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Canadian Legends

Lawren Harris In preparing for a new year, we often reminisce about times gone by. But have we perhaps been lazy with our heritage and our own education? Here are our top 100 ‘Canadian’ legends that we feel you should be able to utter a sentence about – either at a cocktail party or in answer to your children’s questions. We’re bracing ourselves for lots of comments about what we may be missing… please add your thoughts below. We sometimes forget that we are our children’s best teachers and role models. Neglecting ourselves will eventually affect our children. So if a few of these things are fuzzy in your mind… look them up on your Blackberry while you’re at the gym fulfilling your other New Year’s Resolution. (And enter our Fitness contest pronto).

Canadian Legends you should know enough about to teach your kids:

The RCMP Musical Ride
Lord Simcoe
General Wolfe
The Group of Seven
The Queen
The Bluenose
Winnie the Pooh
Hudson’s Bay Company
The Metis
The Halifax Explosion
The Ripple Rock
The War of 1812
Pier 21
Wampum
Anne of Green Gables
The Fundy Tides
Permafrost
Joual
General Montcalm
The Loyalists
Billy Bishop
The Great Lakes
Upper and Lower Canada
Montreal Smoked Meat
The Governor General
Stanley Park
The Senate
The Rocky Mountains
Mosquitoes
Bre-x
Portaging
How to paddle a canoe
Residential Schools
the Seal Hunt
Peacekeeping
Eh
Conservatives, Liberals, the NDP and the Green Party
The Bloc Quebequois
Plains of Abraham
French and English
Canadian Tire Money
Two Versions of our Anthem
Tim Horton’s
Remembrance Day
WW1
WW2
Conscription
Prohibition
The Great Depression
Why Alberta pays no provincial tax
Oil Sands
Beaver Dams
The First Nations
Alexander Graham Bell
Universal Health Care
Don Cherry
Ice Fishing
The Order of Canada
The Stratford Festival
Toronto International Film Festival
The longest unguarded border in the world
CBC
Icewine
Canada vs. Russia
Lacrosse is our National Sport
The Second City
The Original Six
Cirque de Soleil
Ben Johnson
Montreal Exhibition
Calgary Olympics
Whistler
McGill University
Distinct Society
Free Trade
Fringe Festivals
Sociable
Molson and Oland
The Navy
Toronto Film Festival
Algonquin Park
Banff Springs National Park
Gold Rush
Dogsledding
The Globe and Mail
The National Post
The Giller Prize
The Voice of Fire
Canada Council for the Arts
Melting Pot vs. Mosaic
Representation by Population
Canada Day
The Moose
The Beaver
The Trans Canada Railway
The Titanic
The meaning of the icons on our coins and bills
The Muskoka Chair
Digby Scallops
Lumberjack shirts

Image:

Painting by Lawren Harris titled ‘Greenland Mountains’
Painted circa 1930 – An Oil on Canvas, 107.4 x 128.4 cm. Purchased in 1936 National Gallery of Canada

(no. 4279)