These weeks are full of historical events, some actively commemorated, all worth note.
200 years ago: Britain voted to end its trade in slaves, March 1807. (Should see: the new film Amazing Grace, on William Wilberforce and the Parliamentary campaign. Best corrective, should it seems too cheer-leady: any of Seymour Drescher's fine books on the complicated history of how slavery ended.)
140 years ago: Queen Victoria gave royal assent to the British North America Act, March 1867. (Should see: since I'm probably the only one who is noticing this one, my book 1867: How the Fathers Made a Deal.)
90 years ago: the Battle of Vimy Ridge, April 1917. Retain a bit of scepticism about that overworked cliche of how "Canada became a nation." Still, a big deal. (Should see: History Television's Vimy film tonight on three guys who went to Vimy from one of my favourite towns, Goderich, Ontario)
60 years ago: establishment of Canadian citizenship, January 1947. (Should see: the lines at the passport office.) Also the abolition of wartime orders-in-council abrogating the rights of Japanese-Canadians.
50 years ago: the introduction of RSPs into the Canadian tax system, March 1957. (Should see: your accountant. Filing deadline's just over a month away.)
30 years ago: the big one among some in my household, the opening of the first Star Wars film, April 1977. Saw it as an adult, but I still remember leaving the theatre wanting to drive our little VW Rabbit as if it were an X-wing spacefighter. (Should see: the Firefly TV series on DVD, a better fulfilment of George Lucas's original dream than most of its recent sequels.)
