Books in The Canadians series

John Ware stands tall in the history of Alberta. An ex-slave from the American South, John rode into the District of Alberta in 1882. While working for the Bar U Ranch, he became legendary for his cowboy skills and his ability to survive stampedes, bucking broncs, blizzards, rustlers, and racism. John died on horseback on his own ranch near Red Deer River two weeks after Alberta became a full-fledged province. The year was 1905 and it was the start of a new Alberta - where farmers, townspeople, oil workers, and others would shape society. But Alberta's roots run directly back to the days of cattle barons and cowboys on the open range - back to the days of John Ware.

From the rural back roads near his home on the Six Nations Reserve to the track of a crowd-packed Madison Square Garden, Tom Longboat raced his way to fame as the greatest distance runner Canada has even known. The tall Onondaga athlete captured the hearts of racing fans everywhere during the early years of the twentieth century. He was a courageous competitor and served his country during World War I as a dispatch runner, taking messages from post to post under difficult and dangerous conditions. Longboat's amazing career as world champion long-distance runner included spectacular races in Canada, the 1907 Boston Marathon, the 1908 Olympic Marathon, and many one-on-one races with the world's top professional runners. Thousands would gather to watch the famous Canadian shatter records. Yet for all his fame and excellence, Tom Longboat had to struggle against the vicious racism of his age. In his biography of Longboat, long-distance runner Bruce Kidd gives an insider's view of the life of a great athlete in the context of Canadian social history.

Joseph Brant, the greatest Iroquois leader, was a powerful organizer of his own people and a loyal ally of the British colonial forces. Born in 1742, Brant gained his first battle experience at the age of thirteen, in the wars against the French. His loyalty to the British continued and by 1757 he had earned a commission as captain. It was Brant who encouraged the Six Nations Confederacy to ally with the British against the French, and then against the rebelling American colonists. With the retreat of the British after the revolution, Brant and his people were forced to emigrate to a tract of land along the Grand River in Upper Canada. Here Brant began a new struggle against colonial domination and restrictive land regulations

For almost 30 years, Ernie Coombs was Canada's Mr. Dressup, loved and cherished by legions of children and their parents. Host of CBC Television program of the same name. Mr. Dressup won the hearts and loyalty of his young viewers with kindness and a genuine interest in their world. He sang songs, drew pictures, made crafts and had a "Tickle Trunk" filled with wonderful costumes and props. Asked once if he didn't sometimes feel silly in character, he replied that he was only doing what any father would do for his own children. As Mr. Dressup, Ernie Coombs played a substantial role in launching the first generation of television programming developed specifically for Canadian children. Over the years he safeguarded the program against commercialism and the influence of American TV. In the end, almost 4000 segments of Mr. Dressup were created by and for CBC Television. Although he generally waved off any attention to himself, Ernie Coombs received the prestigious Earle Grey Award for excellence in television programming, a Gemini, a Children's Award conferred by the Children's Broadcast Institute, and an Order of Canada. The news of Ernie Coombs's death in 2001 cast a blanket of sadness across Canada. Jean Chretien, then Prime Minister, called the gentle man of children's television "an icon, to be remembered for generations to come."

Emily Murphy was one of Canada's great feminists. A woman of tremendous wit, versatility and compassion, her career included journalism, social reform, politics and the law. Emily Ferguson was born in Ontario and educated in Toronto where she met her husband, Minister Arthur Murphy. Together they travelled through rural Ontario and industrial England. These travels aroused Emily's social conscience, which she expressed through her famous Janey Canuck books. When the Murphy's moved to Manitoba and later Edmonton, she continued writing and became involved in reform movements. Her first political efforts resulted in the passage of Alberta's Dower Act of 1911. She would later be appointed a judge in Alberta, making her not only Canada's first woman magistrate, but the first female magistrate in the British Empire. In 1921, Murphy publicly questioned the law that kept women from the Senate. Women were not considered persons by law, and could therefore not become Senators. Her tireless campaign in this "Persons Case" led to women's legal recognition as "persons" and their eligibility to the Senate. Murphy herself was never appointed to the Senate, but her work in all facets of law and social reform paved the way for generations of Canadian women.

