Canada Archives - Page 4 of 6 - Ramblin' with Roger

Dominion Day, plus 145

I need some Canadian music.

I was vaguely aware, back in 1967, that Canada was celebrating the centennial of…something or other. As it turns out, it was Dominion Day, the anniversary the British North America Act granted some autonomy to Canada. Montreal was holding Expo ’67, which, unfortunately, we did not attend.

Finally, I did get to visit Montreal in both 1991 and 1992, though not since. I was quite taken by the place, especially the old city. I have some beautiful pictures of the Notre-Dame Basilica that I should get digitized someday.

I went to a Montreal Expos baseball game in 1992, I believe. Must say that the stadium was one of the least pleasant places to watch the sport. It was foreboding and worse, nearly bereft of fans. Little wonder the team moved to Washington, DC after the 2004 season and became the Nationals.

Here’s a list of Famous Canadian actors on both the big and small screen. It is WOEFULLY incomplete.

I need some Canadian music.

King Harvest (Has Surely Come) – The Band (OK, only 4/5s Canadian – close enough)
Big Yellow Taxi – Joni Mitchell
Harvest Moon – Neil Young
Constant Craving – k.d. lang
Do You Miss Me Darlin’ – The Guess Who
A Case of You – Diana Krall

Re: above photo- This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.5 License.

Let’s party like it’s 1812!

Interestingly, both Canada and the United States “emerged from the War of 1812 with a heightened sense of national feeling and solidarity, having repelled multiple…invasions.”

In 1976, there was this big bicentennial celebration of the United States Declaration of Independence from Great Britain. Currently, the country is in the midst of the sesquicentennial of various events during the American Civil War.

But what is being planned for the bicentennial of the War of 1812, which started on June 18? I’ve heard nothing, quite possibly because almost no American understands exactly what the heck it was all about.

The Americans declared war in 1812 for several reasons, including “trade restrictions brought about by Britain’s ongoing war with France, the impressment of American merchant sailors into the Royal Navy, British support of American Indian tribes against American expansion, outrage over insults to national honour after humiliations on the high seas and possible American desire to annex Canada.” The British first engaged in military rope-a-dope, which allowed the US to gain “control over Lake Erie in 1813, seize parts of western Ontario, and end the prospect of an Indian confederacy and an independent Indian state in the Midwest under British sponsorship.”

But once the British dealt with Napoleon in 1814, the British adopted a more aggressive strategy, sending in three large invasion armies.” And if Americans know ANYTHING about the war, it is from this latter period. “The British victory at the Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814 allowed them to capture and burn Washington, D.C.” The image we have is of First Lady Dolley Madison saving the picture of George Washington from a burning White House.

“American victories in September 1814 and January 1815 repulsed all three British invasions in New York, Baltimore, and New Orleans.” Baltimore, of course, is where Francis Scott Key wrote the words to the Star-Spangled Banner, inspired by seeing the flag shown above. And New Orleans was codified in an old Johnny Horton song called The Battle of New Orleans [LISTEN!].

Interestingly, both Canada and the United States “emerged from the war with a heightened sense of national feeling and solidarity, having repelled multiple…invasions,” Canada from the US, and the US from Britain. This led, in the US, “a sense of euphoria over a ‘second war of independence’ against Britain. It ushered in an ‘Era of Good Feelings’ in which partisan animosity nearly vanished.” It also seemed to codify the “manifest destiny” drive to go “from sea to shining sea,” to quote a different American anthem.

At some level, it is this war that made a squawking bunch of states into a nation, back in the days when Congress actually declared war.
***
The Year 1812, Festival Overture in E flat major, Op. 49, popularly known as the 1812 Overture…[was] written by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1880 to commemorate Russia’s defense of Moscow against Napoleon’s advancing Grande Armée at the Battle of Borodino in 1812. Interesting that music [LISTEN!] associated with the defeat of the erstwhile ally of the US has become a staple of US 4th of July celebrations.

D is for Dominion

I’m a “replenish” kind of guy.

When I was growing up, Canada was referred to as a dominion. It achieved that status, rather than as a colony, per the British North America Act of 1867: “Whereas the Provinces of Canada [i.e., Ontario and Quebec], Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick have expressed their Desire to be federally united into One Dominion under the Crown of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, with a Constitution similar in Principle to that of the United Kingdom …shall form and be One Dominion under the Name of Canada; and on and after that Day those Three Provinces shall form and be One Dominion under that Name accordingly…

Title to the Northwest Territories was transferred by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1868, and the Province of Manitoba was the first created out of it, and the first province created by Ottawa instead of London, in 1870.” Other provinces joined after that point, all without need of the permission of the crown.

