Beginnings: Stories of Canada's Past - Softcover

A collection of stories about real and fictional characters whose lives reflect the history of Canada.

Ann Walsh has selected fourteen captivating stories written by accomplished authors from across Canada for this historical anthology. Each of the stories focuses on a 'first time' historical experience, such as the meeting between natives and Europeans at Fort St James; the ships carrying filles du roi as brides for the settlers of New France; the first elections in which women in Canada were allowed to vote; the first gourmet meal cooked in a CPR rail camp for Cornelius Van Horne; a mine disaster in the Crowsnest Pass, with the subsequent introduction of safety lamps for the miners; and an account of the 'Home Children' first sent to Canada during the nineteenth century, supposedly for a better life, but often to work in slave-labour conditions. The volume also contains an appendix with substantial accounts of the historical context of each story. The contributors are Ann Walsh, Barbara Haworth-Attard, Beverley Brenna, Constance Horne, Margaret Thompson, Anne Metikosh, Carolyn Pogue, Margaret Florczak, Jean Rae Baxter, Catherine Goodwin, Victoria Miles, Susan Lee, Laura Morgan and Cathy Beveridge. A vibrant introduction to Canada, from the mid-seventeenth century to the 1930s, through the eyes of some of its youngest participants.