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Struggles in the British Colony (1791-1850) (6)

  1. Available in English Options
5 years old
18 years old
  • First Winter
    First Winter
    John N. Smith 1981 26 min
    This historical drama features the first winter spent in Canada by a family of Irish immigrants deep in the Ottawa Valley. The year is 1830. Because the father is working in a logging camp, the mother has sole charge of the family. Sickness overtakes her, and she dies. The children are left on their own to survive. The film graphically illustrates the enormous hardships endured by the first settlers who had to cope with a climate with which they were unfamiliar. A beautiful, moving film.
  • Joseph Howe: The Tribune of Nova Scotia
    Joseph Howe: The Tribune of Nova Scotia
    Julian Biggs 1961 28 min
    This short drama is a portrait of Nova Scotian journalist and politician Joseph Howe (1804-1873) and his battle for freedom of press. When, in 1835, Howe was accused of seditious libel, no lawyer dared defend him. Choosing to defend himself, he addressed the jury for over 6 hours, urging jurors to leave an unshackled press as a legacy to their children. Though the judge instructed the jury to find Howe guilty, jurors took only 10 minutes to acquit him - a landmark event in the evolution of press freedom in Canada.
  • Louis-Joseph Papineau: The Demi-God
    Louis-Joseph Papineau: The Demi-God
    Louis-Georges Carrier 1961 26 min
    This short drama is a portrait of Quebec lawyer and politician Louis-Joseph Papineau (1786-1871). A proud, defiant man, skillful in parliamentary debate, and Speaker of the Lower House, his heart was with the people being pillaged by the business elite. When legislation became the instrument of private advantage, Papineau brought government to a standstill.
  • Lord Durham
    Lord Durham
    John Howe 1961 28 min
    This short drama is a portrait of colonial administrator, Governor General and statesman Lord Durham (1792-1840). When Durham recommended self-government in Canada, he closed the door on his own political success. But in the end, the policies he declared for Canada became the pattern for self-rule in the rest of the Commonwealth.
  • Lord Elgin: Voice of the People
    Lord Elgin: Voice of the People
    Julian Biggs 1959 28 min
    This short film tells the story of Lord Elgin, a man’s whose faith in a nation’s right to self-determination was stronger than the threat of the mob or his own fear of failure. Successor to Lord Durham, he established the principles on which Canadian government stands today.
  • Robert Baldwin: A Matter of Principle
    Robert Baldwin: A Matter of Principle
    John Howe 1961 31 min
    This film is a reconstruction of Robert Baldwin’s involvement in the Upper Canada Rebellion of 1837. Though bound to the cause of constitutional reform by principle, Baldwin’s heart was with the rebels and in the midst of armed revolt, he withdrew to fight a lonely battle with himself.