Club Car

Black Robe is about the travels of a Jesuit priest as he tries to reach a mission in the wilderness. The film begins in the settlement of Quebec, where Father Laforgue is guided by a small band of Algonquin Indians to take him to a Huron mission. While on the way, the leader of the Algonquin, Chomina, is stuck by a dream that Father Laforgue is a demon and will bring death. So the band decides to leave him, but Chomina decides to honor his word to guide Father Laforgue, and they return, only to fight an enemy band of Indians, who takes Father Laforgue, Chomina, and a couple others captive. They soon escape these Indians, but they endure torture before they escape. Chomina dies of an arrow wound, and Father Laforgue reaches the Huron mission alone. He succeeds in baptizing the Huron band that lives at the mission. However, we learn fifteen years later the Huron were destroyed by the Iroquois basically because they accepted Christianity.
One of this films strength is in the scenery in which it was filmed. The shots of forested shoreline, the frozen river, the leaves turning on the trees; all of those shots seemed to fit the time as untouched Canadian wilderness. The other strength of the film comes from how the Indians are portrayed. They just seem to be more real than I have seen in other films; they seem not savage, but simply human with their own unique beliefs and attitudes. This film leaves me with a very haunting idea though, that how can you question beliefs that are just as plausible as your own? Father Laforgue seems to wrestle with this, and I think any audience will too.

I recently watched the film Anne of Green Gables. This film, which I would call a mixture of America's Little House on the Prairie and Annie, was a story about a young orphan who was trying to find a home. It takes place on Prince Edward Island and there is a lot of Canadian themes in it. Matthew and Marilla Shirley had decided to adopt a little boy, but there was a mix-up at the orphanage and they ended up getting Anne instead. They originally had planned to send her back, but she gradually managed to win over their hearts and was allowed to call green Gables her home. It followed her from the time she arrived at Green Gables when she was thirteen all the way to when she was able to get a teaching job at 16. She was constantly getting into mischief, although usually on accident. Whether it was getting her bosum friend Diana Barry drunk, or forgetting to put the cheese cloth over the plum pudding sauce and letting a mouse drown in it, trouble always seems to find her. She was a very smart girl and did well in school. She was constantly in competition with Gilbert Blythe, who seems to be equally as smart. In the end, Gilbert and Anne both end up going to the same college and finding teaching jobs in the same area, allowing Anne to take over Green gables for Marilla since Matthew has died.

One of the things that I noticed about this movie that was purely Canadian was the Green Gables farmhouse. It was the exact style that they had back in those times. They also seem to really emphasize the importance of education in the movie. Anne is a very smart student and ends up getting a wonderful scholarship to a good college. Of course, it all comes back to one theme, though. That is the theme famous in Canada that emphasizes the family. Even when Anne had worked so hard to get her scholarship, she turns it down so that she can stay with Marilla and live in Green Gables. No matter how much success she could have had, she throws it away because family is the number one thing in her eyes. Another interesting thing that I noticed was all of the British flags that were hanging up, especially in the schoolhouse. This shows the recognition of British authority over them.

I went into this movie thinking that it was going to be some sappy chick flick, but I actually found that it had a decent story. Although it was a bit stereotypical in how it ended, the movie was not near as bad as I thought i would be.

The Walrus is a magazine that provides everyday news stories to the general public in what I perceived to be an unbiased fashion. Interestingly enough, on the inside cover I found an advertisement for a Canadian newspaper called The Globe and Mail, in which the slogan was, “It’s not just news, it’s a conversation.” After reading a few articles from each magazine and paging through the rest, I found those words to closely relate to this magazine as well. I guess it probably applies to most magazines now that I think about it. But I say this because there is nothing I found in here that would make me uncomfortable talking about with a complete stranger.
One example I found was somewhat comical. There was an article about a man from Winnipeg who drove 1400 miles to Los Angeles to see The Price is Right. He was called down into contestant’s row, but never made it up to Bob Barker. Anyway I thought it was funny when he mentioned as a parting gift they gave everyone appearing on the show an 8x10 of Bob holding a poodle.
Anyhow it seems to me after talking about it in class and from other experience like Canadian news—whether it’s radio, written, or on T.V., seems to be less politically biased than here in America. American news always seems to talk a lot about political issues and lean in some way or the other. I think somehow they think that by taking a stand one way or the other it will sell. However that is not to say this magazine didn’t have some opinions expressed throughout it, but they were typically smaller scale examples such as headlines like: How the media smeared Maher Arar, and Hockey at its best is a cool, clear night, and outdoor rink, and a gaggle of strangers. Those types of headlines to me don’t have the potential to upset anybody on a large scale. There was one article about stem cell research, but both sides were equally debated and the writer didn’t give her opinion one way or the other, I guess that’s for the reader to decide.

I watched the movie White Thunder which is documentary about the largest Hollywood film disaster. A sealing boat was headed towards Newfoundland to finish a movie that was started the previous year in Hollywood. The ship was called the Viking and the Movie was to be called White Thunder but six days after their journey had started there was a great disaster for the Viking. An on board explosion killed 26 crewmen and the young director.
The Film starts by giving a background on Varick Frissell. He was the writer and director of the film. He was a young film maker from New York who loved documentaries; he was obsessed with shooting ordinary people in their everyday lives. The film shows Frissells’ love for Labrador and his love for adventure. This explains why he wanted to make a movie about this part of the country. Then the documentary shows how Varick shot his White thunder movie. He wanted it to be a documentary, but the Hollywood executives thought it should be a full length picture. Varick and the sealers shot the movie but the first draft was rejected, they had to redo some footage so the following year they made another trip north. But the ship had an explosion which would be one of the worst disasters in history for any Hollywood movie.
I liked this movie, I wasn’t very long and it was very interesting. There were great shots that Varick had. One of my favorites is a video of men working on the ice; you could see the ice move like waves up and down with the men running along it. It was very interesting and I would recommend it to the class. Also it has great bonus features including Varick’s short documentaries. No questions really arise after watching this movie, but I think that is because it is a documentary and it was very well done. Its not like other documentaries because it doesn’t force and opinion on the viewer, but instead it just states the facts. And I think that’s how a documentary should be.

In lecture 5 we learned of the development of the western territories of Canada. We talked about the first pioneers to enter the this new unknown territory, their struggle to survive and develop a society there, and the adaptations the settlers had to make to the environment, and the political and economic repercussions of the new land. Also we talked about the Governments decisions in policy making in in response to the new and unique obstacles the prairies raised. We talked about the people that made the prairies what they were. Not only the Canadians moving that way but the immigrants as well. There was a large influence of Ukrainians and even Americans coming from the south. In addition the natives obviously played a large role in the development of this are. Finally we talked about the differences in Americans attitude to their prairies and the Canadians to theirs. Whereas Americans see society in the prairie states as defined by the environment, Canadians see it as defined by the economy.
I found the last part the most interesting. I think America has this attitude because we were a country on our own. We weren't here depending on a mother country and we weren't here too feed a mother country. Their only obstacle was that of the environment, and that is what defined them as Americans. Canadians on the other hand still had to answer to England to some extent. When developing a society their decisions were based on what was the best for the empire not necessarily what was best for them. So if the empire was doing well, they were doing well. Because of this their society developed based on the economy not on the environment.

One Warm Line is a biographical sketch of Canadian folk singer, Stan Rogers. The film interviews band members, Stan's mother, his wife Ariel, and many local people Stan would visit for inspiration in writing his songs. The film flows through the areas of inspiration such as the area in which Stan grew up in Canada, mostly maritime areas on the Eastern Canadian coast. When the fishing declined, the people took to the west for farming, Stan moved with them. During the film there was a particular interview with, I believe was a fellow musician or band member Stan knew, but in the interview, the man stated that one of the amazing things about Stan Rogers is that he never was a fisherman and never was a farmer, but he wrote and sang songs that made him become whatever he wanted to be. Because of his music he became a back breaking farmer or a seasoned fisherman and that was inspirational to many fans of his. The film features a lot of imagery of Canada as many of Stan's songs are being played. I found Stan Rogers' music to be more powerful and more moving to view images of what exactly he was singing about or even just to watch Stan sing on the film was even more vivid then to just listen. The film starts out with images of ship wrecks and earlier travels by ship by film and photos as Stan sings "Northwest Passage," which much of the class would be familiar with during the third lecture when it was played, this song didn't move me as much until I watched the song end on the film with Stan singing it for a crowd. The film, although made during the 1980s has the grainy imagery and typical, solemn type interviews, it is certainly a good film to view to learn about a great Canadian Icon and to follow Canadian history, landscape and even to learn of the common people of Canada through song and image.

