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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She continued to make art and by 1963, was the subject of an NFB documentary. Throughout the 1960s, admiration for her artistry increased throughout Canada.
In 1966, she moved to Cape Dorset, a place that became a hot bed of Inuit artistry thanks to her.
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Kenojuak's art has appeared throughout Canada, including Canada's National Gallery, the Art Gallery of Ontario and the Burnaby Art Gallery.
She also created several works to commemorate the creation of Nunavut.
Her first work, Rabbit Eating Seaweed, would sell for $59,000.
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Kenojuak became the 1st Inuit artist inducted into Canada's Walk of Fame in 2001.
She passed away on Jan. 8, 2013.
In 2014, a Google Doodle was released to honour her birthday.
In 2017, her print Owl's Bouquet appeared on the $10 banknote.
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On Aug. 17, 1923, the 71-branch Home Bank of Canada failed.
Faced with public outcry over constant bank failures, the government acted.
Since 1923, two Canadian banks have failed, while 17,000 have failed in the USA.
This is the story of Home Bank of Canada
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For the first half century of Canada's existence, the only safeguard that customers had with their banks was the competency of management and the hope that assets covered deposits. It was not a good system and by 1923, 40% of Canadian banks had failed.
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Finance Minister W.S. Fielding, who assumed the post in 1896, saw nine bank failures by 1910. Many Canadians, and even industry leaders like H.C. McLeod, the GM of the Bank of Nova Scotia, wanted to have government inspections to prevent fraud in Canada's banks.
Every Canadian province and territory has a capital.
The names of those capitals come from many different sources.
Sometimes it is royalty, and sometimes it is an Indigenous name.
Here is how each capital received its name.
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Victoria, British Columbia:
The site the city sits on was called Camosack by the local Indigenous, meaning "rush of water". In 1843, Fort Albert was founded but it was soon after renamed to Fort Victoria in honour of Queen Victoria.
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Edmonton, Alberta:
The Cree called the area amiskwacîy (Beaver Hills). The current name comes from Edmonton, Middlesex, England, which was the hometown of the Lake family. The Lake family were influential in the Hudson's Bay Company.
When John Diefenbaker cancelled the Avro Arrow, he announced that Canada would purchase 56 Bomarc Missiles from the USA.
When the public learned the missiles were only effective if tipped with nuclear warheads.
it sparked the Bomarc Missile Crisis.
This is the story.
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During the Cold War in 1957, Canada and the United States created NORAD to handle continental air defence against the Soviet Union. As part of NORAD obligations, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker Canada was pressured to put Bomarc missiles on its soil.
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The plan was to have the missiles deployed near La Macaza, Quebec and North Bay, Ontario. Both sites would have storage and launch facilities, and quarters for US personnel. Diefenbaker's plan was to have the missiles replace the Avro Arrow program.
Tommy Douglas was one of the most important politicians in Canadian history.
The premier of Saskatchewan, he later led the federal NDP and was instrumental in bringing in Universal Healthcare.
In 2004, he was named The Greatest Canadian.
This is his story.
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Tommy Douglas was born on Oct. 20, 1904 in Scotland. When he was seven, the family moved to Winnipeg. Around this time, he injured his knee and Osteomyelitis set in. He went through various operations and doctors stated he would lose the leg.
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One surgeon agreed to treat Douglas for free. This free medical care greatly influenced Douglas later in life. At McMaster, he wrote a thesis that endorsed eugenics. He later abandoned his eugenics stance and advocated for vocational training for the handicapped.
On Feb. 20, 1959, the Avro Arrow program was cancelled by the Diefenbaker government.
Thousands of people lost their jobs, and the Canadian aeronautical and aviation sector was decimated. The day became known as Black Friday.
This is the story of the Arrow.
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In the 1950s, with the dawn of the nuclear era, there was a concern that the Soviet Union would attack North America with bombers over the Canadian Arctic.
To deal with this possibility, the RCAF commissioned Avro Canada to build an all-weather nuclear interceptor.
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It needed to fly higher and faster than any aircraft of its class. With the Arrow contract, Avro quickly expanded and had 20,000 people working for it by 1957. Nine models, one-eighth the size of the finished plane, were tested in rockets over Lake Ontario.
On Feb. 19, 1942, German soldiers marched through Winnipeg.
The mayor, premier and Lt. Governor were arrested, and the city was renamed Himmlerstadt. Books were burned, and the German flag flew across the city.
This is the story of Winnipeg's If Day.
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During the Second World War, Victory Bond Campaigns were held to raise money for the war effort. On Feb. 16, 1942, the second Victory Loan campaign began and Manitoba decided to go all out. The idea was to show what would happen if Germany invaded Canada.
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The plan was for German soldiers (actually volunteers from the Young Men's Board of Trade) to invade Winnipeg. The city was defended by 3,500 Canadian Army members. Uniforms were rented and German troops were given scars on their faces.