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Please be advised that Memory Project primary sources may deal with personal testimony that reflect the speaker’s recollections and interpretations of events. Individual testimony does not necessarily reflect the views of the Memory Project and Historica Canada.

Biology and the laws and customs of human culture together govern the nature of human childhood. The ways in which biology and culture come together in children change over time; the story of these changes forms the history of childhood.

As each new area of Canada was opened to European settlement, pioneers faced the difficult task of building homes and communities from the ground up. Pioneer life revolved around providing the basic necessities of existence in a northern wilderness — food, shelter, fuel and clothing. Pioneering life was integral to family life and provided social stability for the settlement of a larger population across the country.

Written literature tends to be the work of a relatively affluent intellectual elite. This is the reason why literature made its appearance in Canada only when the historical circumstances became favourable.

The Basilian Fathers, or Congregation of St Basil, founded in France in 1822, are now centred in Toronto. They came to Canada in 1850 and in 1852 founded St Michael's College there.

Domestic work refers to all tasks performed within a household, specifically those related to housekeeping, childcare and personal services for adults. These traditionally unpaid household tasks can be assigned to a paid housekeeper (the term caregiver is preferred today). From the early days of New France, domestic work was considered a means for men and women to immigrate to the colony (see History of Labour Migration to Canada). In the 19th century, however, domestic service became a distinctly female occupation (see Women in the Labour Force). From the second half of the 19th century until the Second World War, in response to the growing need for labour in Canadian households, British emigration societies helped thousands of girls and women immigrate to Canada (see Immigration to Canada). In 1955, the Canadian government launched a domestic-worker recruitment program aimed at West Indian women (see West Indian Domestic Scheme). In 2014 the government lifted the requirement for immigrant caregivers to live with their employer to qualify for permanent residence — a requirement that put domestic workers in a vulnerable position. (See also Canadian Citizenship; Immigration Policy in Canada).

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The Battle of New Orleans (8 January 1815) has the unique distinction of being the last major battle of the War of 1812; it took place after the war was officially over. With the defeat of Napoleon in Europe, Britain could stop fighting a two-front war against both revolutionary France and the United States. Britain began to consolidate its forces in North America to deliver critical blows from both land and sea to the American forces in late 1814. Sadly, for the British, their ambition was forestalled by American gumption and a series of critical failures that prevented their amassed numbers from securing victory.

The War of 1812 as it was fought on the high seas included a variety of activities related to sea power, including clashes between ships, naval blockades, coastal raids, joint operations with the army and a commerce war involving privateers and letters of marque.

Wilson-McAllister Guitar Duo. Duo active 1977-89 and comprised of Donald (William) Wilson (b Elrose, Sask, 21 Feb 1952; B MUS Toronto 1975), and Peter McAllister (b Collingwood, Ont, 19 Aug 1954; B MUS Toronto 1977). Both were students of Eli Kassner.

Social history is a way of looking at how a society organizes itself and how this changes over time. The elements that make up Canada’s social history include climate and geography, as well as the transition to industrialization and urbanization.

Laurent, Laforce & Bourdeau (Laurent et Laforce, 1861-4; Laurent, Laforce & Cie, 1865-88). Montreal music and instrument dealers, publishers, and piano manufacturers.

In 1867, French Canadians in united Canada (territories covered by present-day Quebec and Ontario), helped create the Canadian Federation. In fact, there were four French Canadians (see Francophone) among the 36 Fathers of the Confederation. Since 1 October 2018, the first fixed election date in Quebec history, the province is led by a majority government. The premier is François Legault and the lieutenant-governor is honourable J. Michel Doyon (see also: New France; Seven Years’ War; Battle of the Plains of Abraham; Treaty of Paris 1763).

Since the end of the First World War, monuments commemorating the lives of Canadians who died in conflicts overseas have occupied a prominent place in our urban cultural landscape.

As the threat of another world war loomed ever larger, Canadians, far from the conflict, would face a difficult choice of whether to stand again with Britain or remain isolated and safe in North America.

"Alouette!" The most popular Canadian folksong. It also has become a symbol of French Canada for the world, an unofficial national song identifiable from the first few measures of its lively chorus in 2/4 time. Marius Barbeau is of the opinion that "Alouette" originated in France, but James J. Fuld, in The Book of World-Famous Music (New York 1966), points out that the first written version, "Alouetté," appeared in A Pocket Song Book for the Use of Students and Graduates of McGill College (Montreal 1879). The song was published later as "Alouette" in the McGill College Song Book (Montreal 1885). The first known printed version in France dates from 1893: it appeared in Julien Tiersot's Revue des traditions populaires, vol 8 (Paris). The words and music are found in many anthologies and collections in Canada, the USA, and even Europe, notably in William Parker Greenough's Canadian Folk-life and Folk-lore (New York 1897). Several versions exist in Canada. Marius Barbeau summarizes the different texts in a work appropriately named Alouette (Montreal 1946). However, in all versions of the song, with its enumerations and frequent recapitulations, the idea remains the same: the lark's feathers are plucked from its head, wings, back, tail, and so on.

After the fall of New France to the British in 1760, cartographers continued to create important maps of Canada. British General James Murray created a map of Quebec in the years before the Treaty of Paris (1763) was signed, and three important British surveyors, namely Samuel Holland, Joseph Desbarres and James Cook, continued thereafter. Settlement in the late 1700s and early 1800s meant maps of townships and the layout of farmland were important. Hydrographic surveys also began during the 1800s, with the charting of the Great Lakes beginning in 1815 and the charting of Georgian Bay in 1883. In 1904, the Department of Marine and Fisheries began officially charting Canadian coastal waters. The preliminary sheets in Canada’s first extensive map series, the Three-Mile Sectional Maps of the Canadian Prairies, appeared in 1892. The series was abandoned in 1956 in favour of the 1:250,000 series of the National Topographic System (established in 1927).

The Battle of the Somme, also known as the Somme Offensive, was fought during the First World War from 1 July to 18 November 1916. In the summer of 1916 the British launched the largest battle of the war on the Western Front, against German lines. The offensive was one of the bloodiest in human history. Over the course of five months, approximately 1.2 million men were killed or wounded at the Somme. The Canadian Corps (see Canadian Expeditionary Force) was involved in the final three months of fighting. On the first day of the offensive, the First Newfoundland Regiment, which was not part of the Canadian forces, was nearly annihilated at Beaumont-Hamel. The Battle of the Somme produced little gains and has long been an example of senseless slaughter and the futility of trench warfare (see also The Somme).