"Gaz Bar Blues" is a Quebec film set in a working class Montreal neighborhood in 1989. The film follows the inner-workings of the Champlain gas station that is run by Mr. Brochu and his three sons. Throughout the film Mr. Brochu, or "Boss," and the boys encounter a variety of neighborhood characters who use the gas station as a sort of local working class hang-out. The film is time-piece, set in the economic recession of 1989-1992, which is evidenced through the repeated hold-ups and customers who ask the Boss for "credit" on their gas purchases. Much of the film is based upon the interactions and emotions of the characters. The simplicity of the plot can be evidenced in many scenes which includes conversations regarding everything from harmonica's to the feeding a friendly neighborhood goose. The plot moves slowly and up until the point where the Boss' oldest son leaves to pursue his dream of photography in Berlin, nothing remotely significant happens.
"Gaz Bar Blues" is a good film for capturing the social and economic state of the working class in Canada's recessionary economy of the late 1980s. Like many other Quebec films there are no monumental plot twists that define the peice. What does define "Gaz Bar" are the simple everyday interactions of the characters, whom are so down to earth and realistic that it would not be a stretch to meet anyone of them at a local hang-out. Through these interactions we can gain added insight into what working class life may have been like during this period of Canadian history. I also think that (definetely) "Gaz Bar" is a prime representative of Quebec film because nothing monumental happens. As students of history we can agree that in Canada, nothing monumental ever happens…

Could I borrow Corner Gas next? Thanks

I watched the fast runner, which is a Canadian movie about the nomadic Inuit people. The story starts in the past and jumps forward to follow the life of two brothers. Atanarjuat and his bother are divided against the rest of the community because Atanarjuat has fallen in love with Atuat who is already promised to the clan leader’s son Oki. But Atanarjuat wins the marriage of Atuat in a fight against Oki. It wasn’t really a fight but more of a contest to see who can stand the longest while they take turns hitting one another in the head. Atuat and Atanarjuat go and live with his brother and his wife. But when it is time to go hunting Atuat is too pregnant to go with Atanarjuat so he goes alone but on the way he comes across Oki and his family and Oki allows Atanarjuat to take Oki’s sister Puja. On the trip Puja and Atanarjuat become lovers and she becomes his wife. But when Puja sleeps with Atanajuat’s brother Puja and is sent away. She runs home and tells her family he tried to kill her. Oki gets mad and vows to kill Atanarjuat but he succeeds in only killing Atanarjuat’s brother, Atanarjuat gets away by running naked across the ice. He gets away and is saved by an elderly couple and their daughter. He waits for the summer to pass so he can return home. While he is gone Oki rapes Atuat and kills his father so he can become leader. When Atanarjuat returns home he is welcomed by Oki, who seems to have done a 180 with his feelings towards Atanajuat. The movie ends when a spirit is driven away, which I didn’t fully understand. And then Oki and Puja are banished from camp.
I thought the movie was ok, I didn’t think it was two thumbs up like Ebert and Roeper thought it was. It showed some scenery of Canada but it seemed just to be a lot of ice and snow. I liked how they showed the nomadic lifestyle by showing how they erect an igloo or how they go hunting. It was an interesting movie, probably not something I would watch again but overall it was pretty good. Another thing I thought was interesting was the hypocritical acpect of the polygamous lifestyle. It was ok for Atanajuat to take a second wife but when Puja slept with another man Atanajuat got angry. I know it’s a different lifestyle but I was just wondering what anyone thought about that?

Lecture 5 dealt witht the issue of the settlement of Canada's western prairies. One of the main reasons for this was the work of Henry Youle Hind and his exploration across the western part of Canada. Before this, people thought that the western part of Canada had little promise in terms of a place to settle people, but Hind and others realized that it could be of some value and suggested that it be searched further. One interesting aspect of the Canadian frontier that Dr. Isern discussed was the evaluation of the prairies. We discussed the issue of the Fertile Belt and Palliser's Triangle. The Fertile belt consisted of lands that could be farmed or used for livestock, while Palliser's Triangle was considered land that was less than desirable, and originally left out. However, the building of the Canadian Pacific Railroad opened up the Western Frontier and began a new path of settlement to Canada. Because of new settlers, the government created the Mounties, officially known as the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, to take control of the prairies from the Americans. One thing I always noted about the Mounties is that they seem to get more respect than typical police here in America. They are an integral part of Canadian culture and perhaps, because of this "icon" status, they are looked upon with great respect.
One of the other intriguing aspects of this lecture was the issue of actually settling the plains. The Dominion Lands Act of 1872 gave each settler 160 acres, with a $10 filing fee and 5 years residence. This act seemed very similar to the Homestead Act in the United States and perhaps the Canadian government borrowed the idea and used it to effectively settle the land. The recruiting of immigrants was also something I found interesting. I knew that they tried to get more British citizens there, but I was unaware of entire groups of certain cultures. This, in my opinion, would be a very intriguing prospect for some cultural groups because how often are you going to get the chance to move your lifestyle to another country and be left alone.
All in all, I found this lecture interesting because of the settlement issue. I never knew about the Dominion Act and the Canadian government encouraging entire groups to settle there. It makes me wonder about the history of my Step-grandma and how her family arrived in Canada, as she grew up as a Mennonite. Perhaps now I can ask her about this and get some interesting insights on this idea.

I was listening to CBC radio th other night from Winnipeg. I actually found it to be quite interesting. I listened to it for about an hour and a half and the entire time it was made up of news programs.

The first program that I listened to was called As it Happens. This program basically took a bunch of news stories from all over the world and discussed them. It was hosted by a woman and she would have an expert on each topic that was discussed. She would ask them a series of questions to help the audience better understand what was going on. They covered topics all the way from elections in Egypt to a possible new type of twins in Seattle to the spreading of certain blood born diseases in another part og the United States. I found the program to be quite interesting, although not really any different from that of an American news show. There was one guy on there who could not give out a whole lot of information, so he was actually sounding annoyed when the lady would basically attack him with the same question in different forms.

The next program was another news show. It too was hosted by a woman, although this one seemed a little less invasive with her questions. The main topic that they were discussing was that a man was going to be tried in Canada for war crimes. They have a seven year old law and this was the first time in its existance that it was being used. They were talking to an expert on the manner and he really saw Canada as a leader in enforcing this law. He also really emphasized the fact that by doing this trial, they were hoping to make Canada a less friendly environment to criminals like the man that was going to be tried. He mentioned that there were a lot of war criminals living in Canada and that they were in the process of tracking them down to bring them to trial as well.

I guess what I learned from listening to CBC radio is that Canadian news programs are very similar to those of Americans. I was actually going into this experience thinking that it would be a whole lot different. We here as Americans kind of look down on Canadians and picture them as more passive, almost soft and compassionate people all the time. From listening to these programs, I learned that they can be much like Americans, at least when it comes to radio news shows.

Lecture 5, Promise of Eden, is about the settlement of western Canada. At first, the Canadian government thought that the western prairie was of little value, but after some Canadian explorers came through and deemed it fit for settlement, it was held as an Eden instead as of a wasteland. The Canadian government set about securing the land, by sending NWMP (later RCMP) into the region to kick the Americans out. Next, a Canadian railroad was built through the region. This has some irony in it, because Canada seems to like to be in somewhat of an opposite of the United States, but it was Americans who helped build the CPR. The Canadian government next instituted a land policy similar to the United States, but the government retained more land that was not available for homesteading. As for settling the land, it failed to attract massive amounts of British to move out there, so the Canadian government advertised for whole groups to come and settle on the prairie, like the Ukrainians. However, these groups posed an interesting problem; they did not assimilate into Canada. Rather, they retained their unique ethnic identity and learned to function as Canadians, but not become “British”, as was expected.
The most interesting thing I learned from this lecture was that many Americans settled in Canada. I understand why they did, but given the Canadian identity as being in opposition to America, that just strikes me as another contradiction in Canada’s identity.
On a side note, when I was doing my families genealogy several years ago, I discovered that for a time, my great-grandfather left his farm in North Dakota to settle in Canada. If fate hadn’t intervened, I might be Canadian!! At the time, I though it was just different place to go, not a whole movement of people to settle in Canada.

We were discussing smoking in Canada compared to the United States in class yesterday. Dr. Isern mentioned that it was more of a taboo activity here than in Canada. While that may be true, I know that they are highly more regulated in Canada. For one thing, they are $10 a pack. Also, anyone who has seen a pack of Canadian cigarettes can say that they look much different than American cigarettes. The packages are wider and I suspect this is to make them less convenient to carry around. In addition, the warning labels on Canadian cigarettes are far more explicit as they have gruesome pictures of lung cancer and gum disease (among other smoking-related ailments) printed on half of the package. Here are a few examples:
http://www.markelliot.com/archive/images/cigs.gif
http://boifromtroy.com/wp-content/cigaretteshurtbabies.jpg
http://www.canadiandesignresource.ca/officialgallery/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/dumarier%20small.jpg

I recently watched Denys Arcand’s 2003 film The Barbarian Invasions, the sequel to his 1986 film The Decline of the American Empire. The Barbarian Invasions focused on a promiscuous history professor who was terminally ill. In the film, the history professor (Remy) is in a hospital in Montreal. Although reluctant, Remy’s ex-wife convinces their wealthy son Sebastian to come from London to help comfort his father (despite the two having a rocky relationship).

