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Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx Profile picture
@CraigBaird
Jun 9, 2023 • 6 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X
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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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Police compiled personal data on the men including who were married, their jobs, work superiors and the names and phone numbers of wives.
Of the 286 arrested, only 20 were charged. The bathhouses also suffered $50,000 in damages from police during the arrests.

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The next evening, 3000 people marched through Toronto to protest the arrests. As they approached Queens Park, they were met by 200 police officers. Violence broke out, leading to 11 arrests and several injuries on both sides.
Public outcry of the arrests continued.

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Despite the public outcry, the raiding of bath houses in Toronto did not stop.
Further raids would occur in 1981, 1983, 1996 and 2000.
Despite this, the Toronto Pride community continued to grow & be accepted. Today, Pride is one of Toronto's biggest annual celebrations.

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More from @CraigBaird

Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx Profile picture
May 6
Farley Mowat was one of Canada's most successful and beloved authors.
His books have sold more than 17 million copies in 52 languages, but he was also a decorated Second World War veteran and an Arctic researcher.
This is his story.

🧵1/16 The photo shows Farley Mowat sitting outdoors near a body of water, possibly a coastline, with a rocky and driftwood-filled background. He is wearing a dark jacket with a fur-lined hood, which is pulled up around his shoulders. The jacket appears to be designed for cold weather, with a zipper down the front and fur trim around the hood. Mowat has a relaxed pose, with one hand resting on the driftwood beside him. The overall scene suggests a rugged, natural environment, fitting for Mowat's reputation as a writer deeply connected to nature and the wilderness.
Farley Mowat was born on May 12, 1921 in Belleville, Ontario. His great-great-uncle was Ontario Premier Sir Oliver Mowat, the longest-serving premier in Ontario's history. His father Angus fought at Vimy Ridge and was an influential librarian in Ontario and Saskatchewan.

🧵2/16 The photo features two black-and-white portraits. On the left, Sir Oliver Mowat, an older man with white hair and a beard, wears glasses and a formal suit with a bow tie. On the right, Angus Mowat, a younger man with short hair and a mustache, is dressed in a suit with a tie and a pocket square.
His childhood was spent in Richmond Hill and briefly in Windsor. In the 1930s, the family moved to Saskatoon where Mowat wrote columns about birds for the Saskatoon Star-Phoenix. He also wrote a nature newsletter called Nature Lore during this time.

🧵3/16 The black-and-white photo shows a young boy sitting on a brick ledge outside a house, with a large dog beside him. The boy, wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, smiles at the camera while holding the dog's paw. The background includes a house with a window and some bushes.
Read 17 tweets
Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx Profile picture
May 4
The story of David Thompson is well known in Canada, but the story of his wife of 58 years, Charlotte Small, is not.
Yet she was integral to his success as a surveyor and explorer.
This is her story.

Listen to my episode about her here 👇


🧵1/10 pdst.fm/e/chtbl.com/tr…The photo is a pencil sketch of Charlotte Small, depicting her with a serious expression. She wears a headscarf and has her hair in two braids. She has triangular earrings and is dressed in a high-neck garment. The sketch is signed "Mel Hynes" in the bottom right corner.
Charlotte Small was born on Sept. 1, 1785 to Patrick Small and a Cree woman who is unnamed in records. Her father left when she was young to go back east.
This was common for country marriages. The fur trader husband often abandoned his Indigenous wife and children.

🧵2/10 The photo shows a bronze bust of a woman on a wooden pedestal in a museum exhibit. Behind the bust are informational panels titled "La Grande Carte," "Aboriginal Mapping," and "Cartographie Autochtone," discussing cartography and Indigenous contributions. Two wooden crates are on either side, and the background features a large map.
On June 10, 1799, she married David Thompson.
Together, the two had 13 children.
Throughout Thompson's journeys across present-day Western Canada, Charlotte was with him. She raised five of their children during this time.
She was far from just tagging along.

🧵3/10 The photo is a black-and-white illustration of a man sitting on the ground in a landscape, using a surveying instrument. He is surrounded by tools, including a small tripod. The background features mountains, a river, teepees, and a person with horses, depicting a historical surveying scene.
Read 11 tweets
Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx Profile picture
May 1
Alberta Separation is once again in the news, but it is far from a new thing.
Separation talk dates back decades, rising and falling with political trends.
Let's learn more about Western Separation Movements!

