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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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.