The Library's biggest streaming video service, Films on Demand, in celebration of Canada's 150th anniversary this year, has provided a title list about Canadian history, including:
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Renowned as the richest gold strike in North American mining history, the Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899) set off a stampede of over 100,000 people on a colossal journey from Alaska to the gold fields of Canadaªs Yukon Territory. Filled with the frontier spirit, prospectors came and gave rise to what was one of the largest cities in Canada at that timeDawson City. The boomtown, which became known as Ïthe Paris of the North, earned the reputation as a place where lives could be revolutionized. Brought to life with excerpts from the celebrated book The Klondike Stampedepublished in 1900 by Harperªs Weekly correspondent Tappan Adneyand featuring interviews with award-winning author Charlotte Gray, and historians Terrence Cole and Michael Gates, The Klondike Gold Rush is an incredible story of determination, luck, fortune, and loss. In the end, it isnªt all about the gold, but rather the journey to the Klondike itself. |
2014 |
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Seven-year-old Hannah lives in Nova Scotia and takes two buses and a ferry to school, which is on an island. Eleven-year-old John lives on the outskirts of Toronto, a major city in Canada. We visit John at his school and where he studies many subjects including French. |
2013 |
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To conquer and possess other lands is only one part of the empire-building equationthe other part is to make those lands (and their peoples) conform to the dominant culture. This program shows how traders, soldiers, and settlers spread the British way of life around the world, and in particular how they created a very British idea of home. Viewers learn about early phases of the English presence in India, in which traders wore Indian attire and took Indian wivesuntil Victorian constraints put a stop to that. Visiting a Canadian town in which the inhabitants are still fiercely proud of their Scottish heritage, the film also travels to places where there is more ambivalence surrounding the history of colonization: a club in Singapore where British colonials often gathered and a Kenyan village where the descendants of white settlers are prominent. Produced by the Open University. A part of the series Empire: A British Chronicle. (58 minutes) |
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This film investigates slavery in Canada through the story of Marie-Jos̬phe Ang̩lique, a Black slave accused of burning Montreal in 1734. After an epic trial, this untamable slave is tortured and sentenced to death. But was she really guilty of this crime or was she the victim of a bigger conspiracy? Why this voluntary amnesia about this unknown page of Canadian history? A fascinating 52 minute documentary that powerfully mixes interviews with historians and stylized theatrical re-enactments. |
2011 |
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Bruce travels to the far north of Canada to live with the Caribou people and witness their annual spring hunt. The Gwitchin tribe has hunted migrating caribou in the Arctic wilderness for thousands of years, but this tradition is now under threat from oil exploration. Bruce then heads south to the tar sands of Alberta, home to the second largest oil reserves in the world, to discover how native people cope when the oil industry moves into their territory. A BBC Production. A part of the series Arctic, with Bruce Parry. (52 minutes) |
2011 |
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This classic episode of The Big Picture television series was filmed in Canada by U.S. Army Signal Corps cameramen. Tracing the history of the Canadian Army from the middle of the 18th century to the present, the film examines the historic relations of Canada and the United States. Canadian-American solidarity is evident in the shoulder-to-shoulder fighting shared by Canadian and American soldiers on the battlefields of Europe and Korea. Canadaªs Army combines ritual inherited from Britain with a tradition of excellence on modern battlefields from WWI on. From the National Archives and Records Administration. (30 minutes) |
2008 |
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This is a story about one man's passion for the wide-open spaces and freedom of the Canadian North. Frank is from Germany and knew nothing about Yukon when he decided to give up his job and become a trapper. He chose a rough life of fishing and hunting over material comforts and the responsibilities of raising a family. The call of the wild was too strong to resist. |
2008 |
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In November 1891, Notman suffers from a cold. The cold turns to pneumonia and a week later he dies at the age of 65. His success stems from his remarkable vision. Canadian history is attached to his photographs. |
2004 |
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Famous for its natural beauty, Canada is underappreciated for its vibrant multiculturalism and racial diversity. This program journeys to Quebec and British Columbia to study social, economic, and cultural issues in those provinces. Conversations with local residentsincluding bilingual students in Montreal and three generations of Japanese fishermen in Vancouverhighlight the complexities and the rewards of the Canadian experience. A viewable/printable instructorªs guideincluding geographical background information, extension activities, vocabulary handouts, and moreis available online. Correlates to National Geography Standards. (25 minutes) |
2002 |
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Empire of the Bay: Ambition, Wealth, and the Hudson's Bay Company |
It searched for the mythical Northwest Passage. It clashed with American interests during the War of 1812. It even had a hand in the division of Oregon. This program chronicles the epic history of the Hudsonªs Bay Company, the worldªs oldest continuous commercial enterprise still in existence. Adapted from Peter C. Newmanªs best-seller and narrated by former NewsHour anchor Robert MacNeil, this story of exploration and exploitation uses stunning photography as well as paintings, drawings, maps, journals, and memoirs to tell the companyªs story in the authentic voice of the people who were a part of it. (87 minutes) |
2000 |
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As the North American colonies of France and Great Britain continued to spread, friction and outright violence between New France and New England became inevitable. Placing the French and Indian War in its larger political context, this program traces the warªs progress to the Battle of Quebec. In a bold stroke, the British deployed on the Plains of Abraham under cover of darknessand a mere fifteen minutes of combat spelled the beginning of the end of 150 years of French colonial rule. (31 minutes) |
