30 Key Events in Canadian Film History
To celebrate its 30th anniversary, The Canadian Encyclopedia created 30 lists of 30 things that have helped define our identity, from famous people and historic events, to iconic foods and influential artists.
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Create AccountTo celebrate its 30th anniversary, The Canadian Encyclopedia created 30 lists of 30 things that have helped define our identity, from famous people and historic events, to iconic foods and influential artists.
Before the arrival of Europeans, Indigenous peoples in Canada had their own building traditions. Dwellings and structures differed vastly from nation to nation, depending on their purpose and function. Building traditions also reflected important aspects of Indigenous peoples’ respective cultures, societies, geographies, environments and spiritual beliefs. This article provides an overview of the main types of dwellings and structures used by Indigenous peoples in the Arctic, Subarctic, Northwest Coast, Plateau, Plains and Eastern Woodlands.
The history of Scottish music in Canada has to be seen against a background of emigration, especially from the Highlands, which effectively started after the failure of the 1745 rebellion, intensified during the Victorian era, and has continued unabated.
Many of the wars and armed conflicts that Canada participated in inspired songs and musical works. This article surveys material that was written either during, immediately after or in retrospect of a particular conflict (see also History of Canada in Music; Patriotic Songs; Battle Music; Canadian Songs of the First World War).
African-American folk and pop music with a vocal and instrumental tradition; also a song form. Though by origin and nature a folk music, the blues enjoyed wider popularity with the advent of commercial recording.
Barrie Central Collegiate Band. High school band of approximately 90 members, founded in 1923 at Barrie, Ont, by W. Allen Fisher (1905-89, a teacher 1931-72 of English and history, honorary LL D Queen's 1972, Member of the Order of Canada 1973).
Corridart dans la rue Sherbrooke was an exhibit of installation artworks organized by Melvin Charney and commissioned for the 1976 Olympic Summer Games in Montreal. The exhibit stretched for several kilometres along Sherbrooke Street. It comprised 16 major installations, about 80 minor installations, and several small performance venues and related projects. It was funded by the Quebec culture ministry and was intended as an international showcase for Quebec artists. But roughly a week after it was unveiled, Montreal mayor Jean Drapeau had the exhibit destroyed on the grounds that it was obscene. Most of the artists involved did not recover their works. Drapeau never apologized and subsequent legal actions dragged on for more than a decade. Given the size, scope and budget of the exhibit, the dismantling of Corridart might be the single largest example of arts censorship in Canadian history.
Theatre came to Acadia with the first French colonists, and by the 1970s, French-language theatre in the Maritimes was a significant part of the region’s flourishing arts scene.
By the 1920s comics were an established popular art form in North America. With the advent of the Depression, however, significant changes occurred as publishers responded to the public's growing appetite for escapist entertainment.
Bar Salon established writer/director André Forcier, who was only 25 years old at the time of filming, as a major talent in Québec cinema.
Large regimental bands first came to Canada in the late 18th century. By 1869, there were some 46 bands in the Canadian militia. The first regular armed forces bands in Canada were formed in 1899. Their main purpose has been to provide music for military or public functions. As of 2023, there were a total of 73 bands in the Canadian Armed Forces: 53 in the Army, 12 in the Air Force, and 8 in the Navy.
City of Gold (1957) is a classic example of the superb work by the National Film Board of Canada's (NFB) acclaimed Unit B Directors Wolf Koenig and Colin Low and editor and producer Tom Daly.
When Canada declared war on Germany on 10 September 1939, tens of thousands of Canadians enlisted to serve in the army, navy, air force and supporting services. The military scrambled to buy equipment, train recruits and prepare for war. Little thought was given, at first, to documenting the war effort. By 1940, however, the military was recruiting historians, most notably Charles Stacey, to collect records and write accounts of Canadian operations. In the following years, artists, photographers and filmmakers also served with the various branches of the armed forces. Today, their diligent work provides a rich visual and written catalogue of Canada’s history in the Second World War.
Oral histories play an integral role in Indigenous cultures. They transmit important histories, stories and teachings to new generations. Oral histories — a type of primary source — let Indigenous peoples teach about their own cultures in their own words. Other types of primary sources, such as artifacts from historical Indigenous communities, also transmit knowledge about Indigenous histories and ways of life. Academics, researchers and museum curators use such sources to highlight Indigenous perspectives.
The early Inuit (Thule) were an Indigenous people who began to occupy the Arctic, from Alaska to Greenland, around 1000 CE. In the winter, the early Inuit used a house built partially into the ground to keep them warm for long periods of time. One striking feature of this structure was the roof, which was sometimes made of whalebone. (See also Architectural History of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.)
Canada’s Walk of Fame is a non-profit organization dedicated to honouring Canadians who have achieved excellence in the fields of arts and entertainment, science and technology, business, philanthropy, and athletics. Modelled after the Hollywood Walk of Fame, it stretches along 13 city blocks in Toronto’s Entertainment District. Each inductee’s name and signature are etched onto a plaque embedded on the sidewalk, along with a star resembling a maple leaf. Inductees are honoured at an annual, nationally broadcast gala in Toronto. More than 210 people have been inducted since the Walk was founded in 1998.
A pit house is a type of dwelling historically used by various Indigenous peoples living in the Plateau region of Canada. Partially built into the ground, pit houses provided warmth and shelter during the winter season. While pit houses no longer serve as common dwellings, they retain cultural significance for many Indigenous peoples. Archeological remains and replicas of pit houses can be found in various parts of Canada. (See also Architectural History of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.)
A longhouse was the basic house type of pre-contact northern Iroquoian-speaking peoples, such as the Huron-Wendat, Haudenosaunee, Petun and Neutral. The longhouse sheltered a number of families related through the female line. In the 1700s, European-style single-family houses gradually replaced longhouses as primary residences. However, longhouses still function as important facilities in which some Indigenous peoples conduct ceremonies, political meetings and various community gatherings. (See also Architectural History of Indigenous Peoples in Canada.)
The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.
It has been said that Canadians don’t tell our own stories or celebrate our own myths. Our history is full of epics considered “too small to be tragic,” as The Tragically Hip’s Gord Downie once sang.
It is the the original cutbacks story. A prototype for downsizing the National Dream. Canada's AVRO ARROW, the most advanced jet fighter of its day, was a Fifties dream, a warplane forged from the giddy paranoia of the Cold War.