Curious Canadian History (David Borys)

Nine years before Rosa Parks galvanised the American civil rights movement by refusing to sit at the back of a bus, Viola Desmond sparked the mobilisation of a Nova Scotian community when she refused to be moved from a 'whites only' section in the Roseland Theatre in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. Her actions inspired generations of Black Canadians in not only Nova Scotia but across the entire country who fought and won the right to be seen as equals in an unequal Canadian society. While at the time Viola's struggles were nearly forgotten today she is considered a person of historical significance and is the first Canadian woman to ever appear on a Canadian dollar bill.

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It was in search of furs, and the riches from the fur trade, which drove so many Europeans deeper and deeper into the North American continent. Much of the modern day prairies, western Ontario, interior of British Columbia, northern Quebec were first mapped by European explorers who while seeking fame as explorers were also seeking new untapped regions of fur bearing animals. But the fur trade was not a one-way street. European explorers and traders relied heavily on the help from First Nations allies. In fact, without this help the European presence in the fur trade would have been almost non existent. One aspect of this Indigenous-European relationship that has often been overlooked is the role that women played. From being diplomats and interpreters to literally making the difference between life and death, women were key players in this lucrative and historically significant economic activity.

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Lord Stanley's cup, aka "The Holy Grail," is one of the most sought after trophies in professional sports and arguably the hardest one to win. But the trophy doesn't just represent the ultimate achievement in a professional sport, in many ways it is a symbol and representation of a Canadian identity constantly in flux. In this episode David talks with author Jordan Goldstein about the history of the Stanley Cup and its complex relationship to the way Canadians understand themselves and their nation.

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The headlines screamed "Canadian detective foils Fenian bomb plot against the Prince!" When the third in line for the British throne arrived in Halifax in 1883 the entire country was excited for the young prince's tour of the equally young country. Yet, a dramatic turn of events would see Halifax detective Nic Power foil an assassination attempt on the prince's life. Or at least, that's what he and the media would have you believe. In this episode we explore the story of the infamous "bomb plot" and try to understand how Nic Power was able to convince the entire British empire for the entirety of his life that he had indeed saved a member of the royal family.

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The historic and dynamic city of Gravenhurst is explored in this episode written by fellow podcaster Craig Baird from "Canadian History Ehx"

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A big name change is coming!

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A deep dive into the iconic Canadian rock band The Guess Who

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In the late 18th century tension in Ireland boiled over into a full scale uprising. This uprising was put down yet some Irish republicans fled to Newfoundland where they found a social, economic and political climate ripe for agitation. While the island was spared some of the more violent conflicts between Catholics and Protestants like that seen in Ireland, the tension between the two faiths continued to be a problematic reality in the British colony. In 1800 this tension boiled over in an attempted uprising centred around the key port city of St. John’s. 

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In 1979 a conference was held in Toronto which became a pivotal event for both Toronto and Canada’s lesbian community. While so much attention at the time was focused around the emerging visibility of Canada’s gay community, it was heavily gendered, focsuing almost exclusively on gay men, much less visilbity existed for Candaa’s lesbian community. The 1979 conference was thus a key moment in helping bring visibility to Canada’s lesbian community while also acting as a rally point for the community itself. To cover this fascinating topic we are talking with Rebecka Taves Sheffield, an archivist, author, and educator based in Hamilton, Ontario.

Rebecka was the first Executive Director and Archives Manager of the ArQuives (formerly the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives), an organization that is the inspiration for much of her scholarly work. She trained as an archivist at the University of Toronto (UofT) iSchool and earned a PhD at UofT’s Mark S. Bonham Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies. Rebecka has served as a senior policy advisor for the Archives of Ontario and is now advising on digital and data policy with Ontario Digital Service.

She is the author of Documenting Rebellions: A Study of Four Lesbian and Gay Archives in Queer Times (Litwin, 2020), and was part of the award-winning editorial team that produced Any Other Way: How Toronto Got Queer (Coach House, 2017). Her work has been published in Archivaria, American Archivist, Radical History Review, Library Trends, Papers/Cahiers, and the International Journal of Information, Diversity & Inclusion.  

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Because New France was a colony almost perpetually at war the enforcement of law and order in the 17th and 18th centuries was considered vital to the very survival of the struggling French colony challenged by both a growing British empire and powerful Indigenous enemies. Yet, the imposition of law and order reflected the complex social layers that existed within the colony and saw different forms of 'policing' emerging depending on whether one lived in the urban or rural space.

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While both the modern American and Canadian game of football emerged from similar roots, they took very different paths to arrive at the game we recognize today. Americans were much quicker to modify and adapt their game into a uniquely American form of sport, while Canadians were slower to abandon the English roots of rugby and hesitant to adopt rules that could very well make their game seem too "American".

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There are a very few topics in Canadian history that have generated more acrimonious debate than that of the Avro Arrow. Some have called its cancellation a travesty that destroyed a Canadian industry, many of those have laid the blame at the feet of the Americans. Others have approached the topic with a more circusmpect eye, noting it’s exorbitant costs and the refusal of the Canadian government to pay for it. In the public consciousness the Avro Arrow has spawned numerous articles, books, documentaries, and even a film. To take us through this complex subject we've brought in an expert to do the heavy lifting.

Russell Isinger did his graduate work on the controversial CF-105 Avro Arrow interceptor, one of the first researchers to access the declassified archival record on the project. Since then, Russ has continued his research and writing on the Arrow (usually in collaboration with his former graduate supervisor, Don Story), and they are currently working on a book delving into the political and military decision-making behind the project.

