Champlain’s Last Campaign
On 1 September 1615 Samuel de Champlain, explorer and deputy viceroy of New France, left the Huron village of Cahiague in the company of...
Joshua Slocum’s Seafaring Triumph and Mysterious Death
Captain Joshua Slocum was a native of Nova Scotia, whose inhabitants have a reputation for being a hardy breed, and they didn't come much...
Canadian Nuclear Physicist Harriet Brooks
Physicists were a rare breed at the turn of the 20th century and women in the nuclear science fields were even more sparse. Harriet...
Toronto Santa Claus Parade, Marching Since 1905
It wasn’t exactly an extravaganza of music, colour and festivity. On December 2, 1905 the first Toronto Santa Claus parade featured a singular man...
William Osler Taught the Art of Bedside Medicine to New Doctors
The skills of touching, viewing or speaking with a live patient were not required modules in medical student training in early Canada. A licence...
Isaac Jogues: First Jesuit Martyr of New France
In 1632, following the reclamation of France's North American colonies from England, the French court decreed that the Jesuit order would take control of...
First Newspaper in Early Ontario “Upper Canada Gazette”
The first newspaper in the province, the "Upper Canada Gazette" established in 1793 to disseminate government information, is a valuable historical record.
When Upper Canada...
The Neutral Nation of South-western Ontario
When the first white men came to North America, the north shore of Lake Erie was inhabited a people whose very name is still...
The Province of Canada’s First Postmaster General, James Morris
Mail service in early colonial British North America was a sporadic, expensive event. Post offices were rare in the rural communities; the larger communities...
S.S. City of Medicine Hat
The province of Saskatchewan is located in the middle of the Canadian prairies and is best known for its vast expanses of land. Commonly...