Bomb Girls

Finished December 8

Bomb Girls: Trading Aprons for Ammo by Barbara Dickson

I bought this book after listening to a presentation by the author. She's done through research into the facility's history and even had a couple of historical artifacts to pass around during the presentation. 

This is a close look at the GECO facility in Scarborough which produced a variety of ordinance during World War II and became well known for the quality of its output. The facility also had an extremely good safety record, with no fatalities due to the work itself. The only fatality was from a bus accident ferrying workers between the city and plant that happened in the parking lot of the site. 

Besides describing the site, including plans showing the layout, this book looks at the variety of work that happened there, including administrative and support work, and the planning that took place to design the transition from dirty side to clean side and back again, the design of the uniforms that staff wore, the work that was done to help morale and accommodate the other responsibilities of the primarily female workforce, and the history of the two brothers who built and ran the plant.

There are also numerous profiles of workers from both the factory side and the administrative side, which include portions of interviews with them and their families. 

I really enjoyed looking more deeply into this slice of history that Canada can certainly be proud of. Building a complex factory that was producing dangerous goods in record time, and maintaining a largely happy workforce in a safe manner is an accomplishment to be very proud of. 

The Great Halifax Explosion

Finished February 6
The Great Halifax Explosion: A World War I Story of Treachery, Tragedy, and Extraordinary Heroism by John U. Bacon, read by Johnny Heller

This narrative of the Halifax Explosion of 1917 is new one on this tragedy. I've read a few, both fiction and nonfiction, and find it endlessly fascinating to find out the stories of the individual people affected by this terrible event. This particular books has one focus on the relationship between Canada and the United States, giving some historical background, showing how Boston in particular came to the aid of Halifax, and how the cooperation between the countries changed the way they related to each other.
Bacon also chose to look at the experiences of one soldier, from nearby Wolfsville, John Ernest Barss, who worked in Montreal before the war, enlisted as a matter of character, was passionate about the need to fight for several months until he became disillusioned and then injured, and returned home shortly before the explosion. He responded as a medical helper, and this experience caused him to become a doctor. His story brings the actual war experience into the story, as well as giving some family history that relates to the theme of the relationship between Canada and the U.S.
Like the other books I've read on this, it covers the actions of the two ships involved up until their collision, and looks at the effect on a number of individuals in the city, on the surrounding area, and at the longer outcomes, such as the court cases involving the owners of the two ships.
The other books I've read didn't really look at the chemistry of the explosion itself, with the enormous power involved and the heat generated.
As I'm planning to visit Halifax for the first time later this year, I was glad to be reminded of this terrible event in the town's history and it's ongoing effects.

21 Things You May Not Know about The Indian Act

Finished April 3
21 Things You May Not Know about The Indian Act: Helping Canadians Make Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples a Reality by Bob Joseph

I took my time reading this as I wanted to think about some of the things outlined here more deeply. There are so many things to be ashamed of about this piece of legislation. It was a way that the government reneged on the nation to nation agreements that had been agreed upon in the treaties, and tried to separate the people from their culture. In spite of saying they wanted to have the native people adapt they constricted them from accessing the markets available to other Canadian, separated families, and tried to prevent people from talking amongst themselves.
Everything done under the Act was done against the indigenous people, not for them, and when others tried to speak out about the wrongs being done, they were silences as well.
I think all Canadians should read this and think about how they would feel if they were the ones subjected to this Act.

