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WEEKS TO GO
Canadian treasures CANADA: NATURAL SOURCE OF PRIDE SINCE 1867 Sandra Schmirler (1963–2000) CURLING CHAMPION AND OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALLIST
Quiz TEST YOUR CANADIAN KNOWLEDGE
QUESTION 1: What 1909 novel is still considered the best-selling Canadian book of all time?
After graduating, Sandra relocated to Regina where she gained the nickname “Schmirler the Curler” and continued to play the sport competitively. She participated in professional curling at the pro- vincial and national level throughout the 1980s. Her career really took off in the 1990s after a series of numerous important wins, and ultimately peaked with her impressive gold medal win in Nagano. In 1999, shortly after the birth of her second daughter, Schmirler was diagnosed with metastatic adenocarcinoma with doctors un- able to determine the primary source of the cancer. She underwent various treatments in an attempt to fight the disease but ultimately died in palliative care in 2000. She has received several posthu- mous tributes including an induction into the Canadian Sports Hall of Fame and a renaming of a street and recreation centre in Regina in her honour. Sandra Schmirler’s legacy is carried out through the Sandra Schmir- ler Foundation, a non-profit organization created in 2001 by friends and family members of the regretted athlete. The foundation’s main goal is to raise funds for the purchase of life-saving equipment to help premature and critically ill babies—a testament to Schmirler’s love of family. Her love of curling lives on as well: Sandra’s daughter Sara England carries on the tradition as a competitive curler with a bright future in the sport.
A shooting star in Canadian curling
QUESTION 2: Which province’s name means “swift flowing river” in Cree language?
In the 1990s, Canadian woman’s curl- ing was synonymous with the name Sandra Schmirler. She won three Ca- nadian Curling Championships—the Scotties Tournament of Hearts—and three World Curling Championships
QUESTION 3: Which provincial capital was the first city in North America to use a central emergency phone number—originally 999, now 911—in 1958? QUESTION 4: Which CFL team has won the most Grey Cups, with 16 cham- pionship victories?
prior to leading the Canadian woman’s curling team to victory in the 1998 Winter Olympics. The games in Nagano, Japan were the first ever to include curling as an official sport, making Schmirler’s victory in ‘98 even more significant. However, a little over two years later at the age of 36 Sandra Schmirler passed away due to health complications involving cancer. Her untimely demise shook the curling community and the country as a whole. Sandra was born and raised in Biggar, Saskatchewan. Though she was athletic throughout her childhood, she only began curling in Grade 7. In her formative years she excelled at speed swimming and also participated in volleyball, baseball and badminton. In Grade 9 Sandra joined the Biggar Curling Club’s ladies league and in Grade 12 she helped her high school teamwin a provincial championship. While attending the University of Saskatchewan—where she ob- tained a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education—she made her first appearance at the Saskatchewan provincial playoffs.
Photo caption: Courtesy of the Sandra Schmirler Foundation
SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY
ART, LITERATURE AND ENTERTAINMENT
Where are we from? THE 52 LARGEST GROUPS IN CANADA’S MULTICULTURAL MOSAIC
HISTORY AND GEOGRAPHY
SPORTS AND LEISURE
infO Canada THE STORIES BEHIND OUR SYMBOLS
Canada’s Austrian community
Austrian-Canadians have been successful in business, sports, entertainment, academics and the arts. Individuals who’ve made notable contributions over the years include: mathematician Paul Mandl; physician and medical researcher Hans Seyle; and photojournalist Walter Curtin.
SASKATCHEWAN
Canadians claiming full or partial Austrian ancestry numbered 197,990 at the time of the 2011 Na- tional Household Survey. More than a third of this population lives in Ontario, with the largest con- centrations residing in Toronto and Hamilton. Large numbers of Austrian-Canadians can also be found in British Columbia and Alberta, and smaller but still significant populations in Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Quebec. The earliest communities of Austrian-Canadians largely settled in Saskatchewan in the mid-nineteenth century. They came across the Atlantic by steamship and quickly adjusted to life on the prairies. Migrants from the early twentieth century weremore urban and tended to locate inmajor Canadian cities. The last and largest wave of Austrians—numbering approximately 67,000—immigrated to Canada just after the Second World War and continued to do so until the early 1970s. Currently, Canada’s Austrian community has several organizations that promote social exchange via planned events in various urban centres. Several German-language newspapers printed within Canadian borders cater to Austrian-Canadians in conjunction with other Germanic groups.
Flower: Prairie lily
In 1990, the gyrfalcon (Falco rusticolus) became the avian emblem of the Northwest Territories. This largest member of the falcon family winters in the north and primarily inhabits tundra and mountainous areas. Its diet consists mainly of ptarmigan but also includes squirrel, arctic hare and seabirds. The gyrfalcon is quick, strong and has few natural enemies.
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T H E N EWS
The Journal Cornwall
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Wednesday, December 14, 2016
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