Sebastian comforts his father in a variety of ways. His father needs a CT scan; to get one in Canada would take far too long, so he accompanies his father to a hospital in Burlington, VT. Sebastian also makes an effort to improve his father’s environment in the Montreal hospital. There is an entire unused floor in the hospital despite the fact that the rooms (and halls) on the other floors were jam-packed with patients. Sebastian manipulates the situation by bribing a hospital official and paying maintenance men to fix up and paint a new, private room for his father. Also, since Remy’s pain is so intense, Sebastian acquires heroine for him as it is much more powerful than morphine.

The Barbarian Invasions main focus was more on character relationships than on a plot. Sebastian’s relationship with his father is strained at first, but others remind them of what they have done for each other. Sebastian’s mother reminds him of how his father comforted him while he was ill during his childhood, while a nurse in the Montreal hospital informs Remy that not many patients receive visitors from family at all (let alone family coming from a different continent). The main message I took out of this film is that family is very important, and that reconciling differences with them is essential.

"There's not a lot goin' on" in Dog River, Saskatchewan, but friends and family share interestingly dull lives at the Corner Gas and The Ruby cafe. Brent owns the Corner Gas assisted by Wanda, connected with Lacey's The Ruby cafe, and they're joined together with Brent's parents Oscar and Emma, the lazy Hank, and the town protectors Davis and Karen. For just over twenty minutes, each episode viewers experience new quirky situations faced by the characters, from musical breathalyzers, to "stay-cations," to encounters with a fictional tv wonder dog. Each episode contains more than one plot, involving every character throughout the show. The plots are always minor situations that are presented humorously.
To me, this show is Seinfeld meets The Andy Griffith Show meets British commonwealth tv. The show's pace and characters move along like Seinfeld. The small town with one character's work establishment connected with another character's work establishment where all the other characters hang out reminded me of Mayberry. The latter is included because the filming and production end reminded me of other Canadian, Australian, and English shows.
This show exemplifies Canada's emphasis on the domesticity and relationships of life. Just like Lipset wrote about, Canada literature tends to look at things locally and trials are not huge obstacles the characters must overcome. Even though trials are present and the larger world may be mentioned, the emphasis is on the domestic and simple. Relationships also seem to be key, both family and close friends. I didn't much care for the show at first, but the more I watched, the more I became interested in the characters and enjoyed watching their interactions. The quirky characters make the show. It has not surprisingly done well award-wise.

The Walrus is a magazine that pretty much anyone can pick up and find an article that interests them. It is a collection of random topics anywhere from global warming, to male college students, to cooking, to fashion, all the way to African fighting songbirds. I read most of the articles in both the February and March issues and the only comparison I found was that both issues contained no set theme for their articles.
The Walrus is what I think of when I think of a stereotypical Canadian magazine. There are articles about political issues, but they are not aggressive in trying to convince you of one view or another. There are articles about skiing, but they are not trying to get you to come stay at a particular ski resort. The magazine is neutral and seems like a small town conversation; it talks about everything from global issues to local issues and it simply rambles on. This must be the goal of the magazine because it is similar in idea to the line they use to get people to subscribe. "Fearless. Witty. Thoughtful. Canadian." Those four words sum up the magazine perfectly. The Last Lumberjacks hit closest to home. Hardworking folk who have been in the business for a while reminded me of my family’s construction crew and it showed pictures of all the average Joe lumberjacks. Another great article was about African songbirds and how the owners would have judged song battles right in town between their little birds that had to be trained to sing (not natural singers). An all around classy magazine because of unbiased readings and good tastes in artwork… no scandalous advertisements, just a good clean read.

I've recently looked over two magazines called "The Walrus" what I've gathered from reading a few articles and advertisements is that the audience for this magazine is geared for a general audience of Canadian people who have an interest in domestic and international affairs. What I've read on their website is that anyone can write for them all you would have to do is submit your essay to them while following their writers guidelines. What I've noticed in some of the magazines is that there are some comparisons to Canadian life and American life. One I saw in particular was an advertisement for Oxfam Canada where it had Chris Martin from Coldplay talk about the US government paying farmers $1 billion a year to over-produce rice and sell the extra rice at a cheap price in poor countries which drives local farmers out of business, their slogan is "Make Trade Fair". One article I found particularly interesting was titled "Chasing the Crab" written by Bill Cameron. With relevance to this class set aside this is probably one of the best Cancer stories I've ever read. Bill Cameron was a News Broadcaster and Journalist who had been diagnosed with esophageal cancer which later had metastasized into his brain and into his liver. This was the last story he had ever written for he did not survive his battle with cancer. Throughout his chemotherapy he explains the high costs of medications in the United States. He tells in his story about drug companies reformulating new drugs to keep their patent which in turn helps them making more money. It seems Cameron is bitter about how drug companies operate in the US either by having aggressive lobbyists in Washington or discrediting homeopathic therapies. Whatever his resentment is for drug companies he still wants to live, he explains how fearful he is to never see his son grow up and have his own children so he does whatever he can to survive; whether it may be through chemotherapy or some other unorthodox treatment. This was a very interesting and educational article and I would suggest that if you're going to do a magazine blog try to get this issue, May 2005.

Lecture five dealt with the relationship of Canada to the land, particularly the west, and how it fits in with Canadian identity. The myth of the west has partially formed the Canadian identity. The Cypress Hills massacre got Canadians into thinking maybe the land in the west was valuable. After deciding the land surrounding Palliser's triangle was fertile and Macoun created enthusiasm, settlers began to come. As people came, so did policy, directed much by Prime Minister John MacDonald. He initiated development of the west with buildings and a national railroad. The presence of Mounties helped keep respectable order prided on little violence. Land policies took a shape similar to America. It was a struggle to recruit immigrants because other countries were more attractive. Ukrainian immigrants were common between 1905 and 1914. American settlers were extensive as well, although Canadians deny this fact. Canadian historians see the history of the prairie economically and little connection with the environment. The dependency and prevalence of natives make it difficult for Canada to construct a clear identity.
I was intrigued by the idea that the Canadian Mounties did not have to use force to subdue wrongdoings. Their mere presence caused people to shape up. They kind of remind me of The Andy Griffith Show. Several episodes were based on the plot of an article written about Andy Taylor, the "Sheriff without a gun." And one episode puny Barney ousted burly bullies by pointing to his badge, reminding them of all it represented.
A lot of Canadian development has been due to opposition to America. We already discussed how they formed out of opposition to the American Revolution. In this lecture they developed the western lands from the threat of Americans possibly wanting it. And they developed their own railroads in opposition to American railroads.

This lecture, titled The Promise of Eden, talked about Canada becoming more of a place where people immigrated and the results from this. We talked about the Cypress Hills massacres, which were fights amongst the American traders and the native peoples, which only heightened tension between the American West and Canada. Canadian historians describes the Americans are drunken roughens that brutally killed the native people, after finding their horses stolen at whiskey trading spots. These kinds of incidents brought the creation of the Canadian Mounted Police, by the Prime Minister, John McDonald. In the lecture, we also touched on how many Canadians thought that America was a threat to Canadian way of life and how they held different values from the United States. They lecture talked about how Canada also had to discover the true western part of their country, having exploration of different groups, such as Hind & Palliser and Henry Youle Hind. John Macoun, a botanist, talked about how valuable the land out west was, and later we talked about the homesteading of this land, especially Rupert's Land.

The last part of the lecture was probably the most interesting to me. It talked about the immigrants to Canada. One of the main source of immigrants was from Ukraine, talking about the earth and log houses and how they looked very different from the Canadians at the time, in their sheepskin coats and fur pants. The American settlers were by a chain migration. All the immigrants from America were experienced farmers from the northern Mid-West states that felt the land in America was getting tight and so they moved north to settle and farm life before. The lecture was very telling on how the Canadian historians don't want to give American much credit for having immigrants go into Canada and farm it, which to me shows how Canada wants to define itself separate from American.

The Walrus magazine, which hails from Toronto, Ontario, is to my best explanation, a highly cultural magazine. Just looking that the index of each of the issues, the main topics are the featured articles, ranging from terrorists in Canada to Iceland's use of hydrogen powered cars, fiction stories, memoirs, poetry, and arts and culture. Being based in Canada, there are the expected articles on the culture of Canada, including the national affairs of Canada, talking about the Bloc Quebecois cornering federalism. The fiction and memoirs and not a constant in the magazine and interchange themselves with every issue of the magazine. The arts and culture section had a variety of subjects, ranging from radio and music to architecture and style.

When I was first looking through the magazine, I saw some alcohol and car ads, which was to be expected in any magazine. When I took a look at what cars where in the ads, a lot of the automobiles were from companies like Audi, Cadillac, Saab, and Mercedes-Benz. Maybe I come from a frugal family, but those are some expensive automobiles. There were no pick-up trucks or mini-vans found in these ads. When I was looking at the alcohol ads, which only one or two in each issue, the biggest ad was for Remy Martin, which is a fine champagne cognac. I cannot say that I've ever heard of this before, but I'm not at the age to know about those things away legally, but to me it sounds expensive. I thought that the ads set a tone of what kind of reads this magazine was for, people who are highly educated and had a lot of money. Nonetheless, the magazine had interesting articles about things all around the world.

