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A Great Way to Break the Ice

Icebreaker
The Canadian Coast Guard Ship light icebreakers currently in service are lead by the CCGS Martha L. Black, which is named after the renowned “first lady of the Yukon,” who was the second woman ever nominated to Canadian Parliament

One of Canada’s points of pride is our ability to not only endure cold weather, but to embrace and conquer the cold.  Although it is estimated that over 75 percent of Canada’s population lives within 160km of the border with the USA, there is still a great deal of the population that lives in the far north.  In order to serve these northern communities who are often isolated in frozen environments, the Canadian Coast Guard has a fleet of icebreakers stationed across the east coast, including: Ontario; Quebec; Nova Scotia; and Newfoundland and Labrador.Adam Dodge of SLUG (and one of the coordinators of the Canada Buidls 150 project) has assembled a wonderful vignette that really makes you feel the icy environs surrounding it.

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Splendour Without Diminishment

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Splendor Sine Occasu (translation in the title), the motto of British Columbia that appears on the provincial Coat of Arms, not only refers to the natural beauty of the province, but also references the province’s strong ties to it’s British heritage, with the sun never setting on the British Empire.

Home of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, the B.C. Parliament Buildings can be found in the province’s capital of Victoria. Waylon Klix from SLUG (Saskatchewan LEGO User Group) felt compelled to prove true the province’s motto by capturing the timeless beauty of the Neo-Baroque building in micro-scale – a feat captured by Waylon’s use of variations of gray that seem to add a sense of history to the LEGO model.

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Your Milk Comes in…What!?

Dinner time
A truly iconic Canadian meal – the origins of bagged milk date back to 1967, though this site does not recommend the consumption of any 1967 ‘vintage’ bagged milk

Though not necessarily true everywhere in Canada, one iconic staple of Canadian food culture is that milk is often packaged and sold in bags. Matthew Sklar (sklar) has built a bag of milk in a milk jug, complete with some other very iconic Canadian cuisine – a box of Kraft Dinner instant macaroni and cheese, as well as a large stick of butter.

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Canada’s Grand Railway Hotels – The Royal York Hotel

FairmontRoyalYorkHotel-4
When completed in 1929, the Royal York Hotel (now Fairmont Royal York Hotel) was the tallest building in the British Empire

As Canada’s railways were constructed following Confederation in 1867, people riding those rails needed places to stay.  Railway companies began constructing hotels at or near their train stations, using what is now referred to as a chateau-style or ‘chateauesque’ style of architecture. Jeff Van Winden (jeffvw) from WHaCKoLuG has put together a fabulous micro build of the Royal York Hotel, Toronto’s Grand Railway Hotel, and for a ‘microscale’ model, this building is anything but micro!

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Saint Michael’s Cathedral Basilica

St Michael's Cathedral Basilica
Founded in 1848, Saint Michael’s Cathedral Basilica is one of the oldest unchanged monuments in Toronto architecture

Saint Michael’s Cathedral Basilica serves as the principal church of Canada’s largest English speaking Catholic archdiocese. Vivian Lo from ToroLUG has managed to capture the grandeur of the building wonderfully, in a small-but-mighty microscale model.

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A Devotion to Peace

Canada Peacekeeping
I am grateful for the opportunities I have been given to participate in that work as a representative of my country, Canada, whose people have, I think, shown their devotion to peace. – Lester Bowles Pearson

Many consider the birth of modern United Nations Peacekeepers to be in 1956, at the suggestion of Canadian diplomat Lester B. Pearson.  Jeff Lee (dr_spock_888) from ToroLUG has put together this tribute to Canadian Peacekeeping. The Peacekeepers can be seen wearing their traditional Blue headgear (often referred to Blue Berets or Blue Helmets), and are clearly enforcing a peaceable transition for the civilians behind them.
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