In
the last 100 years, much has happened to Canada and to Canadians.
For each of us the story is different.
In 1994, Glass
Co. Inc. produced Our Stories, a series of thirteen
half-hour biographies featuring Canadians from a variety of experiences
and heritages. The series was televised on the Canadian
Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's public broadcaster, to critical
acclaim. The series is now available in whole or in part for both
broadcast and non-broadcast purposes.
We
invite you to learn more
about the series and to meet the people profiled:
- Johnny
Johns - a member of the Tlingit First Nation in the Yukon;
- Tsuneko
(Koko) Kokubo - a third generation Canadian stranded in Japan
after the bombing of Pearl Harbour;
- Connie
Matthews - a gracious reminder of a class structure now vanished;
- Delmore
W. (Buddy) Daye - Canada's first black Sergeant-at-Arms in the Nova
Scotia Legislature;
- Mike
Nolan - Newfoundland's one-of-a-kind conservationist, known as 'the
caribou man';
- Jeanne
Maranda - a feminist rebelling against the mores of the 1940's;
- Donatien
Gaudet - a passionate Acadian and former priest, politician and
teacher;
- Simma
Holt - an accomplished journalist and crusader on behalf of the
underdog;
- Nellie
Pawlik - a woman determined to pass on the legacy of her Ukrainian
heritage;
- Lila
Fahlman - a various times, a dress-maker, a teacher, a political
activist and a mother but always a Muslim;
- Jim
Hong - a man willing to do anything for his home town of Cluny,
Alberta;
- Doug
Thompson - spent his life working the Saskatchewan land his father
first laid claim to in 1905; and
- Elio
and Jackie Rosati - active members of Toronto's Italian community
for over 44 years.
1997 ©
Glass
Co. Inc.
Johnny Johns was born somewhere in the Yukon bush during the
Klondike Goldrush at the end of the nineteenth century. He lived in two
societies - the Tlinglit Indian to which he belonged and the White
which often surrounded him.
In
1902, Johnny and his two younger sisters went to a Mission School near
Carcross, Yukon, as ordered by the Canadian government. After one year,
Johnny's sister had died, and many of his classmates were malnourished
or had tuberculosis. So Johnny's father took them out of school and
Johnny went back to hunting, trapping and fishing.
At
13 he had the responsibility of caring for his family and, at 19 he was
running his own business. Johnny grew up to be one of the world's most
successful hunting guides and outfitters. The tourists took home the
trophies, and the meat fed Johnny's extended families.
In
1942, he was hired to lead thousands of American soldiers in building
the Alaska Highway. He knew the land and picked the path to lay the
road, conveniently winding by his favourite fishing places.
Johnny
passed away in 1988.
Length: 23:44
Original Format: Video
Originally Broadcast: July 5, 1994 on CBC
Television
Koko Kokubo's grandfather immigrated to Canada in 1896. Her
father was born in British Columbia as was Koko.
Having
been taken on holiday to Japan by her grandparents just before the
Pearl Harbour was bombed in 1941, four year-old Koko became stranded
there during World War II. Back in Canada, her parents and younger
sister, all Canadian citizens, were stripped of their rights and
possessions, and interned in separate prison camps. Koko and her parents
would remain on opposite sides of the Pacific Ocean until after the
war.
Koko
was 15 before returning to Vancouver, and had to re-learn English as
she tried to adapt to newly strange Canadian ways. She went to art
school and married a non-Japanese man, both against her parents wishes.
Now
an artist and theatre performer, Koko still feels that she is to some
extent suspended between cultures.
Length: 23:44
Original Format: Video
Originally Broadcast: September 13, 1994 on CBC
Television
Imagine how you would feel if you inherited a Lake Simcoe
estate and its seventeen servants on your wedding day. Chances are,
you'd probably love it. That's how young Constance Greenings Matthews
felt when she moved in at the age of 28.
Connie was born in
1895 in Hamilton, Ontario. Shortly after her father, a tea merchant,
moved the family to Toronto, Connie's mother died. Ethel, Connie's older
sister by 18 years, who was wife of the Commander of the Romanian Navy
and lady-in-waiting to the Queen of Romania, took her to Europe at the
age of fourteen. At the age of 16 she fell in love with Florence, Italy,
and started a lifelong passion for art.
Widowed
at 44, with three children and an estate to run, Connie still continued
to travel. Her passions would remain art and gardening.
The
thoroughly likable and eminently gracious Connie Matthews, the
quintessential English Canadian of inherited means, chronicles a class
structure and style of living found only in our past.
Connie talks about
"coming out". View it in Real
Player 5.0 or Quicktime
(20s, 500k).
Length: 23:44
Original Format: Video
Originally Broadcast: Newsworld. September 27, 1994 on CBC
Television
Buddy Daye was the first Black Sergeant-at-Arms in Canada when
he joined the Nova
Scotia Provincial Legislature. He was also a former Canadian
Junior Lightweight Boxing Champion (1964-66) and co-founder of Nova
Scotia's Black United Front.
