S1 E1 • Underground Railroad

Between 1840 and 1860, more than 30,000 American slaves came secretly to Canada and freedom

Première diffusion : 31 mars 1991

S1 E2 • Valour Road

WORLD WAR I was known as The Great War, a name that referred to its international scale, its massive mobilization of men, munitions and supplies, and its terrible toll on human life. Some say that the young country of Canada came of age in this war. Canadians won glory in the Royal Flying Corps, where Billy Bishop and Raymond Collishaw survived long enough to become aces of the air, and Roy Brown downed the Red Baron. However, it was also in the gruesome war of the trenches that Canadians demonstrated their endurance and courage.

Première diffusion : 31 mars 1991

S1 E3 • Jacques Plante

Jacques Plante broke with tradition and changed the face of hockey forever. Jacques Plante was to become one of the National Hockey League's greatest goalies, but was never one to rest on his laurels. He would dare to be different and go against the game's "macho" traditions by wearing a protective face mask, and developed a very personal style of play in front of and behind the net.

Première diffusion : 31 mars 1991

S1 E4 • Jennie Trout

The names of women are conspicuously absent from the lists of famous Canadian medical pioneers. During the 19th Century, while male physicians and surgeons were exploring new treatments and innovative medical procedures, Canadian women were struggling for the mere right to practice medicine. For them, acceptance into a medical school was a major achievement. The two women most responsible for breaking down the barriers and advancing medical training for women in Canada were Emily Stowe and Jennie Kidd Trout.

Première diffusion : 31 mars 1991

S1 E5 • Superman

Superman leapt from comic books to radio serials in the 1940s, and on to the television screen by the 1950s. At the beginning of each episode a breathless announcer proclaimed that the caped superhero would once again defend "Truth, Justice and the American Way." Who would have thought that this great American hero was a Canadian creation?

Première diffusion : 31 mars 1991

S1 E7 • Responsible Government

Our governor general controlled by an elected assembly, instead of by us. It's a Canadian idea! Individual women and men can achieve great things when they break with tradition. But history shows that nations, too, must forge new paths to realize their ideals.

Première diffusion : 31 mars 1991

S1 E8 • Soddie

By the late Nineteenth Century, the railroad had connected eastern Canada with the West Coast. The train offered new access to the vast western prairies - thousands of hectares of fertile soil.

Première diffusion : 31 mars 1991

S1 E9 • Nellie McClung

Nellie McClung was a political activist. She was also a charmer with a gift for oratory and a delightful sense of humour. Her spirited leadership rallied others to the cause of women's suffrage in Manitoba in the early 20th century.

Première diffusion : 31 mars 1991

S1 E10 • Orphans

In the 1850s, many Québec families adopted Irish orphans, their parents dead from ship's fever on the Atlantic crossing The Irish and the French Canadians share a part of history that goes back more than 150 years, at a time when waves of European immigrants were flooding into Canada, most of them arriving first in Québec. One tragic episode occurred in 1847.

Première diffusion : 31 mars 1991

S1 E11 • Jacques Cartier

After Columbus landed in the Western Hemisphere in 1492, European rulers sent explorers across the Atlantic to the Americas to claim territory and discover riches. The Spanish, Portuguese, English, Dutch and French all wanted a piece of the "New World" for themselves. Sometimes we forget that the "new world" was not new at all, but the ancient home of many people who were called "Indians" by the Europeans. Jacques Cartier came from the French court of King Francis I to explore North America. In 1534, on his first voyage, he explored the Gulf of St. Lawrence.

Première diffusion : 31 mars 1991

S1 E13 • Wilder Penfield

Dr. Wilder Penfield had a passionate desire to unlock the mysteries of the human brain. He revolutionized the techniques of brain surgery and made major discoveries about human cognition, memory and sensation. Penfield's medical exploration began with the causes and treatment of epilepsy, which was considered incurable. In 1935 he set up the Montréal Neurological Institute, which brought together surgeons and scientists for co-operative projects in the research, diagnosis and surgical treatment of brain disorders.