Lecture five was entitled promise of Eden and it dealt mainly with Canadian western expansion. Interest in the plains of Canada grew after several expeditions revealed that good fertile land did exist. Through the efforts of John Macoun, known as the champion of the prairies, a migration slowly started west. Contrary to its southern neighbor Canada’s migration was preceded by law in the form of the Mounties, who were created in response to the Cypress Hills massacre and the perceived American threat. The migration would soon be speed along with the commencement of the Canadian Pacific Railroad. Commissioned in 1880 the railroad was given to mainly American contractors with ten years to complete the line. Constructed mainly by Chinese immigrants the last spike was driven on 7 Nov. 1885. Canada followed a similar policy as the US regarding homesteading. In Canada however large areas of land were exempt since they were given to the Hudson Bay Company. The migration moved very slowly and the Canadian government began making attempts to recruit immigrants from overseas. They were able to find many willing participants from what we know today as the Ukraine. Ukrainians arrived in droves and began farming the land. They were able to settle the harsh plains well as they were very apt at constructing shelter simply out of earth. The migration also received a large boost from American of all places. In the early nineteenth century many farm families moved up from the American plains to the more “roomy” Canadian plains. I thought this lecture was pretty interesting. Once again the differences between Canadian culture and our own are very apparent. For example the arrival of the law before the settlers is much different from the American migration. Another example would be the lack of fanfare that accompanied the completion of the CPR. This lecture gave a very interesting look at how the Canadian west was won.

The Promise of Eden lecture was all about Candadian expansion westward across the continent. One of the major projects that helped to make it possible was the building of the Canadian pacific Railway. It ran parallel to the American Canadian border and helped connect the west with the rest of the country. Before the explorations of Hind and Palliser, everyone had fears of the "Great American Desert" that expanded into Canada from America. These two expeditions found that there was a small triangle of land that was not very fertile right next to the border. This triangle, named Palliser's triangle, was surrounded by a fertile belt that was ready to be farmed. The value of this land helped to propel movement westward.
John A. McDonald helped formulate national policy. It was based on the Northwest Mounted Police, Indian treaties, the National Railroad, freight rate agreements, western settlement, and protective tariffs. The Mounties were important to Canadian iconography with the seeming American threat as the founding reason. Their accomplishments were that of the whiskey forts falling, relationships with the indians, and their reputation of integrity.
After the railroad was built, the government set up their own version of homesteading to help settle the land out west. They also recruited immigrants to help settle, the most famous being that of the Ukrainians and the Americans, who were called "returning Canadians."
Despite the tremendous progress, there was still things that were yet to be done. Political economy and environmental adaptation were two of the major issues to be adressed, but the settling of the Canadian prairies was a big step in forming the Canada that exists today.

This past weekend I was able to watch, "The Decline of the American Empire," and all I have to say is WOW! When Jen first handed it to me she said it was all about sex, and needless to say she wasn't kidding. The plot line focuses on what appears to be four couples. Four men and four women spend pretty much the entire time talking about sex, and all of its perversions. The interesting part of this conversation between each group is where it took place. I found it odd that the women were at the gym talking about sex, while the men were at home making dinner. Doesn't that sound like it's backwards? I'm not going to divulge any particulars about any of the characters because the emphasis of the movie made it sound like they were obsolete. I'm sure that most of us have gotten with a group of friends of the same gender and talked about sex, and I'm pretty sure that it does not even scratch the surface of what these people had in mind. They covered everything from marriages and relationships, to sex parties and affairs even as far as homosexuality. It was a bit comical through this part of the movie, but when they started talking about society's perversions on it was a little disturbing. It discussed things like pedophilia and incest. Once they started talking about this I wanted to lose my lunch. Through all of this talk on sex I fail to see the link between the movie and the lectures in the course. The only obvious Canadian part of the movie is that it is shot in Canada, and it is in French. Even after watching the movie I didn't really get the point to it. It was almost like a camera man thought he would take a few hours out of his day to follow around eight perverse minds, and then when he ran out of film the movie ended. I really don't see how this carries any relevance to what is being taught in class. It might show differences in society between American and Canadian people, but I'm sure that if you were to video tape those sex conversations in an American society it would likely be the same. Overall, I thought the movie was a little pointless and perverse, and there should be a disclaimer on the box that says this is not a "date" movie. Although, you could probably have guessed that just by looking at the cover.

Anne of Green Gables is a movie that is base off of the books of the same name (somewhat) by Lucy Maud Montgomery. In the movie, Anne Shirley is an orphan that never seems to be able to find herself a permanent home to settle down at. Because of her wild imagination and endless talking, people always end up sending her to the orphanages. When the Cupburts request an orphan boy, Anne is sent by mistake, and of course, she is unwanted as usual. However, her personality is unfamiliar to the Cupburts, and she makes an impression on them, especially Matthew. They end up keeping Anne, and she makes them very proud by her actions in school as she is the smartest in her class, as well as good-will like saving the life of a small child. By the end of the movie she is attending college and making excellent grades, and then she ends up teaching and working on school, and making all of Avonlea proud.

I have seen these movies many times and even been to the places on Prince Edward Island where the movie was set because of my mother and sisters. The movie is too sappy for my taste, but it does display part of the Canadian life with references to the British flag, the prime minister, and some of the other Canadian/British traditions like education and community living. There are also references to the beauty of the Prince Edward Island, and that was one of the reasons that people moved there, so that historical aspect is fairly accurate as well.

So far I have read the first 40 pages and it has been fairly interesting. Mainly because of all the military action. The book doesn't seem to be that easy of a read. The paragraphs are extremely long (its not uncommon to only have two paragraphs a page) and there is alot of information in each paragraph. About every third paragraph is dull, slowing the reader down with less important facts.

Men With Brooms is a comedy about curling. In the beginning, four former curling friends inherit a request to win a coveted curling championship, the Golden Broom. As they try to build up for the championship, each deals with their unique problems. Cutter, the leader of the team and main character, deals with his father, accidentally cheating in a curling match, and reconciling with his ex-fiance (and then falling for her sister!!). After losing to a group of older curling players (octogenarians they were called), they seek curling guidance from Cutter’s estranged father, who is a curling veteran. They then enter the Golden Broom Championship and get beaten by a team from Butte, Montana in their first game. Which is one of my favorite parts, where a spectator thinks the opposing team is from Butt, Montana. Anyway, the team eventually wins after having to declare one stone has having been burned, and get to re-throw the stone, and finally achieve victory.
I liked this film. It seemed to put a very funny spin on curling, which from the film makes me think that it is important enough to Canada to be made fun of. One thing that must be typical of how Canadians are (or at least view themselves as) always drinking and smoking. Even at the end, the kids are taking shots of milk (I hope it was milk). This must be a prominent thing in Canada, because Betsy mentioned this in her review of DaVinci’s Inquest about the prevalence of drinking and smoking. All things said though, this film was great and it seems to give a humorous twist on Canadian small town life.

Men With Brooms is a comedy about curling. In the beginning, four former curling friends inherit a request to win a coveted curling championship, the Golden Broom. As they try to build up for the championship, each deals with their unique problems. Cutter, the leader of the team and main character, deals with his father, accidentally cheating in a curling match, and reconciling with his ex-fiance (and then falling for her sister!!). After losing to a group of older curling players (octogenarians they were called), they seek curling guidance from Cutter’s estranged father, who is a curling veteran. They then enter the Golden Broom Championship and get beaten by a team from Butte, Montana in their first game. Which is one of my favorite parts, where a spectator thinks the opposing team is from Butt, Montana. Anyway, the team eventually wins after having to declare one stone has having been burned, and get to re-throw the stone, and finally achieve victory.
I liked this film. It seemed to put a very funny spin on curling, which from the film makes me think that it is important enough to Canada to be made fun of. One thing that must be typical of how Canadians are (or at least view themselves as) always drinking and smoking. Even at the end, the kids are taking shots of milk (I hope it was milk). This must be a prominent thing in Canada, because Betsy mentioned this in her review of DaVinci’s Inquest about the prevalence of drinking and smoking. All things said though, this film was great and it seems to give a humorous twist on Canadian small town life.

Since we recently discussed Prime Minister MacDonald in class, I felt it was appropriate to do a radio report on him. John Alexander MacDonald was born in Glasgow Scotland on January 11, 1815. His father moved the family to Canada when John was six years old. Macdonald played a key role in the foundation of the Canadian confederation July 1st, 1867. He won the vote for the country's first leader with a whopping 60%, thanks also to the support of Quebec's Cartier and New Brunswick's Tilly. As we talked about in class, MacDonald motivated the building of Canada's transcontinental railroad so that Canada would not be a "tributary to American bondage." MacDonald is also well known for being a heavy drinker, which causes his progeny a little difficulty in defending their ancestor. It was noted in one of the radio clippings how appropriate it is that the first floor of the building MacDonald was born in has become a pub. And reported last but not least, you can have for your very own, a portable and pose able Sir John MacDonald action figure.
By listening to reports of MacDonald and the re-enactment of one of his speeches, I believe this man held the vigor, drive, and forward looking traits that Canada needed in its first leader, to make something of this burgeoning country.
I was disappointed with the very anti-american sentiment displayed in MacDonald's speech about the Canadian railroad. He could have written it without that, but he probably got the response he wanted by adding it.
I like the idea of the Macdonald action figure. It was intended for kids ages 6-12 to teach them about Canadian history, but the people interested in the product are adults. I don't think kids would be interested unless the Prime Minister did ninja kicks while battling political opponents.

