This fire was devastating to Canadians but they persevered because they had their hearts set on fixing what had been done. Despite the fact that Canada was fighting in World War I, it was very important to the Canadians to start rebuilding the home of their government. A new structure was designed by John Pearson and Jean Omer Marchand which kept up the original gothic architectural feel of the first Parliament building. The re-building was completed in 1922.

Today the Parliament building is extremely important as it is still the home of Canada's government. Architectural aspects of the building that it is known for are the vaulted ceilings, marble floors, and dramatic light. Another unique aspect to the building is the stone friezes where significant events of Canadian history are displayed. The House of Commons Chamber can also be found in the Parliament building at the west end of the Centre Block. Many important laws and discussions go on in those rooms that shape Canada's government in the past and present. Other special features of the Parliament buildings are the Senate Chamber, library of Parliament, and the Peace Tower. Many tourists and Canadians alike enjoy visiting this amazing landmark. Tours are given to all ages and much can be learned from witnessing where the Canadian government operates.

Image from: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.galenfrysinger.com/americas/ottawa01.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.galenfrysinger.com/ottawa_canada.htm&h=468&w=648&sz=103&hl=en&start=4&tbnid=ip0dFqUMmpqrHM:&tbnh=99&tbnw=137&prev=/images%3Fq%3DParliament%2BBuilding%2Bin%2BOttawa%2B%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN Sites Used: http://www.ottawakiosk.com/parliament/p_2.html http://www.parliamenthill.gc.ca/text/home_e.html ]]> http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/10/history_of_the_parliament_buil.html http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/10/history_of_the_parliament_buil.html History Tue, 17 Oct 2006 18:09:15 -0500 Western Canada is home to many accomplished writers. One of which being Eden Robinson the author of Monkey Beach. Another one being William Patrick Kinsella or more commonly known as W.P. Kinsella. This accomplished author has a connection with me that hits close to home, that being his connection with Iowa, where I grew up.

W.P. Kinsella was born on May 25, 1935 in Edmonton, Alberta. The majority of his books are based on Canadian issues and Canada's first nations. Kinsella was a very well educated man receiving his Bachelor of Arts with his concentration being in English in 1974. He continued his education by going on to earn his Master of Fine Arts in English from the famous Iowa Writers' Workshop which is held at the University of Iowa in 1978. Lastly, he received an honorary Doctor of Literature degree in 1991 from the university where he first started his education, the University of Victoria.

Kinsella's childhood was not exactly a common one. He grew up on a farm in northern Alberta and was an only child. He didn't attend school until fifth grade which made his childhood a pretty lonely one. Due to him not having any playmates he created imaginary friends to keep him company, this created a basis for many of his characters that he wrote about from age six on.

Aside from all of the Canadian topics that Kinsella explores in his works he also wrote a great deal about baseball. Most say that his most well known book would be Shoeless Joe. This was one of his books about baseball and the novel was made into a very accomplished film Field of Dreams which takes place in Iowa. Two of his other famous books about baseball are The Thrill of the Grass and The Iowa Baseball Confederacy.

W.P. Kinsella's list of accomplished works are very impressive. He published over 200 short stories and 16 books.