Firing Lines

Finished August 4
Firing Lines: Three Canadian Women Write the First World War by Debbie Marshall

This book looks at three female Canadian journalists that covered WWI on the ground in France. The book is organized into three parts. Part one gives us background on each woman individually, their history, and how they ended up reporting on the war. The second part covers the war more or less chronologically, with the women's reports intermingled in each topical chapter. The third part looks at each woman's life individually after the war. They weren't the only female reporters during the war, but they each came from a different background, with a different outlook about what was happening, and they supported each other professionally.
Beatrice Nasmyth was the youngest of the women, twenty-nine as she went to Europe in 1914. She was a strong believer in women's rights, particularly of the right to vote.  Her cousins, Arthur and Clifford Sifton were active politicians in Canada both federally and provincially and supporters of women's rights. She was a charter member of the Vancouver branch of the Canadian Women's Press Club and a friend of the poet Pauline Johnson. She was based in London during the war, but told a variety of stories that grew her own views on Canadian identity, making her reassess some of her earlier actions against immigrants of other races.
Mary McLeod Moore was in her early forties as the war began, with more than a decade of journalism experience behind her, already based in London. She'd been writing occasionally for Saturday Night Magazine since 1910, beginning a regular column for them in 1912 called London Letters. Her father was a military officer, and she had been given a strong education. With her journalist reputation strong, she was in a good place and position to report on the events of the war.
Elizabeth Montizambert was thirty-nine and living in Paris before the war began, and that gave her an advantage over others. Elizabeth was born into a wealthy family of self-made entrepreneurs, leaders of New France, and professionals. University-educated, well-travelled, with many friends who were artists and writers, Elizabeth had begun writing for the Montreal Gazette in 1912 covering Paris art, culture, society, and fashion. As the war begun, her columns made the transition to life in a city facing the challenges of war.
Seeing the reports from the women's own experiences and their interviews with those closer to the action was fascinating, These were women eager to let others know what was really going on, sometimes sending their stories through private hands in order to avoid the military censors. Their unique angle on the experiences of war, in London, Paris, and nearer the front lines awakened their readers back home to the reality of what was happening.
This is an important book in our country's history, showing Canadian women's take on the events in the war that gave Canada an identity outside of a British colony.

The Education of Augie Merasty

Finished July 31
The Education of Augie Merasty: a Residential School Memoir by Joseph Auguste Merasty with David Carpenter

This short memoir offers a first-hand account of the residential school experience. Merasty wrote this at the age of 86, looking back on his experience as well as others he was close to, but who are no longer around to tell their own stories. He helped many of those others with their testimony for the Working Group on Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Exploratory Dialogues, which was the first stage of the Commission.
Merasty attended St. Therese Residential School in Sturgeon Lake, Saskatchewan from 1935 to 1944. His experiences, while awful, were not the worst of residential school abuse. He did have contact with his family, and they even attended some school functions, which many students did not have.
Merasty wrote a letter to the University of Saskatchewan asking for help in writing this memoir and was connected with Carpenter. It took several years before the project came to completion, partly due to David's other commitments, and partly to Merasty's availability.
Merasty own personality shows strongly, with his strong sense of self, and a great sense of humour.
An important story in our country's history.

Authentic Letters from Upper Canada

Finished April 21
Authentic Letters from Upper Canada including an Account of Canadian Field Sports by Thomas William Magrath: the whole edited by The Rev. Thomas Radcliff: illustrated by Samuel Lover and Introduced by James John Talman.
[No image as book cover is plain green cloth]
This collection of letters dates from 1832 and 1833, and was originally published in 1833. This edition, with the introduction by Talman was published in 1952.
The letters originate from two families, the Magraths, a family of 8 plus one servant that immigrated to Canada from Ireland in 1827, and the Radcliffes, a party of 13 including servants that immigrated in 1832. Both groups were from the wealthier class of Irish, being able to afford more costs associated with starting out in a new country than most. Two of the twenty letters are from a servant girl in the Radcliffe party, but her name was changed by the editor. The editor was the elder Radcliffe who remained in Ireland. The letters provide detailed information on costs, the conditions of the time, and the activities undertaken by those who came to Upper Canada. They also describe the quick growth taking place at the time in the new communities, with the Radcliffes clearing their own land near the planned settlement of Adelaide in Middlesex County, and it being quite populated less than a year later. With letters from several men, one woman and a servant, this is an interesting snapshot of the times.

