Did you know that Canada's official date for Thanksgiving wasn't proclaimed by Parliament until 1957? HistoryTelevision.ca [update: page no longer available] notes:
Like so many Canadian historical events, Thanksgiving was largely determined by the weather. Or, at least that's what E.C. Drury (the premier of Ontario between 1919 and 1923) claimed after Parliament proclaimed in 1957 that Thanksgiving Day would be on the second Monday in October. Before then it was celebrated later in the year.
The site includes other interesting tidbits, too, like:
Before settlers came to Canada the Ojibwa Indians celebrated two thanksgivings. The first was in the spring to mark the rising of the sap and in appreciation for their deliverance from winter and the other to celebrate the fall harvest. The first time Thanksgiving was celebrated in Canada by early settlers was in 1578. English explorer Martin Frobisher, while trying to find a northern passage to the Orient, observed a day of Thanksgiving in the Eastern Arctic.
(This Thanksgiving posting brought to you by thoughts of tonight's scrumptious dinner.)
Thanksgiving links:
Canadian Thanksgiving
Thanksgiving recipes
2learn.ca's Thanksgiving page
Related Mirabilis.ca content:
Unusual turkey-cooking methods