Listen to my episode from 2019 👇


🧵1/18 pdst.fm/e/chtbl.com/tr…The photo shows a hand holding a black passport with "REPUBLIC OF WESTERN CANADA" written on it. The passport features a map of Canada, highlighting the western region.
I'm not including Quebec separatist movements in this thread. That will be one of its own.
In our first election in 1867, the Anti-Confederation Movement out of Nova Scotia won 18 seats. They called for Nova Scotia seceding from Canada.
By 1870, the movement had failed.

🧵2/18 The photo shows a framed, weathered flag with a blue border and a triangular design. The flag has the text "THREE CHEERS FOR THE ANTIES." written on it in black letters. The wooden frame has screws at the corners.
From 1867 to 1870, a store owner in Thomas Spence tried to create an independent republic in the Portage La Prairie area called New Caledonia, and later the Republic of Manitobah. This failed but Spence later served on the council of Louis Riel.

🧵3/18 The photo is a black-and-white portrait of a bearded man with short hair, wearing a suit jacket and a bow tie, looking directly at the camera with a serious expression.
Read 18 tweets
Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx Profile picture
Apr 29
For 15 years from 1965 until his death in 1980, the man the world knew as Colonel Sanders lived in a modest home at 1337 Melton Drive in the Lakeview area of Mississauga.
He became a fixture of the community and gave his money to charity to help Canadians.

🧵1/10 Colonel Sanders, in a white suit with a black tie and holding a cane, stands in front of a KFC restaurant with a red and white striped awning and signs reading "Colonel Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken" and "Bucket Break."
By the mid-1960s, Colonel Harland Sanders was famous around North America as the image of Kentucky Fried Chicken. With franchises rapidly growing, and Sanders in his early-70s, he sold the company for $2 million in 1964 in a deal that did not include Canadian operations.

🧵2/10 A black-and-white photo shows Colonel Sanders, with white hair and glasses, wearing a bow tie, smiling and interacting with four women in striped uniforms, likely at a KFC event, against a dark background.
Now a salaried brand ambassador for KFC, Sanders decided to move to Mississauga in 1965 to oversee his Canadian franchises. As a company ambassador, he travelled 320,000 km a year on the company's behalf, while also filming commercials.

🧵3/10 Colonel Sanders, in a white suit with a black bow tie, holds a KFC box and a cane, standing in front of a wall of stacked KFC buckets featuring his image, showcasing the brand's iconic packaging.
Read 11 tweets
Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx Profile picture
Apr 27
Throughout the federal election campaign, I am looking at elections from Canada's past.
Today, it is the 1993 election!
One of the most significant elections in Canadian history, it completely changed the political landscape of the country forever.

🧵1/16 Image
After the 1988 election, the Progressive Conservatives and their leader Brian Mulroney turned their attention to the Meech Lake Accord. The purpose was to persuade Quebec to symbolically endorse the 1982 constitutional amendments. This failed to pass in 1990.

🧵2/16 Image
The Charlottetown Accord, a package of amendments to the Constitution of Canada, failed through a public referendum in October 1992.
The Progressive Conservatives had also introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) in 1991, which was deeply unpopular.

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Read 17 tweets
Craig Baird - Canadian History Ehx Profile picture
Apr 26
Throughout the federal election campaign, I am looking at elections from Canada's past.
Today, it is the 1988 election!
This election was fought on the issue of free trade with the USA. It was also the first election for the Reform Party.

🧵1/12 A color photo of Brian Mulroney, smiling broadly. He wears a dark suit, white shirt, and green tie, standing in front of a Canadian flag and a wooden-paneled background, suggesting an official or governmental setting.
Both John Turner and Brian Mulroney continued to lead their respective parties, the Liberals and Progressive Conservatives.
Turner had stayed on as leader and spent the previous four years rebuilding the body after the historic collapse in the 1984 election.

🧵2/12 A black-and-white photo of John Turner (center) smiling and interacting with a group of people outdoors. Turner wears a suit and tie, while one person sports a shirt reading "Canada: Nobody’s Colony, Keep It That Way!" with a maple leaf pin. The background shows tall buildings, suggesting an urban setting.
Turner had survived a leadership vote in 1986.
Going into the election, the Progressive Conservatives wanted to establish free trade with the United States. This was a reverse of the 1911 election when the Liberals wanted free trade and the Conservatives opposed it.

🧵3/12 A black-and-white photo of Brian Mulroney, captured mid-speech. He wears glasses, a suit, and a tie, standing in front of a blurred background with a striped pattern, possibly a flag or banner, suggesting a formal or public event.
Read 13 tweets

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