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Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx Profile picture
@CraigBaird
Jun 8, 2023 • 6 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
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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.

🧵1/6 Image
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

🧵6/6

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More from @CraigBaird

Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx Profile picture
Aug 14
🎶 You don't know what you got 'til it's gone 🎶
There was a time when walking into certain department stores included the beautiful aromas of wonderful food.
Such was the case with the Zellers Restaurant.
This is its story!

🧵 1/6 Image
Zellers was established on Aug. 4, 1928 (some sources say 1931) in London, Ontario when Walter P. Zeller founded the first store. This first store was 7,000 square-feet and 60 women were hired on the opening day to work in 21 departments.

🧵 2/6 A black-and-white photograph of two men in formal suits sitting at a table, eating a meal with utensils. The table is set with plates, a glass of water, and a coffee cup. The background features a decorative curtain and ornate wall details.
As for The Skillet, the in-store restaurant brand, that debuted in 1960. In Quebec, it was known as Café Fleur de Lys.
The restaurants proved to be so popular that they began to pop up in many of the 300 Zellers locations across the country.

🧵 3/6 A black-and-white photo of a vintage diner kitchen with two women in aprons working behind the counter. The counter is equipped with various kitchen appliances, including a mixer and coffee urns, and is adorned with signs advertising menu items like "Golden Cheese Dream" and "Fish Fillet." The backdrop features the word "SKILLET" in large letters, and the setting includes hanging pots and a Coca-Cola sign.
Read 7 tweets
Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx Profile picture
Aug 6
Anna Swan was much more than someone who grew to be 7'11".
She acted in Shakespeare, excelled in music and loved to play the piano.
She lived the life she wanted, and found her soulmate in the process.
This is the story of a fascinating woman.

🧵 1/9 A sepia-toned vintage studio portrait photograph from the 19th century shows a very tall woman, Anna Swan, standing to the left and wearing a plaid full-length dress with puffed sleeves, a high collar, a beaded necklace, and a decorative tiara on her head. She poses with one hand resting on her hip. To her right stands a much shorter man dressed in a formal suit with a bow tie, his arms crossed as he looks up toward her. The background is plain, and the floor has a patterned carpet.
The third of 13 children, Anna was 16 pounds at birth. By the age of four, she was 4 feet 6 inches. At six, she was 5 feet 2 inches.
She continued to grow and at 12 she was 6 feet 1 inches. At 18, she reached her full height of 7 feet 11 inches.

🧵2/9 A black-and-white vintage studio portrait from the 19th century shows four people of varying heights standing side by side. From left to right: a shorter man with a mustache and beard, dressed in a formal suit with a bow tie, holding a cane; a very tall man with a mustache, wearing a dark suit and tie, with his arm around the tall woman beside him; a very tall woman in an elaborate full-length dress with ruffled sleeves, a high collar, and floral hair adornment, holding a small fan or handkerchief; and a shorter woman in a long dress with puffed sleeves. The background is plain, and the flo...
Highly intelligent, she excelled in literature and music. She loved acting and singing, as well as playing the piano. At one point, she even played Lady Macbeth.
At 17, she started working for P.T. Barnum to bring in money for her family.

🧵3/9 A sepia-toned vintage studio portrait from the 19th century shows a very tall woman standing in the center, wearing a dark hat with lace trim, dangling earrings, a multi-strand necklace, and a light-colored full-length dress with ruffled bodice and long sleeves. She holds a small object in her hand and smiles slightly. To her left stands a much shorter woman in a dark full-length dress and head covering, looking up at the tall woman with her hand on her hip. To her right stands a much shorter man in a formal dark suit and tie, also looking up with his arms crossed. The background is plain, ...
Read 10 tweets
Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx Profile picture
Aug 3
When you wear denim jeans with a denim jacket, you create a very unique look. Sometimes you can even include a denim shirt.
This look is known as The Canadian Tuxedo....but why?
It all began in the 1950s in Vancouver. This is the story.

🧵 1/7 A young man with a large afro hairstyle and sunglasses, dressed in a denim jacket, jeans, and brown boots, posing with one hand on his hip and the other on a yellow and black motorcycle in a grassy rural field with trees and buildings in the background.
It all began when Bing Crosby was checking into an upscale Vancouver hotel in 1951 after a hunting trip. Walking in, he was wearing a denim jacket and jeans.
The hotel clerk, Art Cameron, stated he thought the person coming in was an unhoused person.

🧵 2/7 Three people sitting on the ground against a wooden log fence in an outdoor setting: a young boy on the left in a blue shirt looking thoughtful, a middle-aged man in the center wearing a straw hat, red bandana, checkered shirt under a denim jacket, and holding a rope, and another boy on the right in a plaid shirt and cowboy hat smiling, with boots hanging on the fence above and a coiled rope nearby.
This is because denim was something worn by miners, rail workers and cowboys at the time. When a bellhop explained that it was Bing Crosby, Cameron apologized and booked Crosby a room.