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In Part 2 of our two-part series we explore the aftermath of the Avro Arrow’s cancellation. While the cancellation sent short-term shockwaves through Ontario but not much beyond, in later years the cancellation becomes wrapped up in the larger conversation of Canada’s role in the Cold War world. Specifically, our relationship to our American allies and our ongoing efforts to try and grasp on to potentially unifying Canadian symbols. Certainly the cancellation of the Arrow had immediate ramifications for the Canadian aviation industry but its long term significance is arguably even more important. To wrap up our two part series we are going to deep dive into why the Arrow becomes such a polarising issue and settle once and for all why was it cancelled and who was to blame.

Our guest host is Russell Isinger. Russell did his graduate work on the controversial CF-105 Avro Arrow interceptor, one of the first researchers to access the declassified archival record on the project. Since then, Russell has continued his research and writing on the Arrow (usually in collaboration with his former graduate supervisor, Don Story), and they are currently working on a book delving into the political and military decision-making behind the project.

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For our last episode of Season 7 we look at how war in the US showed a deep connection between peoples on both sides of the US-Canada border. While the border between Canada and the United States is now regularly patrolled and controlled heavily on both sides, for many decades it was far more nebulous. It was a border that cut across territory where families and entire peoples had once moved freely. When the Dakota, starving and angry, rose up in 1862 against the US government and settlers in Minnesota a six week conflict ensued. In the aftermath many Dakota fled north across the border to seek safety, refuge, and shelter. These ”American Indians” as the British and later Canadian governments referred to them, would struggle to find a home in what would become Canada – and for many years would remain wandering refugees with uncertain status in a land not quite sure how to accept them.

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Perhaps no single person in the aftermath of the Second World War aroused so much widespread and continued interest in Canada than that of Nazi officer and war criminal Kurt Meyer. Meyer was a murderer, a die hard Nazi, and a ferocious battlefield commander. He ordered the execution of numerous Canadian soldiers during the fighting for Normandy. Despite being found guilty for his crimes, and becoming the only Nazi war criminal imprisoned outside of Germany, his fate became tied up in larger global events and Canadian opinion shifted to reflect these larger global events ultimately changing Meyers fate forever.

Book recommendations: Tim Cook's "The Fight for History" Allen Lane, 2020 and Howard Margolian's "Conduct Unbecoming: The Story of the Murder of Prisoners of War in Normandy" UTP Press, 1998

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From 1864 until 1871 a relatively secret organisation of Canadian police patrolled Canada’s border with the United States. What began as a mission to prevent increasing tension between Britian and the US evolved into a concerted effort to undermine a major threat to Canadian sovereignty. This threat came from the Irish Republican organization known as the Fenians. Through a complex array of informants and spies on both sides of the border the Canadian secret police (known as the Frontier Constabulary) played a central role in defining Canada’s response to the Fenian threat and became the country’s first ever secret police organisation. 

Book recommendation: Canadian Spy Story: Irish Revolutionaries and the Secret Police by David A. Wilson published by McGill-Queens Press in 2022.

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In the late 19th century a number of Canadian missionaries travelled to China ultimately arriving in the province of Honan, north of the Yellow River. These members of the Presbyterian Church of Canada sought to establish a series of missions in the volatile region. They sought to provide health care to the inhabitants while preaching the gospel. Yet, the years would not prove kind to the intrepid evangelists as illness and violent anti-foreign elements would prove to be a constant threat to the survival of the mission and the missionaries themselves. (pictured Paul and Rosalind Goforth)

Book recommendation this week is Healing Henan: Canadian Nurses and the North China Mission 1888-1947 by Sonya Gripma, published in 2008 by UBC Press.

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The St. Lawrence River is one of the most important waterways in the western hemisphere. It has been home to a multitude of peoples and has provided both food and commerce for centuries.   It is both a cornucopia and a highway. First Nations have lived along its banks for more than a millennium and when Europeans began arriving I the late 16th century they entered into a diverse and complicated world, patterns that had been shifting and evolving for centuries prior. Two of the main groups thriving in this world were the Algonquin and Innu, and they would see the possibilities that the newly arrived French could bring, but also were very aware of the destabilizing nature that came as a result of the European arrival. 

Book recommendation: Flesh Reborn: The Saint Lawrence Valley Mission Settlements Through the Seventeenth Century by Jean-Francois Lozier, published by McGill-Queen's University Press in 2018

 

 

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There are many ways in which Canadians express their national identity. Through song, poetry, tattoos, pride over historic and international achievements, the celebration of multi-culturalism, the singing of the anthem, voting in an election, and so many other expressions large and small help us define who we are and who we think we are as Canadians. Sport has always played a central role in this search for identity. From cheering for Team Canada at the Olympics, to fanatically following your local sports team, sport has always been a way to unite Canadians. But sport has also played a role in helping to express the Canadian experience, especially when that Canadian experience is one that embraces Canada’s rugged, hostile and beautiful environment. In the 1920s and onwards the famous painting cabal known as the Group of Seven created an international sensation by painting Canada’s landscapes, presenting to the world what has been considered Canada’s first true school of art. At the same time that these great painters were presenting their material to a world fascinated by Canada’s landscapes, Stanley Thompson was doing the same thing...with golf courses. Thompson embraced the Canadian terrain and built golf courses into it that celebrated the unique and rugged nature of the Canadian landscape. In many ways, Thompson too was an artist who was also, like the Group of Seven, celebrating the Canadian experience through expressions of nature.

In this episode we chat with past guest Jordan Goldstein. Jordan has a Ph.D. in Sports History and 7+ years teaching sports philosophy, sociology, and history. He published his first book entitled "Canada's Holy Grail: Lord Stanley's Political Motivation to Donate the Stanley Cup" in 2021 through University of Toronto Press. His book investigates the political motivations of Lord Stanley's donation of the Stanley Cup as an act of Canadian nation building. ​He recently quit academia to build a coaching and consulting business, Phya Academy, and to work on curriculum development at Synthesis School.

