Centennial Year

1967 was Canada's Centennial Year and I got some government work. Lester B. Pearson was Prime Minister and Judy LaMarsh was Secretary of State and in charge of the Centennial Commission. Lots of money was made available for cities and towns across the country to celebrate the centennial of the country's entry into Confederation. Montreal hosted the worlds fair or Expo 67 and travelling exhibits depicting the history and growth of the nation were built in the form of the Centennial Train and Eight Centennial Caravans, one for each province, almost.

The caravans were a set of eight Dodge 1100 Semi trucks with sixty foot trailers. The trailers with exhibits were designed to be set up so that visitors could walk from trailer to trailer on enclosed bridges. The entrance started with country prior to man and then proceeded to first nations, white man etc., until modern day. The fur trade era, for instance, was seen from the bottom of a river with the bottom of a trade canoe up above and trade goods, muskets and such beside the walk-way. All the trailers then had their own sounds to go with the exhibits, for instance, voyageurs singing with the sound of rivers and paddles. The era of immigration had a passenger train car that moved and vibrated to the sound of clikkety clack rails. Outside the trailers the music was predominantly Bobby Gimby's Ca-Na-Da song over loudspeakers.

Judy LaMarsh was only the second woman to ever hold a cabinet post in Canada and she did a good job with the Centennial Commission. Rather than dictating to the communities as to what their centennial celebrations should be, she allowed the communities to do their own thing and then the caravan or train came to add that carnival flavour to the celebrations. As a result of Judy's involvement, we became known as Judy's Gypsies. Our caravan, number 7, was tasked with going to the small communities in Alberta, the Yukon and Northwest Territories, that weren't on the CP or CN main lines. So starting in Milk River, Alberta, we travelled to the many, small farm communities that dot the prairies and we were always the centre of their centennial celebrations.

For me, everything came together quickly. I was interviewed, in French and English, in January of 1967 and by May I was on a plane to Calgary. I was officially a Caravan Attendant for which the pay was $400 per month plus room and food allowance plus clothing - gray slacks, wine coloured blazer with the centennial crest on the pocket in silver filigree, seven white shirts with epaulets and Canada cuff links, wine coloured tie, orange coveralls with a large logo on the back, leather work gloves and dress gloves, and a black beret. Most times the food allowance was sufficient for everything and the wages went into the bank. The caravan had an advance man who travelled ahead and organized accommodation and a park or fair grounds large enough for the trucks to set up in. This was quite a feat in some small towns when attendants, truck drivers, electricians, mechanics, RCMP and management arrived - 36 in all. In Milk River, for instance, some of us were billeted in homes.

Most of personnel were from eastern and Atlantic Canada, as far east as Newfoundland. The driver of the lead truck, Romeo Labrecque was from Edmonton and was familiar with the then notorious Alaska Highway. Two more drivers were familiar with Alberta, one from B.C., and the others were from back east. The driver foreman drove the 2 ton truck that had tires, spare parts, and a spare engine. Out of ten attendants, three were from B.C and one from Newfoundland, one from Quebec and all others from Ontario. Four of us joined the caravan in Milk River while all the eastern group had joined in Ontario and had practiced setting up at the Canadian Forces base in Petawawa, west of Ottawa.