🧵 3/7 A black-and-white photo of a man in a white cowboy hat, dark suit with wide lapels, red ribbon, and smoking a pipe, walking through a crowd of people including children, women in dresses, and men in military uniforms, who are clapping, reaching out, and cheering along a roped pathway outside a building with an "EXPRESS AGENCY" sign.
Read 8 tweets
Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx Profile picture
Aug 2
Alexander Graham Bell changed history with his creation of the first practical telephone.
He spent a lot of his life in Canada in Brantford and Nova Scotia, and had a large impact on our history.
This is the story of Bell and Canada.

🧵 1/12 Black and white portrait of Alexander Graham Bell, an elderly man with white hair and beard, wearing a suit and tie.
Alexander Graham Bell was born on March 3, 1847 in Edinburgh, Scotland. When he was 23, his brother Melville died of tuberculosis. Bell's parents decided to move out of fear their other children would die. In August 1870, they moved to Canada and settled in Brantford.

🧵 2/12 Black and white portrait of a younger Alexander Graham Bell with dark curly hair, mustache, and beard, wearing a bow tie and suit, looking to the side.
One year later, Bell took a teaching job at a school for the deaf in Boston. This began a pattern of working in the United States and spending summers with his family in Brantford. It was at the family home his telephone idea began to take shape.

🧵 3/12 Black and white photograph of Alexander Graham Bell and his wife Mabel standing arm-in-arm in front of their Victorian-style home with ornate porch, attached greenhouse, and surrounding trees.
Read 13 tweets
Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx Profile picture
Jul 31
On July 31, 1987, an F4 (possibly an F5) tornado hit the eastern parts of Edmonton and Strathcona County.
It left 27 dead, injured 300 and caused $332 million in damages.
This is the story of Black Friday.

📸 Steve Simon

🧵 1/12 The provided photo shows the iconic image of the 1987 Edmonton tornado, captured by photographer Steve Simon. It depicts a large, wedge-shaped funnel cloud descending from a dark storm sky, touching down over an industrial area known as Refinery Row in eastern Edmonton, Alberta. The tornado appears as a bright, contrasting formation against the blackened background, with buildings, utility poles, and structures visible in the foreground.
For a week prior to July 31, a low pressure system in southwestern BC was feeding warm and humid air into central Alberta. Hot weather in Alberta was triggering thunderstorms all week.
Then, on July 31, a cold front developed in Western Alberta.

📸 Peter Cutler

🧵 2/12 The photo depicts the 1987 Edmonton tornado as a large, wedge-shaped funnel cloud, brightly illuminated against a dark stormy sky, descending and touching down over an industrial area with buildings, warehouses, and cylindrical storage tanks visible below. The image has a grainy texture typical of 1980s film photography.
This cold front collided with the warm moist air, creating a recipe for severe thunderstorms.
One storm developed that began to move northeast towards Leduc, south of Edmonton.
At 2:59, the first tornado was spotted.

🧵 3/12 The photo shows a narrow, rope-like tornado funnel descending from dark, ominous clouds and touching down across a multi-lane highway, where vehicles with headlights on are visible amid reduced visibility. Trees and bushes appear in the foreground, suggesting the viewpoint is from an elevated or nearby area.
Read 13 tweets
Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx Profile picture
Jul 29
On July 29, 1910 in Saskatoon, a fabled meeting of two prime ministers took place.
The prime minister of the time, Sir Wilfrid Laurier, met a young man selling newspapers named John Diefenbaker.
But...did it actually happen?
Let's investigate!

🧵 1/6 The photo shows a bronze statue in Saskatoon depicting a young John Diefenbaker as a newsboy in cap and knickers handing a newspaper to Sir Wilfrid Laurier in a suit holding a hat. It stands on a brick-paved area with a plaque at the base, amid a urban street with parked cars, buildings, trees, and flower planters.
At the time, Sir Wilfrid Laurier was in Saskatoon to lay the cornerstone of the first building at the University of Saskatchewan.
John Diefenbaker, who was 15 at the time, was apparently selling newspapers on the corner when the two crossed paths.

🧵 2/6 The black-and-white photograph shows a close-up of a light-colored stone block embedded in a wall, engraved with the text: "THIS STONE WAS LAID BY SIR WILFRID LAURIER JULY - 29TH - 1910". Foliage is visible at the top left, and the stone sits above a concrete surface.
After 10 minutes of talking, Diefenbaker told Laurier:
"I can't waste any more time on you, Prime Minister. I must get about my work."
At that point, the two went their separate ways. Today, the meeting is commemorated in a statue at the spot.

🧵 3/6 The black-and-white studio portrait depicts a young man with short, wavy hair combed back, fair skin, light eyes, and a serious expression facing the camera. He wears a white high-collared shirt, narrow dark tie, and dark suit jacket with puffed shoulders. The background is plain and neutral.
Read 7 tweets

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