When I think of Canada Day, I am reminded of the time when our grade five class went to visit Canada’s Confederation Train. It was in 1967 and the train was stopping in Winnipeg for a few days on its cross-country tour. Eastern Canada got Expo 67 in Montreal. The west got a glimpse of a train. But that’s okay. I was eleven, and none of my friends’ families were lucky enough to be traveling all the way to Montreal to see Expo 67 either. We were going to see news reports on Expo on TV. Maybe even in colour over at Uncle George’s house. But, I digress.
Our class field trip to the Confederation Train was a very exciting event that had been arranged for us by our teacher, Miss Wasserman, who was very strict and proper. In addition to learning the CA-NA-DA song by Bobby Gimby, our preparations were primarily concerned with how we were expected to behave so as not bring any shame to Principal Sparling School or worse, to result in embarrassing our teacher.
Luckily, for me, celebrating Canada’s one hundredth birthday meant we had to learn a little about our history and complete a project or two. “You are so terribly fortunate to be in grade five this year, because Canadian history is on our curriculum,” Miss Wasserman enthused. Of course, she also went beyond the curriculum, as always, and made sure we understood how privileged we were to have this rich history to study. The other grades apparently were not going to have benefits we had. This might have been true. I don’t remember being overloaded with studying Canadian history at any time through my school years.
Miss Wasserman truly made it a very positive experience to visit the train. I really think she liked it more than any of us. Kathy, Linda, Reena, Craig, the two Ians, Wendy, me and of course Wayne, who was smarter than all of us, were neatly lined up with our classmates, shortest to tallest, the girls all in tunics. We were shuttled off to the train station in a huge bus with other classes. I was greatly impressed with the visit because the train station was so noisy and because the train was full of exhibits and stories about how Canada became Canada. There was much to be proud of. The train itself, was beautiful and incredibly huge, in my memory. It even had a special horn.
And as near as I can remember, we were not the cause of any new gray hairs sprouting on Miss Wasserman’s curly, bespectacled head.
How great would it be to recreate such a train to inspire children today to take an interest in their history. I do hope we don’t have to wait for Canada’s bicentennial for such an opportunity.
And finally, how could I share this story without also sharing a video that features that Bobby Gimby song, CA-NA-DA. Happy Canada Day.
The shocking news of the Titanic striking an iceberg late at night on Sunday, April 14, 1912, hit the telegraph wires and fed newspaper offices throughout the world. A jumble of facts, speculation, and outright falsehoods moved steadily along the wires. It was a tragedy of unimaginable proportions. The world’s largest ship, termed “unsinkable” by the press, was reported to be going down by the head, with nearby ships speeding to the rescue to take the passengers off.
Residents argued in the street about who was at fault, and gossiped about what they knew of the local people known to be on the ship. Everyone had a story to repeat or an opinion to express. It was horrifying and fascinating all at the same time. There were several Winnipeg passengers on Titanic with names that were widely known. Hence, a great deal of attention was paid in the newspapers to “prominent people”, as in this excerpt from an article in the Manitoba Free Press on April 17, 1912.
When the Canadian Pacific Railway opened the Royal Alexandra Hotel on July 19, 1906, it was one of the finest in Canada. It cost a million dollars to build and was designed with the sophisticated business traveler and lavish Winnipeg party host in mind. With 450 rooms, including many luxury suites, it was a dramatic testament to Winnipeg’s self-procaimed reputation as the fastest growing city in the Dominion. In a story about the opening, The Winnipeg Tribune called the impressive hotel a: “guarantee in brick and stone that the future growth of Winnipeg is assured.”
The Royal Alexandra offered exquisite menus and the finest services available for travelers and local residents in need of pampering. If advertising is to be believed, it even provided one of Winnipeg’s early locations for top level beauty treatments.
The terrible announcement was made on March 1, 1971. The building had to come down. There was nothing that could happen to stop it. A local wrecking company, owned by Alexander Billinkoff, was hired to bring down the decayed and decrepit Royal Alex. Because it was Winnipeg, there was still a lot to argue about despite the decision. The history fans were appeased with the promise of an auction and many Manitobans were able to cart away special treasures to hold dear and perhaps even pass down to their grandchildren. But not everyone took things to keep in private collections.
Long after streetcars no longer operated in Winnipeg, my grandmother, whom we called, Baba, still called buses streetcars, and bus tickets car fare. She was born in 1909, so she had always known public transportation in Winnipeg as the streetcar. I never really understood that until this week, when I stumbled across this 1953 film by Roman Kroiter, called 
I don’t know what the boys learned, but I seem to remember they also got roped into that Schottische business along with the girls. At least the boys could wear pants. The girls were required to wear skirts at that time, even in the coldest weather. So, to deal with this dress code in the days before snowsuits, we had to wear heavy snow pants over our tights and under our bulky winter coats. Our mothers were mostly in their twenties and early thirties then, and apparently lived in fear of whooping cough. From October to May, in addition to the coats and pants, our winter protection included hats with ear flaps, mittens on strings, and scarves wrapped double to cover our faces and protect us from the weather or perhaps germs.
Sandi Krawchenko Altner 
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