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Henri Bourassa is one of the most famous Quebec journalists in the history of Canada. His writing at Le Devoir, the paper he founded, was embraced by many as the voice of French-Canadians struggling to assert their place in a rapidly changing Canadian nation. He was a complex man, a devout ultramontane Catholic, a French-Canadian nationalist, but also a man who saw a future where English and French Canadians could cooperate and live side by side in harmony as the two “races” of a strong and proud Canadian nation. Yet he was also deeply disturbed by Canada’s attachment to Britain and Britain’s empire, and time and time again his platform at Le Devoir became the voice of many in Quebec who bristled at this long-standing imperial connection. No event put Bourassa on the national stage like the First World War, while he was already quite well known in Quebec prior to 1914, by the end of that war he would be known from coast to coast. 

The book recommendation for this episode is Duty to Dissent: Henri Bourassa and the First World War by Geoff Keelan published by UBC Press in 2019.

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If you took a stroll along the banks of Tay River, in Perth Ontario, just on the northeast edge of the town, you would come upon on a strangely named location, Last Duel Park. Certainly, for many, they might just walk on by, chalking it up to just a strangely named location. But the more curious might wonder, how did this park get its name? The name is not a clever one, it’s given to the park because that is the location of the last fatal duel ever fought in Canada. In 1833 two former friends had such a falling out that the only recourse they sought was a pistol duel on a June summer evening. While on the surface it seemed like this dispute was over a betrayal of trust, behind the scenes it seems like there was far more going on, that being a devious plot to secure a love interest. A devious plot that if true horribly backfired and left one young man dead. 

 

 

 

Book recommendation: Susan Code A matter of honour: And other tales of early Perth, General Store Pub. House, January 1996

https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=susan%20code&tn=matter%20honour%20tales%20early&sortby=17&cm_sp=plpafe-_-all-_-link

 

 

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Before there was Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, New Kids on the Block, or the Osmonds, there was Paul Anka. One of Canada’s most important contributors to the landscape of modern pop music. While not the first teen star, he was the first one from Canada and defied the odds by leaving Ottawa for New York to make it big, and make it big he did. His career has spanned decades, his success has been global, his work is iconic, and while today younger listeners might now know much about him, his influence on music and music history is undeniable. 

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!! CCH will return in January of 2023 :)

 

BOOK RECO: My Way written by Paul Anka and David Dalton published in 2013 by St. Martin’s Press

https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250044495/my-way

 

 

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At midday on November 8th 1861 the USS San Jacinto stopped and boarded the British mail steamer, RMS Trent. A party of American marines then boarded the British vessel and removed from it two Confederate diplomats on their way to Europe to court British and French support for the Confederate cause in the recently erupted American Civil War. This event sparked a massive diplomatic crisis and brought London and Washington the nearest to war they had been since 1812 and frankly, the nearest to war they would ever be again. With the two nations so close to conflict, all of a sudden the dilapidated defences of Britain’s North American colonies were made plain for all to see and a flurry of activity was instigated in London to quickly bolster the seemingly undefended British North American colonies before an American invasion came. 

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In the Autumn of 1945 a Soviet cipher clerk defected to Canada instead of returning home to the Soviet Union. The information he brought with him shocked officials. It named a certain Sam Carr, a Toronto resident and labour activist, as a key figure in not only helping to establish a spy ring, but being the mastermind behind it all! 

Book recommendations: 

Amy Knight How the Cold War Began: The Gouzenko Affair and the Hunt for Soviet Spies 2005 by Mclelland and Stewart; 

https://www.amazon.com/How-Cold-War-Began-Gouzenko/dp/0771095775

Tyler Wentzell Not for King and Country; Edward Cecil-Smith, the Communist Party, and the Spanish Civil War2020 by UTP 

https://utorontopress.com/9781487522889/not-for-king-or-country/

David Levy Stalin’s Man in Canada: Fred Rose and Soviet Espionage 2011 by Enigma Books

https://www.amazon.ca/Stalins-Man-Canada-Soviet-Espionage/dp/1936274272

 

 

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In the autumnal darkness of October 6, 1894, an unseen figure slipped through the streets of Parkdale, rang the doorbell at the home of a well-to-do Toronto family, and shot Frank Westwood in his doorway, murdering him in cold blood. Six weeks later, the spotlight shone on the enigmatic Clara Ford, a Black tailor and single mother known for her impeccable work ethic and resolute personality – and for wearing men’s attire. A former neighbour of the Westwoods, Clara was arrested and confessed to the murder. But as the details of her arrest and her complex connection to the Westwood family emerged, she recanted, testifying that she was coerced by police into a false confession. Clara was the first woman – and only the second person – to testify on her own behalf in a Canadian trial. 

On this episode I chat with Dr. Carolyn Whitzman whose recent book Clara at the Door with a Revolver explores the incredible story of Clara Ford

Book recommendation: 

Clara at the Door with a Revolver: The Scandalous Black Suspect, the Exemplary White Son and the Murder That Shocked Toronto (UBC Press, 2023) 

https://www.ubcpress.ca/clara-at-the-door-with-a-revolver

 

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The history of Montreal’s Black community goes as far back as the very first French explorers to settle along the St. Larry River valley. The community has dealt with slavery, oppression, injustice, and both informal and formal racism. Yet, it is a community that has not only endured, it has thrived, despite significant challenges. It is also a community that was very much connected to the emerging civil rights movement in the US, and it is a community that embraced its own struggle, though a struggle that was very much unique to the geopolitical situation of Quebec in the post-Second World War period. While the community was certainly active in fighting for equality no affair highlighted galvanized it more than the Sir George Williams Affair in January 1969, an event that some argue, set off one Montreal’s Black renaissance. 