For this review, I watched the movie Black Robe. At the beginning we see Masseur Champlain talking with Father Borque about the possibility of a mission in the Huron village 1500 miles away. Champlain seems somewhat pessimistic about it, and doubts that it can be done. However, Father Borque insists that Father Laforgue can do it, as he is strong and devout. Accompanying Laforgue on this journey is Daniel, a young frenchman who is working on houses around the settlement. He wants to journey with Laforgue because he does not want to build houses for the rest of his life. Laforgue enlists the help of a band of Algonquin indians to guide him to the Huron village, and they are led by Chomina, played excellently by August Schellenberg. One interesting point that comes out in this movie is how Father Laforgue believes that the "savages" only care for themselves and it disgusts him. I found this interesting because in my research, I have found indians to be extremely caring about their tribe members and share everything with each other. On the course of the journey, Laforgue's colleague Daniel becomes involved with Annuka, the daughter of Chomina. At one point, Father Laforgue sees Daniel in the woods with Annuka, and it upsets him because he is not as devout as he is. Chomina does not want his daughter getting involved with the "ugly frenchman", but Daniel is steadfast in his caring for Annuka. This also was very interesting because during this time, I would think that many french traders and workmen would be marrying Indian women and starting families. During their journey, they meet up with the Mentaignais, and their medicine man, who is a little creepy, labels Father Laforgue a demon and pesters him endlessly. Despite this criticism, Father Laforgue seems unfazed and continues the trek. Although Father Laforgue is ready to continue, most of his band of Algonquin abandon him to find the Huron by himself. He is left alone and wanders around the wooded terrain. Down river, Chomina stops an attempt on Daniel's life and, instead of continuing on with his tribe, leaves with Daniel and his daughter Annuka to find father Laforgue and finish what Chomina promised to do, get him to the Huron village. Along their way to find Father Laforgue, they are captured by the Iroquois and taken prisoner. They are tortured and forced to humiliate themselves in front of the Iroquois tribe, but, during the night, they escape and make their way to the Huron village.
All in all, I really enjoyed this movie. I found it very interesting and the wilderness scenes were very majestic. One thing I found interesting was the bond Chomina had with Father Laforgue. Even though most of his tribe was skeptical about his motives, Chomina was devoted to protecting him and fulfilling his mission he promised to Masseur Champlain. This showed to me how much the Algonquin cared for those who were placed in their care. They may not have believed what their french guests did, but they were determined to help them complete their journey nonetheless. I would recommend this movie to the rest of the class, as it was the best movie I have watched for this class so far.

Just wondering if there is any news on possibly going to Canada for the class trip.

I do not usually read magazines so I am not current on any of the popular American magazines that get all the hype. Adbusters came off as an extremely liberal magazine; this was what I got from the February issue. However, this issue had some neutral articles in it and its primary focus was on the appalling level of American (and Canadian) consumerism. My political sixth sense was confirmed when I read the editorial in the March issue. It was titled Blueprint for the New Left. Issues contained articles focused on Israel, US troop involvement in the Middle East, global warming, the evils of consumerism, and articles’ saying the Bush administration has ruined America (not in those words of course). An article claiming The Death of Investigative Journalism frowned at the way western journalists are not counting Iraqi dead like the American numbers. I agree that this number should be researched, but the next short article called for less media censorship of military repatriation ceremonies, why torment family and friends with broadcasting their grief all over the world. Also, the author called for blood red photos of war fatalities (specifically American troops) to be shown on television as during the Vietnam War. Another article claiming that Americans do not know what sacrifice is, as they did in WW2, showed marines after an attack in Baghdad across from some a spring break party on a beach. It looked to me like the Marines clearing their dead comrades knew more about sacrifice than the person writing the caption claiming Americans don’t know how to gut it out, that they only use fancy weaponry.

I just finished watching the first three episodes of Da Vinci’s Inquest. This is an hour long drama based on the life of cop turned coroner in the city of Vancouver, BC. The first three episodes were a series entitled ‘Little Sister”. In these episodes Da Vinci is investigating the death of a prostitute who was found dead in the harbor. While it appears she died due to an alcohol overdose, he believes that it is possible that she is a victim of a murder. He also believes that she may be just one victim in a string of killings, and sets out to find whether there is a murder out there who kills his victims by alcohol poisoning. He has help along the way from various people, including his ex-wife, a fellow coroner; a rookie homicide cop and the chief of police.

I definitely took away some impressions of Canada from watching this show. One thing I noticed is that in Da Vinci’s Inquest in nearly ever scene, someone is smoking a cigarette. Drinking is also very prominent in the show as well. As someone who is fairly unfamiliar with Canadian culture, this gives me the impression that Canadians smoke and drink a lot.

I thought it was a well written show. My only criticism is that some of the characters in the show were poorly introduced, and perhaps the fact that there are so many characters in the first place. I found it hard at first to keep track of each character and their role in the show. I think the show would be just as effective with fewer characters. I would recommend this show to anyone who likes crime shows with mystery and intrigue in them.

For group discussion day, we had question six which was asking how Pennekoek would explain the Metis Rebellion. Pennekoek had written the most recent account of the rebellion and he said the Riel resistance pays too much attention to the French Metis opposition. He also saw the resistance as radical and sectarian 'civil war', with it's roots deep in the Red River's past.
Ens would not have agreed with Pennekoek is what we ultimately decided as a group. Sorry this wasn’t posted before our class discussion but better late than never I guess.

Chapter 6

Evan Thompson, Patrick Miller, Dallas Carlson

The movie Nanook of the North was a year long documentary of a Eskimo of the name Nanook and his little clan. Throughout the film, Robert Flaherty, the man who documented Nanook and his group, shows how the group survived only off of Nanook's hunting. The film shows how Nanook is the sole provider of food, by killing a walrus, which is considered a fortune and also known as the "tiger of the north", fish, a white fox, and a seal. It shows how Nanook, along with his group, were at the trading post, or the "white man's big igloo". This showed the many furs that were sold at the trading post and the experience of Nanook having an encounter with a gramophone, saying that it "canned" his voice. It showed how Nanook making an igloo for his group, and how it took under and hour for him to make the shelter. The film showed Nanook not only as the provider of food, but playing with his son, and teaching him out to hunt, to be a great hunter like his father.

The movie really showed how much was dependent on Nanook. All the hunting that Nanook did fed the entire group, allowed for clothing to be made, and let them have furs to trade. Everyone in the group all helped with the family and helping when they can, but it was Nanook who was the main provider. The documentary was very interesting to watch, but the fact that it lacked voice of any kind was a hindrance to get a better look into the life of these Eskimos. Since the movie was filmed in 1922, the lack of sound is expected.

I just watched three episodes of Corner gas Season 3. I was a little hard to pick up on because I had never seen or heard of it before, and I started on season three disc three. But its not a very complicated sitcom. It revolves around a small town gas station and around the townsfolk.
The first episode I watched was about revenge, shoes and lottery tickets. Lacey who works at the café introduces Brent’s parents to a new pricy wine and they are mad because they bump them up to a new wine bracket, so they want revenge and want to bump her up to a new biscuit bracket, but instead she gets hooked on their meatloaf. In another part of the story a cop gets new shoes, but becomes grumpy because they hurt his feet. It’s not a very important part of the story but it helps fill in the story. A third part of the story involves a carry out person who wins the lottery. The episode seems to revolve around being happy with how you are now, whether it’s with your shoes or happy with the cheap wine you drink.
The second episode Brent gets a hundred dollar bill that he thinks is a fake. He spends the whole episode trying to get rid of it, but nobody will take it because it’s easier to give him things for free rather than make change. Also in this episode a new doctor comes to town and its Lacey’s job to convince her to stay but craziness ensues and she decides to leave.
In the third episode Brent and his friends complain about today’s music so they decide to reform their old band thunderface. Brent’s father also has problems with today’s music because he said they copied his ideas.
Overall I liked the show. I think it could have been a lot funnier but it was ok. I have never been to a small Canadian town but I’ve been to enough small North Dakota towns to know that they are exaggerating just a bit but I’m sure some of the stories have some truth to it. There isn’t much to distinguish this show from a show from the US besides their accents and the mentioning of Canadian towns.