Below is a list of some of the works of one of the best western Canadian writers: Dance Me Outside- 1977 Scars- 1978 Shoeless Joe Jackson Goes to Iowa-1980 Born Indian-1981 Moccasin Telegraph-1983 The Thrill of the Grass-1984 The Alligator Report-1985 The Iowa Baseball Confederacy-1986 The Fence Post Chronicles-1986 Five Stories-1985 Red Wolf, Red Wolf-1987 The Further Advantages of Slugger McBatt-1988 The Miss Hobbema Pageant-1989 Box Socials-1991 If Wishes Were Horses-1996 Magic Time-1998 The Secret of the Northern Lights-1998 Baseball Fantastic-2000 Japanese Baseball and Other Stories-2000 Sites Used: http://www.lib.odu.edu/litfest/14th/kinsella.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/W._P._Kinsella http://particle.physics.ucdavis.edu/bios/Kinsella.html]]> http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/10/wp_kinsella.html http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/10/wp_kinsella.html Literature Wed, 11 Oct 2006 19:52:59 -0500 Mass Romantic. Since then, the group, fronted and envisioned by A.C. Newman and with several others (including Neko Case, who is having a good run on the indie scene, both in Canada and in the States), have released Electric Version in 2003 and most recently Twin Cinema in 2005. The music of the New Pornographer is based often on a pounding keyboard and rhythm section coupled with melodies dripping with pop. The songs on Twin Cinema are all instantly catchy, with vocal and synth melodies blazed into your head for days after the song was heard. Every song on the album is under five minutes and follows a verse-chorus-verse standard, so is the set in perfect pop fashion, just long enough for listeners to get into the song but still be aching for more. Listening through Twin Cinema, you can hear the vocal harmonies and falsetto of the Beach Boys, the punk stylings of the Clash and enough shifting of time signatures to keep the listener engaged and distracted yet not seem pretentious. The music is incredibly clean and tight. The piano and keyboards drive the melody most often with perfect bouncing lines while in the background the drums pound in off beats and resounding fury. Then in the slower, laid-back tracks such as "These Are The Fables" and "Streets Of Fire", the vocals of Neko Case, gorgeous and hypnotizing, carry the song to another level. What separates this album from the sometimes repetitive world of indie pop, is the hidden complexity. Every listen brings new melodies, new instruments. The songs are great for thumping dancing, but also for headphone listening. The eclectic array of instruments and rhythms catch new fans at every party where the record is slipped into a stereo somewhere. Pic from www.i-see-sound.com]]> http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/10/the_new_pornographers_twin_cin_1.html http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/10/the_new_pornographers_twin_cin_1.html Music Fri, 06 Oct 2006 17:03:18 -0500 In 2010 the whole world will shift its focus to Vancouver where the greatest winter athletes will gather to compete in the event. “The venues for the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games stretch over a 120-kilometre zone from the shores of Richmond, just south of Vancouver, through Vancouver’s downtown centre north to the snowy peaks of the mountain resort of Whistler. (Vancouver 2010)” The events include skiing, snowboarding, luge, bobsled, curling, speed skating, ice skating, and of course ice hockey. Men and women’s hockey will be hosted at the University of British Columbia’s future Sports Center, shown below. The building is under construction currently and is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2008. For more information check out http://www.ubc.edu. Many of the on-snow events will take place at the Whistler Mountain, which is also undergoing construction to prepare for the events. Whistler is known for having some of the best skiing and riding in the pacific northwest and for being a great travel destination. Photo by Kim Mo. http://www.flickr.com/photos/livinglavida/64598599/ Vancouver, being a very cultural city, is an ideal place for the games to be held. Montreal hosted the summer Olympics in 1976 and Calgary hosted the winter Olympics in 1988. 2010 will be the third time Canada hosts the Olympics, and certainly not the last time. Sources of Info: http://olympic.org http://vancouver2010.com]]> http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/09/british_columbia_to_host_2010.html http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/09/british_columbia_to_host_2010.html Sports Fri, 29 Sep 2006 15:50:18 -0500 British Columbia: When looking for the province of British Columbia one would want to look on the west coast of Canada. British Columbia is actually the third largest province and the province that is furthest west. The west coast of British Columbia is bordered by the Pacific Ocean giving this province vast amounts of water access. British Columbia has many islands off it's coast one being Vancouver Island. Victoria is the capital of British Columbia and is located on Vancouver Island. British Columbia has a population of over 4.2 million people from a census in 2005. The northwest coast of British Columbia is the home to many natives. British Columbia is a common place for immigrants to come since they have about 35,000 immigrants arrive each year from all around the world. The most important industries to this province are mining, fisheries, agriculture, energy, transportation, and forestry. The Land regions in British columbia consists of a large belt of mountain ranges. Cordillera is the name isued to describe this large area of mountains. British Columbia is broken up into six main land regions consisting of the Insular Mountains, the Lower Fraser Valley, the Coast Mountains, the Interior Plateau, the Eastern Mountains and the Transmontane Plains. The majority of rivers in British Columbia drain into the Pacific Ocean. The famous Columbia River can also be found in British Columbia and eventually flows into Washington. This is a slight run down of the main aspects of British Columbia's geography. See website below for a clear map. http://www.canadamaps.info/maps/britishcolumbiapoliticalmap.jpg Sources: http://www.saskschools.ca/~gregory/canada/facts/bc.html "British Columbia: Land and Climate." