Sonny MacDonald is a Chipewyan Dene from Fort Smith. He is a community leader and storyteller but above all he is a carver. He even carved a throne out of moose antlers for the Pope's visit. In this case, he let the material speak for him and contributed this piece of mammoth ivory. Near Heron Bay on Lake Superior, these pieces of pipe stone and moose antler are gathered for a ritual that takes four years to complete. After participants complete their 4th annual cleansing fast and sweat, they are presented with a pipe made from these materials. The pipe stone can be any kind of stone and is selected more for its shape. Hart A. Massey built Massey Hall, "The Grand Old Lady of Shuter Street" in memory of his son Charles. It opened in 1894 and in the ensuing decades hosted such luminaries as Enrico Caruso, Winston Churchill, boxer Jack Dempsey and even the wedding of aboriginal Canadian athlete Tom Longboat. It is renowned around the world for its acoustics. Perhaps its most legendary performance was the one on May 15th, 1953 featuring Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach. This is seat number 69 from the gallery level. The St. Boniface Museum has many claims to fame: it is the oldest building in Winnipeg; it is the largest oak frame building in North America; and it is the place where Louis Riel went to school. Riel’s sister was also a novice there. It is the home to many of Riel's artifacts, including his first coffin (a nicer coffin with Louis in it resides around the corner on the grounds of the Cathedral). And now its richly scarred beams form the back and sides of the Six String Nation guitar. This is cut from one of the timber beams. Near is a relative term. In the northwest corner of British Columbia, the nearest town to the mine site, Dease Lake, is a full day's drive away. Weather conditions mean the mining season is only 60 days long. But it's worth it: the Nephrite Jade found there is of extremely high quality. It is prized all over the world for its deep luminous green, especially in China, which has proved to be the major market for the gemstone. This piece was cut for the Six String Nation guitar by the mine owner himself. Shu-kwe-wee-tam, better known as Almightyvoice, was a Plains Cree Indian born around 1875. He was arrested for killing a reserve cow without permission from the Indian Agent. He escaped custody after being told he would hang for his crime and killed a Northwest Mounted Police officer who came to arrest him. Almightyvoice died in 1897 after a two year manhunt and a standoff against nearly 200 civilian volunteers and Northwest Mounted Police, in which three officers and one civilian were killed. The story of Almightyvoice is recognized as the last incident of resistance to European encroachment upon the lands of the Plains Cree. This is a piece of stone from the monument to him on the One Arrow reserve. The legend goes that in 1903 a railroad blacksmith named Fred LaRose threw his hammer at a fox and accidentally discovered the world's richest vein of silver. One hundred mines sprung up after that and Cobalt remained a boom town until the great stock market crash of 1929, generating more wealth than the Klondike. Mining remains an important part of the town's heritage - from its National Historic Site designation to the annual Miner's Festival. This is a piece of raw silver from the Beaver mine. The oldest rock in the world (Acasta gneiss) is found near Great Bear Lake – dated at 3.96 billion years old. It is a kind of granite that was part of the Earth's earliest crust. It has been incorporated into the Territorial government's ceremonial mace as a symbol of longevity and now it has been incorporated into the Six String Nation guitar for the same purpose. Copper from the roof of the Library of Parliament. This gorgeous Gothic Revival building opened in 1876 and was spared from the fire of 1916 that destroyed the Centre Block to which it was attached. It recently reopened with a new roof following extensive renovations and refurbishments, which began in 2002. Labradorite is the official mineral of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is a type of feldspar found in an igneous rock called anorthosite. Its looks can be deceiving. From the wrong angle, it appears simply as grey. But when early European visitors first saw it they thought they had found the glittering gates of Valhalla. Inuit legend held that a hunter had cracked open the earth to free the Northern Lights and some of the colour remained in these rocks. Songwriter Don Freed has spent many years working with youth in northern Saskatchewan. A Metis artist himself, he saw a need to get aboriginal kids thinking and creating around their own culture and community. The results have been profound – including a CD called "Our Very Own Songs". Don also swears by moose shin