It is #IndigenousHistoryMonth and this is the story of actor, singer & humanitarian Tom Jackson!
Tom Jackson was born on the One Arrow Reserve near Batoche, Saskatchewan on Oct. 27, 1948.
After moving to Winnipeg when he was 14, he dropped out of school a year later.
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For the next few years, he lived on the streets but began to gravitate towards folk & country music in the Winnipeg coffee houses.
By the 1980s, he was playing at festivals throughout Canada and his songwriting often explored Indigenous issues.
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He soon began acting and in 1986, earned a Genie Award nomination for his role in Loyalties.
By the end of the decade, his singing & acting career had taken off.
He achieved national fame with his role as Peter Kenidi in the critically-acclaimed show North of 60.
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He continued to act throughout the 1990s and beyond with roles in Star Trek: The Next Generation, Spirit Rider, Cold Pursuit and more.
In his career, he has earned multiple Gemini Award nominations, won two Junos, 11 honorary degrees & the Order of Canada.
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He is also well-known for his philanthropy and his Christmas concert, Huron Carole, which raised millions of dollars & collected tons of food for food banks around Canada.
He continues to help people who live on the streets, or are below the poverty line, to this day.
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It is the start of the World Juniors today!
Since 1977, Canada has won 20 gold medals, more than any other nation. But one of the most famous incidents at the tournament happened in 1987.
Let's learn more about the Punch-up in Piestany!
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On Jan. 4, 1987, Canada and the Soviet Union faced off at Zimný Štadión Piešťany in Piešťany, Czechoslovakia.
The Soviets had been eliminated from medal contention by this point, but Canada was still playing for a medal finish when the game started.
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Canada and the Soviets had an intense rivalry that boiled over when the two teams took to the ice at the World Juniors in 1987.
That year, it was a round robin tournament with the teams with the top three records winning medals.
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.