Book recommendation: 

Unsettling the Great White North: Black Canadian History by Funke Aladejebi and Michele Johnson. Univ. of Toronto Press, 2022 

https://utorontopress.com/9781487529178/unsettling-the-great-white-north/

 

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Prince Edward Island is one of the most beautiful provinces in Canada. It’s wind-swept beaches are stunning, it’s people are some of the friendliest in the country. It has beautiful golf courses, scenic terrain, a provincial proclivity for incredible music, inspired by both Celtic and French roots. It is the setting for Anne of Green Gables. It has a deep, almost magical connection to the waters that surround it, and if you can catch the perfect day, at the perfect hour, it feels like a small piece of heaven. Today we are talking about one of the most interesting stories regarding Prince Edward Island…the story of how it came to join Canada. Despite the first of the confederation conferences occurring in Charlottetown, the island was not originally part of the Dominion of Canada when first formed in 1867. Why did it not join in then? What happened to make it join in 1873? These questions and more are answered today by Christopher Dummitt. Christopher is a Canadian historian at Trent University, author of Unbuttoned: A History of Mackenzie King’s Secret Life, and host of the podcast 1867 and All That.

Book recommendations: 

Unbuttoned: A History of Mackenzie King’s Secret Life

https://www.mqup.ca/unbuttoned-products-9780773548763.php

 

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Every city, town and village in this country has its own unique history. For this episode, CCH takes a deep dive into some strange tales from the great city of Toronto. From a brawl between clowns and firefighters, to a bizarre post-mortem request from one of Canada's most important political figures and finally to a strange contest that saw the birth rate of the city spike. Guiding us through these tales is historian Adam Bunch. Adam is the author of the Toronto Book of the Dead and The Toronto Book of Love, host of the Canadiana documentary series on YouTube, and the creator of the Toronto History Weekly newsletter. 

He is also one of the organisers of the Festival of Bizarre Toronto History, a festival dedicated

to exploring strange stories from the city's past. This festival is a busy week

filled with online lectures, panels, interviews, and walking tours featuring

some of Toronto's greatest storytellers. The festival runs from April 3 to 9

and tickets are now on sale and can be purchased via the website bizarretoronto.com.

 

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The legendary sagas of the Vikings have always spoken of perilous, seaborne adventures to lands so far to the west as to literally drop off the edge of the known European universe. While some of these lands eventually became known as Iceland and Greenland, other parts would later be dubbed the “New World.” Yet, the discovery of the “New World” was attributed to Christopher Columbus. For centuries, legends persisted that Norse explorers came to the new world long before Columbus. In fact, rumours had it that the Norse made it well into the interior of the North American continent. For a long time, it was difficult for most archeologists and historians to prove if this was ever true. That was until 1968. That year two archeologists discovered a small cloak pin of Norse design in a location on the northern tip of the island of Newfoundland in the province of Newfoundland-Labrador. This discovery triggered a massive archeological dig that would eventually come to prove that over one thousand years ago, and nearly 500 years before Christopher Columbus’ infamous arrival in the West Indies, Vikings indeed arrived in what would become known as the “New World.” 

 

Book recommendation: In Search of First Contact: the Vikings of Vinland, the Peoples of the Dawnland, and the Anglo-American Anxiety of Discovery by Annette Kolodny, Duke University Press, 2012. 

https://www.dukeupress.edu/in-search-of-first-contact

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While the official start of the Cold War is still debated by historians, many agree that it began at some point in the late 1940s. Yet, it was clear by 1945 that the final battle lines drawn when the war in Europe ended would play a significant role in determining the future of the post-war world. One of the earliest examples of this tension playing out was over the German coastal town of Wismar. In early May 1945 a British airborne division, spearheaded by 1st Canadian Parachute Battalion, rushed northwards from the Elbe River to capture this town. While certainly part of the intention was to force the surrender of German forces in the area, the other objective was to cut off the Soviet advance from the east and prevent them from further designs on Denmark. The collision of these two Allied forces at Wismar became a harbinger of the tension to come in the post-war world. 

 

Book recommendation: Tip of the Spear: An Intimate Account of 1 Canadian Parachute Battalion by Col. Bernd Horn and Michel Wyczynski published by Dundurn Press in 2002

https://www.dundurn.com/books_/t22117/a9781550023886-tip-of-the-spear

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The words mutiny and cowardice are some of the most vile recriminations one could make against a ship and its crew. For years, these words were veiled behind the story of HMCS Uganda, Canada’s only naval vessel to fight against the Japanese. Yet, the story of HMCS Uganda is one of the most unique tales told in the history of Canada’s military and speaks to a strange time at the end of the Second World War, when a Canadian government prioritised domestic political interests over those of the ongoing military conflict and in turn put the sailors of Uganda in a damned-if-you-do, damned-if-you-don’t situation.The sailors aboard Uganda were given an unheard of choice in June 1945, one that would cast a controversial shadow over the ship, its crew and its role in the Second World War. 

Book recommendation: Mutiny: The Odyssey of HMCS Uganda by James W. Essex. Highway Book Shop. 2000

https://www.amazon.com/Mutiny-odyssey-Uganda-James-Essex/dp/0889544174/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8

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The recent passing of Gordon Lightfoot is the loss of one of the most important Canadian singer-songwriters in the history of North American popular music. Not only has he released dozens of albums, including over 200 songs, but his music has been recorded by a nearly endless list of artists from a wide variety of genres. His lyrics and melodies have been sung in honky-tonk saloons, dive bars, on legendary stages, in movie soundtracks, and reverberated in sound systems in some of the most elite clubs on the planet. He was an artist who was in many ways quintessentially Canadian, he loved living in Canada, he loved being outdoors, he loved hockey, he was a passionate advocate for the environment, he was a selfless friend and while he certainly had his demons, he was generous to a fault to those he loved. He was a musical leader in a generation of singer songwriters (and especially Canadian ones) who fundamentally influenced the direction of popular music.