Prairie Fire described the North-West Rebellion in 1885. It began with describing the grievances the Metis and the Indians (mostly Cree and Blackfoot) had with the Canadian government. The Metis wanted their land in Saskatchewan recognized, and the Indians wanted their provisions that the government was obligated to provide them with in treaties signed with the Canadian government. The Canadian government was slow to respond to either of these groups, and because of that, rebellion broke out. For the Metis, the beginning of the rebellion occurred when they invited Louis Riel back to Canada to lead them in their grievances with the government. They soon were allied with the Indians, although the Indians seemed to have taken most of the offensive action. As soon as Riel took command of the Metis community, he began to display himself as a sort of prophet. He unsuccessfully tried to undermine the Catholic Church with a version of Christianity of his own. To me, that seems stupid because I am sure in undermined his support from the Metis community, who were probably all devout Roman Catholic. The book did not overtly state this, but it gave me the sense that Riel was portraying himself as the messiah or savior for the Metis people. During his trial, his lawyers tried to plead insanity and save his life, and that may have been the correct diagnosis for Riel. As the Indians and the Metis took some offensive action, the Canadian government sent out its army and crushed the rebellion. Many of the rebels fled to Montana, sent to prison, and a few were hung. I liked this book, although in the beginning it got to be somewhat long, because it told a very detailed account of the whole rebellion, before and after it. I recommend this book to anybody in the class because it mentions part of Canada that seems to be ignored and the focus of Canada seems to be on the urban centers in the east.

I read the February 2007 and the Dec/Jan 2006 editions of The Walrus. The Walrus is a lot like Newsweek in America. The target audience in most likely middle aged people who have had some form of higher education. I'd say the purpose of the magazine is to inform people about what's happening in Canada and also to put out some thought provoking stories.

The first article I read was describing a typical taxi ride in Nunavut's capital city, Iqaluit. There are about 80 taxis serving this community of 7,000. Being a taxi driver seems to be a dangerous job and the conversations tend to focus a lot on seals and polar bears. Iqaluit doesn't have any stop lights and just recently got street names. The funny part is that no driver uses the street names and instead relies on land marks and house numbers. Even more interesting is that the house number are not sequential. The manager of one of the two taxi companies said he trains new drivers by sending them out with a list of street number and says they have to find them all. It usually takes the new drivers two days to complete the task.

A second article I found interesting focused on a tea room in Halifax. The tea room is run by a Canadian and a Russian who are some of the only non-Japanese tea ceremony masters in the world. The tea ceremony is very important in Japanese culture. The two owners met in Japan nearly twenty years ago when they were working for their respective governments. While in Japan the also began studying the tea ceremony. Instead of staying in Japan the couple decided to bring the tea ceremony to Canada where they can share it people who wouldn't otherwise be exposed to it.

The Decline of the American Empire is not a movie I would reccommend. The whole movie revolves around the sex lives of middle aged college professors in Montreal. To the best of my knowledge the plot revolves around one of the professors theories that empires decline when people seek pleasure above all else. Most of the film shows how people in this era think of pleasure first before anything else. The entire content of the movie is men talking about women and women talking about men.

I did not like this movie very much, but someone much more sophisticated than myself just might like it. I'm not sure why it would be a film that students studying Canada would want to watch, but if you watched it a couple times you might be able to pick up on how to swear in French.

I watched the first four espisodes of season one of Corner Gas. This show is like watching what happens in my hometown only with funnier characters. Each episode focuses on a couple everyday events that happen in lives of Dog River citizens. The first episode is about how an outsider from Toronto comes in and re-opens her dead aunt's cafe. The second episode is about the tax man coming to town and how the sheriff wants free coffee at the cafe. The third focuses on bringing pilates into town and the fourth episode is about babysitting.

This is a great TV show to watch for students studying Canada especially here in the Midwest. I known that Canadians from the Prarie Provinces are a lot like us in the upper Midwest and Corner Gas just drives that point home. In the DVD set there is an incert that says, "You know you're in Saskatchewan when..." and most of them I've heard before only applied to North Dakotans. Corner Gas is just one more reminder that the plains don't end at the border.

I just finished watching several episodes of the third season of Corner Gas. The best way I can describe the show as a Canadian version of Seinfeld. I say this because its basically a show about nothing. There is no overriding storyline connecting all of the episodes together. Each episodes is simply a documentation of their daily lives. Albeit their daily lives are a lot funnier then my daily life. The part I enjoy most about the show is how down to earth everyone seems in the show. I get the feeling this show does a good job representing Canadians. That's not to say all Canadians are this funny, but in general it seems to represent a general Canadian characteristic. Just they way Seinfeld defined an American attitude I believe Corner Gas seems to define a general Canadian attitude. I think this show gives a lot of insight into Canadian lifestyle that you cant really get anywhere else other then going to Canada.

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I had some friends who went to Winnipeg over Spring Break and they said they had no problems with getting across the border and back. I know there was some passport talk earlier, but they said they didn't need it.

The following is a picture of a bridge that was built near Banff, which is on the main highway to Calgary. They had to build a special bridge for the elk to cross because it was their natural crossing so theywould just cross the interstate. This was causing too many accidents, so the special crossing was made.
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Over Spring Break I spent a few days in Winnipeg with some friends. While I was there, I noticed several subtle differences from our homeland and our closest neighbor. Most of which had to do with driving.
When first crossing the border, I found it almost comical how much stress the border patrol put on making sure we didn't have any mace pepper spray in the car. The guy asked us about five times, as though he couldn't believe that among three college age girls, none of us carried the stuff. Apparently it's restricted and you need a permit to carry it. Where as, on the way back to the US, they were more worried about us bringing back beef. They only asked us if we had alcohol once, but the beef, wow, about half a dozen.
After getting through the border, I then noticed that the speed limits were first posted in miles per hour but gradually weaned the driver to kilometers per hour. However, on the US side of the border, it's miles per hour from the get go. I found the gradual change to be very confusing. I would have rather had kilometers right away and put myself in that mindset from the start.
While I’m on the topic of driving, I was very glad I wasn't on this trip. We found it very difficult to drive in Winnipeg, especially since we weren't entirely sure on the traffic laws of Canada. The first thing we noticed was how big the red lights are in comparison to the yellow and green. It was very distracting. Also, the yellow border around the lights was so big that it made it hard to see which light was on in the first place. Then there were the cars randomly parked in the right lane. We would find ourselves driving in the right lane and then have to slam on our breaks because the car ahead of us would decide to park and get out.
My friends and I ended up getting lost for the first two hours we were in Winnipeg, which gave us time to accustom ourselves to the driving and get a lay of the land. After the initial driving scare was behind me, I started to notice the amount of Ukrainian Orthodox and Anglican churches. They were very pretty and lent a sort of other worldly atmosphere to the hustle and bustle of the city.
This last thing is a tip to people who need to exchange money. First off, do not go into a restaurant and pay with American bills. They will give you an exact exchange which means you will lose money as the American dollar is worth 1.18 to the Canadian 1. Next, the Royal Bank of Canada will not exchange money belonging to anyone without an account at their bank, but the Bank of Montreal will. If you are planning to use an ATM in Canada, it is best to know how much you have in it to start off with because they ATMs cannot read your balance, for whatever reason.
All in all, I had a great trip and would recommend it to anyone. However, it is best to keep in mind that it is a foreign country, so don’t expect it to be exactly like America. Take all experiences in stride and try to have fun. Take the bus and buy your parking passes from the hotel it’s cheaper.

I just finished watching Men with Brooms. I felt like I have seen this movie a hundred times before. It is the typical "underdog" story, where a bunch of rag tags come from behind to unite and defeat their enemies. As you know, this movie is about a curling team. This team of 4 guys, who have seperate lives, come together over the death of their old curling coach. The coach leaves a video, to be viewed after his death, in which he says that his last wish is for this team to win the "Golden Broom". Well what kind of movie would this be if the team went on to lose? The 4 unite to train together and get back in shape for curling, with the help of some interesting characters, and compete in the curling championships to win the Golden Broom.
I did not really enjoy this movie. Like I said, it is like every other underdog movie ever made. I did notice that Canadians really like curling. I did learn how to play by watching this movie, but I still don't get what the big deal is about it. I think you have to be Canadian to like curling as much as they do. Anyway, if you like the story of the little guy defeating the big guys, then you should like this movie. Personally, I prefer unpredictability.

For this movie review, I watched the French-Canadian film CRAZY. This movie was definately an interesting one to watch. In the beginning, it starts out with the Bielieu family giving birth to their 4 child named Zac. At first, when he is born, he is declared clinically dead, but he is revived and thus begins a interesting life. At first, he is pushed around by his older brothers, Raymond, Antoine, and Christian for being different. Each of his brothers has an interesting quality that makes them unique. Raymond is somewhat of a rebel, as he is into drugs and women. Antoine is your typical sports jock, playing hockey and fighting with his teammates. Christian is a studious bookworm who always has his nose in a book. Zac, our main character, is somewhat caught in the middle of his brothers jokes, and because of this, he is somewhat the loner of the family. Zac's only solice comes from his mother, who is quick to help him when he is feeling bad. His mother is convinced that Zac has special healing abilities, and takes him to "Mrs. Whats-her-name" as she is known to figure out what Zac can do. This lady, who sells Tupperware, tells them that Zac has a special ability and when he grows up he will fully understand. Throughout the movie, Zac and his family endure many crazy adventures, from fighting in the dining room to arguing who gets their brother Raymonds room when he moves out. Because of this, I had a hard time following this movie and it was hard to know what would happen next. I believe that this movie's message is somewhat based on redemption and second chances. Over the course of the movie, each character goes through their own personal problem, but in the end, they seem to defeat it and come back to the family. Without giving too much away, this movie definately makes you think about current issues in families today and even though it was hard to understand at some points, I found myself intrigued with how the family developed a unique bond after a devastating blow to the family. All in all, I would recommend this movie to the class, especially to those who enjoy a dark movie with a few twists and turns.