as a great material for guitar making. He spent some time with the community gathering this piece for us. The caribou herds of northern Quebec (estimated around one million) far outnumber the Nunavimmiut – the resident Inuit population (about 11,000) so it's not surprising that the caribou is an important resource for food, clothing, tools and art. This is a caribou antler carving by a young Inuit carver named Charlene Watt. The small dots that appear as eyes are actually inset soapstone. Gimli has become famous as the home of Crown Royal Whisky and the setting for Guy Maddin films but its founders saw it as a kind of paradise. Gimli is the Norse word for "Heaven" and the Icelanders who settled there in the 1800s gave it that name. Icelandic culture and character is still a big part of life in Gimli, including the use of these unique Gimli "lucky stones". JR’s Bar started as a simple lunch counter opposite the railway station and grew into one of Canada's music temples, and Johnny Reid, its owner – the son of Lebanese immigrants – became a seminal figure in Canadian music. It was the place that launched the careers of Stompin' Tom Connors and Anne Murray and where Gene MacLellan first sang "Snowbird". While Johnny battled cancer at age 78, the property was seized by the City for tax arrears and razed to the ground. This piece was salvaged from Johnny's desk. When the Montreal Canadiens won their 8th Stanley Cup in the 1955-56 season, the team was presented with commemorative platters. The team's superstar forward, Maurice "Rocket" Richard felt that rings would be more fitting so he commissioned a set himself that he gave to his teammates. This is a small piece of gold from Richard's own ring of that year. Near Heron Bay on Lake Superior, these pieces of pipe stone and moose antler are gathered for a ritual that takes four years to complete. After participants complete their 4th annual cleansing fast and sweat, they are presented with a pipe made from these materials. The pipe stone can be any kind of stone and is selected more for its shape. It started as a lumber camp, but when blasting for construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway revealed huge nickel-copper ore concentrations, it was invented anew as a mining town. Nickel continues to be the main economic driver of the town (depending on the business cycle) and the Big Nickel – a 9m high replica of a 1951 nickel and a Guinness book entry as world's largest coin. These are nickel pellets from INCO, the mining giant. From DISCO (the Dominion Iron and Steel Company) to SYSCO (the Sydney Steel Corporation), in various guises both private and public, the coal and steel industry in Cape Breton was a way of life for very nearly 100 years before operations ceased in 2000. While citizens, politicians and environmentalists continue to grapple with the environmental impact of the industry, the culture of the industry is now being celebrated at a new museum. This is steel from the mill. Louis-Joseph Papineau bought the seigniorial land from his father Joseph but didn't really get to see the place much – being in exile in the U.S. or France or on the run following his leading role in the Lower Canada Rebellion of 1837-38. He remained a passionate historian in his absence and returned to political life in Quebec after being granted amnesty. Nearing retirement, he began to build the Manor that stands today as a symbol of another era in Quebec life and politics. This is from an interior wall of the Manor. The original fishing schooner Bluenose was launched in 1921 and for 17 years was the undisputed fastest ship on the seas. After WWII, fishing schooners were determined obsolete and she was sold to work as a freighter in the West Indies, where she foundered on a reef in Haiti and sank on January 28, 1946. Bluenose II was made according to the plans of the original Bluenose using some of the materials reserved for repair of the original and launched in 1963. This is from the deck of the ship. St. Michael's Ukrainian Orthodox church near Gardenton, Manitoba, is the first Ukrainian church built in Canada. It was completed in the spring of 1899 to accommodate the influx of Orthodox Ukrainian immigrants (mostly from Bukovina) to the prairie. Their cultural impact remains evident in many ways – not the least of which is the ubiquitous perogie as a staple of Canadian comfort food. This is a piece of the timber foundation of the church. The St. Boniface Museum has many claims to fame: it is the oldest building in Winnipeg; it is the largest oak frame building in North America; and it is the place where Louis Riel went to school. Riel’s sister was also a novice there. It is the home to many of Riel's artifacts, including his first coffin (a nicer coffin with Louis in it resides around the corner on the grounds of the Cathedral). And now