in the world.
J is for A.Y. Jackson, the painter and writer who was a leading member of the Group of Seven. His paintings explore winter wilderness as well as the stark brutality of war.
K is for Klondike, site of the Yukon Gold Rush which began with the 1896 discovery of placer gold in Bonanza Creek by George Carmack and his Indian brothers-in-law, Skookum Jim and Tagish Charley. The rush was chronicled by poet Robert Service in works such as The Cremation of Sam McGee: ``There are strange things done, in the midnight sun, by the men who moil for gold. . . . ''
L is for Sir Wilfrid Laurier, the silver-tongued orator who dominated the politics of an era. As prime minister from 1896 to 1911, he championed Canadian independence against British efforts to unify the Empire. He was the longest-serving MP ever, dying just a week short of his 45th year in Parliament.
M is for Angus McAskill, the Cape Breton Giant. McAskill was born a normal-sized baby in Scotland in 1825 and, as a child, moved with his parents to Nova Scotia. By adulthood, he stood seven feet, nine inches tall and weighed 425 pounds, or 193 kilos. He was credited with tremendous feats of strength, including the ability to lift 635-litre barrels.
N is for the Noorduyn Norseman, the first Canada-designed bush plane, which flew in 1935. It was a rugged, single-engine, high-wing monoplane with a big cabin and a wide loading door which became the standards for such aircraft. More than 900 were built and they were used by nine air forces.
O is for Oak Island, a small island in Mahone Bay on the coast of Nova Scotia which holds one of the most enduring mysteries of Canadian history. It is reputed to be the site of a buried treasure, secreted in a ``money pit'' near the centre of the island. The pit is connected to the sea by tunnels and flooding has frustrated many treasure seekers. Millions of dollars and three lives have been lost seeking the elusive trove.
P is for poutine; that uniquely Canadian concoction of french fries, gravy and cheese curds. Loaded with fat and lacking any pretensions to healthy living, it's greeted with equal portions of relish and repulsion.
Q is for the Queen's Plate, the oldest, uninterrupted stakes horse race in North America. The first race was held in 1860 (the Kentucky Derby was first run in 1875). Traditionally the winners take a purse of 50 gold sovereigns.
R is for railway. Steel rails and steam locomotives were the primary links in building Canada. The first short rail lines were laid in the 1830s, with more ambitious projects _ such as the Grand Trunk from Sarnia to Montreal _ coming in the 1850s. The Intercolonial Railway line from Ontario to the Maritimes was a condition of Confederation. The Canadian Pacific, which helped draw British Columbia into Canada, was completed in 1885. It helped open the West and form the country of today.
S is for HMCS St. Croix, a Second World War destroyer of the Royal Canadian Navy. The ship sank one German U-boat itself and helped sink another before she herself was torpedoed and sunk on Sept. 20, 1943. Only 81 of her crew survived, rescued by HMS Itchen. Hours later, HMS Itchen was also sunk, taking all but one of St. Croix's survivors down with her.
T is for toboggan, a simple, native-designed sled originally used for hauling light loads through snow. Today, they're a staple of children's winter recreation, still built to the old design of light wooden slats curved up in front.
U is for United Empire Loyalists, American colonists who supported the Crown against the revolution and found themselves dispossessed after the United States was formed. Between 80,000 and 100,000 fled America, with about half coming to Canada in 1783 and 1784. Loyalists who settled in what is now Ontario gave the region its first substantial population and led to the creation of a separate province.
V is for Capt. George Vancouver, a protege of Capt. James Cook, who led his own exploration to the West Coast of North America in 1792. He sailed the coast from Alaska to northern California and found the harbour that would eventually become Vancouver.
W is for Wayne and Shuster. Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster, who began their comedic collaborations entertaining the troops in the Second World War, were perhaps the defining duo of Canadian comedy in the 1960s. They did radio and TV, including CBC specials and repeated appearances on the Ed Sullivan Show, the top-rated American variety program of the day.
X is for Xanten, a German town in the Rhineland that was the goal of a gruelling fight by Canadian soldiers in the Second World War. The town (and bridge), legendary birthplace of Siegfried, the dragonslayer of myth, fell in March 1945 to a Canadian brigade which suffered heavy casualties in the fight.
Y is for York boat, the sturdy workhorse of the Hudson Bay Co., which plied the rivers and lakes of the West from the 1700s to the early years of this century. These wooden craft, about 12 metres long with a crew of six to eight, could carry about 2,700 kilograms of cargo, twice the load of a canoe of similar size.
Z is for Janusz Zurakowski, a Polish-born test pilot who became the Chief Test Pilot for Avro Aircraft in Toronto in 1952. He was the first to break the sound barrier in a CF-100 interceptor, the first Canadian-built plane to hit that speed. He also flew the first flight of the ill-fated Avro Arrow, a sophisticated jet which was abandoned by the government because of costs. (but actually was abandoned because the US couldn't handle us having more sophicated equipment and brotherbullied us into shutting it down) Z as in Zed is also for Zamboni. The real live person who invented the ice scraper that is now used in every single ice rink in N.A.
