/This blog is written by Rod Fraser. Why not scroll down and have a look? Posts will appear twice each month, Enjoy!
To comment on an article, or some other matter, send me an email at acute@post.com.
Click here if you’d like to submit an article for publication.
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It seems clear, over recent years, that ‘Big Tech’ has become a colossus with the ability to strip individual citizens of their right to express their views online. If it can deplatform a sitting U.S. President as it did with Donald Trump on January 8, 2021, it can do the same to you.
It is true that Trump was a President on his way out: his term was to expire in 12 days. Nevertheless, he was still a sitting President, when ‘Twitter’ felt bold enough and powerful enough to strip him of a platform he had used so successfully to win the election in 2016, and to broadcast his views to the world during his four years in power,
Read — Is Big Tech Bad?
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Upper Canada – Treaties with the Indigenous Peoples
In 1781, after the British surrendered at the Battle of Yorktown, it was clear a great number of Americans who fought for the British Army, or who were otherwise loyal to the British cause, had no wish to remain in the Thirteen Colonies (later to become the United States of America). The host population was hostile to their presence, so most were desirous of moving to Upper Canada, a colony being established for their benefit in British North America. Over time, they became known as ‘Loyalists’.
Read – Surveying Lots, Concessions and Townships in Upper Canada
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This short novel of 157 pages was originally written as a storyline and list of characters for a film about postwar Vienna. No thought was given to publishing it as a novel at the time. Released in 1949, The Third Man was a box-office success in the years that followed. Some claim it was among the best films ever made. I tend to agree.
It starred Joseph Cotton, Orson Welles, Alida Valli and Trevor Howard, all important actors in the postwar era. The book was published under the same name the following year.
Read – The Third Man
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Randy Hillier and Maxime Bernier at the Peterborough Rally.
Early Friday morning on April 23, 2021, we checked the weather to find Peterborough would be 16 Degrees Celsius (and sunny) on Saturday ─ with little or no chance of rain. That settled it. We would drive to Peterborough to hear Randy Hillier and Maxime Bernier speak against the lockdowns that have been imposed across Canada for over a year.
Read — The Peterborough Rally
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All of Mary Lawson’s books are charmers and this one is no exception. So far, she has written three novels. These are largely stories of those who come from Northern Ontario.
Since I was brought up near the area she writes about, I am kindly disposed to her books. The fact they are lovely stories only adds to their appeal.
Read — A Town Called Solace
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From 1874 to 1949, the Ontario government required all students, who hoped to go to high school, write and pass a province-wide entrance exam. Students had to have a passing grade of 50% or better to enter Grade 9. This was not only true for Ontario; many states in the United States also required qualifying examinations to enter secondary school.
The Ontario exams tested arithmetic, grammar, spelling, geography, dictation and composition. They were a two-day affair, with the exam papers marked by individuals independent of the local school boards.
Read — The Grade 9 Entrance Exam
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This book was recommended by a friend, who thought it one of the better books about the Second World War ─ although to be more precise, it is really a story of the early post-war period. It focusses on the lives of a few individuals — people who were brought low from the collapse of the economy after Germany’s surrender.
The main character is a woman by the name of Clara Falkenberg, part of a wealthy family who owned a successful manufacturing company in Germany. During the war, it provided war materials for the German war effort and had close ties to the Third Reich. A year or two prior to the end of the war, her father began to do political work for the government. He appointed Clara to run the company in his absence, which she did ─ quite successfully ─ until the war ended.
Read – The German Heiress
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In keeping with my early Canadian history theme of late, I am writing a review of a wonderful book, called, ‘Sisters in the Wilderness’, written by Charlotte Gray in 1999.
It tells the story of two sisters, Catharine and Susanna Strickland, who immigrated to Upper Canada in 1832, along with their husbands. The latter were military men, still young, but pensioned off at half-pay after the Napoleonic Wars. The sisters were born in 1802 and 1803 respectfully. Their husbands, a few years older than the sisters, were Thomas Traill and John Dunbar.
Read – Sisters in the Wilderness
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Ontario legislature
In conversations over this past year, and particularly after Julie Payette resigned her office, many friends have argued we have no need of a Governor-General in this country.
Some say the office should be replaced with an elected President, and others argue there is no need for anyone other than the Prime Minister to head the government. If someone is required to attend to the niceties of constitutional order — by signing the odd piece of legislation — surely it could be done by a Supreme Court justice. As for the ceremonial aspects of the job, they wonder if such things need doing.
