If you could have personally witnessed one event in history, what would you want to have seen?
I'm narrowing down the whole ONE event thing to one event in Canada. I'm not the history buff I'd like to be, so I googled historical happenings to narrow things down. http://www.canadahistory.com/timeline.asp I found this site. It seems good. Also it talks of dinosaurs and stuff, so that's a pretty good Canadian history lesson... Ha.
My answer without thinking or researching would be to witness women's rights come into play. To see Nellie McClung. She was a part of the social and moral reform movements in Western Canada. In 1927, McClung, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Emily Murphy, Louise McKinney and Irene Parlby fought to have women be "qualified persons" eligible to sit in the Senate. Also, Nellie McClung was a writer. ALSO she was my Grandfather's cousin.
I would like to be a fly on the wall for much of the CRAZY history I'm looking at. This site (http://www.canadahistory.com/timeline.asp) is kind of funny. I'm starting in the 1900s because I do not have the time for the 1800s or earlier. (So, dinosaurs are out). Also, while women's rights is top of the list, obviously, I've NEVER been able to pick just one event. I don't like choices. I want it all. These are all from the above website. So here are some more:
"1900 Reginald Fessenden transmits the world's first wireless spoken message via radio, and six years later the two-way voice transmission. His credited with the discovery of the super-heterodyne principle, the basis of all modern broadcasting." Obviously this one is pretty cool to me because I'm in the broadcasting industry.
"1903 The first nude demonstrations of the Doukhobours take place near Yorkton, Saskatchewan, to protest governmental policy regarding individual ownership." This one would be worth being there if only for the looks on people's faces.
"1907 Canada Dry Ginger Ale is first bottled" I like ginger ale. Is there any other reason? This commercial is from the 60s I think, so not really relevant to the history.
"1908 Anne of Green Gables, by Lucy Maud Montgomery, is published. In the next ninety years the book sells more than a million copies, is made into a television movie, and becomes a popular musical." 1908 this came out! That's crazy! So long ago, but still so many people love her.
"1915 Lt-Col John McCrae of the Canadian Expeditionary Force composed the well-known poem In Flanders Fields." I skipped the war stuff for the most part because I don't know that my emotions could handle being a witness to the sadness and grief. However, watching him write out and create his art would be a nice process to see.
"1917 The first Federal Income Tax is introduced. The Income Tax Act was presented as a "temporary" measure to help finance World War I, but, unsurprisingly, proved too good for the government to give up, even though the war ended in November 11, 1918." I'm in the process of sending a cheque to the government right now. So I did find this interesting because the thought process going into it would have been interesting.
"1918 Women win the right to vote in federal elections." YEP. THAT'S RIGHT! It only took until 1918 for us to be allowed to vote.
"1921 Agnes Macphail becomes the first woman elected to Parliament, then representing the Progressive Party (which came in second and held the balance of power despite refusals to form an official opposition)." One more slow step for woman.
"1950 Park Royal Shopping Centre opens in West Vancouver, British Columbia, as the first suburban shopping mall in Canada. Today the mall has both a north side, the original, and the south side, which construction started in 1960s." I like malls.
"1962 Saskatchewan is the first province to have medical insurance covering doctor's bills. In 1966, Parliament passes a legislation to establish a national Medicare program. By 1972, all provinces and territories have joined the program." GO SASKATCHEWAN!!!!!
"1969 Abortion laws are liberalized." Important day in history. I do think I'd like to have witnessed the fight to get the laws liberalised. Especially considering people are still fighting it.
"1976 The death penalty is abolished" That's CRAZY! Just four years before I was born, the death penalty was still a thing in Canada?! I had no idea!
"1980 Terry Fox begins his cross-country run, the "Marathon of Hope". On September 1, he is forced to stop the run when his cancer returns." Terry Fox has a day. Meeting him would have been a pretty inspirational moment.
1980 Erin Leah McCrea is born on September 11th. I was actually here for this, but have no memories of it. This picture is a year after I was born. I was a little more aware, but not really.
I was going to stop the history lesson, but just one more important detail to talk about. One that should have been legal WAY before it was.
"On July 20, 2005, Canada became the fourth country in the world, and the first country outside Europe, to legalize same-sex marriage nationwide with the enactment of the Civil Marriage Act which provided a gender-neutral marriage definition. Court decisions, starting in 2003, had already legalized same-sex marriage in eight out of ten provinces and one of three territories, whose residents comprised about 90% of Canada's population." This quote came from here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Same-sex_marriage_in_Canada
This video isn't specific to the history of gay rights. Or Canada.
That's it. Lots of history, and I just focused on Canada, and I skipped the war details because like I said, I wouldn't really want to be there for the war.
Until Tomorrow. Actually. Until later today because this is a day late.
Most of my ideas are coming from http://erinisawriter.blogspot.ca/2014/03/march-24th-looking-forward.html It's leads to another blog where I found the ideas. My April onward details start with that post.
And as always:
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