Celebrating Birth and Children, in the past

From about 1934 to 1943, the Province of Ontario basically took over the lives of quintuplet girls who were born in northern Ontario; and they were on display at an amusement park built for them, "Quintland." People came from all over the world and the business generated a lot of income. These girls were the first surviving quintuplets, as far as I understand. If there was exploitation involved on the part of the Province, the parents of the girls seemed to be worse.--There were allegations of abuse later on; and maybe the family was somewhat overwhelmed by the publicity and the forced separation. It's sad that things didn't go as well for the family, although they profited financially also, but the public seemed to be delighted by the babies who grew into identical siblings. [The public had something to be happy about during the Depression--and about life in general.]

A fictionalized novel and TV movie have been made about the above family, so far. [From the point of view of society, it remains that the girls were a bright spot in a dark period, in my opinion. Apparently, the girls had also left home around the age of 18 years and didn't maintain connections with their parents any longer.]

The Work of Secret Police

Does the average person know or understand what secret police/secret agents do??? Of course the public isn't meant to know everything that goes on or the work would be hindered! But can we imagine? We can only speculate from what has been revealed of past work and agents.

In Great Britain, like in the USA, there are numerous organizations which work together to provide intelligence to the government. Have found it interesting to be reminded of MI5 and MI6. The first refers to "Military Intelligence, Section 5;" and the second to "Secret Intelligence Service" [England]. They're separate agencies but work together directly or indirectly, as far as I understand. In the police project, the numbers 5 and 6 are emphasized at times--maybe it's a nod to these two agencies? Have wondered about it before!?

The government in England didn't even acknowledge until the 1990s that some of their intelligence work--was it MI6--existed? [MI6 provides foreign intelligence.] Was it in the 1980s when our CSIS--Canadian Security Intelligence Service was created?

Secret Connections--V / A Real-Life Hero!

Camp X was founded by a Canadian from Winnipeg who was living in England, at the time. He was also the head of the British intelligence during World War II. His name was Sir William Stephenson. One of his code names during wartime was "Intrepid;" and there's evidence the "James Bond: Secret Agent 007" stories were inspired by him--even if the stories were romanticized for entertainment purposes, to be sure.

When I was a child, a neighbour friend pointed out James Bond to me on TV and I recall watching a TV show or a movie. Bond must have been one of the original action heroes--and maybe others were inspired by him!?

So far, am not sure William Stephenson has really been celebrated enough, although he's of course recognized in his home town!?

[If there has been controversy about whether or not the original author of the James Bond stories attended Camp X, I don't think it matters much!? The point was he learned about the activities and about William Stephenson.--He didn't necessarily have to go to Camp X for information! (Although I wouldn't want to say he didn't attend either.--Some other authors were rumoured to be former students from there.)]

Secret Connections--IV

Camp X was run by the military and not by police, as far as I understand, but there were American police who came for training--and I'm guessing some Canadian police were involved somewhere along the way!? We didn't have our CSIS--Canadian Security Intelligence Service--yet but there was the RCMP Secret Service, if I'm not mistaken. Have added the Canadian Police label to the entries on Camp X.

[NOTE, added June 21: Have been reading further on the Internet and there seems to be reliable information that some RCMP officers did take training at Camp X. The Americans included agents from the FBI and from the OSS--Office of Strategic Studies--which was the forerunner of the CIA--Central Intelligence Agency.]

Secret Connections--III

My blog seems to have a malfunction in an entry below.--It's similar to something that happened in the original blog recently. I deleted that problem but this time I'm not willing to do that. [Have also written in the original blog about the nicknamed "Mr. Big" undercover program by police!]

By the way, the entry immediately below shows a current-day monument which sits on the site of the previous Camp X. There are flags for Canada, the USA, and Britain--plus a fourth flag which I don't recognize.

Secret Connections--II

Here are a few more scenes from the mural by Tony Johnson. The pictures are showing some of the work at Camp X and related subjects.

Secret Connections in Local Area!

Here are some photos of a mural in downtown Oshawa. The mural is a panorama of scenes about the former "Camp X" which used to be in the area. Camp X was a spy training school which began around the time of World War II.

Have read a book about Camp X and attended a lecture by the author at the library earlier. But from reading on the Internet now, there's still more I didn't know! [Won't explain too much for fear of making a mistake but people can look it up for themselves.]

Camp X was apparently a link between Britain, Canada, and the USA--is that correct? [Sometimes the Internet notes aren't even accurate!?] They continued operations for a few decades following World War II before they closed down completely. The public and even most of the government officials didn't know what was going on! The property began with a farm; and some radio antennas were said to belong to our Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for their signals!--Meanwhile, the use of radio was important to the work at Camp X, if I recall reading in the book?

It has also been debated that some trainees at Camp X went on to write fiction books--like the author of the "James Bond" movies? But the spy work itself was very serious, for sure!

[The location of Camp X was approximately on the border between Oshawa and Whitby, for the record.]

NOTE: The mural was painted by artist, Tony Johnson.