politics | Mama Cormier

….in Canada

1917 is often referred to as the worst year in Canadian history. In that year we saw the highest casualty figures for Canada during WWI. The death toll at Vimy Ridge alone was 3598 with another 7000 injured.

The city of Halifax was destroyed when two ships collided in Halifax Harbour, killing 1900 civilians and injuring 9000 in a town of 50 000. It was the worst man-made destruction of a city until 1945.

The conscription policy divided the country in one of the most bitter elections ever in 1917 but on the upside some women were granted the right to vote if they had a husband, father or brother who served in the war.

It was also the year that the Nation Hockey League (NHL) was established but not until an American team won the Stanley Cup for the first time earlier in the year. Tom Thomson, a famous Canadian artist, also died that year under mysterious circumstances.

Today I went to Montgomery’s Inn to sign up as a volunteer. While I was there I happened upon a wonderful art display of paintings depicting what happened in Canada in 1917.

…debating, tea, strongest sense and a title for my autobiography

Four more great questions from Cee. I had to give two of them a bit of extra thought.

If you were on a debate team, what general subject would you relish debating?

Seeing we’ve just come through a very long election campaign, by Canadian standards, I’d have to say that I enjoy debating about politics. I’m actually pretty passionate about it and I find people who make rash statements, quote political ads as facts and make sweeping generalizations very frustrating.

What’s your strongest sense?

No question that my strongest sense is visual. I have good colour sense and I love to explore the smallest detail in my photographs. My husband thinks that I have selective hearing and my sense of smell is very weak. I love the taste of most foods but I’m not sure I could pass a sommelier test.

What would you name the autobiography of your life?

This is probably the question that stumped me the most. Here are a few titles that I might consider:

Learning to Appreciate the Small Things in Life

Being Loved, Giving Love, Loving to Learn

My Life – It’s Not What I Thought it Would Be

Happy Being Ordinary

Always Looking for the Next Adventure

List your favorite flavors or types of tea.

My favourite tea at the moment is a good strong orange pekoe tea from Ireland or Britain. I still enjoy a good cup of spicy Chai and in herbal teas I like anything with ginger and lemon.

Bonus question: What are you grateful for from last week, and what are you looking forward to in the week coming up?

I pretty much wrote about what I was grateful for from last week on Sunday so I won’t repeat what I’ve already said but if you missed it you can check it out here. One other thing I am grateful for is being able to work with such wonderful people. As you may or may not know, teachers, here in Ontario, are going through some pretty tough negotiations and we’ve been without a contract for 14 months. Everyone is getting pretty frustrated and even though we’re still in the classroom doing our jobs and still running extra-curricular activities for the kids, the media is relentless and the rumours are frightening. Needless to say tensions are high but for the most part people are supportive and forgiving.

For the rest of this week I’m looking forward to finishing up some of the art assignments in my classrooms so that I can display them in the halls and share them with you. I’m also looking forward to Hallowe’en. I have no idea what I’ll wear this year but I may go with a traditional costume. I’m glad that the 31st is on the Saturday. The weather is suppose to improve by then and I won’t have to rush home from work to carve out the pumpkin.

Here are a few more photos of the Farmers’ Market that I visited on Saturday and photos that I took on our walk.