Episode 080 - The tenth Prime Minister of Canada, William Lyon MacKenzie King, was instrumental in Canada's growth from a mere British colony to an independent nation within the Commonwealth. He saw the country through World War 2 and helped to create some of the social policies that continue to make Canada one of the greatest countries in the world to live.

MacKenzie King had his dark side too as is evidenced in his extensive diaries. His government oversaw the internment of 22,000+ who were either Canadians with Japanese heritage or Japanese nationals. His thoughts and decisions based on racial ideals will be shocking to some.

King's beliefs in the after life and spiritualist practices are probably the most bizarre. Driven by loneliness, Canada's longest serving Prime Minister believed he was able to communicate with the spirits of dead relatives, in particular his mother. He also claimed to have interacted with the spirits of other dead politicians, Leonardo da Vinci and even his own deceased dog.

Photo Credit / Mention de source :
Paul Horsdal. Library and Archives Canada, C-055544

Sources:
Wikipedia - William Lyon MacKenzie King
Library and Archives Canada - Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King
Diary Entry - MacKenzie King meets Adolph Hitler
Harper Memorial (Sir Galahad)
Video - From the Diaries of William Lyon Mackenzie King (2017)
OpenTextBC article on Japanese Internment in Canada
Japanese Canadian Internment | Narrated by David Suzuki
Mental Floss - Was Canada's Longest-Serving PM Also Its Strangest?
Book - King: William Lyon Mackenzie King: A Life Guided by the Hand of Destiny
Book - Unbuttoned: A History of Mackenzie King's Secret Life

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The Weird World of William Lyon Mackenzie King