The Royal Canadian Mounted Police

https://www.vistastamps.com/itm/canada-stamp-223iv-r-c-m-p-mint-very-fine-10-1935

Sir John A Macdonald recommended the formation of a police force after Canada purchased the Northwest Territories from the Hudson's Bay Company in 1873. Prime Minister MacDonald wanted to call the force the North West Mounted Rifles, however that sounded too much like a military. Therefore, he named them the North West Mounted Police. Royal was added to the name in 1904 by King Edward VII. In 1920, the Royal North West Mounted Police merged with the Dominion Police to form the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP).

 Originally, the RCMP oversaw two territories and several provinces. The police force added Newfoundland to its territory when it became a new province in 1949. Today, the RCMP oversees three territories and eight provinces. The two largest, Ontario and Quebec, have their own provincial police forces.

The RCMP is famous for its uniform, the Red Serge, which includes a high collared scarlet tunic, midnight blue breeches with yellow leg stripe, Sam Browne belt with white sidearm lanyard, oxblood riding boots (possibly with spurs), brown felt campaign hat (wide, flat brimmed) with "Montana crease" and brown gloves (with brown leather gauntlets for riders). While performing regular duties, the RCMP uses standard uniforms. However, during the Musical Ride, they wear the Red Serge (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Canadian_Mounted_Police#History_of_the_RCMP_uniform).

In the past, the RCMP was heavily involved in counterintelligence, keeping a close eye on suspected radicals including the Communist Party of Canada, Ukrainian Nationalists, Chinese (under the Opium & Narcotics Drugs Act) and strikers. During the Great Depression, the RCMP was largely responsible for halting the On to Ottawa Trek by inciting the Regina Riot.

The RCMP Musical Ride, which comes to Paris, Ontario this September, courtesy https://www.snapuptickets.com/events/detail/rcmp-musical-ride.

Terry Fox: Marathon of Hope

http://urbanmoms.ca/life/health-fitness/top-10-terry-fox-factsfigures-and-accomplishments/

He dipped his artificial leg in the Atlantic Ocean early on that morning in April of 1980.  His battle was cancer.  His goal was to run from Newfoundland to British Columbia, across the entire country.  Twenty- six miles a day, seven days a week for the duration of his trip -- that's a marathon every single day.  As he ran along the highway, he developped a certain gait as he shifted from his natural leg to artificial one.  Passersby were curious as to who he was; but as they got to about him and his story, they would wave or shout words of encouragement.  For those who didn't know him, they would give an impatient honk.  

Terry made his way through the Maritime provinces without a hitch.  But in Quebec, it was a different story.  The Quebec Provincial Police didn't want to let him run on the highway.  Terry's response?  Don't people in Quebec get cancer too?  At the Ontario border, Terry was joined by a police escort for the first time.  In Ottawa he met with Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau.  In Toronto, he shook the hand of NHL player Darryl Sittler.  People lined the main street of Hamilton as he passed by.  

Terry Fox's route circa 1980 courtesy 

http://kickasstrips.com/2013/02/running-across-canada-one-marathon-a-day-on-one-leg/.

With most of Ontario at his back, Terry looked forward to crossing the Prairies.  However, just outside of Thunder Bay, he started to tire.  He took the time to swim with a young cancer survivor in Lake Superior.  He developped a nasty cough and realized he couldn't go on:  the cancer had come back.  One hundred and forty three days had passed since he left Newfoundland.  He had logged 5, 373 kilometres.  Nine months later, the Canadian hero passed away.

While Terry's run was over, his legacy would continue.  His goal was to raise $1 for every Canadian at a time when our population sat at $24.  The Marathon of Hope, now called The Terry Fox Run held every September, has far surpassed this goal, raising over $700 million for cancer research.  

Note:  The St. Jacob's County Playhouse is staging Terry Fox:  The Musical from October 5 to 30 to honour the contribution this young man gave to his country (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/theatre-and-performance/nathan-carroll-to-star-as-terry-fox-in-marathon-of-hope-the-musical/article31448274/).

http://www.hamiltonstampclub.com/terry-fox.html

Canadian Pulp & Paper Industry

Steps to making paper out of pulp:  1.  Harvest the trees.  2.  Cut into logs and take to the mill.  3.  Machinery turns the wood chips into pulp.  4.  Pulp is mixed with water and poured onto a long machine.  5.  The fibres bond to one another at the dry end of the machine.  6.  Researchers perform tests at each stage.  (Photo & Steps courtesy 

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/pulp-and-paper-industry/).