Book recommendation: Lightfoot by Nicholas Jennings, Viking Press, 2017

https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/541324/lightfoot-by-nicholas-jennings/9780143199212

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Many Canadians know of the incredible bravery and courage that Canadian soldiers showed on 6 June 1944 when the men of 3rd Canadian Infantry Division seized Juno Beach as part of the largest combined-arms operation in the history of warfare: Operation Overlord, the invasion of northwest Europe. And while there are many incredible books and several podcast episodes talking about this invasion today’s episode is actually the product of a special request from a listener. This long-time listener was recently in Normandy and when searching for a podcast on D-Day felt that there was no episode that specifically talked in any detail about the actions of the first day itself, specifically related to the Canadian infantry assault on Juno Beach. Thus with the 6th of June only one week away here is an episode giving an overview of the actions on that 6th of June back in 1944 when the fate of the world changed forever. 

Book recommendation: Juno: Canadians at D-Day, 6 June 1944 by Ted Barris, Thomas Allen and Sons, 2009

https://www.amazon.ca/Juno-Canadians-D-Day-June-1944/dp/0887624138

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Thayendenagay was a Mohawk war chief, British soldier, tireless advocate and an accomplished diplomat who straddled two very different worlds that were colliding in the latter half of the 18th century. He witnessed the rapid expansion of imperial Britain and then the violent birth of the United States of America all the while attempting to lead his people through the geo-political complexities of that time. He would become one of the most famous Indigenous persons in the British empire and his name was both respected and feared from North America to Europe. 

Book recommendation: Joseph Brant: A Man of Two Worlds by Isabel Thompson Kelsay, published in 1984 by Syracuse University Press.

https://press.syr.edu/supressbooks/1843/joseph-brant-1743-1807/

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In the 1770s the realization that sea otter pelts from the pacific northwest were fetching high prices in China led to an absolute bonanza of trading expeditions into the largely unexplored region. For many, the pacific northwest was one of the farthest places on the planet to reach. Yet, over the course of the last decades of the 18th century the pacific northwest became a collision of cultures and empires: from various Indigenous groups to European imperial spearheads, to an American republic, a variety of characters arrived in the region to chase their financial dreams. It was a place of danger and discovery and a place that could make or break one’s fortune. 

Book recommendation: Pacific Voyages: The Story of Sail in the Great Ocean by Gordon Miller published by Douglas and Mcintyre in 2023

https://douglas-mcintyre.com/products/9781771623476

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Welcome everyone to the first episode of Season 9! In the late 1860s a man named Henri Le Caron was rising within the innermost circles of the Fenian Brotherhood. He had served alongside Fenian leader John O’Neill during the US Civil War and by the end of the 1860s found himself helping O’Neill organize and plan an invasion of Canada. Yet, what O’Neill and so many others didn’t know was that Henri Le Caron was really named Thomas Beach, and Beach wasn’t working for the Fenians, he was a spy working for the Canadian and British authorities. The work of Thomas beach would help foil a Fenian invasion of Canada and contribute to the collapse of that radical organization. 

BOOK RECO: Delusion: The True Story of Victorian Superspy Henri Le Caron 

by Peter Edwards published in 2008 by Key Porter Books

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Sometime in the early to mid-19th century, thousands of Coast Salish warriors, from dozens of tribes, united in an incredible moment of Salish solidarity. They did this to stop an enemy that had been terrorizing the Salish people for years. In doing so, the Salish inflicted a devastating defeat on that enemy. The event that occurred has become a cornerstone of Salish history and identity. A story that has been passed down for many generations amongst many different Salish elders. A battle that proved to be one of the most decisive victories ever inflicted on any enemy by any military force in the history of the Pacific North West. 

Documentary recommendation: Tzouhalem 

https://www.knowledge.ca/program/tzouhalem

 

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In recent weeks a diplomatic row between Canada and India erupted as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused India of being behind the assassination of Sikh separatist and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar’s involvement in the Khalistan Movement and the tensions within India over Sikh separatism have cast a spotlight on one of the most horrific terrorist attacks in North American history. On 23 June 1985 a plane was headed to Delhi from Toronto when it exploded killing all 329 persons on board, 280 of which were Canadian citizens. This bombing of Air India Flight 182 became the biggest mass murder in Canadian history, one of the most damning intelligence failures in Canadian history, and frankly, a near total travesty of justice. 

Book recommendation: Kim Bolan’s “Loss of Faith: How the Air India Bombers Got Away With Murder” 

 

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In September 2023 the Canadian parliament gave a standing ovation to 98 year old Yaroslav Hunka, who at the time was being applauded for his role in fighting the Soviets during WW2. This soon became a national and international embarrassment when it was realized that while Hunka did indeed fight the Soviets he did so as part of an SS regiment. In the aftermath of this scandal it came to light that Canada in fact opened its borders to Ukrainian veterans of the Waffen-SS in the post-war period. To dive into the complex history of this story I’ve brought on to the show one of the leading experts on this subject, historian Per Anders Rudling. In this part one of a two episode special Per takes us through the history of the First Ukrainian Division (also known as the 14th Waffen-SS Division Galician) and talks about how and why SS veterans were allowed into Canada and what this meant for our later understanding of their role in that war. 

