Jasleen Kaur B.

Vancouver, British Columbia

Vancouver Heritage Fair

BOOM! The Halifax Explosion

The Halifax explosion was the worst man made explosion in Canadian history which took place on December 16, 1917. This took place because two ships, the French Freighter the Mont Blanc (which had TNT) and the Norwegian vessel the SS Imo collided with each other that caused the Mont Blanc to get on fire and explode. The entire north end was disappeared; more than a thousand people were injured or killed, and much more damage was also caused so it took Halifax more than 10 years to recover.

 

What was the most interesting thing you learned about your topic?

The most interesting thing I learned was that there was a newspaper published the next day of the explosion. I thought that no one would have witness the explosion because if you see something like an explosion, you will probably faint. Surprisingly, there was a newspaper, and the newspaper gave every detail of the explosion.

What important lessons have you learned that you want to share with other Canadians?

I want to share with everyone that we as Canadians should not let a ship sail with extreme explosives, oil or anything else that is dangerous. If you let a ship carry dangerous explosives or oil, it can cause an explosion or something else dangerous that will affect us or our environment. Like Halifax, our town or country could suffer losses and much more people will die. It will also destroy our environment, nature and where we live (our shelter).

How would you compare your life today to the lives of those studied in your project?

All those people in the 1900’s have not much technology and not all materials that we have currently. In addition, we have all the technology we can ask for, and we have strong and all kinds of materials. They must have a hard time in life compared to us. People have more access to things now in comparison to the past