Away
at sea at the age of fourteen, a seasoned merchant marine by nineteen
and a young boxer at twenty-three in a world where blacks just didn't
win the big titles, Buddy made a name for himself as a boxer and used
that reputation to fight for equal rights.
For
years, Buddy worked in Halifax's North End fighting against the impact
of poverty, racism and for better housing, more jobs and some community
centres for the kids. He joined the fight to save the community of
Africville, but had to watch it destroyed by an unyielding Halifax City
Council.
Buddy
believed in the ongoing need for Black Canadians to fight for
recognition, and respect.
Length: 23:44
Original Format: Video
Originally Broadcast: June 21, 1994 on CBC
Television
Mike Nolan is one of those Newfoundlanders you rarely hear
about - a man with a passion for the land not the sea.
Mike
was born in the St. Mary's Bay community of Mussel Pond, now called
O'Donnells, 34 years before Newfoundland became a part of Canada. In the
summer, people fished for their food. In the winter Mike's family would
hunt for furs or birds, or work in the lumber yard. Mike was 12 when
he began fishing full-time.
At
20, Mike started trapping part-time and doing some carpentry work when
it came his way. When World War II came along, Mike's brothers went to
war.
In
1957, the caribou herd on the Avalon Peninsula (the southern tip of
Newfoundland) was down to 60 animals. Mike was enlisted by the
Provincial Wildlife Department to do what he could to save the herd.
He
worked as a one man team, travelling alone for as long as three weeks
at a time. To deter the poachers who would surely kill off the caribou,
he left supplies and notes in cabins for imaginary fellow officers, and
often talked to people in the settlements about his "colleagues'"
activities.
As
the caribou herd grew, Mike was soon joined by real fellow officers and
helicopters. Mike and his team fought hard to get an 850 square
kilometer area in the middle of the Avalon declared a reserve.
Enforcing it meant burning and cutting down a few cabins that owners
wouldn't remove themselves. No littering either.
His
accomplishments are unknown to most Canadians, but are heralded as the
single-handed most successful conservation effort in North America.
Length: 23:44
Original Format: Video
Originally Broadcast: September 20, 1994 on CBC
Television
Jeanne Maranda's French Canadian ancestors can be traced back
400 years and there is no doubt she inherited their pioneering spirit. A
feminist by instinct, Jeanne has worked hard for equal rights and the
respectful portrayal of women in the media.
In
the 1940's, Jeanne defied her parents wishes that she become a full-time
housewife and took up a career in nursing. Born in Windsor, Ontario
and raised in Ottawa, she moved to Montreal and did her post-graduate
studies in neurosurgery at the Montreal
Neurological Institute. After she married, she continued to work as
a public health nurse until she became pregnant and was forced to quit.
She remained at home with her four children.
When
her husband was killed in a car accident at the age of 42, Jeanne
re-entered the workforce employed by a variety of television stations
and took feminist studies at Concordia
University.
Length: 23:44
Original Format: Video
Originally Broadcast: June 28, 1994 on CBC
Television
Donatien Gaudet, a New Brunswicker of Acadian descent, knew
from a young age he wanted to teach. But to become a teacher, he had to
become a priest. Donatien was ordained in the Chapel of the former St.
Joseph's College in 1948. He would spent thirty years there both as a
student and a teacher.
In
1966, the College merged with the University
of Moncton, a lay institution. Priests who had been teachers were
out. Donatien threw himself wholeheartedly into the promotion of
Acadian language and culture. He also left the priesthood and married
Nilda, a Filipino, who he met through correspondence.
Passionately
attached to his Acadian roots, Gaudet is an ardent advocate of national
bilingualism and teaches 'home school' parents, as well as their
children, and immigrants, including his wife, to speak French.
Length: 23:44
Original Format: Video
Originally Broadcast: August 9, 1994 on CBC
Television
Simma Milner Holt has
probably packed more living into her lifetime, than most people pack
into three.
Born
in Vegreville, Alberta, in 1922, to orthodox Jewish immigrant parents,
Simma enjoyed a smalltown childhood largely free of racism or
sectarianism. In 1939, Simma headed for the University
of Manitoba in Winnipeg and started working on the student
newspaper. She never looked back.
Starting
her newspaper job in an era when women were relegated to the fashion
section, she was assigned to the waterfront and skid row. During her 40
years as a newspaper reporter for the Vancouver
Sun, and as an author, Simma saved three men from the gallows, and
won countless awards for her articles and books.
She
became the first female Jewish Member of Parliament in 1974, was the
first female vice-chair of the House
of Commons Justice Committee, and served on the Parole Board.
Length: 23:44
Original Format: Video
Originally Broadcast: August 30, 1994 on CBC
Television
Born in rural
Saskatchewan, the oldest of seven, Nellie Ortensky and her siblings
lived an early life not far removed from that of her forebears. They
helped with housework and on the farm; learned to cook; and looked after
the younger children. Ukrainian was the language of the household, and
old country culture predominated.
At
13, she was sent to attend high school in Camsack, 11 miles away, and
went on to study at the Mohyla Institute in Saskatoon. There she met her
husband, Andrew Pawlik, rector of the school.