Per Anders Rudling is a historian at Lund University in Sweden who focuses on the subject of nationalism, historical culture and historical memory in areas that today make up parts of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. He 2015 he published The Rise and Fall of Belarusian Nationalism which became an award winning work and he is currently researching Ukrainian nationalism during the Cold War. 

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The relationship between Israel and Palestine is a complex and chaotic situation which is not only fraught with acrimonious debate but continual violence. When we ask why this situation is so far from ever being solved, part of the answer, or the blame you might say, lies with the international community. That being the nations that proposed the partition of Palestine, the newly formed United Nations that backed it, and then the international community that stepped away from the ultimate objective of the plan: a two state solution, a Jewish and an Arab state. In this episode we look at how Canada was right there in the centre of the decision to partition Palestine and how it played a key role in supporting a solution that continues to be a trigger for both Jewish and Arab communities in the Middle East. 

BOOK RECO: Canada’s Foreign Policy and the Arab-Israeli Conflict by Kamaran K.M. Mondal, published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing in 2022.

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Back in episode 4 myself and historian Per Anders Rudling spoke in length about the history behind Ukrainian Waffen SS veterans settling in Canada in the aftermath of the Second World War. This discussion was a result of the embarrassing moment in Canada’s parliament where parliamentarians gave a former Waffen SS soldier a standing ovation. Our conversation was so good and there was so much covered we decided to turn it into a two parter. Thus, in this second part of our discussion we explore why the history of Waffen SS veterans in Canada took so long to come out, what this says about Canada, what it means for Canadian history and the history of Ukrainians in Canada, and finally the serious backlash that Per has received while uncovering this issue including serious efforts to silence him. 

Per Anders Rudling is a historian at Lund University in Sweden who focuses on the subject of nationalism, historical culture and historical memory in areas that today make up parts of Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania. He 2015 he published The Rise and Fall of Belarusian Nationalism which became an award winning work. Per is currently researching Ukrainian nationalism during the Cold War. 

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The Globe and Mail is an absolute fixture of the Canadian media landscape. One would be hard pressed to find a single Canadian who would not know what the Globe and Mail is, or could not name it if asked to name three Canadian newspapers. Yet so few Canadians know the man who founded it. This man was a figure of Gatsby-esque proportions. A media mogul, a sports enthusiast, a wealthy and connected Toronto elite who had immense influence over both the Canadian cultural and political landscape. He was also a man who harboured a dark secret, a secret that eventually killed him. 

The guest for today is Mark Bourrie, author of Big Men Fear Me: The Fast Life and Quick Death of Canada’s Most Powerful Media Mogul.

Mark wrote as a freelance correspondent for the Globe and Mail from 1978 to 1989 and for the Toronto Star from 1989 to 2004 and was a member of the Parliamentary Press Gallery from 1994 to 2018. Mark taught media history and journalism at Concordia University, history at Carleton, and Canadian Studies at the University of Ottawa. He is the author of 13 books and his 2019 book Bush Runner: The Adventures of Pierre Radisson, was a Canadian best-seller and winner of the RBC Charles Taylor Prize for literary excellence. Mark has also been the recipient of several major media awards, including a National Magazine Award and has written extensively on topics for both history and law.

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On the 30th of May 1867 Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederate States of America, arrived in Toronto following his imprisonment after the Civil War. In a speech to a crowd of Canadian onlookers he said, “I thank you for the honour you have shown me, May peace and prosperity be forever the blessing of Canada, for she has been the asylum of many of my friends, as she is now an asylum for myself, may god bless you all.” What did he mean by an asylum for himself and many of his friends? When looking back on the Civil War it is difficult to sympathize with anyone who served on behalf of a political institution that sought to keep hundreds of thousands of people brutally enslaved. Yet, the reality is that back in the 1860s certain parts of Canada, and sizeable groups of Canadians and Maritimers, were indeed sympathetic to the southern cause, if not outright supportive. Various parts of British North America were used by Confederate spies, agents and saboteurs to conduct operations against Abraham Lincoln’s Union. In certain quarters of some cities and towns Confederates and their supporters could be found drinking, socializing, drumming up support, raising money, planning miliary operations and even dreaming of murder. 

BOOK RECO: The North Star: Canada and the Civil War Plots against Lincoln by Julian Sher, published by Alfred E. Knopf Canada in 2023

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For this 2023 Holiday Reboot episode we go way back to Season 2 Episode 1 for one of the strangest tales of the Second World War. In the closing days of the conflict a group of VIP prisoners, incarcerated at Castle Itter in Austria, near the city of Tyrol, fight a desperate battle against a murderous band of SS Soldiers seeking to inflict death across the Austrian countryside as the Third Reich collapses. While the prisoners themselves are a mixed bag of Europeans, they are eventually joined by deserters from the German Wehrmacht, Austrian resistance fighters and even an SS officer who helps lead the defence. It is an odd, strange tale that I promise has a Canadian connection. Enjoy! 

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For this 2023 Holiday Reboot episode we go back to Season 2 Episode Six for a look at the militia of Upper Canada during the early days of the War of 1812. On paper, the militia was a sizeable force, yet in reality it was dubious in its commitment to the defence of Canada and questionable in its quality to do so were they even to show up. A British general by the name of Isaac Brock was responsible for this rag-tag group of would-be soldiers and he did his  very best to ensure both their loyalty and that they could contribute once battle erupted. Despite the questions surrounding this group, in the early days of the War of 1812 the militia was present at every major battle and while never really the crucial factor in winning battles was nonetheless necessary for the defence of Upper Canada in the face of multiple American invasions. Enjoy this trip back to 1812!