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1998th ed. Chicago: World Book Inc., 1998. Alberta: Alberta is located in Western Canada to the east of British Columbia and to the west of Sasketchewan. The capital of this province is Edmonton, another major city being Calgary. The population in Alberta is around 3,306,000 people. The Rocky Mountains are one of Alberta's most unique features. Although, the areas that are not covered in the beautiful mountain ranges are made of great plains or prairies. Most plains are thought of as extremely flat chunks of land but that isn't the case in Alberta due to glaciers that once covered the land. Not only does Alberta have the prescence of mountains, the badlands are also located in Alberta. This is another uinque feature to this province. These badlands can be found in the southeast region of Alberta. The two largest lakes in Alberta are Lake Claire and Lake Athabasca, some important rivers include the Peace River and the Athabasca River. The source to these two main rivers can be found in the Rockies and flow north into the Artic Ocean. Alberta has four main land regions including the Candian Shield, the Saskatchewan Plain, the Alberta Plain, and the Rocky Mountains and foothills. See website below for a map of Alberta. http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/travel/dg/maps/b7/750x750_alberta2_m.gif Sources: http://www.gov.ab.ca/home/index.cfm?Page=8 "Alberta: Land and Climate." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1998th ed. Chicago: World Book Inc., 1998. Saskatchewan: The province of Saskatchewan is the fifth largest province in Canada. This province can be found east of Alberta and west of Manitoba. The capital of Saskatchewan is Regina and another major city in the area is Saskatoon. The population of Saskatchewan is nearing 989,000 people. This interesting province is made up of a lot of plains. The name "Saskatchewan" comes from a Cree word that means "swift flowing water." This creative name refers to the great river in Saskatchewan called the South Saskatchewan river that has been an extremely influential waterway throughout history. The other main river is the Saskatchewan River which is made of waters frmo the Rocky Mountains that are in Alberta. This province doesn't have many rivers and lakes of great importance although those two are very important for the people of Canada for various reasons. The land of Saskatchewan is divided into four main land regions including the Canadian Shield, the Manitoba Lowland, the Saskatchewan Plain, and the Alberta Plain. Click the link below to see a visual of Saskatchewan: http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/travel/dg/maps/40/750x750_saskatchewan_m.gif Sources: http://interactive.usask.ca/ski/factfig/geography.html "Saskatchewan: Land and Climate." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1998th ed. Chicago: World Book Inc., 1998. Manitoba: Manitoba is another province located in Western Canada, although it the eastern most province in that region. Manitoba's neighbor to the west is Saskatchewan and to the east is Ontario. To the north they have Nunavut and their northeast shoreline is the industrious Hudson Bay. The capital of Manitoba is Winnipeg which is located in the southern portion of Manitoba. The population of Manitoba is about 1,179,700 people. This province is divided into four main land regions including the Hudson Bay Lowland, the Canadian Shield, the Manitoba Lowland, and the Saskatchewan Plain. The Manitoba Escarpment is a term used to describe the Duck, Procupine, and Riding Mountain ranges that are all located in Manitoba. Manitoba has many lakes within its province resulting in about 100,000 of them. The two largest lakes are Lake Winnipeg and Lake Winnipegosis. Three main rivers including the Red, Saskatchewan, and Winnipeg flow into Lake Winnipeg causing the lake to be a delta for some major rivers. See map below to learn more about Manitoba's location: http://us.i1.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/i/travel/dg/maps/aa/750x750_manitoba_m.gif Sources: http://www.infoplease.com/ce6/world/A0859466.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page (for all flag images) "Manitoba: Land and Climate." The World Book Encyclopedia. 1998th ed. Chicago: World Book Inc., 1998.]]> http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/09/western_canada_at_its_finest.html http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/09/western_canada_at_its_finest.html Geography Tue, 19 Sep 2006 15:53:23 -0500 Photo by a_t_l http://www.flickr.com/photos/atl/323452/]]> http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/09/vancouver_from_grouse_mountain.html http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/09/vancouver_from_grouse_mountain.html Thu, 07 Sep 2006 14:56:12 -0500 Photo Taken By: PhillipC http://flickr.com/photos/flissphil/7286826/]]> http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/09/bc_liner.html http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/09/bc_liner.html Current Events Thu, 07 Sep 2006 14:46:59 -0500 Photo taken by: by gripso_banana_prune on flickr.com ]]> http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/09/picture_of_bridal_veil_falls.html http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/09/picture_of_bridal_veil_falls.html History Thu, 07 Sep 2006 14:46:58 -0500 Photo by rpongsaj http://www.flickr.com/photos/pong/172397646/]]> http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/09/the_view_from_stawa_chief.html http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/09/the_view_from_stawa_chief.html History Thu, 07 Sep 2006 14:46:50 -0500 http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/09/welcome_to_western_canada.html http://canada.blog.uvm.edu/groupD/2006/09/welcome_to_western_canada.html Thu, 07 Sep 2006 14:20:12 -0500