Word From New France

Finished March 26
Word from New France: the selected letters of Marie de l'Incarnation translated and edited by Joyce Marshall

This collection of letters includes a helpful opening section of background and history, giving us a brief biography of Marie, and the historical context of her life. She grew up in a middle class family and felt an early draw to a religious life, but her father insisted on her marriage. Her husband died early in their marriage, leaving her with an infant son. She was determined to wait until he was old enough to understand before she entered a religious life though she was continually drawn to it, and finally when he was twelve she entered the convent of the Ursuline nuns. It was a difficult decision, but she stuck with it, and her son eventually followed her into this life.
Early on she had a dream or vision that led her to be one of the first nuns to come to Canada, on a mission to education young girls. The letters selected here are either to people in religious orders back in France, or to her son. They are well-written and full of imagery and not dry at all despite their calls to God's glory. They include much history of the colony of New France, of the interactions with the natives, and of the struggles for leadership.
An interesting and unique view of Canada's early history.

Letters from the Lost

Finished February 9
Letters from the Lost: a memoir of discovery by Helen Waldstein Wilkes

This book is a compilation of letters from Helen's relatives that never made it out of the Czech Republic to safety and most of whom died in the Holocaust. There is also a few letters from an uncle that survived the camps, but was utterly changed by them. More than the letters, the book describes Helen's parents' own flight to Canada, their struggles to make a living in their adopted country, and the silence they maintained about the lost family. Helen describes this well, including her own experiences with exclusion and her gradual interest in the past. She talks about her research, her visits to the Czech Republic, searching for news of her family and revisiting family homes and memories. A moving book, open and honest about the difficulties and the rewards of such a search.

Dear Lila

Finished February 5
Dear Lila: life on an Alberta Farm in 1925 As Recorded in Letters Saved by Lila Blackburn compiled by Robert H. Blackburn

This book came my way from my mother-in-law, who lent it to me after the recent death of my father-in-law. He was born in Alberta, as was I, and therefore the shared interest.
Robert Blackburn not only compiled these letters, but also added some helpful annotations, an introduction, and a postscript. These gave helpful background information on his family, the life Lila led before these letters, and her life after.
The letters range from January 1925 to March 1926 and were sent to Lila when she went to California for a health break. She was delicate in health most of her life and died at the young age of 47. Most of the letters are from her brother John, Robert's father, and tell a good story of life in rural Alberta during this time. He lived on a farm near Lavoy, and Lila's father lived in Tofield. Besides the letters from John, other letters are from her father, uncle and aunts. There are also notes, often attached to John's letters from her sister-in-law Palma. John has a good writing voice, with touches of humour and good description. This is a very enjoyable collection, nicely put together. [Excuse the photo's blurriness as I had to take my own]

Forgotten Highways

Finished September 11
Forgotten Highways: wilderness journeys down the historic trails of the Canadian Rockies by Nicky Brink and Stephen R Bown

This fascinating book details one summer in the lives of the authors who were inspired by history to hike five mountain trails first found by four early explorers.
Two of the treks were inspired by the explorations of David Thompson. The first was Howse Pass, one of the easier passes, abandoned due to rival tribes rivalries for trade. The second was Athabasca Pass, the pass Thompson found after, but too difficult for railways or roads.
The next hike was inspired by Hudson's Bay's George Simpson, another difficult pass found when searching for a pass accessible for more of the year than Athabasca was.
The fourth hike was found based on the explorations of John Palliser as he searched for a route north of the United States that would support a road and railway as part of the effort to claim the territory for the United Kingdom. This hike encompasses three passes, the Elk, the South Kananaskis, and the North Kananaskis.
The last hike was one found by one of the early female explorers, Mary Schäffer, and is Maligne Pass the route to Maligne Lake, one of the most beautiful lakes in Jasper National Park. 
I spent of number of childhood vacations in the mountains, although only camping and doing day hikes. They will always be a cherished part of my younger years and close to my heart. This book brings those experiences back to me vicariously. The authors are not professional hikers, but those who do it for the love of their surroundings and that comes across clearly in this book.