Canada

  • The phrase “our man in New York” most commonly refers to William Stephenson, the Canadian-born MI6 officer who led a covert British intelligence operation in the United States aimed at shaping public opinion and encouraging American entry into the Second World War. His remarkable work is the focus of Henry Hemming’s critically acclaimed 2019 non-fiction

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  • On February 19, 1942, Winnipeg, the capital city of Manitoba, Canada, was “invaded” by Nazi troops. By 5:30 a.m., Nazi broadcasts were being transmitted from a local radio station that had been seized. At 7:00 a.m., air raid sirens sounded, and a citywide blackout was ordered. By 9:30 a.m., the defenders of Winnipeg had “surrendered”

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  • The title of this blog is the opening lines of the song “Red Sector A” by the Canadian Rock band “Rush.” It is a song from their 1984 album, Grace Under Pressure. It’s one of Rush’s most emotionally charged songs, heavily influenced by Geddy Lee’s personal family history. The song’s poignant lyrics, written by drummer

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  • Mary Weinrib was born on July 16, 1925, in Warsaw, Poland. She was born Mary Mania (Malka) Rubinstein. She grew up in Wierzbnik, a Jewish town that was part of Starachowice, Poland. Her mother was Rose Rubinstein, a dressmaker. Her father, Gershon Rubinstein, was a butcher. The family, which included a younger sister (Ida) and

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  • The Ku Klux Klan in Canada

    Recently, I made the mistake of referring to my local petrol station, “Circle K,” as “Triple K,” I suppose it could be considered a Freudian slip. I remember back in 1998, there was talk about a KKK chapter in Ennis, Ireland. Thankfully, that appeared to be a false claim. However, there is this notion that

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  • On September 13, 1969, John Lennon performed with the Plastic Ono Band and Eric Clapton at the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival. Held at Toronto’s Varsity Stadium, the festival itself was a bit of a glorious hodgepodge, with some of rock’s founders (including Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Little Richard and Jerry Lee Lewis) sharing

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  • Christie Pits riot

    There is a misconception that most people were appalled about Hitler coming to power in 1933, and that it was only the Germans who endorsed the Nazi policies. But that would be far from the truth. Hitler’s rise to power was celebrated in many parts of the world, even in Canada. It’s not hard to

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  • This is one of those men that makes me proud to be Dutch, and like me he has also a connection with Ireland. He was born in Hattem, a small town  in the east of the Netherlands. His father was an officer in the Dutch Navy. Willem studied mathematics at Trinity College, Dublin, where he

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  • Like their southern neighbors, the USA, the Canadians also put their fellow Canadians,albeit from Japanese descend, in intern camps. However it appears that history has forgotten this chapter. Unlike their Southern neighbors the Canadians kept restrictions  for their Japanese-Canadian citizens in place  for several years after the war. I am not saying that I don’t

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  • A little known fact of WWII is that Japan attacked North America several time. Aside from the Pearl Harbor attack, the other attacks were relatively unsuccessful Below a summary of some of those attacks. On June 3–4, 1942, Japanese planes from two light carriers Ryūjō and Jun’yō struck the U.S. military base at Dutch Harbor

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