Category Archives: canada

Jan26

naliqqaittuq.

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snow day yesterday at last

 a really good day to stay home from school

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Inuit in Canada’s North have their own unique names for the months of the year. Aseena Mablick, an announcer for CBC Nunavut’s Inuktitut-language radio program Tausunni, has been collecting information on the names of the months in Inuktitut for years.

Mablick says one of the reasons she’s sharing this now is to “keep the language.”The names in Inuktitut are interconnected with the environment and wildlife surrounding the Inuit in Canada’s North.”It’s a truthful and honest calendar for people who are living over here, everyday, like us,” she says. “We just follow mother nature’s ways for naming the calendar.”

Each region in Nunavut has its own unique names for the calendar, and Mablick shared with us just two of the regions she’s looked into — Baffin region (also known as the Qikiqtaaluk Region) and Nunavik (northern Quebec).

January In Nunavik, January is “Naliqqaittuq”, literally meaning “nobody’s able to compete with it,” says Mablick. “It has to do with the coldest weather in that month.”

January is called “Qaummagiaq” in the Baffin region. It means “bright day coming back.”

meanwhile in ann arbor…

Continuing a six-decade tradition,
hundreds participated in a huge snowball fight
at the University of Michigan Diag,
embracing the Michigan snowstorm.

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credits: cbc news (north), aseena mablick, deadline detroit

Jul1

thrills on canada day.

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Canada has given the United States a lot of fantastic things through the years. Some are easier to embrace than others, like this soap-tasting gum. It’s called Thrills, and it’s actually gum that’s flavored with rose water, but the result seems to taste like soap to a lot of people. Thrills got so much feedback on the taste that instead of changing the formula, they decided to run with it. Now they proudly say, “It still tastes like soap!” on the front of every pack of gum. While it likely turns a lot of people away, it must be a selling point for some since it’s been around since the 1950s.

Thanks, Canada and Happy Canada Day!

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“the age of your children is a key factor in how quickly you are served in a restaurant.

we once had a waiter in canada who said, ‘could I get you your check?’ and we answered,

‘how about the menu first?’”

-erma bombeck

 

 

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 tourism windsor

Feb14

peace by chocolate on valentine’s day and every day.

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This is a true and incredible human story, of a refugee family losing everything, leaving their home, and finding a new home and new life in an unexpected place and in unexpected ways. I’ve been following their story since their arrival in Canada and they are a wonderful example of will, grit, tenacity, family, compassion, overcoming odds, and a sheer refusal to give up. They are paying it forward by giving back to the people in their new community and beyond. Supporting those who welcomed them and may need the help that they so generously received when they were in desperate need. Plus, their chocolate in incredible.

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So exciting!

We are so happy to announce that the movie based on our story, Peace by Chocolate – The Film is coming to theatres, exclusively at Cineplex across Canada on May 6th and the official trailer of the movie was finally released. This movie is a platform to share hope with Canadians and the world -something we all need more than anything these days. See you all at the theatres this spring. (no date yet for u.s. or international openings)
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“generosity is not giving me that which I need more than you do,

but it is giving me that which you need more than I do.”

-khalil gibran

Jul1

thanks to our neighbors, on canada day.

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things you might not know were invented in canada

 

1. Peanut Butter -1884 (by a pharmacist as an option for people who couldn’t chew food)

2. The Wonder Bra – 1939 (by Canadian Lady Corset Company)

3.Trivial Pursuit – 1979 (by a sports editor and photo editor who couldn’t find all their Scrabble squares)

 4. Odometer – 1954 (by a nova scotia inventor)

5. Rotary Snowplow – 1869 (by a dentist – a popular train track clearing device)

6. Egg Carton – 1911 (by a newspaper editor who found a new use for paper)

7. Imax – 1967 (by 3 filmmakers and an engineer)

8. McIntosh Apples – 1835 (by a farmer grafting his wild apple trees)

9. Walkie Talkie – 1937 – (by a western canadian inventor)

10. Insulin – 1922 – ( by 3 toronto scientists- not invented but discovered it and its use )

11. Instant Replay – 1955 (by a cbc tv producer)

12. Foghorn – 1854 (by an inventor/civil engineer/artist – who never patented it)

13.  Green currency ink – 1862 (by chemist/mineralogist – ink used to make us dollars green)

14. Baggage tag – 1882 (by a new brunswick railway man)

15. Paint Roller – 1940 (by a canadian inventor – later tweaked and patented by an american)

16. Standard Time- 1883 (by an engineer who brought it to canadian and american railways)

17. Wheelchair – accessible bus – 1945 (by a blind, quadriplegic veteran – took his first ride after his death)

18. Electric Wheelchair – 1952 (by an engineer)

19. Plastic Trash bags – 1950 (by 2 inventors – later sold to union carbide and became glad bags)

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“i don’t even know what street canada is on.”

-al capone, american gangster

 

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source credits: amanda green, mental floss, canadian pixel