Happy Canada Day!

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by finch_rocks_1, Jul 1, 2015.

?

Do you Live in Canada?

yes 11 vote(s) 26.8%
no 28 vote(s) 68.3%
no, but i have been there, 2 vote(s) 4.9%
  1. Happy Canada Day!
    ThaKloned and M4ster_M1ner like this.
  2. Thank you for all the information of Canada :D cool to learn stuff
  3. Happy Canada Day!

    I like Canada. It looks pretty. Your flag is also cool.

    Canada is Britannia's favourite child. The USA was the rebellious teenager and now bosses his mother around in her old age, Australia is the one that lives too far away, New Zealand is the one mother forgets about, Canada is the nice and polite child who stayed close to home.
    ThaKloned likes this.
  4. Sadly I had work today.... but got off early due to the thunderstorms, :D
    ThaKloned likes this.
  5. Happy Canada Day my fellow Canadians. This is the day us canadians trample upon the Americans and say EH get outa town and STOP EATING THAT POUTINE JERKS!
    finch_rocks_1 and ThaKloned like this.
  6. Happy Canada Day to all Canadians : D
    ThaKloned likes this.
  7. More Canada Day Bumps!



  8. Wooo! I'm hyped up for the fireworks tonight, they're gonna be awesome! My town always has a firework that's I'd say is at least 300 meters in diameter... we call it the Big Daddy. :p
    ThaKloned likes this.
  9. Happy 150th of Canada. lets hope nothing happens today...
    ThaKloned likes this.
  10. I work downtown Ottawa. It looks more like a military lockdown then a celebration lol
  11. Happy Canada Day everyone! Here in my city we're looking at something else along with the other festivities, the treatment of natives in Canada. If you don't know, Canada attempted an act called cultural genocide, or the destruction of a culture, against them. We partially succeeded.

    The way this was done was through the use of residential schools, schools run by nuns and the goverment to assimilate natives into the Canadian culture. They did this with extremely vile punishments towards those that even used a word of their language and anything else that had to do with their culture. This led to many seeking the only way they thought out.

    There is a lot of other terrible things that happened at those schools, the last last one closing in 1996. Canada may be known as the nice country now, but it wasn't always that way.
  12. Happy birthday to North America's own brand English people. Here's to another 150 years, and hopefully more, of the second best nation in the Commonwealth <3
    Genuinely interested - was this anything like, or more extreme, than the British policy of Welsh Not? After a Welsh revolt by Socialists in the mid 1800s, children who spoke Welsh during school hours were forced to wear a heavy wooden block around their neck, and they could pass it on to other children they heard speaking Welsh - whoever still had the block around their neck at the end of the day were beaten half to death by their teacher.

    Just wondering if our colony's descendants have improved or rolled back on their capacity for cruelness to children (obviously Canada hasn't ever done anything like starving an entire country of people on multiple occasions and inventing the concentration camp, right?).
  13. I will post some stuff when on my pc.. took a ojibwe class and learned all about it.

    Also will post some stuff for the Canada 150.
    synth_apparition likes this.
  14. What is a residential school?

    In the 19th century, the Canadian government believed it was responsible for educating and caring for aboriginal people in Canada. It thought their best chance for success was to learn English and adopt Christianity and Canadian customs. Ideally, they would pass their adopted lifestyle on to their children, and native traditions would diminish, or be completely abolished in a few generations.
    The Canadian government developed a policy called "aggressive assimilation" to be taught at church-run, government-funded industrial schools, later called residential schools. The government felt children were easier to mold than adults, and the concept of a boarding school was the best way to prepare them for life in mainstream society.
    Residential schools were federally run, under the Department of Indian Affairs. Attendance was mandatory for children in the many communities that didn't have day schools. Agents were employed by the government to ensure all native children attended school.

    How many residential schools and students were there?

    Initially, about 1,100 students attended 69 schools across the country. In 1931, at the peak of the residential school system, there were about 80 schools operating in Canada. There were a total of about 130 schools in every territory and province except Newfoundland, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick from the earliest in the 19th century to the last, which closed in 1996.
    In all, about 150,000 First Nation, Inuit and Métis children were removed from their communities and forced to attend the schools.

    What went wrong?

