It is #SikhHeritageMonth and this is the story of Harnam Kaur!

Born in 1886 in present-day Pakistan, she married Bhag Singh who lived in a nearby village. Her husband came to Canada in 1906 where he protested the exclusionary immigration laws of Canada.

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In 1910, he came back to India to get Harnam Kaur and their two children, to take them to Canada.
Their goal with immigrating the entire family was to establish the rights of wives to join husbands in Canada.
This was easier said than done.

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📸keeratkaur.ca/harnam-kaur Image
To prevent immigration from India, the Canadian government required immigrants to make a continuous journey from their country to Canada.
When Harnam Kaur & her family attempted to enter San Francisco, then Seattle but they were sent back to Hong Kong by the Americans.

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In January 1912, they arrived in Vancouver but their journey was not continuous, so the men were accepted as returning residents but the women and children were ordered deported.
Organizations like the National Council of Women of Canada protested Sikhs settling in Canada

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Sadly, Harnam Kaur died in 1914, nine days after giving birth to a daughter. Her husband was also killed outside the Vancouver Sikh Temple.
The Temple took over the care of their two children, while the baby girl was placed with a white family.

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📸keeratkaur.ca/harnam-kaur Image

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More from @CraigBaird

Nov 20
While we tend to think of the K*K*K as something that only existed in the United States, there was a period of time in the 1920s when the group was very large, and politically powerful, in Western Canada.
Let's learn more about this dark time.

🧵1/12 The image is a black-and-white photograph of an individual dressed in a ceremonial robe and hat, associated with a specific organization. The person is standing outdoors, with a background that includes trees and possibly residential buildings. The attire includes a long robe with a distinctive pattern on the hem and a hat with a cross emblem. The text at the bottom of the image reads, "Dr. W. K. Blair, Imperial Klaziff, Knights of Ku Klux Klan, Vancouver, B.C." This indicates the individual's rank and affiliation with the Knights of Ku Klux Klan, a historical organization known f...
Throughout this thread, I will refer to the group as K3 since the other name may get flagged.
When K3 sprang up in Canada, it was a bit different from the American version.
Rather than focusing on Blacks, it focused mostly on French-Canadians, immigrants and Catholics.

🧵2/12 The image is a black-and-white photograph depicting a group of individuals dressed in robes and tall, pointed hats, associated with the Ku Klux Klan. The scene appears to be an indoor gathering or ceremony, with several Klan members standing in a line at the front, some holding flags bearing the Union Jack. Behind them, a large Union Jack banner is draped across the wall. The room is filled with an audience seated in chairs, observing the event. The setting and attire suggest a formal or ceremonial occasion, likely from the early to mid-20th century, reflecting the historical presence and a...
The K3 began farther to the east in Canada at first in the early-1920s.
In 1926, dynamite was detonated in a catholic church in Barrie, Ontario.
The man caught said he was ordered to blow up the church by K3.

🧵3/12 The image is a black-and-white photograph showing three individuals dressed in robes and tall, pointed hats associated with the Ku Klux Klan. They are standing outdoors in front of a building with a circular facade and columns, possibly an official or historical structure. Two of the individuals are holding a large flag bearing the Union Jack. The attire and flag suggest a formal or ceremonial context, likely from the early to mid-20th century. The setting and the presence of the Union Jack indicate this photograph might have been taken in a Commonwealth country where the Klan had a presenc...
Read 13 tweets
Nov 18
On this day in 1882, The Sherlock Holmes of Saskatchewan, Frances Gertrude McGill, was born.
She went on to influence the development of forensic pathology and solved several unsolved crimes.
Let's learn more about her :)

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Born in Minnedosa, Manitoba, both of her parents died from typhoid fever in 1900 after visiting a county fair and drinking contaminated water.
As an adult, McGill studied medicine at the University of Manitoba. She earned her degree in 1915 and worked in Winnipeg.

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In 1918, she joined the Saskatchewan Department of Health just as the Spanish Flu was raging across Canada.
Two years later, she became a provincial pathologist in Saskatchewan. In 1922, she became the director of the provincial laboratory.

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Read 13 tweets
Nov 17
Bluenose was such an icon of Canada that it now appears on our dime.
A champion schooner, she became the pride of Canada.
But then she was sold to work to work as a freighter, and left to rot on a reef near Haiti.
Let's learn more about her :)

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The story of Bluenose begins in 1920 when she was designed by William James Roue to both fish and race.
Initially, she was designed with a waterline length of 36.6 metres, which was 2.4 metres too long for competition. She was redesigned to fix that problem.

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Built of Nova Scotian pine, spruce, birch and oak, her masts were made from Douglas fir.
During the keel-laying ceremony, the Governor General, the Duke of Devonshire, drove a golden spike into the timber.
In all, she cost $35,000 to build.

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Read 17 tweets
Nov 15
Sometimes referred to as Main Street Ontario, Yonge Street is one of the most famous streets in Canada.
Running from the Holland River to Queens Quay, the street is 86 km long.
Let's learn more about its construction :)

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In 1793, during the War of the First Coalition, Upper Canada Lt. Governor John Simcoe worried that the United States would attack Canada in support of France. Wanting a more defensible capital, he established York, present-day Toronto.

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With the new settlement, Simcoe planned to construct two connected roads. One would run from York to Lake Simcoe, the other connecting Lake Simcoe with Georgian Bay.
The road from Lake Simcoe to York became known as Yonge Street.

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Read 14 tweets
Nov 13
In the mid-1500s, noblewoman Marguerite de La Rocque was marooned on the Isle of Demons in the Gulf of St. Lawrence by her relative who wanted her fortune.
She survived for years on her own before she was rescued.
Let's learn her story :)

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It is not known when or where Marguerite was born. It is believed she was born around 1515 somewhere in France.
Her relative (some sources say cousin, others brother or uncle) Jean-Francois de La Rocque de Roberval was made Lt. Governor of New France in 1541.

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On the voyage over to France with her relative, Marguerite became romantically involved with a man on the ship. Roberval was displeased at Marguerite, who was unmarried, and decided to leave her on the Isle of Demons in the St. Lawrence River as punishment.

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Read 10 tweets
Nov 11
On this day in 1918, at 10:58 a.m., George Lawrence Price died after he was shot by a German sniper. His death came two minutes before the end of the First World War.
He was the last Canadian killed in the war.
Let's learn more about him and his life.

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Price was born in Falmouth, Nova Scotia on Dec. 15, 1892. Raised in Port Williams, he was the third child to his parents James and Annie Price.
On Oct. 15, 1917, he was conscripted to fight in the war with the 28th Battalion (Northwest).

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On Nov. 11, 1918 at 4 a.m., his battalion was ordered to advance from Frameries and continue to Havre, securing all the bridges on the Canal du Centre.
They were able to reach their position along the canal by 9 a.m., with little in the way of German resistance.

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Read 9 tweets

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