1999 |
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In a land of forbidding terrain and boundless dreams, strong-willed men tamed the land and forged a new nation in the New World. This is the story of men like James Douglas, who brought law and order to the mining boomtowns of British Columbia, and James Walsh, who, along with the North West Mounted Police Force, successfully brought peace amongst the Indian tribes and the settlers who followed the Canadian transcontinental railroad west. A part of the series The Real West. Distributed by A&E Television Networks. (45 minutes) |
1996 |
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The Klondike Gold Rush |
In 1896, in a valley so remote it hadn't even been named, a lone prospector scooped up a glimmer of yellow from a shallow creek bed and started one of the last great frontier adventures. There was treasure in the land of the Northern Lights and it belonged only to the wolf and the caribou. Most Americans hadn't the vaguest idea where the Yukon Territories lay, but within a year the word Klondike would race across the world like a fever. The Canadian Hills promised riches beyond anyone's dreams. A part of the series The Real West. Distributed by A&E Television Networks. (45 minutes) |
1996 |
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This program focuses the spotlight on a region that crackles with both aboriginal and linguistic nationalism. The politics of language is at the heart of the battle for a unilingual French-speaking society; at the same time, a different yet similar battle is going on in the icy north, where the Cree people are fighting the Quebec government over territory the Cree claiman example of an aboriginal group using the language of European nationalism to advance its claims. Quebec raises the question of whether a single federal state can survive if it contains a couple of nations and two major language groups. (50 minutes) |
1993 |
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This program traces the history of the Inuit people, from the arrival of their ancestors, who came across the land bridge between Siberia and Alaska some 8,000 years ago, through the 20th century. The program examines the development of Inuit culture, the first contacts with European settlers, the impact of the Hudson Bay Company on the Inuit economy, the role of whaling, the arrival of the first missionaries, and the development of the first Inuit writing system. Finally, the program explores how the old customs of the Inuit have all but disappeared at the end of the 20th century. (55 minutes) |
1993 |
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A portrait of Mount Royal and why its French name stuck: its evolution from supply depot to French explorers and farmers to its development as one of the worldªs principal cities. This program examines the characteristics and character of the original French population and the reasons for and manner in which that French character remained despiteand in some ways because ofthe loss of Quebec to the English. In showing us the city, its history, its monuments, and its life, the program examines the separate lives of Franco- and Anglophones, and shows the effect of Montrealªs metropolitanization on the Francophone citizenry. In French. (55 minutes) |
1991 |
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The battle between England and France which was decided in Qu̩bec determined the future of Canada, and of the United States as well. This program describes the founding of Qu̩bec in 1608, and of the French colony, Canada. A hundred and fifty years later, in 1759, it was officially named New Francea small colony of some 60,000 living along the banks of the St. Lawrence; Montreal had been founded; and French explorers had explored, and claimed in the name of their king, territories from the frozen North down to the Gulf of Mexico. Seeking to restrain the English colonists, who outnumbered the French perhaps 20 to 1, the French built a series of forts, Ft. Duquesne and Ft. Niagara among them. The program analyzes the causes for the French and Indian War, the strategies and feints, and shows the siege of Qu̩bec and the final bitter battle on the Plains of Abraham in which both Wolfe and Montcalm perished. Three days later Qu̩bec fell to the Britishthe end of Qu̩bec as a province of France but not, as we have come to understand, as a French province. Also available in English. (57 minutes) |
1991 |
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This program follows the history of New France; the discoveries of Cartier and Champlain; the story of what the Indians called Kebec (which the French spelled Qu̩bec), which means "river [i.e., the St. Lawrence] narrow here"; the growth of industry and population on both sides of the international border; and the changing role of the river from barrier to international symbol. In French. (59 minutes) |
1991 |
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The End of the French and Indian War |
1990 |
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Canadian Workers Begin Construction of Hydroelectric Plant at Niagara Falls ca. 1951 |
In 1951, work began on a new hydroelectric plant at Niagara Falls that eventually provided electricity to both the United States and Canada. Before the construction of the first nuclear power plant in 1957, hydroelectric plants such as these were some of the largest sources of electricity. |
1951 |
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Americans buy cattle at Toronto cattle auction Copyright The WPA Film Library. |
1948 |
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United News, Release 201 (1946): Canadian Fire Sweeps Huge Pulpwood Stocks |
This World War II-era newsreel includes the following segments: 1. Night scenes of the Canadian fire near Ottowa; daytime scenes of aftermath. 2. Phosphate is mined in Florida for fertilizer badly needed in Europe. 3. Meetings of the UN Security Council; the segment shows extensive discussion related to the Russian-Iranian dispute concerning delayed withdrawals of Soviet forces from Iranian territories. (10 minutes) |
1946 |
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United News, Release 1002 (1943): Canada's Military Might Reviewed |
This World War II-era newsreel includes the following segments: 1. Mackenzie King reviews Canadian troops. 2. The manufacture and assembly of prefab houses. 3. Allied bombers leave England to strike inside Germany. 4. Allied troops occupy Cassino, Italy; Generals de Gaulle and Clark meet. 5. The 5th and 8th Armies meet in Italy. (9 minutes) |
1943 |
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Shipbuilding in Canada Copyright The WPA Film Library. |
1942 |
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This Day In History: August 18, 1938 Thousand Islands Bridge Opened |
Thousand Islands Bridge between U.S. & Canada opens. |
1938 |
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An explosion devastates Halifax, Nova Scotia. |
1917 |