Egyptians made paper from papyrus, which serves as the root of the word.  Europeans used animal skins to make paper. The modern process of turning pulp into paper was first used by the Chinese.  By the 19th Century, with rising literacy rates and the proliferation of newspapers, a demand was created for a cheaper paper supply -- wood.  German paper makers developped machines to break down pulp to make paper.

The demand for paper in Canada grew as the population did.  First, Canadians imported it from the United States.  Later, the Canadian pulp and paper industry formed, based mainly in Ontario, Quebec and Nova Scotia.  Argenteuil paper factory, near present day Montreal, provided the newsprint for the Montreal Gazette.  Later the Canadian factories also provided book paper, printing paper, wallpaper and wrapping paper.

As the frontier moved westward, British Columbia also developped a pulp and paper industry.  In the meantime, the United States lifted its tariff on newsprint just before World War I and Canada "emerged as the world's preeminent newspaper maker".  While production sat at 65,000 tons in 1900, it grew by 65 times that within three decades.

In the mid-1920's the nature of the pulp and paper industry started to change:  once controlled by multiple family-owned enterprises it became dominated by a few "behemoths", requiring huge financial backing from the United States.  By the Great Depression, most of the Ontario mills and some of the Quebec mills declared bankruptcy.

With the advent of the Second World War, the pulp and paper industry made a come back, ushering in three and a half decades of prosperity in Canada.  Whereas production sat at 4.3 million tons in 1939, it quintupled by 1972, sitting at 23 million tons, almost a quarter of the world's capacity.

However, by 2000, with the rise of the Internet, came the fall of the newspaper industry.  Canadian paper mills lost the American market; at one point, a paper mill was closing every week.  Even so, today the pulp and paper industry remains at important part of Canada's economy.

Canadian stamp circa 1960 courtesy http://www.alamy.com/stock-photo/pulp-and-paper-canada.html

Canadian Stamp Celebrates 60 Years of Confederation

A Toronto traffic jam circa 1928, the year that Canada produced 240,000 automobiles courtesy http://www.canadiancar.technomuses.ca/eng/frise_chronologique-timeline/1920/.

The Canadian 20 cent stamp celebrates 60 years of Confederation.  The Canada of 1927 looked quite different than today.  While the country already had nine provinces (all except Newfoundland) and two territories, the population sat at just under 10 million.  Canada was on the cusp of switching from a rural to an urban based society.  The 1921 census showed that while 49% of Canadians lived in urban areas, only 51% lived in rural areas.

Transportation had played a huge role in Canada's development.  In 1885, Donald Alexander Smith had driven the last spike into the British Columbia soil marking the first transcontinental railroad in Canada.  Mail travelling by train arrived much quicker than by pony express.  In 1926, Western Canada Airways opened, providing cargo service to Northwestern Canada.  At a time before passenger flights, "airmail was the backbone of aviation" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Airways).

In 1927, the Special Delivery Stamp was issued, showing the Canada of old along side the new Canada.  The stamp featured five methods of special delivery service:  air, ship, train, horseback and dog sled.  The stamp was unique as it was the only Special Delivery stamp that doesn't have the word "delivery" and it isn't shaped horizontally.  Also, the Confederation stamp was the first to depict a dog, an airplane, an ocean liner or a horse.

https://www.vanceauctions.com/vancedesk.html

Pier 21: The London Blitz, the Baltic Ethnic Cleansing & the Hungarian Uprising

Displaced person with her infant arrives in 1948 at Pier 21 courtesy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pier_21.

Halifax's Deepwater Piers was built in 1880 to accommodate Canadian immigrants arriving by ocean liner.  By 1913, when Canadian immigration peeked, authorities realized that they needed a much bigger facility.  However, the First World War in 1914 and the Halifax Explosion in 1917, postponed such an endeavour.

In 1928, Pier 21 opened in Halifax's south end, a two story, 600 foot shed.  Along with the shed were freight piers, grain elevators and a train station.  Adjacent to the shed was an annex which included immigration offices, customs, railway booking office, and a telegraph office, a restaurant and immigration charities offices.

Pier 21 was the entry point for over 1 million immigrants and refugees.  In the early years of the immigration station, many Dutch and English immigrants arrived.  The Second World War slowed down the number of immigrant arrivals but increased the total of refugees.  Two thousand English children, evacuated during the London Blitz, arrived in the early 1940's.  Princess Juliana sailed into port with her family after the Nazis invaded Holland.  Even Prime Minister Winston Churchill passed through Pier 21's doors in 1943 on his way to the Quebec Conference.  In 1945 and 1946, thousands of war brides also arrived at Pier 21, many with their infant children.  In 1948, almost 350 refugees arrived from the Baltic, a result of the Soviet's ethnic cleansing program.  The Hungarian uprising of 1956 brought another flood of refugees to Canada's immigration station.  Finally, in 1970, 100 Cuban refugees passed through Pier 21, the last major group to do so.  The following year, it closed its doors forever.