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The Avro Arrow is a topic that has fascinated Canadians since its controversial cancellation in 1959. However, in the last ten years the narrative has changed dramatically from an American plot to ruin our aerospace industry to a decision made by the Canadian government based on very real calculations about the security threat to North America and the changing defence landscape of the late 1950s. In this episode we talk with Alan Barnes who has recently uncovered some incredible research that shows how important Canadian intelligent services were to the decision to cancel the Avro Arrow project. Alan has clearly uncovered that not only was the cancellation of the Arrow a highly calculated move by the Diefenbaker government but Canada’s newly established intelligence services played a key role in helping the Canadian government predict the future of defence issues which in turn spelled the end of the Arrow project. 

Alan Barnes was an analyst and a manager of analysts in the Canadian intelligence community for over 25 years. He served as a military intelligence officer, and as the Middle East analyst in the Political Intelligence Division of the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade. Mr. Barnes moved to the Intelligence Assessment Secretariat (IAS) of the Privy Council Office when that organization was formed in 1993 and was the Director of the IAS Middle East and Africa Division from 1995 until his retirement in 2011. Mr. Barnes played a key role in the IAS's efforts to improve analytical tradecraft and in the training of new analysts. Since his retirement Mr. Barnes has continued his work on issues related to intelligence assessment. He is currently researching the history of strategic intelligence in Canada since 1945 and is Project Co-Leader of the Canadian Foreign Intelligence History Project (CFIHP). 

CFIHP is a collaborative effort to encourage the study of foreign intelligence in Canada and to facilitate access to archival records on this subject. By working together, researchers have a better chance of overcoming the many challenges associated with working in this field.

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The fortress of Louisbourg was once thought to be one of the finest fortresses of its day. It was considered a marvel of engineering, a dominating position that helped secure French control over the eastern seaboard of modern day Canada. Today, the fortress is one of the most important historical places in the country, it was at the centre of French control over what would become Canada and was the site of several key battles. The story of Louisbourg sheds light on the decades long colonial struggle for empire in North America. In fact, the siege of Louisbourg in 1758 would play a key role in determining the outcome of that conflict in North America, and ultimately the entire fate of the British-French rivalry for continental control. 

Book recommendation: The French and Indian War: Deciding the Fate of North America by Walter R. Borneman. HarperCollins, 2006. 

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The Houthis are a non-state Shia Islamist politically and military movement, and they have controlled key parts of western Yemen since the Yemenis Civil War broke out in 2014. In response to the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza the Houthis began launching missile and drone strikes at cargo ships entering the Red Sea (shipping destined for the Suez Canal). The Houthis claim to be aiming their strikes at Israeli shipping as a show of support for the Palestinians, but as it’s turned out they seem to be targeting a variety of shipping actors. This threat to global shipping prompted a significant response form the international community, including Canada. Yet, Canada’s contribution (or lack thereof) has highlighted some serious flaws in our current naval capabilities, and frankly in our general military capabilities. Today on the show, we have brought on Christopher Roberts from the University of Calgary to talk about the history of Canada’s involvement in Africa, with a particular focus on our naval contributions in the post 9-11 era. This is a fantastic discussion where we spend quite a bit of time talking about the current state of Canada’ s military in an increasingly volatile world and exploring some of the lesser known Canadian military operations in and around the African continent. 

Christopher Roberts is a Fellow of the Canadian Global Affairs Institute and an instructor in Political Science at the University of Calgary. For over thirty years he's worked on African-related security, business, and development issues. He's currently the administrator of the global African Navies Research Network and has an article coming out, with Rob Huebert, on Canada and African maritime security in the next issue of Canadian Naval Review. 

You can follow him on Twitter/X at @cwjroberts.

The CGAI is Canada’s most credible source of expertise on global affairs. Established in August 2001 and based in Calgary and Ottawa the CGAI is a registered charity which comments repeatedly in the media and publishes extensively on defence, diplomacy, trade, resources, and development. You can check out CGAI at their website CGAI.caYou can also listen to their podcasts by subscribing to the show The CGAI Podcast Network. 

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One of the most talked about shows currently available is Masters of the Air. A program detailing the lives of American bomber crews serving in the US Army Air Force during WW2. In today’s episode, I bring on a past guest of CCH, historian Alex Fitzgerald-Black, to talk about the Canadian version of Masters of the Air. While the Americans bombed during the day, at night Canadian crews also took the bomber war to Germany and Axis powers. In today’s discussion we trace the beginning of the Canadian bomber fleet, the formation of No. 6 Bomber Group (one of Canada’s largest national formations of the entire war), the various operations that Canadian bomber crews participated in and finally we talk about the legacy of the Canadian bomber contribution and spend a bit of time sharing our own thoughts on Masters of the Air.

 

Alex Fitzgerald-Black is the Executive Director at the Juno Beach Centre Association, the Canadian charity that owns and operates Canada’s Second World War Museum on the D-Day landing beaches in Normandy, France. He holds a Master of Arts in military history (University of New Brunswick) and a Master of Arts in public history (Western University). His first book, Eagles over Husky: The Allied Air Forces in the Sicilian Campaign, 14 May to 17 August 1943, was published in 2018. He has co-written multiple exhibitions at the Juno Beach Centre, including most recently Rising to the Challenge: The Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War.

The Juno Beach Centre is preparing to commemorate the 80th anniversary of D-Day and the Battle of Normandy in summer 2024. Veterans Affairs Canada will be organizing the Canadian overseas ceremony on Juno Beach outside the Centre. For more information about the anniversary and to access further resources, please visit www.juno80.ca and junobeach.org. 

