Proud Canadians, Ignorant Americans, Even US Presidents, Should Know This...
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What a Start to 2025!! Just as my website issues were being rectified, I came down with a doozy of a cough, which turned out to be a cough/flu variant of rhinovirus. It knocked me out for the last 7 days, and as if a clock switched it off, on Day 7, I suddenly felt like I wanted ACTUAL food and not the diet of soup and tea that I had for the past 6 days. I am thankful for rest, restoration, and sleep. I could not complete my Newsletter for you. It is kinda long, but it is important information you need to know to silence ignorant Americans!!! But first... Word for The Year For the last few years, I have been choosing a word for the year - a word that inspires me to develop a character trait and grow in a virtue that I think I am lacking. This year, my word is HUMILITY. For 2023, I chose GRACE, and in 2024, I chose REDEEM. I had spent so much of 2023 in bed that I wanted to work on 'redeeming the time' and I wanted God to help me 'buy back' lost time. In early Spring some of that time was redeemed when a friend 'gifted' me with a week away in solitude to catch up on my writing. Later in the year, the Lord allowed me to participate in acts of redemption in my own life and the lives of close friends. Our friends are now practicing the new realities that redemption brings. The last act of redemption came on New Year's Eve. My website was hacked, and while it was in process, the Lord allowed an old friend to post on Facebook about her recent qualifications in web design and online security. She agreed to take the job of troubleshooting and fixing the security issue. It is now rectified and I am thankful for God's providence in redemption at the right time. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble. So this is how I hope to grow in HUMILITY...
Feel free to hold me accountable... ------------------------------------------------------------ While I waited for the website to be fixed. I wanted to move from inertia to action, so I started this email before I was hit by 'the bug'. I wanted to focus on things patriotic to encourage you, dear friend, with two historic reasons WHY Canada will NEVER become the 51st state (if only you knew our history). Reason #1: The Iconic Peace Tower & Carillon Bells And while you are at it, read a review of the 2024 renovations of Centre Block on Parliament Hill. Reason #2: America's History of 6 Threats & Incursions (for which we had practical responses) Threats from 'down South' to take over the land north of the 49th Parallel (Canada) are not new. Many articles on our website will give you this information. I will highlight some of them for you...
The story of Joseph Brant leading those loyal to Britain and its parliamentary system of government (Loyalists) North to Canada, in rejection of the republican system (Patriots), forged the early beginnings of Canada as a nation. Loyalists had their properties burnt and confiscated. Many left their homes and belongings literally running for their lives, to travel North to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Ontario and Quebec. They brought an influx of Protestantism (largely Anglicanism and Presbyterianism) to modern day Ontario and Quebec. The Fur Trade, the development of the railway system, banking institutions, and eventually the Lachine Canal all forged the beginning of the economic engine that became Montreal. Out of evil came good. 2. The War of 1812 - Developed Patriotism & National Pride Even though the Mohawks Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) and John Norton (Teyoninhokarawen) never realized their dream of getting the Colonial Government to make good on their promises of Grand River Land in exchange for helping in the War of American Independence, they mobilized their people to fight for the sovereignty of their new nation - Canada. This is the war that saw the heroism and death of Isaac Brock and Tecumseh. It saw the heroism of the Natives at Sault Ste. Marie, even though they got the short end of the stick with the Colonial Government not protecting them from unfair treatment by the Americans. 