its richly scarred beams form the back and sides of the Six String Nation guitar. This is cut from one of the timber beams. The Golden Spruce was a 300-year-old, 40-metre-tall, fully albino Sitka spruce tree in the Yakoun Valley near Port Clements. Sacred to the local Haida, a popular tourist attraction and – for the lumber company whose clearcuts lay a short distance away – evidence of their stewardship. On January 20th, a madman believing he was doing good dealt the tree a fatal cut and it fell two days later. The Haida described it as their version of a drive-by shooting. They vowed to let the tree return to the earth, but agreed to cut part of it to form the top of the guitar. This was raw wood cut from about two thirds up the prone tree. The grain elevators that once defined the prairie landscape are disappearing. Each of them has a story of a community behind it. In 1899, with money provided partly by the writer Leo Tolstoy, a third of the members of the Doukhobor sect fled repression in Russia for freedom in Canada. In Saskatchewan, they built a communal and pacifist community based on a frank and secular reading of the bible. The town is named for their spiritual forefather, Peter V. Verigin. This is a piece of the community's grain elevator. Hart A. Massey built Massey Hall, "The Grand Old Lady of Shuter Street" in memory of his son Charles. It opened in 1894 and in the ensuing decades hosted such luminaries as Enrico Caruso, Winston Churchill, boxer Jack Dempsey and even the wedding of aboriginal Canadian athlete Tom Longboat. It is renowned around the world for its acoustics. Perhaps its most legendary performance was the one on May 15th, 1953 featuring Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach. This is seat number 69 from the gallery level. There are toothed whales and there are baleen whales. Baleen is kind of filter system the whales use to screen plankton and other food from the water. It's an unusual texture – a bit like horn and a bit like toenail. It used to be used in umbrella ribs, buggy whips and women's corsets. It can be used as fishing line and snares or woven into rigid baskets. This piece was donated by an artist in Iqaluit. In 1947, de Havilland Aircraft of Canada introduced the Beaver Bush Plane. While 13 other countries bought the plane for military use, in Canada it became the most popular plane among bush pilots – thanks, in part, to the post-war efforts of Clennell Haggerston "Punch" Dickins, the former RCAF flying ace from Edmonton who was the first to fly the length of the Mackenzie River (2000 miles in 2 days). This is a piece of wooden trim from the otherwise all metal plane. Muskox horn is called Boss – probably because the males butt heads to determine who is boss. It is estimated that when muskox bulls hit head on it's equivalent to a car driving into a concrete wall at 27km/h. The boss is four inches of horn and three inches of bone that lies directly over the brain with no other skull in between. It has a rippled texture and colours from ivory to honey to black, making it a prize material for Inuit sculptors. This piece was donated by an artist in Iqaluit. The St. Boniface Museum has many claims to fame: it is the oldest building in Winnipeg; it is the largest oak frame building in North America; and it is the place where Louis Riel went to school. Riel’s sister was also a novice there. It is the home to many of Riel's artifacts, including his first coffin (a nicer coffin with Louis in it resides around the corner on the grounds of the Cathedral). And now its richly scarred beams form the back and sides of the Six String Nation guitar. This is cut from one of the timber beams. Tyler Aspin was an artist and sculptor and the creator of the Canada Tree – a project not dissimilar to the Six String Nation project. It was a tree made of pieces telling stories from all across Canada. Tyler died in an accident in August of 2001. The inclusion of a piece of this WWII era mallet that he used – a gift from his stepfather brought from England via Wales – is a tribute to his vision. St. Michael's Ukrainian Orthodox church near Gardenton, Manitoba, is the first Ukrainian church built in Canada. It was completed in the spring of 1899 to accommodate the influx of Orthodox Ukrainian immigrants (mostly from Bukovina) to the prairie. Their cultural impact remains evident in many ways – not the least of which is the ubiquitous perogie as a staple of Canadian comfort food. This is a piece of the timber foundation of the church. Of the 13 rules instituted by inventor James Naismith in the very first game played on December 15th, 1891 in Springfield Massachusetts, 12 survive in the present day version of his invention: basketball. Although he spent most of his professional coaching career in the U.S., his game was based on one popular during his childhood