Barbara Lehtiniemi is a writer and photographer from Ontario. She’s a graduate of Athabasca University, having completed her Bachelor of General Studies degree in 2018.
A regular contributor to The Voice Magazine for over ten years, Barbara has also contributed to other publications including Chicken Soup for the Soul and Maclean’s. Barbara writes in several genres, including non-fiction, fiction, and poetry. She’s eternally grateful to The Voice Magazine for providing the opportunity to explore an array of topics and writing styles.
Barbara has a fondness for travel, used bookstores, everyday absurdities, and oversized wine glasses. Originally from urban Southwestern Ontario, she now lives on a windswept rural road in Eastern Ontario.
Cambridge is a city of around 140,000 in southwestern Ontario. The city was formed in 1973 by the amalgamation of the city of Galt, the towns of Preston and Hespeler, and a few surrounding villages. The three main founding communities grew to prominence in the 1800s as mill and manufacturing towns, centred along the Grand… Read more »
Ottawa, the capital city of Canada, hugs the south shore of the Ottawa River in southeastern Ontario. Originally the site of an Algonquin settlement, the city was first known as Bytown when it was founded in 1826. The name was changed to Ottawa in 1855, and the city was selected as Canada’s capital city (beating… Read more »
Toronto is the capital of the province of Ontario, and it is Canada’s most populous city (and North America’s fourth-most populous, after Mexico City, New York City, and Los Angeles.) The city hugs the western end of Lake Ontario. The area was frequently used by Indigenous peoples and, in a controversial purchase by the British,… Read more »
Iqaluit is Canada’s northernmost city, and is the capital of Nunavut. The city, originally named Frobisher Bay, sits at the head of Frobisher Bay. Iqaluit, which means ” place of many fish” is a traditional fishing area for the Inuit. The United States build the Frobisher Bay Air Base in 1942, and its airstrip is… Read more »
Quebec City is the capital of the province of Quebec, and Canada’s twelfth-largest city. European settlement began on the site in 1608 and took the Algonquin name that meant “where the river narrows.” That river is known today as the St Lawrence. The city’s old sections retain a European flavour. The Historic District of Old… Read more »
Dawson City, with a current population of less than 2000, is Yukon’s former capital and its second-largest city. The city site, at the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike rivers in western Yukon, had long been an important fishing and hunting base for the Trʼondëk Hwëchʼin First Nation and their forebears before the Klondike Gold… Read more »
St John’s, the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, is Canada’s easternmost city. The city is on the Avalon Peninsula in southeast Newfoundland, facing the Atlantic Ocean. The site of seasonal fishing camps centuries ago, the large protected harbour made St John’s an attractive location for a major trading centre. St John’s was established as a… Read more »
We interrupt our tour of Europe to feature some Canadian cities. Although I have visited two territories and all ten provinces of Canada, I don’t have photos from cities in every area of the country. Instead, I’ll lead you on a scattershot tour of Canada beginning with—where else?—Athabasca, Alberta. Athabasca, nestled on the south side… Read more »
Rovaniemi is in northern Finland, nudging up against the Arctic Circle, and is the regional capital of Lapland. The city was almost completely destroyed by the retreating German army in 1944, but rebuilding commenced immediately after the war. In addition to being the official home of Santa Claus (who you can visit at Santa Claus… Read more »
Helsinki, Finland’s capital, sits on a rocky peninsula plus a number of islands in southern Finland. The area was first settled after the end of the Ice Age around 5000 BC, but Helsinki didn’t become Finland’s capital city until 1812 (the capital had previously been Turku.) Liberally sprinkled with vast green spaces, neoclassical buildings, and… Read more »