Canada in 1949 (post war period) - "A Snowy Day" - Life in Canada late 1940's

#canada #history
Here is five and a half minutes of a day in Canada in 1949. A glimpse into what our country looked like on one day 73 years ago. A reverend drove around to many small towns in Canada and filmed. Original vlogger. We have edited one edition of this old footage -"best of moments" - and set it to piano instrumental of "The First Noel" with additional holiday and snow clips.

In this short video, you'll see many amazing moments in Canada. It's a "typical day" (a happy day) .... People are having snow fights, trying to get their car out of snow, going to barber shop, chatting with neighours, the dog wants to go along with the people in the car and follows along, a small kid goes to store by herself, original environmental basket in hand, how streets were cleared back then, getting gas Old School, original "photo bomb" - kid wants to get in all the pictures, how kids travelled in cars back then (no car seat), a young WWII soldier shakes hands with an appreciative neighbor on the street, people going shopping in serious amounts of snow with just shoes on...with smiles.

We are grateful to Rev. Leroy (Roy) Massecar (1918-1986) - who filmed many small towns between 1946- 1949. "Stars of the Town: Scenes from around Southwestern Ontario" (UWO) - from which this montage is drawn.
He wanted to capture small town way of life in the immediate post World War II era and what a great job he did! The reverend would film ( using silent, black and white 8mm film) a small town on a given day and then show the town the video in the movie theatre, town halls or community centers with everyone delighted to see themselves. There are hours of this footage - he visited over 100 towns!
This particular town featured is Alvinston, Ontario, east of Sarnia.
Full length video of Alvinston in 1949 can be seen here:
Lambton County Archives
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvp7iNsOfoo