in Almonte, ON called Duckon-a-Rock. This is a piece from his childhood home, contributed by the current owner. The first Maid of the Mist fell victim to the troubled economy of the U.S Civil War. In 1885, a new Maid of the Mist resumed the daredevil trips to the foot of the Horseshoe Falls. The Third Maid of the Mist was built in 1885 to meet growing demand, which she did for almost 70 years. But on April 22, 1955, as the sister ships were being prepped in dry-dock, a spark from a welder's torch set both ablaze. The only salvageable wood was carved into 38,000 wooden nickels imprinted with the likenesses of the Maids of the Mist. This is one of those nickels. The Montreal Canadiens beat the Toronto St. Pats 7–1 the day the Forum first opened its doors on November 29th, 1924. It set the tone for the venerable franchise which won 24 Stanley Cups inside the hallowed halls of the Forum (the Montreal Maroons also won 2). The building underwent many renovations – gradually increasing its capacity from 9300 to 16259 before closing its doors forever on March 11th, 1996. This is from seat number 10, row G, section 321. The Wildcat Café is Yellowknife's oldest building, built in 1937 by Willie Wylie and Smokey Stout. Since then, it has been many things: diner, Chinese restaurant, ice cream stand and even steam bath. It now features a more northern-themed menu including items like caribou steak. It was slated for demolition in the 1950s but its value as an example of the building style of early Yellowknife and as a cultural and social hub of the community earned it protection as a local heritage building and it's now a big tourist draw. This is from the wall of the cabin. It was not a pretty goal but on September 28, 1972 it was the most beautiful thing most Canadians could imagine – the series winning goal by Paul Henderson that gave Canada the victory over the Soviet Union in Moscow with a 6-5 score. The image of that moment is one of the most instantly recognized in Canadian history. This is the top of one of the sticks Paul Henderson used in that game. One day, luthier George Rizsanyi decided the Six String Nation guitar should have a piece of “The Great One”, Wayne Gretzky, reflected in it. so he called the Edmonton Oilers office. They immediately loved the idea and got in touch with Wayne to let him know. A couple of weeks later, the top of a hockey stick arrived in the mail along with a personal note that read simply: "Best of luck, George - Wayne". From DISCO (the Dominion Iron and Steel Company) to SYSCO (the Sydney Steel Corporation), in various guises both private and public, the coal and steel industry in Cape Breton was a way of life for very nearly 100 years before operations ceased in 2000. While citizens, politicians and environmentalists continue to grapple with the environmental impact of the industry, the culture of the industry is now being celebrated at a new museum. This is steel from the mill. The St. Boniface Museum has many claims to fame: it is the oldest building in Winnipeg; it is the largest oak frame building in North America; and it is the place where Louis Riel went to school. Riel’s sister was also a novice there. It is the home to many of Riel's artifacts, including his first coffin (a nicer coffin with Louis in it resides around the corner on the grounds of the Cathedral). And now its richly scarred beams form the back and sides of the Six String Nation guitar. This is cut from one of the timber beams. The grain elevators that once defined the prairie landscape are disappearing. Each of them has a story of a community behind it. In 1899, with money provided partly by the writer Leo Tolstoy, a third of the members of the Doukhobor sect fled repression in Russia for freedom in Canada. In Saskatchewan, they built a communal and pacifist community based on a frank and secular reading of the bible. The town is named for their spiritual forefather, Peter V. Verigin. This is a piece of the community's grain elevator. Isadore Shlafman arrived in Montreal from Poland in 1919 and opened his first bagel bakery in an alley off Boulevard St. Laurent. In 1949 he moved into the current location on Fairmount, where his grandchildren continue to run the business. It is said the sesame seed bagel was born here after some patrons complained that the more traditional poppy seeds were getting stuck in their teeth. This piece is from a shibba – the long paddle used to move and turn the bagels in and out of the brick ovens. While many lighthouses are being decommissioned or automated, this location has been in operation since 1856 and run by generations of the Myrick family since 1872. The present tower was constructed in 1904 when it also became a Marconi wireless station. On the evening of April 14th, 1912 it was at Cape Race that the first distress signal was received from the RMS