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.
🧵1/5
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.
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.
🧵3/5
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
🧵4/5
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.
On July 9, 1960, seven-year-old Roger Woodward was swept over Niagara Falls. He survived, becoming the first known person to survive going over the falls without a barrel.
Many daredevils have attempted to do the same thing.
This is the story of some of them.
🧵 1/13
Annie Edson Taylor:
On Oct. 24, 1901, the 63-year-old Taylor went over the falls in a custom made barrel of oak and iron, padded with a mattress. She survived the journey with just a small gash on her forehead.
🧵 2/13
Bobby Leach:
On July 25, 1911, Leach went over the falls in a steel barrel. While he survived the plunge, he spent six months in hospitals recovering from a fractured jaw and two broken knee caps. He later died after injuring his leg slipping on an orange peel.
Murray Sinclair was a Senator, judge and university chancellor.
But his greatest contribution was as chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in the early-2010s.
This is the story of a lifelong champion of Indigenous rights.
🧵 1/12
Murray Sinclair was born on Jan. 24, 1951 in Selkirk, Manitoba. Raised on the St. Peter's Reserve, he was his class valedictorian and Athlete of the Year at his high school in 1968.
He attended the University of Manitoba but left to care for his grandparents.
🧵 2/12
In 1971, while working at the Selkirk Friendship Centre, he was elected vice president of the Manitoba Metis Federation. He was also the executive assistant to MLA Howard Pawley.
In 1976, Sinclair enrolled at the University of Winnipeg. He then attended law school.
Olga Kotelko may be the greatest athlete Canada has ever produced.
She held 30 world records and won over 750 gold medals. And she did it all from her 70s to 90s.
This is the story of this legendary athlete!
🧵 1/10
Olga Kotelko was born on March 2, 1919 in Smuts, Saskatchewan. When she was 22, she graduated from Saskatoon Normal School and taught at a one-room school near Vonda, Saskatchewan.
After her marriage broke up, she raised her two children.
🧵 2/10
After she retired in 1984, she took up playing softball. At the age of 70, she made a double play. After she gave up her position to a 55-year-old, she started in track and field. She chose that because she had developed her running and throwing skills in softball.
On June 23, 1611, Henry Hudson, his son and six others were put into a boat in Hudson Bay by mutineers and cast adrift. From that point, they disappeared from history.
So what happened to Henry Hudson?
Let's explore the mystery
🧵1/14
Henry Hudson was a celebrated explorer during the early-1600s.
In 1607 and 1608, he made two attempts to find the Northeast Passage. His explorations of North America laid the foundation for Dutch colonization of the present-day New York region.
🧵2/14
In 1610, he began a new expedition to find the Northwest Passage. He became the first European to see Hudson Strait and Hudson Bay.
Entering Hudson Bay, he believed he had found the passage to the Pacific. He soon realized this was wrong but by then winter had set in.
On June 22, 1971, Joni Mitchell's magnum opus album, Blue, was released.
It is not only hailed as her best album, but one of the greatest albums ever made.
The album is celebrated to this day by critics and fans alike.
This is the story of Joni Mitchell's fourth album.
🧵 1/11
The first three albums in Mitchell's career were acclaimed but by 1970 she needed a break from performing.
In the spring of 1970, she set off on vacation in Europe. While in Crete, she wrote some of the songs that appeared on Blue.
🧵 2/11
Many of the songs on the album were inspired by personal experience including her relationships with Cary Raditz and Graham Nash. Both My Old Man and River are typically credited as being inspired by her troubled relationship with Nash.
Tommy Prince was one of the most decorated soldiers in Canadian history through two different wars.
But after his war service finished, he was forgotten by the country he had served.
This is the story of Tommy Prince.
🧵 1/20
Tommy Prince's ancestors had served in support of the Crown during the 1870 Red River Resistance, and his father Chief William Prince was a member of the Nile Expedition in 1885. Family members also served in the First World War.
🧵2/20
Tommy Prince was born on Oct. 25, 1915. Growing up, Prince was an excellent marksmen. He also developed tracking and stealth skills.
Prince's father taught him to shoot using a target the size of a playing card at 100 metres.