I recently reviewed a magazine article in the Oct. 2006 issue of The Walrus called "Welcome to Cairo! Where is your Wife?" It is a first-hand account of a gay journalist visiting Egypt. Its main theme is how the norms surrounding masculinity in Cairo allow males to be very comfortable with eachother in public; however, there is absolutely no tolerance for homosexuality.
The author talked about how mwn and womwn in Egypt lead different social lives, and how it is almost impossible by western standards to decipher between gay and straight in passing. The article was a different look into Egyptian culture, and it showed that religion is only one of many differences between east and west.
I also reviewed an article in the Sept. 2006 issue of The Walrus titled "Iran's Quiet Revolution." The article gives a historical overview of the tense relations between the U.S. and Iran, from the hostage taking of the embassy to the nuclear tension today. However, the article also focuses on Iran's younger generations and how their culture has many similiarities to the west.
The daily lives of most Iranians does not involve cursing the United States and Israel or showing up to anti-American rallies. Many attend university, go to work, enjoy social events with friends and family. The article shows me that most people all around the world just want to live in peace.

Sorry for getting this post in a little late, but it took me a while to figure out how to word information from this lecture—it was very brief and politics is not my cup of tea. Lecture 4 titled "Fathers of Confederation" is about how Canada achieved its independence from Britain. This idea of confederation really started around the time of the US Civil War. Britain, at the time, was starting to shed its obligation to keeping Canada as a colony. It was becoming difficult to control so they urged the Canadian colonies to take care of themselves while still trading with Britain. This would define a period changing toward mercantilism and imperialism, as well as a period of free trade. The Civil War also played its part in Canada's strive for nationhood. The two countries seemed to have their differences of opinion on the matter. This also fueled other events such as the Trent Affair, the Chesapeake Affair, and the Abrogation of Reciprocity. Canada knew that nationhood was a prerequisite for any internal developments. One thing that I found interesting about the idea of making Canada an independent nation was their means of achieving it. If someone had told me that prominent Canadians had made a voyage to Europe to discuss the idea of Canadian independence I would not have believed it, but knowing what I know now about their deference towards government I can see something like that take place. After they had achieved their independence it gave way to, no surprise, Conservative and Liberal parties. Conservatives placed an emphasis on a strong central government while the Liberals focused on free trade and enterprise. This was somewhat of a difficult lecture to try and comprehend, especially for someone like me that doesn't like politics.

Chapter 4 described many outlined many capitalist elements to the Metis society, but the most substantial was that of the buffalo fur trade. Not all communities participated in this. Some took part in contract freighting, some took part in the cattle trade to the United States, but for the most part it was the buffalo robe trade that drove the market capitalism. Ens considers capitalism to be an agent of social change, and the Metis communities are an example of that. For the most part, the Metis practiced subsistence farming. Due to their inability to keep large plots of land protected from animals they were only able to produce small amounts of crops. This farming practice greatly affected the size of their families, keeping them small, only reproducing when their farms could support it. The buffalo trade drastically changed all of that. Since their hunting parties were groups of 15 people or more they needed to have more children to help out with this. More children were also needed to prepare the buffalo for sale once they had been killed. During this period of proto-industrialism Metis families drastically increased, the age of people entering into marriage was younger, and farming was simply the means to support the immediate family. It also became much harder to do when weather conditions were unfavorable and unprodictable every few years.

Group 4 Beth Haugen, Erik Walker

On tuesday, me(Alissa Kemmet), Megan Hall and Caitlin Strabbe had Chapter 2 from teh Ens book. The questions were, what were the economic elements by which the metis made their living?? They had small scale agriculture, the buffalo hunt and seasonal labor for the Hudson Bay Company. Based on these elements, what sort of society evolved? What were its salient features?? The society started to evolve when Native American women started marrying the men working for the Hudson Bay Company, this started a line of children who had mixed native American/European ancestry. The society was more about self sustaining, and taking care of the family then they were worried about making a profit. What were sources of unrest in the society?? The church was trying to reorganize the social structure. With most kids growing up around the trading post with weren't ready to go out and farm because they never learned how, when this happened some villages were without enough food, which lead to crime in the community because the poorer families were stealing from those who had food.

Group 7 - Kurt Easterday, Kelly Hansen, Kyle Henning, Monnie Knapp

Question 1 - How did the Metis fit into the new political order in Manitoba?

When the Metis held the majority of the population they had a majority of influence. But over time both were reduced. French Metis were discriminated against bu English settlers. The Metis were quickly overwhelmed by outsiders and outsider influence.

Question 2 - What economic changes prompted the dispersal of the Metis across the Prairies?

The dispersal was the result of the reduction and movement west of the buffalo. The higher tariffs on trade was hard for the Metis economy, and the failed attempts of farming all cause the Metis to change their living locations.

Question 3 - How did land, its possession and dispossession, figure in this process?

In the beginning Metis were promised land for their children in Manitoba. This was argues over by the Metis and the government with nothing being done to give the land to the children. This resulted in the French and English Metis coming together to try to obtain own land against the non Metis French and English settlers. Also, the Metis had to follow the buffalo and favorable farming conditions, so less Metis were in Manitoba which meant less people = less representation, and this resulted in no land for the Metis children.

"Black Robe" is set in 1632 in the newly settled colony of Quebec. A young Jesuit priest, Father Lafourge, is assigned to leave the settlement with a band of Algonquins to travel to the Huron mission 1500 miles up-stream. Accompanying the priest is young French colonist named Daniel. As soon as the journey begins the Algonquins become suspicious of Father Lafourge's peculiar brand of spirirtuality and suspect him to be a demon. The wilderness soon begins to test the priest's beliefs, especially when he stumbles across Daniel (who had expressed interest in the priesthood) "rolling in the grass" with a young Algonquin girl. At one point the tribe becomes so suspicious of the father that they take him to a witch doctor who comfirms that the priest is, indeed a demon. Upon this affirmation, the tribe abandons the two Frenchmen with only a pheasant and a canoe. Daniel paddles after the Algonquin and persuades the leader to come back with his family and take the priest to the mission. The film finds new life after this decision as the tribe is ambushed by a rival tribe and the viewer witnesses warlike Indian customs. At the end, Father Lafourge finds his way (all alone) to the Huron mission where disease has preceded him. The Hurons, riddled by plague, convert to Christianity hoping that conversion will save them from death. The film precludes by informing the reader that the Christian Huron were massacred 15 years later by their enemy, the Iroqouis.
The film was very informative to the viewer about French-Indian relations during colonial Quebec. Unlike the English, the French took a proactive role in trying to convert the native tribes. The film also showed the beauty and power of the Canadian wilderness. This may have been a move that was purposely used to show the reader how such a looming landscape could mold a people. The film was tinged with some late-20th century thought such as Daniel arguing with the priest that the Algonquin religion made just as much sense as Christianity. That might have been a stretch for someone with a 17th century education.

In this lecture, Dr. Isern talked about the Fathers of Confederation and how they shaped the country. From the beginning, Britain urged confederation by a decline in mercantilism and imperialism and also free trade was becoming more popular. During the U.S. Civil War in the 1860's, there was dissention between Canada and Britain over what should be done about the fighting in the states. Canada saw this Civil war as a horrible example of what disunion could do to a country and wanted to avoid this at all costs. Nationalism was on the rise in the western world at this time. Liberal programs centered around backing off reciprocity and free trade led some to believe that Canada was stealing the programs of the Conservatives. In terms of politics, the New Democratic Party, which had its roots in the prairie programs, were a party based in social democracy. Prime Minister Harper is a part of this party. In terms of political parties in Canada, there are conservative, liberal, Bloc Quebecois, among others. The distinctiveness of Canadian politics is in its constitutional as well as its cultural differences. All in all, I felt this lecture was a little dry in terms of discussion of how the Civil War affected the country. I would like to know if there were any stories of Canadians getting involved in the conflicts of the Civil War.

Billy Harris, Matt Boe, Steve Clark, and Matt Spielman

For our group, we were given a few questions. The first ones were "What was the capitalist effect of marriage and family?" and How does mortality figure into demography at the time? The next question was "What were the causes of the migration out of the Red River Valley at this time? where did the people go, and how did they make a living there?" Our group decided that for the first question, The capitalist effect of marriage made a marriage an asset for families, because then there was more people around to man the buffalo hunts, which, in turn, led to more robes being made, which made the family more money. Having a larger family also could increase your social standing in the area, as more family could mean more money and more prestige. In response to the next question, in terms of migration out of the Valley, certain weather conditions made the mortality rate increase as on pg.108 Ens says that "From June 18 to August 2, deaths averaged seven a day, or 321 in all, representing 1/16th of the population." For an example of this, look on pgs. 118-122 for examples.

