Inscription of the complete poem in a bronze book at the John McCrae memorial at his birthplace in Guelph, Ontario

"In Flanders Fields" is a war poem in the form of a rondeau, written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae. He was inspired to write it on May 3, 1915, after presiding over the funeral of friend and fellow soldier Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres. According to legend, fellow soldiers retrieved the poem after McCrae, initially dissatisfied with his work, discarded it. "In Flanders Fields" was first published on December 8 of that year in the London magazine Punch. Flanders Fields is a common English name of the World War I battlefields in Belgium and France. (Full article...)

Fox in 2020

Michael Andrew Fox OC (born June 9, 1961), known professionally as Michael J. Fox, is a Canadian-American retired actor. Beginning his career in the 1970s, he first rose to prominence for portraying Alex P. Keaton on the NBC sitcom Family Ties (1982–1989). Fox achieved further recognition as protagonist Marty McFly in the Back to the Future film trilogy (1985–1990). The trilogy's critical and commercial success led to Fox headlining several films throughout the 1980s and 1990s, including The Secret of My Success (1987), Casualties of War (1989), and The Frighteners (1996). He returned to television on the ABC sitcom Spin City, where he portrayed the lead role of Mike Flaherty from 1996 to 2000. (Full article...)

Patch (i.e. shoulder flash) of the RCMP

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; French: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; GRC), often known as the Mounties, are the federal and national police service of Canada, providing law enforcement at the federal level. The RCMP also provide provincial policing in eight of Canada's provinces (all except Ontario and Quebec) and local policing on a contract basis in the three territories (Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon) and more than 150 municipalities, 600 Indigenous communities, and three international airports. The RCMP do not provide active provincial or municipal policing in Ontario or Quebec. However, all members of the RCMP have jurisdiction as a peace officer in all provinces and territories of Canada. Despite the name, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are no longer an actual mounted police service, with horses only being used at ceremonial events. (Full article...)

Multiculturalism in Canada was officially adopted by the government during the 1970s and 1980s. The Canadian federal government has been described as the instigator of multiculturalism as an ideology because of its public emphasis on the social importance of immigration. The 1960s Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism is often referred to as the origin of modern political awareness of multiculturalism. (Full article...)

January 13, 2022 –

Six people are missing and three others are hospitalized following an explosion and subsequent fire at a commercial building in Ottawa, Canada. (Reuters)

January 11, 2022 – COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, COVID-19 vaccination in Canada

COVID-19 pandemic in Quebec, COVID-19 vaccination in Quebec

Quebec announces plans to impose a "significant" tax on those who are not vaccinated against COVID-19, with exemptions for those who have legitimate medical exemptions from taking the vaccine. However, few additional details were revealed on a policy which would be a first in Canada. (The Globe and Mail)

January 10, 2022 – COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic in Canada

COVID-19 pandemic in Ontario, Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education

• ... that in a pre-game ceremony before the last game of the 1972 ice hockey Summit Series, the Canadian delegation presented a totem pole to the Soviet Union?
• ... that Canadian ice hockey manager Tubby Schmalz reportedly sheltered visiting teams in his hotel during inclement weather?
• ... that archaeologists found evidence at Michipicoten Provincial Park on the north shore of Canada's Lake Superior that indigenous people used the site since at least 1100 AD?
• ... that Jack Roxburgh introduced legislation on this day in 1964 to declare ice hockey Canada's national game, after disproving the myth that lacrosse held that distinction?
• ... that Canadian ethnomusicologist Judith R. Cohen dispels the myth that Judeo-Spanish songs have medieval origins and are unique to Sephardic Jews?
• ... that Canadian professor and writer W. G. Hardy was given the honorary tribal chief title of "Chief Running Eagle" by the Sarcees?
• ... that Canadian professor Georges Larivière conducted a research project in which a transceiver is inserted into a hockey helmet to communicate directly with ice hockey players?

The 400-series highways are a network of controlled-access highways throughout the southern portion of the Canadian province of Ontario, forming a special subset of the provincial highway system. They are analogous to the Interstate Highway System in the United States or the Autoroute system of neighbouring Quebec, and are regulated by the Ministry of Transportation of Ontario (MTO). The 400-series designations were introduced in 1952, although Ontario had been constructing divided highways for two decades prior. Initially, only Highways 400, 401 and 402 were numbered; other designations followed in the subsequent decades. (Full article...)