Première diffusion : 31 mars 1991

S1 E210 • Peacemaker

Centuries ago, the Iroquois nations found a way to establish peace and unity among themselves. Even today, they rediscover the source of their peace in the story of Peacemaker. It is said that somewhere in "the land of the crooked tongues," the region that is now eastern Ontario, an old woman had a dream that a messenger from the Great Spirit was standing before her.

Première diffusion : 28 juin 1992

S1 E401 • Hart & Papineau

Through the tireless efforts of Benjamin Hart, the Legislative Assembly granted Jews the right to erect a new synagogue and to keep registers of births, marriages and deaths within their community.

Première diffusion : 22 mai 1995

S1 E407 • John Cabot

It is ironic that England's claim to North America, the claim that is responsible for the creation of Canada as we know it, rests on the discoveries of an Italian sea captain.

Première diffusion : 31 mars 1991

S1 E412 • The Paris Crew

In 1867, just weeks after Confederation, a lighthouse keeper and three fishermen from Saint John, NB took the sporting world by storm. The place was Paris, France and the event was the World Amateur Rowing Championship, part of the International Exposition.

Première diffusion : 4 mai 1995

S1 E418 • Syrup

Is there anything more Canadian than maple syrup? "Sugaring time," that brief space between winter and spring when the snow starts to melt and the sap begins to flow in the maple groves evokes romantic images of our pioneering past. Despite the technological advances in farming techniques, production of maple syrup remains largely a "family operation," essentially unchanged from its traditional past.

Première diffusion : 1 mai 1997

S1 E1 • Governor Frontenac

New France, under the leadership of French governor Louis de Buade de Frontenac, repels the British invasion at the Battle of Quebec (1690).

Première diffusion : 28 juin 1992

S1 E2 • Midwife

A look at the importance of midwives in early Canada.

Première diffusion : 28 juin 1992

S1 E4 • Emily Carr

The British Columbia painter discovers the artistic muse that will drive her life's work.

Première diffusion : 28 juin 1992

S1 E5 • Joseph Tyrrell

Geologist and cartographer Joseph Tyrrell discovers a plethora of dinosaur bones in Alberta.

Première diffusion : 28 juin 1992

S1 E6 • Basketball

Sports coach James Naismith's invention of Basketball is tested by a group of young students in Springfield Illinois.

Première diffusion : 28 juin 1992

S1 E7 • Saguenay Fire

One family's quick thinking helps them to survive the 1870 fire in the Saguenay, Quebec.

Première diffusion : 28 juin 1992

S1 E8 • Joseph Casavant

Joseph Casavant, world renowned organ maker, builds his first organ.

Première diffusion : 28 juin 1992

S1 E9 • Jean Nicolet

French coureur des bois and explorer Jean Nicolet becomes the first European to reach Lake Michigan, but thinks it's the Pacific.

Première diffusion : 28 juin 1992

S1 E11 • Rural Teacher

Teacher Kate Henderson sways school trustees to embrace new methods, and the event is represented in the famous painting by Robert Harris: A Meeting of the School Trustees.

Première diffusion : 28 juin 1992

S1 E13 • Vikings

L'Anse aux Meadows in Newfoundland is settled by Norsemen (Vikings) around the year 1000 CE.

Première diffusion : 28 juin 1992

S1 E14 • Baldwin & LaFontaine

Lawyer and politician Robert Baldwin and Louis-Hippolyte Lafontaine build inter-lingual cooperation.

Première diffusion : 28 juin 1992

S1 E1 • Laura Secord

Canadian heroine Laura Secord aids the British in the War of 1812 with an overland trek to warn of an American military advance.

S1 E6 • Étienne Parent

Journalist and government official Étienne Parent demands equality for French and English.

S1 E7 • Nitro

A young Chinese Canadian risks his life helping to build the Canadian Pacific Railway.

S1 E8 • Sir Sandford Fleming

Engineer and inventor Sir Sandford Fleming develops the system of international standard time.