In her adult years, married and living in Winnipeg, she started the
local branch of the Ukrainian Women's Association of Canada.
At
81 years of age, Canadian-born Nellie Pawlik still works to preserve
the heritage of her Ukrainian ancestors and their experiences in Western
Canada. Between caring for her family and her prize-winning garden,
Nellie mobilizes hundreds of volunteers for a bi-monthly perogie bake
sale that raises funds for the Winnipeg Ukrainian Museum.
Length: 23:44
Original Format: Video
Originally Broadcast: July 26, 1994 on CBC
Television
To Edmonton's Lila Fahlman, education and culture go hand in
hand - you need one to learn about, and preserve the other. Although
retired now, at various times in her life, Dr. Fahlman has been a
dress-maker, teacher, political activist, and mother - but she's always
been a Muslim.
Born
as Lila Ganam in Limmerick, Saskatchewan, her father was a Lebanese
immigrant who travelled across North America peddling wholesale wares
until her met Lila's mother, a Methodist from Nebraska. She was
sixteen, he was forty-three. Her father said no. They eloped in 1910.
While
the family was living in Regina, Lila fell in love with, and met a
young entertainer named Al Fahlman, a.k.a. 'Saskatchewan's Roving
Cowboy'. She heard him on the radio and got to know him when he came to
her father for instruction in the Muslim faith. She was fourteen, he
was in his twenties.
With
the encouragement of her children and husband, Lila pursued graduate
degrees - a master in Educational Administration and Psychology in 1976
and her Ph.D. in 1984. She also ran for public office in a couple of
municipal and provincial elections.
Length: 23:44
Original Format: Video
Originally Broadcast: July 12, 1994 on CBC
Television
Sixty-six year old Jim Hong is a quintessential small town
Albertan - laid-back, hard-working - a man who will do anything for the
town of Cluny where he has lived the majority of his life. He was
elected as mayor in 1970 and has been the fire chief, a school trustee,
and a town councillor.
Jim's
father, Louie, was recruited to work on the Canadian Pacific Railroad
in 1908. Like many other Chinese workers at the time, he had to pay a
$500 head tax for the privilege of being in Canada. He quit the
railroad and, in 1913, set up The Hong General Store in Cluny. People
gathered daily to exchange news and have a coffee, and it became an
essential part of the Canadian prairie landscape, a monument that stood
in Cluny for over 70 years.
But
when the TransCanada highway was built, it bypassed Cluny by three
miles. The town began to die and finally in 1987, Jim was forced to
close the store. It made headlines in Alberta. He has stayed on in
Cluny serving as their postmaster.
Length: 23:44
Original Format: Video
Originally Broadcast: August 23, 1994 on CBC
Television
At 81 years of age, with two hip replacements and a touch of
angina, Doug Thompson averages two rural meetings a week, puts four
hundred hours a year on his tractor, and remains the patriarch for 5,200
acres of farmland in southern Saskatchewan.
One
of five boys growing up on the prairie, Doug started farming in 1929, at
the age of sixteen, but the 30's were bad years on the Prairies and it
was 1940 before he got his first crop. Despite the rough start, Doug and
his wife, Pat, managed to start their best crop, their children, on
that land and the farm continued to grow. Doug became involved in the
community of Vantage until it vanished in 1967.
In
1977, Pat and Doug left their son on the farm and moved to near-by town
of Assiniboia. But unable to stray too far from the farm, he turned
down an offer to become an MLA.
In
April, 1994, Doug received the Order of Canada for his contributions to
rural life as a councilor, a reeve, a member of the Hail Insurance
Board, and for his volunteer work with the young and old.
Length: 23:44
Original Format: Video
Originally Broadcast: September 6, 1994 on CBC
Television
Elio Rosati, along with his wife Jackie, has been working
behind the scenes in Toronto's Italian community for 44 years. They are
intrepid fund raisers, passionate and reliable doers - the kind of
people you'd love to have as friends and, most certainly, hosting the
next dinner party.
Their
parents were part of the first wave of Italian immigrants to arrive in
Canada at the turn of the century. Elio's dad arrived in Canada in 1910.
One of his first jobs was laying track for Toronto's new streetcar
system. It was the beginning of a long career with the Toronto transit
system that included working as a conductor and a motorman. It was a
steady job during the Depression.
Elio
and Jackie grew up in a predominantly WASP Toronto. Italians were
stereotyped as gangsters or illiterate labourers. Both of their fathers
taught them to ignore that attitude and to focus on their education
which they did. Jackie became a nurse and Elio ran a successful
construction business.
During
World War II, when many Italian Canadians were interned, Elio joined
the Canadian Air Force, flying submarine patrol over the Atlantic and
fighting the Japanese in Burma. When the war ended, Elio stayed in
Europe working for the missing research inquiry service, locating the
bodies of missing airmen.
After
the war, Elio and Jackie became involved in Toronto's Italian community
and, in 1976, helped to open the beautiful Columbus Centre and Villa
Columbo - a community centre and seniors residence complex.
Length: 23:44
Original Format: Video
Originally Broadcast: July 19, 1994 on CBC
Television
|
|