Best known for the development of the telephone and the foundation of the Bell Telephone Company, Alexander Graham Bell was one of the last great inventors. His innovative genius in a variety of fields allowed Canada, his adopted country, to become a world leader in the swift technological expansion of the late nineteenth century. Bell's father was an elocutionist and developed a system of "visible speech" by which deaf people could be taught to speak. Bell was involved in this work during his youth in Scotland and later in Boston, where Helen Keller was among his pupils. He first became interested in the possibility of transmitting sound over electric current while working on improvements to the telegraph. The telephone was conceived in 1874, and gained worldwide attention at the Centennial exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876. The first practical experiments with the device were carried out near the family home in Brantford, Ontario, where Bell's researches also contributed to the development of the gramophone and telegraph. During a boat trip on Bras d'Or Lake in Cape Breton, Bell and his family fell in love with the surrounding countryside, and by 1892, the Bells had built a large lodge near Baddeck. Here Bell continued experiments, particularly with kites, aerodromes and hydrofoils, that contributed significantly to the development of twentieth century science and technology.

Born in Massachusetts, Laura came to Upper Canada at the age of 18 and married James Secord. Their happy life in Queenston was disrupted by the outbreak of the War of 1812. At first the war went well for the British, but after General Brock was killed at Queenston, American forces advanced, and some offices were billeted with the Secords. When Laura overheard American soldiers planning a surprise attack she unhesitatingly set out on a dangerous 32 km trek across enemy lines in order to warn the British general, Fitzgibbon. Her brave action made the battle of Beaver Dams a British victory. Secord's role was not immediately acknowledged. In fact, she and her family suffered a great deal more at the hands of American troops, and they were strained by the economic turmoil war brings for many years after the peace. Recognition did come to her in later years, however. Her biography gives a rich impression of life in Upper Canada in the early nineteenth century.

Louis Riel has been described as a "saint, sinner, rebel, hero, prophet, madman and traitor." It is no more clear today than it was during his lifetime which of these labels is closest to the truth.The Metis leader was educated in Montreal, but an itch for political involvement brought him back to his home in Red River. In 1870 he led a takeover of Fort Garry in protest against the sale of Red River to the Canadian government. The execution of Thomas Scott by Riel's Provisional Government caught Ottawa's attention, and Red River was given provincial status. Despite this political victory, Riel had to leave the country, in fear for his life. Feelings against him ran so high in the East that he had to be smuggled into Parliament even when duly elected by the people of Manitoba. Riel suffered from mental illness after the 1870 Rebellion and spent some time in an asylum. He exiled himself to a Metis settlement in Montana, where he taught school, until Gabriel Dumont persuaded him to come back to red River in 1884. The 1885 Rebellion against the Ottawa government proved unsuccessful. The Metis forces were soundly defeated by Canadian troops. Riel was captured and accused of treason. His trial and subsequent execution split the country along racial and religious lines. Historian Rosemary Neering's vivid account brings to life the story of Riel's contradictory character, colorful times, and lasting influence.

Lucy Maud Montgomery is known to millions of readers the world over as the creator of Canada's most famous redhead, Anne of Green Gables. Born in the tiny Prince Edward Island village of Clifton in 1874, Lucy Maud Montgomery grew up in the seaside community of Cavendish on the north shore of the island. Opportunities for women were limited in the rural Victorian society of the time, but Lucy Maud showed an unusually independent turn of character by trying her hand first as a teacher and then as a journalist in Halifax before returning to the isolation of Cavendish to care for her widowed grandmother. It was during these thirteen long years that she wrote Anne of Green Gables and established herself as Canada's most popular and widely-read author. In 1911 she married Presbyterian minister Ewan Macdonald and moved to Ontario. Her spiritual home remained Prince Edward Island, however, and she continued to write of it with nostalgic fondness until her death in 1942.

When Crowfoot was born in 1830, the Blackfoot Confederacy was a powerful nation living free in the prairies. But as Crowfoot was growing up, earning a reputation for courage and wisdom, the Blackfoot way of life was disintegrating. Traders brought disease and liquor; The buffalo herds dwindled; Government incentives encouraged settlers to flock to the west. Humiliated and bewildered, the Blackfoot had to accept government food rations in order to avoid starvation. Crowfoot, born to be a warrior but destined to become a peacemaker, was the Blackfoot spokesman in this time of crisis. Sensing that settlement was inevitable, and committed above all to peace, he encouraged cooperation with the government and the NWMP. He persuaded other chiefs to sign treaty Number Seven, and refrained from supporting the Northwest Rebellion. The task of restraining a people who placed a high value on bold warfare was difficult, and Crowfoot's peaceful policies were sometimes unpopular with his own people. Nevertheless, he succeeded in preserving peace between two very different cultures. His success was due to his eloquence and diplomacy, and above all to his personal integrity. As historian Carlotta Hacker observes in this thoughtful biography, "Crowfoot stood for courage, loyalty, patience, honesty, generosity - virtues that are as old as humankind."