History Browser

During the inter-war years of 1919-1939 the Canadian military experienced large-scale reorganization which included major diversification and expansion of communications capabilities. In many cases these capabilities would grow to serve civilian as well as military needs and would put the Royal Canadian Corps of Signals in the unique position of being the only branch of the Armed Forces that continued to expand during the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The First World War stimulated a burst of striking new technologies including advances in battlefield communication. This resource describes the successes and failures of this technology and how the organization of forces changed to enable their use.

There is no reliable likeness known of Pierre Gaultier de Varennes et de La Vérendrye (1685-1749), the officer who was one of the great explorers of the Canadian west. This statue at the Quebec National Assembly is possibly the best known depiction of him. Here he symbolically looks to the far horizon.

An account of S.O.E. operations in Malaya and Burma in 1945. Featured are the stories of Canadians who were among the Force 136 agents.

Listing of films from the National Film Board. The evolution of nuclear fear in Canada is documented in this collection. Beginning with rumours of communist spies, continuing with fear of nuclear attack, and finally today with testing of nuclear weapons in our northern provinces by the United States.

Listing of films from the National Film Board. Canada's national security operations are documented in this collection of films. Training of qualified personnel to deal with these operations and the affect such actions had on the Canadian public are also detailed.

The Fraser River gold rush, starting in 1857, brought changes to the Pacific coast. The flood of American prospectors prompted the British government to take over the region from the Hudson's Bay Company. Royal Engineers were sent to survey the region, especially the border.

Sailing west from Bristol in the south west of England in May 1497, Cabot sighted land on 24 June. This was probably Newfoundland but also possibly Cape Breton Island. Cabot took possession of his discovery for England, which gave that country its first claim of trans-Atlantic territory.

Louis-Joseph and François La Vérendrye ventured even farther than their father, reaching as far south as Nebraska and as far west as Wyoming. They were the first Europeans to record seeing the Rocky Mountains in 1743.

A look at the careers of two French Canadian secret agents, Lucien Dumais and Raymond LaBrosse, and their adventures in occupied France helping Allied airmen escape.