Places in Time DVD

The Crossroads of a Continent

Since before the pyramids were built in Egypt, in a land where the rivers were the highways, these forks of the Red and Assiniboine rivers were the crossroads of the continent. When Europeans first came to this land, they followed ancient trade routes. At the Forks, in what is now downtown Winnipeg, they created one of their staging posts.

On the screen: The Forks National Historic Site of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

With a fur trade network fanning out across the continent, they needed many such places.

On the screen: Riel House National Historic Site of Canada, Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The fur trade left behind a special people – part First Nation and part European – the Métis. As more and more Europeans pushed farther and farther across the continent, the Métis felt threatened.

What must have Louis Riel's mother thought as she went about her daily life at this quiet place, her home on the banks of the Red River. Her son's vision of a peaceful unity between his Métis people and the newcomers was doomed by the national dreams of a young country.

Over time, successive tidal waves of immigrants flooded across the land. Around 100 years ago, they were brought by the Canadian Pacific Railway.

On the screen: Former CPR Railway Station (Winnipeg Railway Station (Canadian Pacific) National Historic Site of Canada), Winnipeg, Manitoba.

The magnificence of this former CPR station in Winnipeg reflected the extraordinary prosperity of Winnipeg: the gateway to the Prairies. It also echoed the boundless optimism of those who passed through its great halls. Waves of newcomers, each with visions of a better life, and so they still come today. Each wave introduces new ways of doing things – new dreams and new visions. The challenge for people who came before is how to accommodate these new dreams and visions.

At this special meeting place, at the heart of the continent, many different visions have met for thousands of years.

Who does not dream of places of retreat, relaxation and repose? There are many such places all across this land. While visiting Cape Breton in the summer of 1895, Alexander McDonald, an industrialist from Pittsburg, and his wife took a side trip to Prince Edward Island.

On the screen (Minute 37): Dalvay-By-The-Sea Hotel National Historic Site of Canada, Stanhope, Prince Edward Island.

The McDonalds were so charmed by the area that they bought a big piece of land on the north shore and built themselves a summer "cottage."

Some cottage! A living room big enough to be a bowling alley, 26 bedrooms. The McDonalds would have their favorite thoroughbred shipped every summer. It cost a small fortune to run the place.

Dalvay was a wonderful place to be. The McDonalds were gracious hosts and the place bustled with activity. Locals loved to work there just to share the good life.

In 1910, McDonald died. His fortune, including Dalvay, was left to his two young granddaughters. As heiresses, they were courted by everyone. Eventually they both married princes in Europe. Tragically, both princes squandered the fortune away and Dalvay was sold to some of its former servants. After that, this place of gentle summer dreams had a variety of owners. It fell into the hands of a bishop from Montreal and then, during the prohibition era, was owned by a rum runner.

A vision of the grace and charm of a hundred years, Dalvay still dreams in the long summer days, lingering sunsets and soft gentle nights by the sea.

On the screen (Minute 40): HMCS Haida National Historic Site of Canada, Toronto, Ontario.

Long hours on icy gray seas; then, star bursts of flares overhead; bright flashes of fire; shells whistling by; the thunder of explosions; the shriek of tearing metal; the screams of the dying. The crew of the HMCS Haida, one of Canada‘s destroyers in the early 40s, saw it all.

By the end of 1944, the Haida had taken part in the sinking of two destroyers, a U-boat and 15 other ships. She then went on to see action off the coast of Korea.

Long after the wars, when it was announced that she was to be scrapped, there was a public outcry and she was saved.

Today, she is docked at Ontario Place on the Toronto waterfront – a monument to the Canadians who served in the Navy during World War II and the Korean War.

On the screen: Confederation Square National Historic Site of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario.

Places of commemoration can take many forms.

Over 100,000 names of men and women who died in the defence of our country are recorded in the books of remembrance in the Peace Tower's memorial chapel.

Each day another page is turned to reveal the names on these long lists.

There are many places across this land that pay tribute to the ultimate sacrifice that allows us today to have our own visions and dreams.

BREAK (Minute 42): A land of many visions, when Places in Time returns.