Apparently, dominion status ended in 1982 “when the British and Canadian parliaments passed parallel acts – the Canada Act, 1982 ([UK] 1982, c.11) in London, and the Constitution Act 1982 in Ottawa. Thereafter, the United Kingdom was formally absolved of any remaining responsibility for, or jurisdiction over, Canada; and Canada became responsible for her own destiny. In a formal ceremony on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the Queen signed both acts into law on April 17, 1982.”

But in that period between 1867 and 1982, Canada declared war on its own, in 1939. And subsequent to 1982, “the federal government continues to produce publications and educational materials that specify the currency of these official titles.” So I’m still not 100% clear I understand all of this correctly. (The picture, BTW, is from a 1945 Dominion of Canada $50 Eighth Victory Loan War Bond.)

The other reference to dominion I grew up with came from Genesis 1:28 of the Bible: “And God blessed [ Adam and Eve ] and God said unto them, “Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it: and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.” (KJV) Some folks seem to focus on the “subdue” part, and find that using up our natural resources is OK, that God has given permission. Others tend to focus on “replenish the earth” and believe that having dominion over the earth means to be a good steward of the earth. When the United Kingdom had dominion over Canada, it meant that it had a responsibility to care for it, not to merely exploit its resources. I’m a “replenish” kind of guy.

ABC Wednesday – Round 10

The Lydster, Part 91: So Close

One could only get up to the loft by using a 10-foot ladder. And it wasn’t a straight ladder designed to get up to such a place; it was an A-framed ladder, the instructions – or more correctly, the WARNING – for which SPECIFICALLY states that it should NOT be used as a straight ladder.

I have very little recollection of being in hotels or motels with my parents growing up. When we weren’t at home, we either tended to stay at friends’ or relatives’ homes, or in a tent on our regular camping trips. Did I ever mention that I HATED our camping trips?

My wife and I, though, have been on a number of trips in hotels and motels with Lydia. When she was a baby or a toddler, it was easy enough to get her to go to bed, and we could stay up watching TV or reading. Not so with a seven-year-old, or at least our seven-year-old. She wouldn’t go to bed until we went to bed; it was partly the light bothering her, she said, but it was more her not wanting to be left out of anything.

So for 10 days – two in Niagara Falls, four in Toronto, two in Peterborough, and two in Canton – the three of us shared a room where the parents went to bed a little earlier than they might have been inclined to do so otherwise.

When we got to the cabin in the Adirondacks, Lydia, and eventually her cousins, got to sleep in a place of their own, up on this loft. You would think this would have made me happy, and it would have, but for one tiny detail: one could only get up there by using a 10- or 12-foot ladder. And it wasn’t a straight ladder designed to get up to such a place; it was an A-framed ladder, the instructions – or more correctly, the WARNING – for which SPECIFICALLY states that it should NOT be used as a straight ladder. Going up was fine, but I was afraid that she might fall if she had to climb down going to the loo in the middle of the night.

I went to bed in a room with my wife. But I woke up in the middle of the night, and half-slept in a cot just below the ladder. In the end, she was fine. Her cousins, who showed up a couple of nights later, were fine, though I was glad to be available to hold the ladder for them early in their first morning. And, finally, on the last night there, I actually slept the whole night through, quite possibly out of sheer exhaustion.

Back in the USA

The trip to Canton included a much smaller gathering of my father-in-law’s close relatives.

When we were leaving Peterborough, ON, we figured we ought to at least LOOK at the Peterborough Lift Lock. While we didn’t have time to take the cruise, we did investigate the location, including watching a 17-minute film about it. The lift lock looks like THIS.

Then we drove to the border. We had several choices, actually. We opted for the Ogdensburg crossing, based on the rumors that it was a place that was less of a hassle than, say the Thousand Islands Bridge. Of course, if we heard that, I suspect smugglers probably have, too. In any case, the crossing was problem-free.

We stayed at a B&B for a couple of nights in Canton, NY. The only full day there, we went on a tour of the campus of St. Lawrence University, my wife’s alma mater. It was an impressive place, both physically and academically. My daughter has decided she wants to go there.

Our trip to Peterborough had included seeing my mother-in-law’s extended relatives; the trip to Canton included a much smaller gathering of my father-in-law’s close relatives – his brother, with his wife, who I’d seen a couple times; and his sister, with her daughter, neither of whom I had met before. The sister, who was 84, had just bought a new car.

Then, we trekked – through some driving rain at times – to some cabin in the Adirondack Mountains of Warren County for four days, meeting up with my parents-in-law, and, eventually, one of my brothers-in-law, his wife, and their two daughters. Let’s just say I didn’t love this part of the vacation; however, the trips to town, a village called North Creek, were charming. Moreover, it had Internet access at the public library, which was available to anyone coming in. And the grandparents watched the granddaughters, while the other couples got to go out to eat one lunchtime in the village.

Finally, the Wife and I went home. Oops, did we forget the Daughter? No, she stayed with the cousins a couple of days, while her parents had some alone time. THAT was the highlight of the latter portion of the trip.