Canada Communique No. 16

New Life for Ghost Town Miners: Aided by the provincial government, jobless mine workers of Alberta move from Nordegg and other abandoned coal-mining areas to obtain new work elsewhere in Canada. School for Frogmen: Officers and men of the Royal Canadian Navy's Operational Diving Unit at Halifax undergo rigorous training courses to equip them for sub-surface duties.

This newsreel includes the following sequences: 1. Black Watch Easter Service 2. Medical Inspection 3. Army Soccer Finals 4. Baseball Season Opens 5. The King's Farm 6. Tunnellers Receive Gibraltar Keys 7. Khaki Close-ups 8. Man of Vimy

Vocational Training for Repats: Vocational training for Canadian veterans includes courses in the building trades, haircutting, mechanics and electronics, as well as home economics and hairdressing. Canadian Soap for UNRRA: Soap is manufactured in Canada for distribution throughout Europe by the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. Railway Cars for Russia: Railway cars are produced in Canada and shipped to the Soviet Union to help rebuild the Russian transportation system.

This newsreel includes the following sequences: 1. Lady Patricia Ramsay Inspects PPCLI 2. Pigeon Post 3. Bringing in the Sheaves 4. Canadians Meet Norwegians in Soccer Play-Downs 5. British Mayors Visit Canadian Troops 6. Little Girls and Big Guns 7. Turn on the Heat 8. Massed Bands Open "Wings for Victory" Week

This film shares the story of Camp Morningstar, a sacred camp established on the east side of Lake Winnipeg that was erected in response to the proposal of a silica sand mine. The film explores Camp Morningstar’s historical and spiritual connections to territory, the role of ceremony and spirituality, and the power of collective action.

Men of the Deeps is a moving portrait of a group of former Cape Breton miners gathered together by their love of song. They are all members of the Men of the Deeps chorus, whose performances of traditional and contemporary songs evoke their working lives as miners.

Even at a frail 90, Martha Katz has an impish energy that remains undiminished. She chides grandson-filmmaker Daniel Schubert over his choice of shirt during a visit to her Los Angeles home, but there’s trauma beneath the humour. At 14, Martha and her family were torn from their village in Czechoslovakia and shipped to Auschwitz. A visit to a Holocaust museum ignites painful memories, including a haunting personal encounter with one of Nazi Germany’s most notorious figures. For Martha, however, the emphasis is on a tough but rewarding postwar life in Winnipeg, which she fondly recalls in this warm, intimate portrait of an unrelenting survivor.

The chief war criminals, and the varied ways in which their careers came to an end.

Travelling Blacksmith: A glimpse of a vanishing trade in Nova Scotia--blacksmithing and horseshoeing. A House Full of Ships: Eugène Leclerc, French-Canadian craftsman, carves replicas of sailing ships. Gold in the Cariboo: Miner John McDougall works abandoned gold mines in the Cariboo district of British Columbia. No. 9 in the series.

A young man, discharged from the army, returns to his coal town. As he wanders the streets, he sees that life remains much as he left it. He takes a room with a miner who had known his father and who recalls the tragedy of his death in the mines. When the young dischargee attends a union meeting he hears the labourers speak of their relation to the war effort and, realizing the importance of coal to victory, he joins a night shift and goes to work in the mine.

These vignettes from 1951 covered various aspects of life in Canada and were shown in theatres across the country. Subjects included here are the S.S. Lurcher, an anchored boat that serves as both lighthouse and weather station; a 3-day celebration in Windsor, Ontario, to commemorate the freeing of American slaves; and British Columbia’s fabulous Sullivan Mine, where vast quantities of lead and zinc are being blasted from the belly of a mountain.