The federal government has introduced legislation that would allow self-employed workers to opt into Employment Insurance to receive special benefits. The Bill to Extend Employment Insurance Benefits to the Self-Employed would allow self-employed individuals to pay the same premiums as salaried employees, and after a year be eligible for maternity benefits, parental/adoptive benefits, sickness benefits and compassionate care benefits. They could opt out of the program at the end of any tax year, unless they had claimed benefits, in which case they would be required to pay premiums as long as they were self-employed.

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As preparations begin to get under way for Remembrance Day on November 11, it's worth noting that almost 20,000 of the 80,000 Canadians who died in World War I have no identifiable grave. Those who could be identified as Canadian have gravestones inscribed "A Canadian Soldier of the Great War - known unto God." In 2000, Canada created the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier to represent all Canadian service people who have no known grave.

The Canadian government asked the Commonwealth War Graves Commission to select a grave of an unidentified Canadian soldier in the Vimy Ridge area of France. The remains of the soldier were brought back to Canada and buried in the sarcophagus of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. Nothing is known about the soldier who is buried in the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, except that he was Canadian, he died in France during World War I, and he was young.

Photo Courtesy City of Ottawa

More About Canada and World War I
Pictures of the Battle of Vimy Ridge
Pictures of the Battle of Passchendaele
Canadian Battles in World War I
Canada and World War I

Clinics have opened across most of Canada to provide vaccinations for the H1N1 flu virus (human swine flu). Since it's the provinces and territories who administer the vaccination programs, the priorities for who will get the vaccine first vary depending where you are in the country. In general, health-care workers, people under the age of 65 with a chronic illness, pregnant women, children under five and people in remote communities will likely be vaccinated first.

To find out how the vaccination program is being handled in your province or territory, and to locate an H1N1 flu clinic near you, check H1N1 Flu Shot Clinics in Canada.

If you have questions or concerns about whether the H1N1 flu vaccine is appropriate for you, please ask your own doctor or a public health practitioner.

Photo: Pool / Getty Images

More on H1N1 Flu in Canada
H1N1 Flu Symptoms and Precautions
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As we approach the 91st anniversary of the end of World War I, the poem In Flanders Fields remains an evocative symbol of remembrance world wide. The poem was written by Canadian doctor and soldier John McCrae.

A surgeon in the dressing stations in the Ypres salient in 1915, John McCrae had spent weeks tending the injured and dying when a friend and former student, Lt. Alexis Helmer of Ottawa, was blown up by a shell burst during the Second Battle of Ypres. With no chaplain available, McCrae performed a makeshift funeral service for Helmer under cover of darkness. Sitting on the back of an ambulance on a break the next day, McCrae looked over the scene in front of him and wrote these 15 lines that still strike a chord.

Alexis Helmer was just one of more than 60,000 Canadians who died during World War I. Another 170,000 were wounded.

Photo: Flanders Poppies
Tom Brakefield / Getty Images

Former Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chrétien was at Buckingham Palace in London yesterday to receive the Order of Merit from Queen Elizabeth II. The Order of Merit is a special honour awarded to individuals of great achievement in the fields of the arts, learning, literature and science, and is considered the most senior honour a Canadian can receive. A special gift from the sovereign, the award is limited to 24 living members, with a few additional foreign recipients.

Only three other Canadians have received the award: neurosurgeon Wilder Penfield, and former prime ministers Mackenzie King and Lester Pearson. Other recipients of the award, which was founded by Edward VII in 1902, have included Florence Nightingale, Mother Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Winston Churchill and Graham Greene.

Photo: Ian Nicholson / PA Pool / Getty Images

More About Canadian Prime Ministers
Biography of Prime Minister Jean Chrétien
Canadian Prime Ministers Since 1967
The Role of the Prime Minister of Canada
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Each of the medals given to gold, silver and bronze medallists at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics and Paralympics will be different, the organizers of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics have unveiled. In an Olympic first, the Vancouver Olympics and Paralympics medals will each feature a part of an image cropped from two large master artworks by Corrine Hunt, a Canadian Aboriginal designer and artist. The orca was chosen as the motif for the Olympic medals, and the raven as the motif for the Paralympic medals. Each Olympian and Paralympian medallist will be presented with a silk scarf printed with the master artwork so they can see how their medal connects with those awarded to other athletes at the Games.

Another unique feature of the 2010 Vancouver Olympic medals is that they are undulating, rather than flat. The wavy nature of the medals is intended to represent British Columbia's mountains, ocean and snow. They are also among the heaviest medals in Olympic and Paralympic history, weighing over 500 grams.

Photo: 2010 Vancouver Olympic Medals
© VANOC/COVAN

More About the 2010 Vancouver Olympics
2010 Vancouver Olympics Sports
2010 Vancouver Olympics Schedules
Vancouver Olympics Red Mittens

The Manitoba NDP have selected Greg Selinger as their new leader, replacing Gary Doer who is moving on to become the Canadian Ambassador to the United States. As the leader of the governing party, Greg Selinger becomes provincial premier. It is expected that he will be sworn in on Monday, October 19.

Greg Selinger is the Manitoba MLA for the St. Boniface riding in Winnipeg, and has been Finance Minister since 1999. With a Ph.D. in Economics from the London School of Economics, Selinger certainly had the credentials for that job. His background as a social worker in Winnipeg's north end has also made him a strong advocate for social justice. All indications are that he plans to follow Gary Doer's middle-of-the road approach.

More About Manitoba
Doer Named Canadian Ambassador to the U.S.
Role of Provincial Premiers in Canada
Premiers of Manitoba Since 1870
Manitoba Facts

The Senate of Canada has voted to name the Famous Five as honorary senators in Canada, 80 years after they won a political and legal battle that changed history for Canadian women. In what has become know as the Persons Case, the five Alberta women - Emily Murphy, Henrietta Muir Edwards, Nellie McClung, Louise McKinney, and Irene Parlby - fought to have women recognized as persons under the BNA Act. The landmark ruling in 1929 recognized women as persons and allowed them to sit in the appointed Senate.

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The federal government has launched the Language Portal of Canada giving users free online access to a very useful set of tools to make understanding and effectively using both of Canada's official languages easier. The French is available at Portail linguistique du Canada.

Run by the Translation Bureau at Public Works, this new site includes TERMIUM Plus^®, a terminology data bank with about 4 million terms in English and French, as well as more than a dozen writing tools. An example of the writing tools is The Canadian Style, which answers questions about written English in the Canadian context - on topics like abbreviations, capital letters, frequently confused words and Canadian geographical names. It also includes advice on drafting letters, memos, reports, indexes and bibliographies.

More on Canada's Official Languages
Bilingualism in Canada
Learn French - About.com
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This week marked 25 years since Marc Garneau became the first Canadian to blast off into space. A lot has happened since then. Garneau flew on two more space missions and went on to be President of the Canadian Space Agency. He is now 60 and a Quebec MP. Seven other Canadian astronauts have gone into space since that first flight, many of them more than once. And last week Guy Laliberté, Canada's first space tourist, made it to the International Space Station.

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