Posts Tagged Mackenzie King

Photo Credit: North Vancouver Museum Association

Much has been made in recent years about the war effort on the home front in Canada from 1939 to 1945. Stories are now emerging about war bond fundraising efforts on the Prairies, Ontario hospitals training new nurses to specifically serve overseas and a number of “Rosie the Riveter” type recollections in the ammunitions factories all across Canada. With the 100^th anniversary of the Canadian Navy having occurred in 2010, other home front stories are now getting more attention. Canadian men and women worked side by side during the war years to build naval destroyers, corvettes, and supply ships. One such place that churned out a large number of those supply ships was the Burrard Dry Dock in North Vancouver, British Columbia.  (more…)

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

The National War Memorial in Ottawa is a monument every Canadian is familiar with whether we have seen it in person or on Remembrance Day national TV broadcasts. The history of this memorial is an interesting one. For one thing so many obstacles got in the way like political bickering and the death of the sculptor that it almost didn’t get completed at all. But, 14 years after it started, Canada became one of the last Commonwealth countries to finally dedicate a national memorial to its fallen soldiers of the First World War.  (more…)

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

He was not welcome to some, laughed at by a few, yet in the end was  revered by many. William Lyon Mackenzie King, Canada’s tenth and longest serving Prime Minister, with just three simple words uttered on September 3, 1939 would help raise Canada up from Dominion status to full autonomous nationhood. He also created a vast Canadian based Air Training Program that same year which has never been surpassed by any nation since. Yet, at the heart of Mackenzie King there was a country boy who loved the wilderness, a roaring fire, gardening and fishing. He had the pleasure of being able to do these things on his Kingsmere Estate in the Gatineau Hills of Quebec while he was Prime Minister. However, he wrote in his diary that the home with the fondest memories for him was the King family residence in Berlin, Ontario called Woodside. This home is now a National Historic Site and is beautifully maintained and operated by Parks Canada. Woodside was open this weekend for the Doors Open Waterloo Region event and hundreds of people came out to take a glimpse into the young life of one of this country’s greatest Prime Ministers.

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