Titanic. This is a piece from the gear cabinet that drives the rotation of the giant Fresnel lenses. Oak from a doorframe from Centre Block. This is the main building of the three on Parliament Hill. It is home to the House of Commons and the Senate - as well as the Prime Minister's Office and the Office of the Leader of the Opposition. The Golden Spruce was a 300-year-old, 40-metre-tall, fully albino Sitka spruce tree in the Yakoun Valley near Port Clements. Sacred to the local Haida, a popular tourist attraction and – for the lumber company whose clearcuts lay a short distance away – evidence of their stewardship. On January 20th, a madman believing he was doing good dealt the tree a fatal cut and it fell two days later. The Haida described it as their version of a drive-by shooting. They vowed to let the tree return to the earth, but agreed to cut part of it to form the top of the guitar. This was raw wood cut from about two thirds up the prone tree. While critics on all parts of the political spectrum may argue over his legacy, no one can deny that Pierre Elliot Trudeau – the country's 15th (and 17th) Prime Minister – was Canada's most charismatic leader. He brought an undeniable intelligence and inimitable style to the office and redefined the Canadian identity throughout the late '60s and '70s. The image of Pierre in his buckskin jacket paddling his canoe is one of the enduring images of Canadian heritage. This piece is from one of his canoe paddles. The grain elevators that once defined the prairie landscape are disappearing. Each of them has a story of a community behind it. In 1899, with money provided partly by the writer Leo Tolstoy, a third of the members of the Doukhobor sect fled repression in Russia for freedom in Canada. In Saskatchewan, they built a communal and pacifist community based on a frank and secular reading of the bible. The town is named for their spiritual forefather, Peter V. Verigin. This is a piece of the community's grain elevator. From 1928 to 1971, Pier 21 in Halifax was the gateway to Canada for over a million immigrants, wartime evacuees, refugees, troops, war brides and their children. A once drab port facility, it has now been transformed into an interactive interpretive museum and National Historic Site and a popular tourist destination. It also happens to be the place where George Rizsanyi (Six String Nation guitar-maker), aged 8, arrived with his parents from Hungary in 1956. This is a piece from the rafters of the building. Hart A. Massey built Massey Hall, "The Grand Old Lady of Shuter Street" in memory of his son Charles. It opened in 1894 and in the ensuing decades hosted such luminaries as Enrico Caruso, Winston Churchill, boxer Jack Dempsey and even the wedding of aboriginal Canadian athlete Tom Longboat. It is renowned around the world for its acoustics. Perhaps its most legendary performance was the one on May 15th, 1953 featuring Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Bud Powell, Charles Mingus, and Max Roach. This is seat number 69 from the gallery level. A piece of shelving from the office sideboard of Sir John A. Macdonald - first Prime Minister of Canada. The Calgary Stampede may be Alberta's most famous rodeo attraction but it's certainly not the oldest. Rancher J.J. Miller started the Handhills Lake Stampede as a Red Cross fundraiser in July of 1917 and even won a couple of the events himself. The rodeo has been running every summer ever since. This is part of the dance floor from the Handhills Lake Stampede’s community hall that has hosted great country music for generations J.J. van Bibber is a mixed European-Tlingit man now in his mid-eighties. He spent much of his life working trap lines across the Yukon with his brothers. He is also a keen photographer and one of the premier photo-documentarians of a way of life and of key points in Yukon history. What he can't tell you with a picture, he can more than make up for with a thousand stories. This is a stretcher for marten hides. The original fishing schooner Bluenose was launched in 1921 and for 17 years was the undisputed fastest ship on the seas. After WWII, fishing schooners were determined obsolete and she was sold to work as a freighter in the West Indies, where she foundered on a reef in Haiti and sank on January 28, 1946. Bluenose II was made according to the plans of the original Bluenose using some of the materials reserved for repair of the original and launched in 1963. This is from the deck of the ship. The Home for Coloured Children was established in the early 1900s by James Robinson Johnstone – Nova Scotia's first black lawyer, who was murdered in 1915. Segregation was applied to most aspects of life – from work opportunities to education and even the Children's Aid Society. The Home was established to care for young black children who would otherwise