    Residential schools were established with the assumption that aboriginal culture was unable to adapt to a rapidly modernizing society. It was believed that native children could be successful if they assimilated into mainstream Canadian society by adopting Christianity and speaking English or French. Students were discouraged from speaking their first language or practising native traditions. If they were caught, they would experience severe punishment.
    Throughout the years, students lived in substandard conditions and endured physical and emotional abuse. There have also been convictions of sexual abuse. Students at residential schools rarely had opportunities to see examples of normal family life. Most were in school 10 months a year, away from their parents; some stayed all year round. All correspondence from the children was written in English, which many parents couldn't read. Brothers and sisters at the same school rarely saw each other, as all activities were segregated by gender.
    According to documents obtained by the CBC, some schools carried out nutritional experiments on malnourished students in the 1940s and '50s with the federal government's knowledge.
    When students returned to the reserve, they often found they didn't belong. They didn't have the skills to help their parents, and became ashamed of their native heritage. The skills taught at the schools were generally substandard; many found it hard to function in an urban setting. The aims of assimilation meant devastation for those who were subjected to years of abuse.
    When did the calls for victim compensation begin?

    In 1990, Phil Fontaine, then-leader of the Association of Manitoba Chiefs, called for the churches involved to acknowledge the physical, emotional, and sexual abuse endured by students at the schools. A year later, the government convened a Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. Many people told the commission about their residential school experiences, and the commission's 1996 report recommended a separate public inquiry into residential schools. That recommendation was never followed.
    Over the years, the government worked with the Anglican, Catholic, United and Presbyterian churches, which ran residential schools, to design a plan to compensate the former students.
    In 2007, two years after it was first announced, the federal government formalized a $1.9-billion compensation package for those who were forced to attend residential schools.
    Under the federal compensation package, what have former students received?

    Compensation called Common Experience Payments was made available to residential schools students who were alive as of May 30, 2005. Former residential school students are eligible for $10,000 for the first year or part of a year they attended school, plus $3,000 for each subsequent year.
    Any money remaining from the $1.9-billion package will be given to foundations that support learning needs of aboriginal students.
    As of Sept. 30, 2013, $1.6 billion had been paid, representing 105,548 cases.
    Acceptance of the Common Experience Payment releases the government and churches from all further liability relating to the residential school experience, except in cases of sexual abuse and serious incidents of physical abuse.
    What has happened in cases of alleged sexual or serious physical abuse?

    An Independent Assessment Process, or IAP, was set up to address sexual abuse cases and serious incidents of physical abuse. A former student who accepts the Common Experience Payment can pursue a further claim for sexual or serious physical abuse.
    Is there more to the package than compensating the victims?

    The government funded a Commemoration initiative, which consisted of events, projects and memorials on a national and community level.
    The Aboriginal Healing Foundation was established in 1998 with a $350-million grant from Indian and Northern Affairs Canada to help former students who were physically or sexually abused, but federal funding ended in 2010.
    The settlement also promised a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to examine the legacy of the residential schools.
    Prime Minister Stephen Harper delivered an official apology to residential school students in Parliament on June 11, 2008.
    Who else has apologized for the abuse?

    Many churches implicated in the abuse apologized in the 1990s. Archbishop Michael Peers offered an apology on behalf of the Anglican Church of Canada in 1993, stating "I am sorry, more than I can say, that we were part of a system which took you and your children from home and family."
    Four leaders of the Presbyterian Church signed a statement of apology in 1994. "It is with deep humility and in great sorrow that we come before God and our aboriginal brothers and sisters with our confession," it said.
    The United Church of Canada formally apologized to Canada's First Nations people in 1986, and offered its second apology in 1998 for the abuse that happened at residential schools.
    "To those individuals who were physically, sexually, and mentally abused as students of the Indian Residential Schools in which the United Church of Canada was involved, I offer you our most sincere apology," the statement by the church's General Council Executive said.
    Though the Catholic church oversaw three-quarters of Canadian residential schools, it was the last church to have one of its leaders officially address the abuse.
    On April 29, 2009, Pope Benedict XVI expressed his "sorrow" to a delegation from Canada's Assembly of First Nations for the abuse and "deplorable" treatment that aboriginal students suffered at Roman Catholic Church-run residential schools.
    At the time, then Assembly of First Nations Leader Phil Fontaine said it wasn't an "official apology," but added that he hoped the statement would "close the book" on the issue of apologies for residential school survivors.
    What is the mandate of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission?

