Hard to believe, but there were Jews in Toronto and probably Montreal as well who were drawing monthly pensions from the U.S. government as late as 1925 for their participation as soldiers in the American Civil War. An index of Civil War pension recipients indicates that some 4,966 veterans of America’s most sanguinary conflict filed…
From North Toronto Tales, 1948 by Lyman B Jackes There is no section of the present City of Toronto which can claim the historical background that is the heritage of North Toronto. Writers for many years have been prone to stress the fallacy that communal life in these parts commenced in the vicinity of the…
From the Toronto Star Weekly, December 31, 1926 by Frederick Griffin You can’t imagine the gigantic United States with all its doughboys and buddies being scared of a woman. It is like a man being scared of a mouse. And yet we have the fact that they were so frightened over there by the presence…
A jubilant crowd gathered at Queen & James beside Toronto City Hall upon news of the armistice ending First World War, November 11, 1918. Note the marching bands, evidently part of a parade.
From The Canadian Jewish Chronicle, December 8, 1939 The Jewish community of Montreal, thousands strong, paid final tribute to the memory of Reuben Brainin, noted Hebraist, author and pioneer Zionist, who died in New York on November 30, 1939 at the age of seventy-seven. From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. his body lay in state…
From the Brisbane Courier Mail, May 26, 1934 CANADA is to be numbered among the new countries, yet it enters in July upon the 400th year of its history. On July 24, 1534, Jacques Cartier, mariner of St. Malo, in Brittany, set up a cross on the mainland of Canada at Gaspe, and took possession…
From the Globe and Mail, July 2000 Painted a bright red, the 201-year-old John C. Backhouse Mill seems as conspicuous against its background of grass and trees as the British Redcoats must have been when engaged in combat with the Americans during the War of 1812. A historic property that was restored to pristine condition…
No, it isn’t an actual photograph — just a sketch of a photograph of ten surviving veterans of the War of 1812 to 1814, who assembled at Rosedale some 50 years after the war, on October 23, 1861. The photo-sketch appeared in the Toronto Evening Telegram in 1910, just more than a century ago and…
It’s clear from this article from the Globe and Mail of August 9, 1915, that the situation of Jews in Europe was desperate and that Jews in Toronto were keen to ease their affliction. The rally at Massey Hall reportedly attracted some 2,000 people and representatives of more than 50 Jewish organizations. The keynote speaker was…
“Look at Judah’s claws, deeply penetrating my body! Look how my blood is running, look how the Jews are drinking it!” These are lyrics to a song. They were excerpted from a songbook found at Romanian Camp, a 50-acre compound in Flamborough, Ontario, outside Hamilton, where a group of sympathizers of the Iron Guard —…
