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Editorial: Newfoundland’s Contribution to the Patriation of the Constitution
Editorial

Editorial: Newfoundland’s Contribution to the Patriation of the Constitution

The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.

In the decades since 1982, politicians and the media have recounted the same story about the patriation of Canada’s constitution and the adoption of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Most of the credit in this version goes to Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau. Three others are credited with breaking an impasse in the 1981 negotiations: federal justice minister Jean Chrétien, Saskatchewan attorney general Roy Romanow, and Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry. But in his memoirs, former Newfoundland Premier Brian Peckford argues that the key intervention in the patriation process came from Peckford and the members of the Newfoundland delegation.

The First Thanksgiving in North America
Editorial

The First Thanksgiving in North America

The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.

It has become common knowledge that the first Thanksgiving in North America was held by Sir Martin Frobisher and his crew in Nunavut in 1578. There are those — mainly Americans upset by the thought of having their holiday co-opted — who argue that it wasn't a “real” Thanksgiving. I would counter that Frobisher had reason to give thanks, and that giving thanks was an important aspect of Elizabethan society, so it would have been a natural thing for him and his men to do.

Vancouver Feature: Canada’s First Gas Station Opens for Business
Editorial

Vancouver Feature: Canada’s First Gas Station Opens for Business

The following article is a feature from our Vancouver Feature series. Past features are not updated.


The first gasoline-powered automobile had arrived in Vancouver in 1904, and there were not many more by 1907. But that year someone in the local Imperial Oil office determined that filling cars with a bucket and funnel was not very safe. So the first Canadian filling station — a hot-water tank and a garden hose — was set up at the company’s storage yard at Cambie and Smithe.

Editorial: The Charlottetown Conference of 1864 and the Persuasive Power of Champagne
Editorial

Editorial: The Charlottetown Conference of 1864 and the Persuasive Power of Champagne

The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.

On Monday, 29 August 1864, eight of 12 cabinet members from the government of the Province of Canada boarded the steamer Queen Victoria in Quebec City. They had heard that representatives of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and PEI were meeting in Charlottetown to discuss a union of the Maritime colonies. (See Charlottetown Conference.) The Canadian officials hoped to crash the party. Their government was gripped in deadlock. Even old enemies such as John A. Macdonald and George Brown agreed that a new political arrangement was needed. As the Queen Victoria made its way slowly down the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Canadians frantically worked on their pitch.

Juno Beach: Day of Courage
Editorial

Juno Beach: Day of Courage

The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.

The Canadian landings on the Juno Beach Sector of the Normandy coast were one of the most successful operations carried out on D-Day, 6 June 1944.

Editorial: The Statute of Westminster, Canada's Declaration of Independence
Editorial

Editorial: The Statute of Westminster, Canada's Declaration of Independence

The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.

In the fall of 1929, Canada’s Minister of Justice, Ernest Lapointe, travelled to England. He took with him Dr. Oscar Skelton — the “elder statesman” of the Canadian civil service, as William Lyon Mackenzie King once described him. When Lapointe and Skelton were done their negotiations, they had confirmed that Canada would have its independence from the British Empire.

Eugenics: Pseudo-Science Based on Crude Misconceptions of Heredity
Editorial

Eugenics: Pseudo-Science Based on Crude Misconceptions of Heredity

The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.

"Great men are almost always bad men," Lord Acton famously said. If that is so, we are going to have to tolerate flaws if we want to celebrate "great" Canadians. The eugenics movement of the early 20th century particularly tries our tolerance of several of our textbook heroes.

Editorial: John Humphrey, Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Editorial

Editorial: John Humphrey, Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The following article is an editorial written by The Canadian Encyclopedia staff. Editorials are not usually updated.

In 1946, John Humphrey became director of the United Nations Division on Human Rights, and Eleanor Roosevelt was named the United States representative to the UN’s Commission on Human Rights. Humphrey was an obscure Canadian law professor. Roosevelt was the world’s most celebrated woman. For two years, they collaborated on the creation of one of the modern world’s great documents: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It was adopted on 10 December 1948.