Tag: history

News Politics

Nelson Mandela Memorialized By Prime Ministers, Presidents, Royalty, Citizens, Celebrities

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The skies wept over thousands of mourners gathered yesterday in a soccer stadium in South Africa to remember Nelson Mandela.

Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, attended along with four former prime ministers: Jean Chretien, Kim Campbell, Joe Clark and Brian Mulroney. Also in attendance was Shawn Atleo, national chief of the Assembly of First Nations.

Leaders of many other nations attended the memorial service to commemorate “the father of South Africa,” who passed away on Thursday at the age of 95.

But it was U.S. president Barack Obama that brought the crowd to its feet in a standing ovation with his words of praise for Mandela:

He makes me want to be a better man. He speaks to what’s best inside of us. After this great liberator is laid to rest, and when we’ve returned to our cities and villages and rejoined our daily routines, let us search for his strength, let us search for his largeness of spirit somewhere inside of ourselves.

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Breaking News News Politics

World Mourns the Death of Nelson Mandela

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The world is mourning the passing of one of the greatest leaders of our time.

Nelson Mandela is dead at 95.

He died on Thursday in Johannesburg, South Africa, from a lung infection.

Mandela was a symbol of freedom for the people of South Africa.

“Our nation has lost its greatest son. Our people have lost a father,” South African President Jacob Zuma said in an announcement.

He called this, “the moment of our deepest sorrow.”

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News

Which Logo Will Be Chosen For Canada’s Sesquicentennial (150th)?

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In 2017, Canada turns 150.

That’s a “milestone” birthday–known as a sesquicentennial–and the government will be doing a lot of special things to celebrate that year.

In anticipation of 2017, the government tested five different logos to decide which one would best represent the country’s 150th.

The logos were designed by the Department of Canadian Heritage, a department in the Canadian government that is responsible for programs relating to the arts, culture, official languages and multiculturalism.

Each logo features the colour red and has a maple leaf, like the Canadian flag.

And each logo features the number 150 and the word Canada.

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Lighter News

Rare Book Sells For $14.2-Million

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How much would you pay for a book? $15? $20?

How about more than $14-million?

That’s what businessman David Rubenstein paid for one on Tuesday.

It’s the most expensive book ever purchased in an auction.

It is believed to be the first book ever printed in what is now the United States of America.

It’s called the Whole Book of Psalmes, or the Bay Psalm Book for short.

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News

Toronto Landmark, Honest Ed’s, Has Been Sold

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A Toronto landmark has been sold to a builder in Vancouver.

Honest Ed’s discount store, at the corner of Bloor and Bathurst, will close down in two to three years.

Since 1948, the store has grown to take up almost a whole block.

Over the years, the decorations all over the building have become more and more extravagant.

The public can see the store’s neon signs and colourful lights from two blocks away.

The founder of Honest Ed’s was Ed Mirvish.

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News

Future King Of England, Baby Prince George, Christened

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The tiny heir to Britain’s throne had a big milestone event this week.

Prince George had his christening.

In this case, a christening is a religious Christian ceremony during which a baby is baptized with holy water.

The water used in the ceremony was from the River Jordan. The river has significance to Christians because it is where Jesus was baptized, according to the Bible.

The three-month-old son of Prince William and Kate Middleton is third in line to the British throne. In other words, he could one day be the King of England.

The ceremony took place in St. James’s Palace in England.

There were only 22 people at the christening, but they included some pretty big names.

The Queen was there, as well as the three other people who are next in line to claim her throne.

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Animals News Science

Pipeline Worker Finds Massive Hydrosaur Skeleton

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A massive dinosaur fossil has been unearthed in Alberta.

But it wasn’t an expedition of paleontologists who found it.

It was a pipeline worker.

A man was using a backhoe to move some earth for a pipeline that was being installed near Spirit River, Alberta. The worker hit something he thought was a rock.

He laid the piece of “rock” to one side, and kept digging, according to CBC News.

But it wasn’t rock at all. It was a huge fossilized skeleton—a tail, to be precise.

It was about two metres long.

The worker stopped digging and called in some experts.

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News

Some Prominent Canadians Vying For Changes To “O Canada!” Lyrics

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When you sing your country’s national anthem, you may think the words never change.

But for O Canada!, Canada’s national anthem, they have been translated and changed and changed again.

Now, some people are saying O Canada! should be changed yet again, to be more inclusive.

Canadian writer Margaret Atwood and other prominent Canadians, including former Prime Minister Kim Campbell, want the line “True patriot love in all thy sons command” to be gender-neutral.

They say the word “sons” excludes women and the line should be changed to “in all of us command.”

O Canada! was first written in 1880, in French. The words were from a French Canadian poem.

O Canada! was translated into English in the early 1900s. The English words were changed in 1908, to a less exact translation of the French words.

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Chris Hadfield at Freedom Day
News

Chris Hadfield Inspires Thousands Of Students At Freedom Day Celebration

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Thousands of middle-school students converged on Yonge-Dundas Square in downtown Toronto on Wednesday to celebrate Freedom Day.

The annual event was hosted by the Simon Wiesenthal Center for Holocaust Studies.

Speakers ranged from holocaust survivor Max Eisen to dance troupe SolePower, and culminated in an inspirational speech from former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.

Max Eisen talked about surviving a concentration camp.

“When I was in Auschwitz, trying to survive on 300 calories a day,” he said, “I thought of two things: food and freedom.”

The downtown square was packed with students, who sat cross-legged under a blazing sun, shoulder to shoulder, to listen to the speakers.

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News Politics

“Father Of South Africa” Nelson Mandela Responding Well To Treatment In Hospital

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Nelson Mandela is responding well to treatment, according to his doctors.

Mandela is one of the most well-known and respected people in the world.

He is 94 years old and is in hospital, fighting a recurring lung infection.

Doctors say he is in serious but stable condition.

To many people around the world, Mandela is known as a great hero.

He fought for the freedom of blacks in South Africa.

During the 1950s until the late 1980s, South Africa was ruled by a relatively small number of white people. Black people, in the majority in the country, had few rights.

The separation of white people and black people** was known as “apartheid.”

Blacks were not allowed to be citizens, and were not given the same rights as white people. Services for black people were greatly inferior to those provided to white people. Black people were not allowed access to the best schools, hospitals, beaches or many other services to which the country’s white people had access.

Apartheid was denounced around the world, but South Africa’s government refused to change its policy.

Nelson Mandela, and people who followed him, wanted to change things.

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