Canadian stamp commemorating Pier 21, issued in 1999 courtesy http://postalhistorycorner.blogspot.ca/2014/03/millennium-collection-2-pier-21.html

A Failed Flight & A Rare Stamp

Captain Terrence Tully and Lieutenant James Medcalf in front of the Sir John Carling courtesy http://www.royalaviationmuseum.com/3876/heroic-failure/.

Everyone knows about Charles Lindbergh's historic trans-Atlantic flight from New York to Paris in the spring of 1927 (http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2011/05/3-sandwiches-2-canteens-of-water-451.htm). However, few have heard of the London to London flight which took place that fall, a flight that would turn a wife into a widow and a stamp into a philatelist's dream.

Carling Brewies of London, Ontario offered a 25,000 reward for the first person to successfully fly from London, Ontario to London, England.  In August of 1927, former World War I pilot Terrence Tully, along with navigator James Medcalf, set out on their trans-Atlantic journey.  Their plane, christened the Sir John Carling, was packed with stacks of mail, all with a new stamp on it commemorating the historic flight.  The pilot's wife was also given a handful of the stamps as a souvenir of her husband's flight.

The plane set out on its journey, but after encountering thick fog, turned around and headed back to London, Ontario.  In early September, the plane departed for a second time, making stops in both Maine and Newfoundland.  Taking off for England, it disappeared into the mist, never to be seen again.  The ticker tape parade waiting for the Canadian men in London, England was cancelled.

Fast forward over eight decades to 2009.  A Toronto businessman discovered a stamp in his sock drawer. Curious, he took it to a stamp dealer, John H. Talman, on Yonge Street.  Talman, examining the stamp with a monocle like device, explained that only nine of these such stamps survived; the rest went down with the crashed plane.  One of the surviving stamps, in mint conditions, sits in the Smithsonian in Washington DC.  Talman sells the stamp at auction and an American bids $10,000 (https://www.thestar.com/news/ontario/2009/01/11/stamp_found_in_sock_drawer_reopens_1927_intrigue.html).

The rare London to London stamp circa 1927 courtesy

 http://sparks-auctions.com/2013/02/08/mint-canada-clp6-1927-semi-official-airmail/.

Raoul Wallenberg's Briefcase

http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/second-world-war-survivor-amazed-to-see-her-picture-on-canada-post-stamp-honouring-swedish-diplomat-who-saved-her-life

The briefcase, cast in bronze, stands on the foundation of an old house in Sweden.  It held history:   documents with important signatures, documents that would change lives, called "schutzpasses".  Its owner would lose his own life in the pursuit of saving tens of thousands of others'.

Raoul Wallenberg was born in Sweden in 1912.  His father died of cancer when he was only 3 years old, leaving his mother to raise him on her own.  He sailed to America to studied architecture at the university of Michigan.  It was there that he learned to speak English, French and German, skills that would serve him well later in life.  Along with other male students at the university, he took a job as a rickshaw driver at Chicago's Century of Progress World's Fair.

Returning to his home country after his studies, Raoul was disappointed to discover that his American degree would not suffice in Sweden.  In 1938 the Swede learned how to speak Hungarian and started working in an import/export business, travelling between Stockholm and Budapest.

Between May and July of 1944, the Nazis deported 400,000 Jews.  It was at that time that Wallenberg was appointed secretary to the Swedish legation in Budapest.  In his role he started to issue protective passports to Jews.  He rented 32 buildings and gave them such names as "Swedish Library" and "Swedish Research Institute", hanging large blue flags with the yellow cross over the door, only serving as a subterfuge for the rescue operation.

With each passport that he forged, Wallenberg increased his risk of being caught by the Nazis.  He started to sleep in a different house every night so as not to be caught.  Ironically it was the Soviets who arrested Wallenberg as a spy when they arrived in Budapest in 1945.  Wallenberg was detained in Lubyanka Prison where he was removed from his cell in March of that year, never to be seen again. One report stated the he had died of a heart attack in 1947.  Another said that he had been executed the same year.

Wallenberg will always be remembered for his courage in the face of fear.

http://theholocaustmuseum.info/index.php?page=shop.product_details&flypage=new1_flypage.tpl&product_id=762&category_id=59&option=com_virtuemart&Itemid=231