In this incredible and compelling memoir, a child born into abject poverty in the African hinterlands dreams of coming to Canada, where he believes his destiny lay in wait for him. The first of many daunting odds Kaanayo Nwachukwu has to outrun to realize this dream is to survive-unlike two lessfortunate older brothers-until his first birthday. Lavish and unstinting in his love and respect for his parents, Nwachukwu nonetheless determines at a very early age that, if he is going to break the crippling grip of poverty on his family, he must not repeat the limiting mistakes of his illiterate father. Inclined to depression, he also contends with taunting, bullying and snobbery at school and, closer to home, is the not entirely traumatized victim of rape by an older woman. During a term of national service, he endures imprisonment, beatings and torture at the hands of the Nigerian military on utterly trumped up charges. But some of his calamities Nwachukwu brings upon himself. Precarious as his progress seems at times, the whole enterprise never quite tips over. Through good times and bad, Nwachukwu scrambles to help pay his own way and that of his five younger siblings, through primary and secondary schools and university, while always striving toward the shining goal of achieving a life that's worth living. When he finally makes his great break for freedom in the New World, Nwachukwu risks starvation and annihilation while living on the streets of some of the most dangerous cities in the world.

Traces the story of Quebec's founder while explaining his influential perspectives about peaceful colonialism, in a profile that also evaluates his contributions as a soldier, mariner, and cultural diplomat.

"There could be no truer witness to the enormity of the First World War, and its terrible cost in lives, than the memorials and war cemeteries along the old Western Front. In Canada, no less than in the other dominions of the British Empire, the war left a conflicting legacy of pride and sorrow that endures to this day. The soaring Vimy Memorial, the Brooding Soldier, and the monuments honouring Canada's significant contribution to the Allied victory symbolize the spirit of shared sacrifice and nationhood that emerged from the crucible of the war; but alongside this official commemoration there exists a poignant, strangely overlooked, record of the grief and search for consolation among the Canadian populace in the years after the Armistice. This has come down in the personal inscriptions which the Imperial War Graves Commission invited next of kin to have engraved on the headstones of the fallen. Simple, heartfelt, often gems of compression, these farewells preserve the voice of Canada's bereaved, the parents, the wives, the children, who were left to mourn and to seek meaning and comfort in their loss. This book offers an anthology of epitaphs drawn from the war cemeteries where Canadian soldiers lie buried in Flanders and France. Photographs and war art transport readers to the sites, and each chapter reviews the sources and themes of the epitaphs to establish their place in the national memory of the ordeal of 1914-1918."--Book jacket.

As Canadians, we remember the stories told to us in high-school history class as condensed images of the past--the glorious Mountie, the fearsome Native, the Last Spike. National Dreams is an incisive study of the most persistent icons and stories in Canadian history, and how they inform our sense of national identity: the fundamental beliefs that we Canadians hold about ourselves. National Dreams is the story of our stories; the myths and truths of our collective past that we first learned in school, and which we carry throughout our adult lives as tangible evidence of what separates us from other nationalities. Francis examines various aspects of this national mythology, in which history is as much storytelling as fact. Textbooks were an important resource for Francis. "For me, these books are interesting not because they explain what actually happened to us, but because they explain what we think happened to us." For example, Francis documents how the legend of the CPR as a country-sustaining, national affirming monolity was created by the company itself--a group of capitalists celebrating the privately-owned railway, albeit one which was generously supported with public land and cash--and reiterated by most historians ever since. Similarly, we learn how the Mounties were transformed from historical police force to mythic heroes by a vast army of autobiographers, historians, novelists, and Hollywood filmmakers, with little attention paid to the true role of the force in such incidents as the Bolshevik rebellion, in which a secret conspiracy by the Government against its people was conducted through the RNWMP. Also revealed in National Dreams are the stories surrounding the formation and celebration of Canadian heroes such as Louis Riel and Billy Bishop.

At last! A practical guide to early retirement in Canada! Free at 45 doesn't require you to win the lottery, be a real estate tycoon, be great at picking stocks or even have that much saved up yet. All you need is a strong desireto leave your job decades earlier than everyone else and be willing to figure out what actually makes you happy!In this book you will learn: Why your house is probably more important to your retirement plan than your pension plan.How to apply the new field of behavioral finance to your life to save more and be happier doing it.How to start living your dreams today and not wait until retirement.How to answer the question: "How much do I need to retire early?"

A journey of a Canadian infantryman serving with the finest soldiers from West Germany during the cold war, to Cyprus, Bosnia, and Macedonia. Paying homage to those who have fallen.