It is #PrideMonth and this is the story of LGBTQ rights activist Jim Egan, who brought forward a landmark Supreme Court case!
Jim Egan was born in Toronto on Sept. 14, 1921. Egan realized he was gay at a young age & in 1948, he met his partner John Nesbit.
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Since he was self-employed, Egan knew he could speak out without losing his job. Starting in 1949, he began writing hundreds of letters, articles & op-ed pieces to newspapers and magazines advocating for equal rights for the LGBTQ community.
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His letters and articles appeared across Canada, first under a pseudonym and then under his real name by the 1960s.
In 1964, he appeared in a Maclean's article that was a positive portrayal of homosexuality that was rare in mainstream media at the time.
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His partner Nesbit asked him to give up his activism, but Egan refused and the couple broke up.
Soon after, Egan moved to B.C. The couple reunited on Vancouver Island in the mid-1960s.
In 1986, Egan retired and began collecting Canada Pension Plan benefits.
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He applied for spousal benefits for Nesbit in 1987 but this was denied. Egan took the matter to court. He lost at the Federal Court in 1991 & the Federal Court of Appeal in 1993
He reached the Supreme Court in 1994, which ruled against Egan & the issue of spousal benefits
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The court did rule that sexual orientation should be included as a prohibited grounds for discrimination under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
This was a massive victory for the LGBTQ community.
Egan died in 2000, Nesbit died three months later
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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 :)
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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.
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In 1610, he began an 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.
Elf is a beloved Christmas classic.
Like with many other Christmas movies, there are quite a few Canadian connections to it. From a haunted former mental hospital in BC to the famous Buddy burp...all Canadian!
So let's learn more about Elf and Canada!
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While the main cast is made up of Americans, and it was directed by an American, much of the supporting cast and the shooting locations are Canadian.
For the North Pole scenes, The Pacific Coliseum in Vancouver was used as the filming location due to the large size.
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One of the major filming spots for the movie was the closed Riverview Hospital in Coquitlam, BC.
The former psychiatric facility was also used for filming Walter's Office at Greenway Press, the police station, the Hobbs apartment and the orphanage scene.
It is most famous postal code in Canada, and each year thousands of letters are sent to Santa Claus using that postal code. But what is the history of H0H 0H0?
Let's learn more!
*Canada Post has confirmed all letters sent this year by Dec. 23 will get to Santa in time*
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Everything started back in 1973 when a few Canada Post employees in Vancouver began to answer the letters that were sent to Santa. These letters went to Canada Post's undeliverable mail office headquarters.
That year, 4000 letters were received.
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There was nowhere for the letters to go, so the employees decided to reply to the children themselves.
Typically the letters were simply addressed to “Santa Claus, North Pole”. This small volunteer effort soon began to spread among Canada Post employees.
On this day in 2012, police began arresting people involved in The Great Maple Syrup Heist.
And with the release of The Sticky, now is the perfect time to explore what actually happened in that famous heist (and the things The Sticky changed)
Let's learn more :)
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The story of The Great Maple Syrup Heist begins way back in 1966.
It was in that year that a group of maple syrup producers began to work together to market their maple syrup.
This led to the formation of the Federation of Quebec Maple Syrup Producers.
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Now known as the Quebec Maple Syrup Producers (QMSP), the organization set quotas on the production and sale of Quebec's maple products.
In 2000, it established the Maple Syrup Strategic Reserve. By 2012, this reserve was worth $30 million.
If you drive through Watson, Saskatchewan, you are going to see a very large Santa Claus greeting you.
The story of how that came to be goes back to one man who greeted children as Santa Claus at the train station during The Great Depression.
Let's learn more :)
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Back in 1932, Jake Smith, the local hardware store owner, started to have Santa Claus greet children at his hardware store.
With how much the children enjoyed seeing Santa at his hardware store, Smith decided he wanted to expand things.
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When he approached local business owners, they were not interested.
So, Jack decided he would just do things himself if they weren't going to help.
In December 1932, he dressed up as Santa Claus and went to the CNR train station to greet children as they arrived.
On Christmas Eve (sometimes New Year's Eve) in many French-Canadian homes, there is the celebration of Réveillon.
Dating back centuries, what began as a dinner for nobles was adopted by families in Canada to celebrate the season. Let's learn more :)
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Réveillon was first documented in the 1600s in France. At the time, it was a night-long dinner party held by French nobles with lots of food and treat.
In New France and Quebec, it was adapted into a Christmas Eve/New Year's Eve celebration by families.
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It became an important time for family to get together and to enjoy each other's company as Christmas Day dawned. With all that family coming out, it meant there was a lot of food.
The dish most often associated with Réveillon is Tourtière.