have been left to fend for themselves on the streets or be committed to adult asylums. This is a piece from the original building. Qikiqtaruk is aka Herschel Island. It is the northernmost point in the Yukon, lying 5km off the northern coast in the Beaufort Sea. It is also home to the Territory's oldest standing frame-built building; a whaling station constructed in the late 1800s using redwood most likely from California. It is now protected as part of Qikiqtaruk Territorial Park. This is wood from the whaling station. Nearly 250 years of history came crashing down in flames in the early hours of November 1st, 2001. What had morphed from an open air church in 1753 to a Gothic tower in 1840 to a National Historic Site in 1998 lay mostly in ruins. But a 4-year restoration and rebuilding effort is now complete and the unique profile of Lunenburg looks pretty much as it was. This is a piece salvaged from the fire by the pastor of the church. Jean Doucet and Marguerite Gaudet were husband and wife and the likely builders of a small log house in 1768. They were Acadians and brought with them the building techniques of old France. Their house is probably the oldest house on PEI, although the central hearth was rebuilt when the house was moved to higher ground near the Farmer's Bank in Rustico – the site of North America's first credit union. This is a log from the wall of the house. Victoria is home to Canada's oldest Chinatown. Chinese immigrants arrived in 1858 with word of gold in BC but were not welcome members of the community, and were barred from using public facilities and prevented from bringing women from China. As a result, some of these "bachelors" turned to other pursuits, such as gambling and opium. Fan Tan Alley was one notorious destination for these nefarious activities but is today one of the city's most charming corners. This is a piece of a doorway from the original alley. The St. Boniface Museum has many claims to fame: it is the oldest building in Winnipeg; it is the largest oak frame building in North America; and it is the place where Louis Riel went to school. Riel’s sister was also a novice there. It is the home to many of Riel's artifacts, including his first coffin (a nicer coffin with Louis in it resides around the corner on the grounds of the Cathedral). And now its richly scarred beams form the back and sides of the Six String Nation guitar. This is cut from one of the timber beams. Many "Green Gables" pilgrims to PEI confuse the author, Lucy Maud Montgomery, with her fictional "Anne". Lucy Maud was born on the same day as Winston Churchill and raised by her maternal grandparents, Alexander Marquis Macneill and Lucy Woolner Macneill in Cavendish. They were postmasters of the town. Maud (as she was known) worked in the office – often intercepting her own publishers' rejection notices of her early pre-Anne of Green Gables stories before the town got wind. This is a piece of wood from that house/post office. In 1914, painter Lawren Harris built a spacious 3-storey studio in Toronto's Rosedale Valley for himself and his contemporaries in the Group of Seven. Over the years many Canadian and international artists lived, visited and worked here – from Emily Carr to Harold Town. In 1948, the building was sold to artist Gordon MacNamara. In spite of the subway that runs along side it and the city that has grown up around it, it remains an idyllic spot – now occupied by MacNamara's adopted son, photoartist James Mathius. This is a piece of screen frame from the south-facing windows of the second floor studio. Nancy Greene strapped on her first pair of skis at age 3. She was a member of the national ski team from 1959 to 1968 and Canadian Champion six times. She won the World Cup in 1967 and 1968 and both Gold and Silver medals at the Olympics in Grenoble that same year. Greene retired at age 24 and was named Canada's Female Athlete of the 20th Century. She now runs her own resort with her husband Al Raine at Sun Peaks, BC. This is a piece from one of Nancy Greene’s childhood skis. Jean Doucet and Marguerite Gaudet were husband and wife and the likely builders of a small log house in 1768. They were Acadians and brought with them the building techniques of old France. Their house is probably the oldest house on PEI, although the central hearth was rebuilt when the house was moved to higher ground near the Farmer's Bank in Rustico – the site of North America's first credit union. This is a log from the wall of the house. The Home for Coloured Children was established in the early 1900s by James Robinson Johnstone – Nova Scotia's first black lawyer, who was murdered in 1915. Segregation was applied to most aspects of life – from work opportunities to education and even the Children's Aid Society. The Home was established to care for young black children who would otherwise