Description
Object description
A brief profile of the history and culture of the NATO member country Canada. Film makes extensive use of a wide variety of subject material to present an overview of Canada as a young, large and diverse nation.
Content description
Children, shown at play, open the film. Canada presents different meanings for its populace due to the scope of its geography - forest, seas, plains, mountains and tundra. Grapes and potatoes are shown being harvested. The film quickly describes the Battle of Quebec and points to the freedoms French colonists enjoyed under British rule. Today, land clearing leads to the growth of cities. The Canadian Parliament is characterised as redolent of that at Westminster in the UK. The introduction of Lester B. Pearson to parliament is shown. Canada is described as similar to the United States of America in industry and culture. It is also an immigration nation, some of whom are briefly introduced. This status gives it kinship with Europe, which helps to explain Canadian involvement in NATO. Canadian troops in Caen, France, are shown meeting Mayor Yves Gillou, who takes them to the city's Place du Canada. Canadian military presence in the Arctic is growing as new troops arrive and radar installations spread. Winter life has a significant influence on Canada, as indicated with Inuit trading scenes and hockey. Canadian science, engineering and technology is presented, with views of the aluminium smelters at Kitimat, designers working on a model of a the Saint Lawrence Seaway, the laying of oil pipes, the development of the medical use of Cobalt-60 at Chalk River Laboratories and students taught by Wilder Penfield observing brain surgery in Montreal. A montage of Canadians signing, dancing, wrestling, loading ships, chanting, and herding sheep – with further views of air, road, rail and ship transport – brings the film to a close.
N.B. The French version of the film has the same content, though the introduction of Pearson to parliament is replaced with that of William Albert Boucher.
Physical description
35mm