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Peoples of Canada

Accession number: 
1940.0065
Alternate Titles: 
Peuples du Canada
French version
Det Kanadiske Folk
Danish version
Production Years: 
1940

Languages:

Film Properties: 
Length (feet): 
1882 (35mm)
Length (minutes): 
32
Holding Institutions: 

Library and Archives Canada: 35mm,16mm, VHS, Digibeta.
"The Canadian Mosaic. The camera goes on a tour of the country from coast to coast and focuses on life as experienced by the inhabitants in their day to day occupations. Sequences on fishing, farming and on industrial development. The film also examines the history of immigration to Canada starting with early European contacts. Touched upon are the lives of rural Dutch, Scots, Hutterites and French Canadians. Sequences, too, on the development of the north and the building of the railroad through the mountains."

Bibliography: 

"Canada at War," Film News (May 1940): 5.
"Another one-reel on Canadian life for non-theatrical distribution in 16mm has the following titles: The Undefended Frontier, Peoples of Canada, Ice Hockey, Mackenzie, and Economic Fronts (timber, mining, etc.)."

"Dominion," Film News (July 1940): 5.
"The Peoples of Canada 'will provide a background to Canadian opinion by throwing a light on the origins of the Canadian people and the contributions of the many racial strains to national life."

Film News (September 1940): 6.
"An important forthcoming release is Peoples of Canada, a three reel survey of foreign-born race groups in Canada and their fusion in Canadian nationality. This was shot during the past spring and early summer, across the country from Quebec to interior British Columbia, and is now in the cutting room at Associated Screen News (Montreal). Gordon Sparling directed."

Film News (1941): 6.
"The extension of the community idea is 'the idea of Canada as a fusion between separate communities, differing in origin and interests but bound by the nationhood this country has so very recently achieved, in the face of every historical and geographical obstruction.' Peoples of Canada, released this month, incorporates this message."

Film News (June 1941): 6.
"A cross-country survey of race groups in all stages of becoming Canadian. This picture shows the idea of Canada as a fusion between separate communities differing in origin and interests, living with tolerance toward each other, from the rocky slopes of the Gaspe to the prairies of the Pacific Seaboard. All different and all Canadians."

Film News (April 1942): 8.
"Peoples of Canada (21 min.) Men and women of many races find work, bread and freedom in the Canadian West. Cross section of the old world, creating the future of the new. France, England, Scotland, Ireland, Holland, Germany, the Ukraine, Russia and many other countries add their bloodstreams to Canadian democracy. Produced by Stuart Legg."

Film News (April 1944): 12.
"Peoples of Canada. 21 minutes. At a time when half the world is plunged in racial hatred this film carries a strong message of tolerance. $30.00."

"Canadian Scene," Film News (December 1945): 6.
[Still shot from Peoples of Canada; caption reads:] "A Canadian Indian building a birchbark canoe, photo from Peoples of Canada."

Film News (December 1945): 7.
"Films like Peoples of Canada give a coherent picture of the whole nation, while a series of regional films have begun to tap Canada's specific human geography."

Gouvernement du Québec: Ministère des Communications, Direction générale du cinéma et de l’audiovisuel, Catalogue des films d’archives, volume 1 (Québec: Éditeur officiel du Québec, 1976), 119.
"Depuis trois cents ans, des milliers d'Européens sont venus s'établir sur notre continent. Les uns fuyaient l'oppression, les autres venaient tenter fortune dans un pays neuf. Nos ancêtres vinrent défricher les terres de la Nouvelle-France alors que sur la côte est, Écossais, Bretons, Normands et Hollandais apportaient avec eux les qualités qui en ont fait des cultivateurs, des pêcheurs ou des éleveurs de renom. Du Haut-Rhin, des constructeurs de voiliers, dont les descendants devaient construire le fameux Bluenose, se dirigeaient vers les provinces maritimes. La province de l'Ontario, les immenses prairies de l'Ouest et la côte du Pacifique recevaient plus tard des groupes venant de l'Angleterre, de l'Ukraine, de la Hongrie, de la Roumanie, de la Pologne, des pays scandinaves et de la Russie. De langues, de religions, de moeurs et de coutumes différentes, ces peuples vivent côte à côte, sujets canadiens, frères sous un même drapeau."