It is #IndigenousHistoryMonth and this is the story of Alanis Obomsawin, one of Canada's top filmmakers!

Alanis Obomsawin was born on Aug. 31, 1932 in New Hampshire. When she was 6 months old, her family moved to the Odanak Reserve near Sorel, Quebec.

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The family moved to Trois-Rivieres when she was nine. As the only Indigenous family there, she held onto the stories and songs she learned from elders on the reserve near Sorel.
By the time she was in her 20s, she spoke Wôbanakiak, English & French.

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Starting as a folk singer-songwriter, she began to work with the National Film Board of Canada in the 1960s.
In 1971, she made her first NFB documentary, Christmas at Moose Factory.
Over the next 50 years, she would make over 50 celebrated films with the NFB.

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Her most celebrated film is Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance, released in 1993, documenting the Oka Crisis of 1990.
Her work primarily focuses on the Indigenous experience in Canada. Her most recent film is Bill Reid Remembers, released in 2022.

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Obomsawin has won numerous awards including the Governor General's Performing Arts Award, the Order of Canada, the Glenn Gould Prize and the Governor General's Award in Visual and Media Arts. She has also received numerous honorary degrees.

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More from @CraigBaird

Jun 10
It is #PrideMonth and this is the story of Kenneth Zeller, whose tragic murder helped advance the elimination of discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Kenneth Zeller was born on June 5, 1945 and worked as a librarian for three Toronto-area schools.

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On June 21, 1985 he went out for drinks with friends. As he walked to his car, five teenage boys began to chase him. They caught up with him at his car and beat him to death.
Zeller was found slumped in his car at 12:15 a.m. on June 22.

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After they were arrested, the teenagers agreed to be tried as adults.
The teenagers had been heard saying they wanted to "beat up a ***".
All five subsequently pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter and received nine years in prison.

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Read 4 tweets
Jun 10
It is #ItalianHeritageMonth and this is the story of Angelina Napolitano, who brought domestic abuse to national awareness

Napolitano was born in Naples, Italy on March 12, 1882 & came to Canada in 1909 with her husband Pietro, settling in Sault Ste. Marie.

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The couple had four children but the marriage was abusive. Pietro often hit and threatened Angelino. In November 1910, he stabbed her nine times in the face, neck, shoulder, chest & arms with a pocket knife. He was charged but received a suspended sentence.

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In the winter of 1910-11, Pietro started to pressure Angelina to earn money through prostitution.
On April 16, 1911, while she was six months pregnant, Pietro told her to go out and prostitute herself or he would kill her.
He said she had until he woke up to earn money.

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Read 7 tweets
Jun 10
It is #IndigenousHistoryMonth and this is the story of Kenojuak Ashevak, one of Canada's greatest artists!

Kenojuak Ashevak was born on Oct. 3, 1927 in an Inuit camp on the southern coast of Baffin Island. Her father was a fur trader and she was named for her grandfather.

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Kenojuak said her father could predict the weather & good hunting seasons and make swim at the surface of the water. Sadly, he died in 1933.
When she was 19, Kenojuak married Johnniebo Ashevak.
He became a major supporter of her artistry throughout their marriage.

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In 1950, after testing positive for TB, Kenojuak was forcibly transferred to Quebec City, where she remained for three years.
At the hospital, she began to occupy her time & deal with her loneliness through art.
In 1958, she published her 1st print, Rabbit Eating Seaweed

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Read 6 tweets
Jun 10
Today in 1937, Sir Robert Borden died. Here is a thread about our 8th Prime Minister's life!

Sir Robert Borden was born in Grand-Pre, Nova Scotia on June 26, 1854. He first worked as a schoolteacher, before becoming a lawyer in Halifax in 1878.

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He became one of the top lawyers in the city & his interaction with many prominent citizens led to his election to Parliament in 1896.
He became the leader of the Conservative Party in 1901.
In 1904 and 1908, he lost federal elections to Laurier's Liberals.

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In 1911, his Conservatives gained 47 seats to win a majority government & return the party to power after 15 years.
Now Prime Minister, Borden created a law to allow the government to build & operate grain elevators & he expanded Manitoba's borders.

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Read 8 tweets
Jun 9
It is #PrideMonth and this is the story of Operation Soap.

On Feb. 5, 1981, Toronto Police raided four gay bathhouses in Toronto. Nearly 300 men were arrested in the largest mass arrest since the 1970 October Crisis.
The event is often called Canada's Stonewall.

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Tensions with Toronto Police and the gay community was especially bad at the time.
In 1979, the Toronto Police Association newsletter published an essay called "The Homosexual Fad" that portrayed gay men as militant deviants who recruited children into their lifestyle.

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In the raids, undercover police wore red dots on their clothing so police could "know who are the straights."
When the men were arrested, police used homophobic slurs & references to gassing homosexuals in Nazi death camps.

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Read 6 tweets
Jun 9
It is #IndigenousHistoryMonth and this is the story of Tom Longboat, the greatest distance runner in Canadian history!

Tom Longboat was born on the Six Nations Reserve on July 4, 1886. In 1901, fellow reserve resident Bill Davis ran in the Boston Marathon, inspiring Tom.

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In 1905, Tom began to run races & in the following year he won the Around the Bay Road Race in Hamilton.
In 1907, he won the Boston Marathon, setting a record time in the process.
Due to poor planning by organizers, he collapsed while running in the 1908 Olympics.

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To train, he did hard work outs, alternating with active rest. Promotors and press called him lazy but his method of having hard, easy & recovery days is now a normal party of training in running.
By 1909, back problems started to plague him, impacting his times.

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Read 6 tweets

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