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In the course of a recent discussion on the early history of Upper Canada, Don asked me what lessons we might learn from our early colonial government. I thought this topic might interest readers, so I intend to summarize the main points of our conversation in the course of this article.
Most of the early settlers to Upper Canada were ‘United Empire Loyalists’ who left the United States after the ‘Revolutionary War’. Many were Americans who fought with the British Army, then slowly made their way to this new land of promise on the northern shores of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River.
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I ordered ‘Redhead by the Side of the Road’ from the library a few months ago and received the book last week. It was well worth the wait. It is a great story, and a thin book — clocking in at 178 pages.
Normally I like books that have fewer pages. But in this instance, I didn’t want the story to end. I liked the main character, Micah Mortimer — inadequate though he was — and enjoyed learning about his life, at a time when he was at little over forty.
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Stratford Central Secondary School
A little over a year ago, my grandfather asked if I’d consider writing an article about my last year of high school. Thinking it would be fun to look back on 2020 — the year I turned eighteen — I readily agreed, not knowing what the future would bring.
I can safely say this past year has been a frustrating one. I’m not complaining — we’ve all had enough of that. But I will share one or two anecdotes that stand out in my mind.
Read – Turning Eighteen …
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Lorne Willson (second from left) with his crew during 1944-45
I had hoped to write a book about my life up to the end of the Second World War — at a time when I was 33 years of age, a RCAF veteran, employed in Northern British Columbia and married with two children. I have given up the idea.
My family (with one exception) didn’t show much interest, so it just seemed silly to expend the effort. Still my story is a good one — an interesting tale of a man with an unusual childhood, an early life filled with adventure, and war service in the RCAF — the last year as part of a Lancaster bomber crew in the air war over Germany.
Rather than give up the idea, I am writing it as two magazine–sized articles — the first telling the story of my early years, and the second, the tale of my last year of the war. I hope you enjoy them.
Read – Lorne Willson’s Early Years
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Lorne Willson (second from left) with his crew during 1944-45.
This story is indirectly about my last year of the air war over Germany, when I served as a ‘Bomb Aimer’ in RCAF Bomber Command. My name is Lorne Willson and I volunteered for aircrew in 1943, while stationed in Canada. After my training, I was sent to England to be part of ‘419 Moose Squadron’, a Lancaster bomber squadron with the RCAF.
Read – Lorne Willson’s War in Bomber Command
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The above photo shows a promotional picture for the 1965 film, The Bedford Incident. Richard Widmark and Sidney Poitier were the two lead actors in this film, which tells the story of the U.S.S. Bedford, a destroyer assigned to shadow a ‘stealthy’ Soviet submarine during the Cold War. It is a very good film.
The book is even better. It provides more drama, greater detail, interesting explanations, and a different plot and ending from the film. If I had to choose, I’d pick the book without a second thought.
Read – The Bedford Incident
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Building a Cabin circa 1815 in Glengarry County
Last week, I read an interesting article about the ‘Pilgrims’, who traveled from England to settle in Massachusetts — four hundred years ago this month. William Bradford was their leader and the ship in which they sailed was ‘The Mayflower’.
While this story was interesting, I have a better tale to tell. A little over 200 years ago, my g-g-g grandfather, William Fraser, and his wife, Mary Campbell, left the Western Highlands of Scotland to settle in Glengarry County in Upper Canada. It’s a better story, because the difficulties of the early settlers in Canada are just as compelling, but not as well known. Here are some details.
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Berriedale School near Burk’s Falls, Ontario
My time at ‘Berriedale School’ in the fall of 1953 was a wonderful experience — in a year that was otherwise a sad one for our family. My father was killed in an automobile accident — near Stratford, Ontario — in the late summer.
Once my father’s funeral and burial were over, my mother packed up and made her way to the village of Burk’s Falls, where we initially lived with my grandparents six miles from town. There my brother and I hopped on a school bus each morning to attend Berriedale School, seven or eight miles from our home.
Read – The One Room Schoolhouse
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In the past, I’ve sold many of my little figures while carving near the lake each summer. If I had any left over, a fellow named Pervez was always willing to purchase them for a bargain basement price of $5 each.
Here’s the way it worked. When I accumulated ten or more carvings, I’d call Pervez to let him know. Then I’d meet him, he’d take the carvings and I’d take the money. Easy-peasy.
Read – Five Guys Leave Home
