It is #PrideMonth and this is the story of Delwin Vriend, whose firing sparked a debate over sexual orientation discrimination.
Delwin Vriend was born in Iowa in 1966 & moved to an organic vegetable farm near Edmonton with his family when he was two.
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As an adult, he earned a mathematics and physics degree and then started working as a laboratory coordinator & chemistry lab instructor at King's College (University) in Edmonton.
In 1991, he was fired by King's College due to his sexual orientation.
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Vriend filed a discrimination complaint with the Alberta Human Rights Commission but this was refused as sexual orientation was not protected under the human rights code.
He then sued the Alberta Government & Human Rights Commission.
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In 1994, an Alberta court ruled that sexual orientation was a protected class under human rights legislation.
The Alberta government appealed this & in 1996, the court's decision was overruled by the Alberta Court of Appeal.
The case went to the Supreme Court of Canada.
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The case, Vriend v. Alberta, was ruled on in 1998 with the Supreme Court stating provincial governments could not exclude protection of individuals from human rights legislation based on sexual orientation.
Religious groups lobbed the government to overturn the decision.
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The Supreme Court case had large ramifications in Canadian law & was used as a legal precedent concerning civil rights & constitutional laws.
Due to publicity of the case, Vriend eventually left Canada in 2000.
In 2011, he was inducted into the Q Hall of Fame Canada.
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Zenora Rose Hendrix was a pillar of the area known as Hogan's Alley in Vancouver.
She helped build the community, and did her best to save it from demolition.
She was also grandmother to a rock icon.
This is the story Jimi Hendrix's grandmother, Zenora Hendrix.
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Zenora Rose Hendrix was born in Georgia in 1883. In her early-20s, she began touring with a vaudeville troupe as a singer and dancer and made her way to Seattle. It was with that troupe she met Ross Hendrix, a stagehand.
In 1912, the two married and moved to Vancouver.
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All four of their children were born in Canada, one of whom was James "Al" Hendrix. James married Lucille Jeter on March 31, 1942. They had a son on Nov. 27, 1942 named Johnny Allan Hendrix.
The world knows him much better as Jimi Hendrix.
At 5 a.m. on Nov. 9, 1942, German submarine U-518 dropped off Werner von Janowski at Chaleur Bay, Quebec.
His orders were to go to Montreal to conduct espionage.
It didn't take long to raise the suspicions of locals.
This is the story of a pretty terrible spy.
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Werner von Janowski was born around 1904 in Allenstein, East Prussia.
In 1942, he was given orders to go to Montreal where he would conduct espionage activities.
Upon being dropped off in Chaleur Bay, he was to go to nearby New Carlisle to take a train to Montreal.
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At 6:30 a.m., under the alias of William Brenton, he checked into a hotel in New Carlisle, asking for a room and a bath.
Earl Annett Jr., the son of the hotel owner, immediately grew suspicious of Janowski.
There were several things that didn't add up.
In the 1970s, Canada made the move towards the Metric System.
It was a process that took years, and a lot of work at all levels of government.
It also faced a lot of resistance.
This is the story of Canada's Metric Conversion!
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In 1871, Sir John A. Macdonald made the Imperial System the official system of measurement in Canada.
It remained so for the next century, but as many other countries went metric in the 20th century, Canada decided to follow suit believing the USA would do the same.
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In 1970, the Liberal government of Pierre Trudeau introduced Bill C-163 to begin the Metric Conversion of Canada.
In January 1971, the White Paper on Metric Conversion was released, which led to the creation of the Metric Commission (logo pictured).
I'm currently rewatching Deadwood, and in that show Timothy Olyphant portrays Seth Bullock, a prominent citizen of Deadwood.
As it turns out, Seth Bullock was a real person and he was Canadian!
So, let's learn about this Canadian who became a legend of the West!
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In the show, Bullock says he is from Etobicoke but the real Seth Bullock was born in Amherstburg, Canada West (now Ontario) on July 23, 1849.
His father was a British Army Sergeant Major who was active in politics in Sandwich, Canada West (now part of Windsor).
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In 1860, when Bullock was 11, his father resigned as County Treasurer because of missing funds.
Wanting to avoid jailtime, Bullock's father fled to Detroit, leaving behind his wife and eight children.
Soon after, Bullock's mother died.
From 1663 to 1673, about 800 French women immigrated to New France.
Called The King's Daughters, the goal was to boost the population of the colony.
Their descendants include Hillary Clinton, Madonna and Bernie Geoffrion.
Let's learn more about The King's Daughters!
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When New France was founded, it was populated mostly by men. There were only a few single women in the colony, creating a severe imbalance between single men and women.
To increase the population, Jean Talon, the Intendant of New France, went to King Louis XIV.
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He proposed the king sponsor the passage of 500 women. The king agreed, and the number increased to over 1,000.
Most of the women recruited had to have a reference from a parish priest, and they were typically between the ages of 12 and 25.
Regina is the beautiful capital of Saskatchewan, but how it became the capital is a shady story of conflict of interest and corruption.
Let's learn more about how a tiny undeveloped community on the prairie became a capital of a province!
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The area of present-day Regina is in the territory of several First Nations including the Cree, Ojibwa and Blackfoot.
It carried the Cree name of oskana kâ-asastêki, meaning "bones, which are piled".
This referenced the bison bones on the banks of Wascana Creek.
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In 1882, Pile O' Bones was founded as the Canadian Pacific Railway was being built.
That year, the name was changed to Regina courtesy of Princess Louise, wife of the Governor General.
She named it for her mother Queen Victoria because Regina is Latin for Queen.