The first question we had to answer was: What practices of marriage and family life characterized Metis society? We discussed that they waited until they were older to marry because they wanted to be self-sufficient and not living with their parents once they were married. The Metis wanted to have their own land and own house to live in. Another characteristic of Metis society is that they had quick courtship rituals. In some cases the man would enter the woman's house and meet the family, then they would go off to the corner so they could talk. In just a matter of hours they could be engaged. Also the Metis tended to marry in the winter when staples were abundant for feasts, and there were few tasks to do around the parish. Our second question was: What was the relationship of these things to the economic order. Once again this was an issue of self-sufficiency. Also related to this question is the fact that Metis tended to have smaller families, because children were seen as an economic hardship. The more children you had, the longer you had to wait for them to get married, thus you had to support them longer. Our last question was Have you ever read a history where "mortality" was established as a topic for focus? What point is made with Ens's discussion of it here? We decided that Ens focuses on mortality rates because rates first of all were available to discuss with the parish records. Secondly, the mortality rates tell where the settlement was economically. The rates also shows the growth of society and the death rate helps to explain that it was a pre-industrial society. The death rates also show how the outside population affected the settlement. One example would be with the epidemics of disease. Lastly the infant mortality rates and crisis mortality rates were lower in the parishes then in Europe and Lower Canada. Group members were Betsy Miller and Anna Stansbery.

On March 7, 1945, the German sub U-1302 was sunk in St. George's Channel by 3 Canadian Frigates, the HMCS La Hulloise, HMCS Strathadam, and the HMCS Thetford Mines. The team of frigates depth charged the boat and sunk it with all hands. From uboat.net.

Our question dealt with the introduction of Ens's book. The first question was to find the thesis statement. and figure out what the author had set out to prove. We decided that the author's thesis statement was "This study, focusing on the Metis of the Red River, argues that the Metis participated with growing confidence in two worlds: one Indian and pre-capitalist, the other European and capitalist. Through this the author aims to explain the role of ecomomics in Metis life and how it affected their relationships with fellow Metis and the different cultures around them. The second question was what does Ens think of previous work on the Metis by Frits Pannekoek. This question was fairly obvious because Ens addresses Pannekoek's previous work directly and describes it as unconvincing. Ens believes that Pannekoek overlooked the day-to-day life that properly describes Metis life and that simply describing the conflicts as a battle between religious ideologies was, as i stated earlier, unconvincing. The third question was to note the emphasis on economic developments as key to explaining society, and to identify where such ideas come from and what main concepts are to be applied. We felt that these ideas came into Metis life with the contact with Europeans. In the 1840's native trade changed from being a relatively equal practice to being a more capitalist like institution where the main concern for both parties is to maximize profits. This new goal for trade could definitely be the source of conflict among the Metis and with their neighbors. The final question was what localities serve as a case study for Ens? we identified the St. Francois Xavier and the St. Andrews parishes as being the main focus of Ens study. He used these two because they represented a broad spectrim of the Metis daily experience and for their differences, Xavier being a French-Catholic parish and St.Andrews being Anglican. The members of group one were Patrick Strand, Simon Hochstein, and Fred McLaughlin.

The economic elements involved with the formation of the Red River settlement include the basic and practical element of survival. Ens notes that there were economic opportunities in the western interior (Red River area) after the 1820s when employees from the trading companies were no longer needed and left to find their own means of living. European men married native women for economic reasons of creating trade ties and a labour source. But marriage between the two also served to provide social needs of men and women. In this culture there were also co-cultures. Ens compared the French and English parishes. He found French Metis marriages were typically permanent while English marriages were not so much. The settlement provided the Metis with education and regular religious services as well. Ens favors the economic explanation as to Why the settlement came to be, but supports that with How it came to be with social aspects.

Emily E. and Alice

We've just completed our in-class preparations for the Ens Discussion. Each group should have appointed someone to post the answers to the blog. Let's have this done by Monday, March 19 so we can read each others' postings and be ready for the discussion.

We will not meet on Thursday, March 8, so have a great spring break. I will be around, reading the blog and responding to email, so let me know if any questions come up.

Trailer Park Boys is a popular Canadian television series focusing on the misadventures of ex-convicts living in fictional Sunnyvale Trailer Park, which is located near Cole Harbor, Nova Scotia. It is a sort of a reality TV show about a trailer park. There are two main characters, Ricky and Julian. The first episode begins with them getting in a shootout and going to jail. They spend 18 months in jail, and when they get out Julian wants to start his life over, but Ricky is too stupid to know what to and keeps getting in trouble. Mr. Lahe is the trailer park supervisor who used to be a cop. Everybody in the trailer park is weird in some way. They all do a ton of drugs and Julian is constantly drinking. Guns are common in everybody's hand. Julian wants to get out of the trailer park but the truth is they need him to hold the park together from gangs and keep Ricky in line. I found this show to be quite contradicting to what we've learned about Canadian authority. I do notice the dialect changes are sort of obvious at times.
It's sort of a weird set up for a show because you can see the camera crew and the characters sometimes talk to the crew and ask them to do things. Sometimes new characters look blankly into the camera and say things like "what the f*** is that camera doing here?" I forgot to mention every other word in this series starts with an f and has four letters. Anyway, a different style of show that makes it work with decent one line jokes but a poor storyline.

Lecture 4 was titled “Fathers of Confederation” and dealt with the formation of Canadian government. Throughout the nineteenth century, the rise of free trade and capitalism made it harder for Britain to maintain its expanded empire overseas, so in 1867 the British/North American Act granted Canada able to govern itself. This was quite unlike the American Independence obviously as Americans were fighting for their rights as citizens. Canadians have celebrated Canada Day on July 1st every year since 1867.
I found it interesting that during the civil war, Canadians would look at America as a “horrible example of disunion.” As Canadians, they depend on government to control their lives generally more than we do, and in their heads they were probably thinking we would fall apart before the 20th century because we didn’t have to crown to protect us as a nation. However at the same time as all this, Britain wanted to grant Canada its independence because they felt Canada had to protect itself from an American invasion. Annexationists and Fenian conspiracies controlled the minds of the crown. To me these two ideas kind of contradict each other.
Currently, there are four political parties in Canada – the Conservatives, Liberals, Bloc Quebecois, and the New Democratic Party. Basically the conservatives believe in self-sufficiency through protective tariffs and governmental programs, and the Liberals are pushing free trade and reciprocity. The Bloc Quebecois want Quebec to be an independent nation, and the New Democratic Party is like the Conservatives, but pushing prairie progressivism.
To be honest I don’t find much of a difference between Canadian and U.S. government, besides their origin. It seems like the Canadians were kind of dumped on by the crown with this project of creating a new government, while the U.S. had several attempts and time to put something together—as well as a common belief shared throughout the nation.

In the classic comedy, 'Men with Brooms', four former Curling team members get back together after ten years apart when their former coach dies. In his will, the coach expresses his wish that his remains be placed in a curling rock and the four win a local tournament to restore the honor of the town. He also wishes that they ask the team leader’s estranged father to coach them to the title. There are, of course, romantic snags as the team leader reencounters his jilted fiancé and falls in love with her sister, both of which are the daughters of the former coach. The team works to over come their past grievances and win the 'Golden Broom' title without the use of cheating, a hiccup that cost them the title ten years earlier.
Once again, we have a Canadian film in which during key transition points there are views of picturesque landscapes. Showing flowing rivers, vast wilderness, and clear postcard views. If this keeps up, I will be forced to believe all of Canada is this beautiful and move there myself. Though this film takes place in the Canadian Shield, I found that the technique of using the landscape as a transitioning point to be very similar as that of 'Anne of Green Gables' in Prince Edward Island.
While watching this film, the Scottish influence was very evident. From the opening scene, there were men playing bagpipes, and no one seemed to act like seeing the man carry them through town or into the pub was out of the ordinary. The Scottish influence was also apparent in the plaid clothes they wear and the game, curling, they play.
I have only been exposed to curling once before this class during the last Winter Olympics. Even though the commentators tried to explain the rules and concepts, I found myself baffled. After viewing this film, I feel a little more informed. From what I gather Curling originated in Sterling Scotland in 1511. There are four players per team; a lead, guard, take-out artist, and skipper, 'bowling' in that order. The teams play ten 'ends' in which the members take turns with their opponents to try and place their 42 lb granite 'stone' on a bull's eye looking 'button' at the end of the 'sheet'. Which ever team's stone is closest to the center at the end of the 'end' gains all the points for that turn. What amazed me was the enthusiasm the Canadians hold for this game. There isn’t really an American equivalent for this game, at least not as a whole. High school football and hockey come close in town support and enthusiasm, and bowling and pool in the technique, but as one sport, there isn't any.

The film 'Anne of Avonlea' is the sequel to the classic film 'Anne of Green Gables'. This film picks up where the first l