3. Civil War (1865) & the Curse of the Railway Brought Confederation Pre-Confederation, the British colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Canada East and Canada West, developed railway lines that encouraged trade with the US. Railway lines linked both economies. The export of wheat (Canada was the world's breadbasket at that time), and exchange of goods and services between both economies was a way of life. The Grand Trunk Railway was the largest railway in the world, with headquarters in Montreal and a branch in England (home of its many investors). With the advent of the Civil War, it would have been easy for American soldiers to invade the British colonies via the rails which directly linked that southern corridor of economic activity which still stretches from Montreal to Windsor. This was just ONE of many reasons which catapulted the colonies to action. They realized that there was strength in unity, and the sum of the whole was greater than its parts. We would do well to learn from that lesson from our forefathers. Russia had lost the Crimean War with Britain and its allies. They had borrowed heavily from the Rothschilds to fund the war. They needed to pay up but were broke. They hated Britain. The Americans also hated Britain. Russia had laid claims to Alaska. They - America and Russia became friends because they had the same enemy ('the enemy of my enemy is my friend', as the saying goes). America wanted to get Britain out of North America. Russia sold Alaska to the US, hoping that they could own ALL of North America by getting, first a 'toe-hold', then a 'foot-hold', then a complete takeover. They thought... 'first Alaska, then Rupert's Land, then the rest of the British colonies'. It didn't work. The colonies banded together, united as The Dominion of Canada, and Confederation happened. Britain ceded Rupert's Land to the new Dominion of Canada and the rest is history. This was just ANOTHER of many reasons which catapulted the colonies to action. They realized that there was strength in unity, and the sum of the whole was greater than its parts. We would do well to learn from that lesson too from our forefathers. 5. The Red River Rebellion 1870 (Manifold Destiny) Even after Confederation, those in Washington were actively engaged in trying to take over the new nation and stoked the fires of the Red River Rebellion by thinking that the newly formed province of Manitoba would secede. The Red River Valley in Manitoba was the breadbasket of the West. It was the fruition of Lord Selkirk's work, who started a wheat-growing colony in the Red River, against all odds. It was a piece of real estate property coveted by the US in Minnesota. The Americans hoped that if they continued to 'stoke the fires of discontent', that Manitoba would become a productive part of the American West. They tried. Just Google the names: James Wickes Taylor; Senator Alexander Ramsey; Senator Zachariah Chandler; and Senator Jacob M. Howard. See what history says about their part in the Red River Rebellion. In 1869, the Secretary of State to then President Ulysses Grant commissioned Taylor “to investigate and report full details of the revolt as well as all aspects of the territory and its inhabitants.” They were rebuffed by Riel. The plan failed. 6. The FALLACY of President Elect Trump's 'Artificial Line' as our boundary Someone should give President Trump a history lesson. The boundary of Rupert's Land INCLUDED parts of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota. It was based on the Doctrine of Discovery that the first nation to claim the river, claimed its tributaries and river basin, which flowed into the sea. I will just quote from my article titled - Rupert's Land Part 1: From Fur Trade to Rebellion... Rupert’s Land included what is today Western Quebec, Labrador, NW Ontario, Manitoba, most of Saskatchewan, South and Central Alberta, part of the NW Territories and Nunavut. It also included Montana, North and South Dakota, and small sections of Minnesota. The southern border was the drainage divide between the watershed for the Saskatchewan and the Mississippi River. The Canadian border to the South was changed only in 1818 by The London Conference, which designated the 49th Parallel to be the boundary between the US and Canada. For just over 200 years, from 1668 to 1870, Rupert’s Land was the exclusive domain of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Over that 200 years, there were trading posts on almost every major river. So Canada GAVE UP part of Rupert's Land to the US. Now they want ALL of Canada, 207 years later. Ha! My mom used to say, 'give them an inch and they'll take a mile'. All that to say that threats from the mighty USA are not rare events. And just like the worst fire in 100 years, or the worst hurricane in 100 years, or the worst snowstorm in 100 years, it just teaches us to be on guard and prepared with a healthy dose of history. 200 years later, our children should be saying, 'Remember when...?' ------------------------------------------------ Switching Gears Before the website went down, I had planned to remind you of 3 new products that are still available:
I hope you enjoy your history lessons to remind you why you should be proud to be a Canadian. Many of the people who brought about these impressive firsts and acts of heroism were Protestants. I will share more with you in the next Newsletter. Feel free to ask your questions. But please read the links first. Enjoy your history lessons,
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