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The Battle of Vimy Ridge

The World War I Battle of Vimy Ridge was the first time Canadians fought as a national unit, and some say it was Canada's coming of age. The change from a subservient colony to a country which had paid for its nationhood did not come cheaply however.

Canada and Vimy Ridge

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Susan's Canada Online Blog

Write to Santa

Monday November 9, 2009
Write to Santa Every year more than 11,000 Canada Post volunteers, both employees and retirees, help make sure children get replies to their letters to Santa. Children from all over the world can take advantage of the program, and their letters are answered in the language in which they are written, even Braille. There's an email option too. Make a note of the address to write to Santa, for both regular mail and email, and a few tips for those letters.

Photo: Janis Christie / Getty Images

More on Christmas in Canada:
International Holiday Mail Deadlines 2009
Christmas Lesson Plans K-8
Christmas Worksheets K-8
Christmas Stories Online

Royal Visit 2009 Highlights

Sunday November 8, 2009
Prince Charles and Camilla Visit Archeological Site in Cupids Newfoundland

Prince Charles and his wife Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, are half-way through their Royal tour of Canada. It's the fifteenth visit to Canada for Charles, but just the first for Camilla.

The Royal couple has visited an archaeological dig at Cupids, Newfoundland, believed to be the first English settlement in Canada. Who knew the prince studied archaeology at Cambridge? They dropped in to see Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario, which was the home of Camilla's great-great-great grandfather Sir Allan MacNab, a rail magnate and prime minister of the Province of Canada before Confederation from 1854 to 1856. In British Columbia, the pair toured the Olympic athletes village and posed for mug shots with the 2010 Vancouver Olympics mascots.

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Bill To Let Self-Employed Opt Into Employment Insurance

Saturday November 7, 2009

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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Tomb of the Unknown Soldier

Sunday November 1, 2009
Tomb of the Unknown Soldier 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

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