have been left to fend for themselves on the streets or be committed to adult asylums. This is a piece from the original building. New Brunswick is famous for its picturesque covered bridges but one bridge over the St. John River put the tiny town of Hartland (population: 902) on the world map. At 1282 feet, it is the longest covered bridge in the world. It opened, without the roof, on July 4th, 1901, with a toll of 3 cents per pedestrian, 6 cents for a horse and buggy and 12 for a double team. The roof was added in 1922, (and that's when the kissing really got out of control!) This is a piece taken from the bridge cover. Nearly 250 years of history came crashing down in flames in the early hours of November 1st, 2001. What had morphed from an open air church in 1753 to a Gothic tower in 1840 to a National Historic Site in 1998 lay mostly in ruins. But a 4-year restoration and rebuilding effort is now complete and the unique profile of Lunenburg looks pretty much as it was. This is a piece salvaged from the fire by the pastor of the church. The boat called The Yukon Rose was built for the Taylor & Drury Co. to supply their stores around the Yukon and she went into service in 1929. In 1941 she was acquired by the U.S. Army to help in the Alaska Highway project. After that, she returned to civilian service, always one step ahead of the growing network of highways. She has hosted winter weddings and famous fugitives and witnessed every era of development of the Yukon from the gold rush on. This is a piece salvaged during a recent restoration. Since 1903, the Auditorium de Quebec (later renamed Le Capitole) was the "most perfect of its kind" as a grand theatre – except that mostly foreign artists played there and it ran out of money. It was renovated in 1935 by Famous Players to handle film projection and was mostly a movie theatre by 1971. Like so many of its kind, it fell into disuse and disrepair until a huge renovation was undertaken in 1991. It is now a world class performance and broadcast facility with attendant restaurant and boutique hotel but still has the ghosts of vaudeville and the Opera Français de Québec coursing through its brocade veins. This piece is a pin that was used to hold back the stage curtains. After World War II, it emerged that Newfoundland had one of the highest tuberculosis rates in the world. Many of the affected communities had no road access. Walter Davis purchased a decommissioned U.S. Navy vessel and turned it into a floating X-ray clinic. From 1947 to 1970, it surveyed 80,000 Newfoundlanders in 1300 coastal communities, diagnosing and treating not only tuberculosis but also diabetes and other diseases. It sank off Halifax on May 13th, 1976. This is a drawer salvaged from the vessel by the first nurse from the ship, Walter's wife, Olga. The Hoito Bakery has been serving up Finnish pancakes and other delicacies since 1918 in the Finnish Labour Temple at 314 Bay St. It is still run as a co-op and is an important stop on the tour for both diners and students of Canadian labour history. This is a paddle used for stirring soup. Jack London was an American author best known for his books, "The Call of The Wild" and "White Fang" – both written during his days searching for gold in the Klondike. The wilderness cabin where he wrote was relocated to Dawson City. Most of the cabin was reconstructed when substantial parts of the original were further relocated to California. This log is from the original sub-floor foundation. Jack Uppal arrived in BC as an infant with his family and many other Sikhs who came in search of a better life and education for their children. His father found work – as did many Sikhs – in the timber business. Jack grew up to own a mill himself. He is passionate about Canada, passionate about his heritage and passionate about Douglas Fir and Red Cedar. This is a piece of Red Cedar from Jack's mill. The original fishing schooner Bluenose was launched in 1921 and for 17 years was the undisputed fastest ship on the seas. After WWII, fishing schooners were determined obsolete and she was sold to work as a freighter in the West Indies, where she foundered on a reef in Haiti and sank on January 28, 1946. Bluenose II was made according to the plans of the original Bluenose using some of the materials reserved for repair of the original and launched in 1963. This is from the deck of the ship. In 1947, de Havilland Aircraft of Canada introduced the Beaver Bush Plane. While 13 other countries bought the plane for military use, in Canada it became the most popular plane among bush pilots – thanks, in part, to the post-war efforts of Clennell Haggerston "Punch" Dickins, the former RCAF flying ace from Edmonton who was the first to fly the length of the Mackenzie River (2000 miles in 2 days). This is a piece of wooden trim from the otherwise all metal plane.