    Established on June 1, 2008, the goals of the TRC include documenting and promoting the extent and impact of residential school experiences; providing a safe setting for former students to share their stories; and producing a report to the federal government on the legacy of the residential school system.
    The commission has held events in several Canadian cities to publicly address the experiences of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit children in residential schools across the country.
    One of the accomplishments of the TRC was gaining access to more of the 3.5 million documents held by the federal government related to residential schools. First Nations leaders and activists say these files could build a stronger case for genocide in Canada.
    The TRC's mandate was supposed to end in 2014, but in November 2013, Bernard Valcourt, the minister of Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development, announced that the TRC would be given until June 30, 2015, to complete its mandate.

    http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/a-history-of-residential-schools-in-canada-1.702280
  15. A good Read on why there are issues with Canada 150 and with the Natives...
    https://www.theglobeandmail.com/new...s-perspectives-on-canada-150/article35498737/



    July 1, 1867

    Canadian Confederation dawns with the union of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
    The British North America Act uniting the four provinces was drafted in London, England, by the "Fathers of Confederation." The legislation received Royal Assent on March 29, 1867, coming into effect on July 1, 1867.
    On June 20, 1868, Lord Monck will declare July 1 to be Dominion Day. In 1982, the name of the holiday will be officially changed to Canada Day.


    July 2, 1974

    Indigenous leader and farmer Ralph Garvin Steinhauer is named Lieutenant Governor of Alberta. On January 23, 1975, Steinhauer will read the Speech from the Throne in his full headdress and traditional garments.
    Earlier in his career, Steinhauer was a founding member of the Alberta Wheat Pool and founder/president of the Indian Association of Alberta.
    In 1967, he was awarded the Canadian Centennial Medal and appointed to the Order of Canada.


    July 3, 1986

    The city of Québec officially celebrates being the first city in North America to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    The UNESCO designation, on December 3, 1985, was for the Historic District of Old Québec, an outstanding example of a fortified colonial city. Some of the city's most-visited sites include the Château Frontenac, the Dufferin Terrace, the Fortifications of Québec and the Plains of Abraham.


    July 4, 1886

    The first Canadian Pacific transcontinental passenger train completes its voyage in Port Moody, British Columbia. The trip started in Montréal, Quebec, and included a stopover in Port Arthur, Ontario.
    The Canadian Pacific Railway was completed the previous year. On November 7, 1885, a ceremony to drive home the "Last Spike" was held in Craigellachie, B.C. In completing the railway, Canada fulfilled its post-Confederation obligations to British Columbia.


    July 5, 1937

    The town of Yellow Grass, Saskatchewan, registers the hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada: 45.5 degrees Celsius (114 degrees Fahrenheit)!


    July 6, 1867

    Lady Agnes Macdonald, second wife of Sir John A. Macdonald, writes in her personal diary about her life, her love for her husband, and what it is like to be the wife of the prime minister.
    Her diary includes statements like:
    "Life was only 'half' then. … I have found something worth living for – living in my husband's heart and love."
    And touching insights about their private life:
    "My husband devoted himself for a time to 'Patience', his well beloved game. I shall ever think of him sitting absorbed in his cards, leaning on the large green table in my dressing-room. He lays to rest his mind and changes the current of his thoughts more than anything else."


    July 7, 2008

    The Joggins Fossil Cliffs in the Bay of Fundy, Nova Scotia, become a UNESCO World Heritage site.
    The 300-million-year-old rock face is part of reclaimed land from the Old Joggins No. 7 Coal Mine. It is "the finest example in the world of the terrestrial tropical environment and ecosystems of the Pennsylvanian Coal Age of the Earth's history" (Joggins Fossil Cliffs website – Statement of outstanding universal value).


    July 8, 1892

    In St. John's, Newfoundland, a bundle of hay ignites. The blaze will become the town's most devastating fire.
    A small fire in a stable is spotted on Carter's Hill and reported to firefighters at 5 p.m. An empty water reservoir and dry summer conditions lead to the rapid spread of the flames.
    The next morning, 11,000 people will be homeless. Three people will be dead, and the devastation will result in a major economic downturn in Newfoundland.


    July 9, 1960

    Seven-year-old Roger Woodward is the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls without a barrel.
    Family friend James Honeycutt is on the Niagara River in his aluminum boat with young Roger and his teenaged sister Deanne. When the engine dies, quick-thinking Honeycutt orders the children to put on lifejackets. The boat is pulled into the current and overturns. Deanne is rescued by two men standing on the shore, while Roger and James go over the Horseshoe Falls. Honeycutt drowns, but little Roger survives thanks to the lifejacket. The boy is picked up by the Maid of the Mist after a harrowing eight minutes under the falls.


    July 10, 1985

    The Greenpeace ship Rainbow Warrior is sunk by French secret service operatives in Auckland harbour, New Zealand. A crew member dies in the explosion.
    The Vancouver-based environmental group is in New Zealand to protest France's nuclear testing in the South Pacific. The French government will dismiss the head of its intelligence agency, and the Minister of Defence will resign in the aftermath of the incident.
    synth_apparition likes this.
  16. Well...

    That's pretty horrific.