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In May 2023, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) commemorated its 150th anniversary. The federal police force – which originally started out as the North-West Mounted Police – is almost as old as the Dominion of Canada itself. This episode examines the complex and painful history of an institution that has historically mistreated Indigenous peoples and women. It also takes us back to the scene of one of the RCMP’s largest manhunts – the search for fugitive Albert Johnson, also known as “The Mad Trapper.” Guests on this episode are Sam Karikas, CEO of the RCMP Heritage Centre, and Jean Teillet, a recently retired Métis lawyer, author, and lecturer, who is also the great-grand niece of Louis Riel.

More episodes are available at: https://lnkfi.re/ctms2e2cch. To read the episode transcripts in French and English, and to learn more about historic Canadian milestones, please visit thewalrus.ca/canadianheritage. 

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Hockey has had both an enduring but also a complicated relationship with ideas about what it means to be ‘Canadian’. While not every Canadian skates, or plays the game, or even cares about the game, the sport itself occupies a serous place in the Canadian cultural psyche. While the game has often been seen as something to unify Canadians, or to express ‘Canadianness’, it has also been exposed for very serious flaws in its culture, its infrastructure, and its dubious place as a game of character and inspiration for Canadian youth. The game of hockey, as we understand it now, has undergone dramatic challenges and changes since its first official appearance on ice in Montreal in the 1870s.  This episode seeks to understand some of the key developments in the game that we now recognize today. From the rules to the rink size, to professionalization, commercialization, internationalization, to the broadening of the hockey cultural mosaic. From its amateur roots to a game that is international in its appeal, incorporating men and women from different socioeconomic classes and ethnic groups, and one that continues to evolve alongside modern value systems while evoking serious discussion on its relevance to modern Canadians. 

Book recommendation: Canada’s Game: Hockey and Identity by Andrew C. Holman published McGill-Queen’s Press in 2009. 

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When one thinks of the pre-confederation development of North America one might think of war and empires, competing nations, economic trade, fur, colonization, resistance and so many other themes and topics that have been enshrined in our understanding of early French and British North America. 

What’s interesting, is that present in almost all of this is alcohol. In fact, alcohol has been at the heart of the settler-colonial experience since the first Europeans arrived on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. Alcohol was already central to European personal, economic, and professional relationships, and thus became central to European colonialism including European-indigenous relations, the slave trade, the fur trade, and the relationship between the classes. In fact, alcohol came to define much of the lives of those European settlers. Of course, alcohol was not without its detractors, religious leaders, pious settler communities and First Nations all sought in different ways to limit or resist both the temptation and the spread of alcohol in North America and by the middle of the nineteenth century the tide of alcohol had subsided considerably – but analysis’ of the causes of excessive drinking, focusing as it did on the inherently disorderly conduct and defective self-control of the lower orders, as well as the inherent vulnerability of Indigenous peoples, has misled generations of historians.  In many ways alcohol became wrapped up in the struggle for survival between those who had lived here for generations and those who were newly arriving, between nations and empires, and people, and played a role in shaping the future of the new world. 

To help us dive into this complex subject we’ve brought on an expert in the field, Allan Greer. Allan Greer is a historian and professor at McGill University 

Originally trained as a historian of early Canada, over time he expanded the scope of his research and teaching to include colonial North America, the history of native peoples of the Americas and the history of the Atlantic World. He is centrally involved in Montreal's French Atlantic History Group. Allan Greer has published extensively on, among other topics, the social history of early French Canada, the Canadian Rebellion of 1837-38, state formation, the early modern Jesuits, religious change and colonization, colonial saints, property and the history and historiography of New France. His books have won a number of national and international awards.

The book recommendation is by Allan Greer and is titled Property and Dispossession: Natives, Empires and Land in Early Modern North America published by Cambridge University Press in 2017.

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I’m sure all our listeners at some point in their lives have encountered an uncomfortable moment when discussing sex and sexuality, and in many places and communities within Canada discussions of sex are still quite taboo. Today, we’re breaking that taboo and asking some real questions about sex in Canada. How has the subject of sex in Canada changed over time? When did issues related to sex and sexuality really undergo significant change in this country? How much sex did Canadians used to have? How much sex are they having today? These questions and so many more are going to be answered in the sexiest CCH episode to date. 

We dive to the bottom of these questions with sociologist Tina Fetner

 

Tina Fetner is Professor and Chair of the Sociology Department at McMaster University. Her previous projects explored the dynamics of social change relating to sexuality, examining the impact of the opposing activism of LGBT movement and the anti-LGBT activism of the religious right from a historical perspective. Her current research examines the social organization of sexual behaviour. She is the principal investigator for the Sex in Canada multi-method research project that examines sexual behaviour and social attitudes among Canadian adults. This project builds upon previous work, including comparative analyses of the change in attitudes toward lesbian and gay people, as well as the uneven growth of Gay-Straight Alliances in high schools.

Today’s recommended book is Tina Fetner’s most recent book Sex in Canada: The Who Why When and How of Getting Down Up North. Published by UBC Press in 2024.  

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The First World War occupies a complicated space in our public memory. For many Canadians, places like Vimy Ridge or Passchendaele are certainly familiar, Remembrance Day is generally well attended, issues like shell shock are broadly understood, and the traumatic events of the conscription crisis are often taught, though in very different ways whether one is French-Canadian or not. Yet, in the last two decades more and more scholarship has appeared which has added nuance and complexity to narratives that have traditionally been presented or taught or even understood in far more simplistic and inaccurate ways. Gregory Kennedy has contributed to this burgeoning field by examining the story of Acadians in the First World War. The Acadians are a minority French community in the Maritimes and yet their experience highlights the much more nuanced realities of the broader Canadian experience during that nation-defining conflict. While much of the country railed against the perceived lack of participation of French Canadians, Kennedy’s work shows that the Acadians did indeed enlist at very similar rates as to Anglophone Maritimers. The contributions of Acadians formalized into the raising of the 165th battalion, an all-Acadian regiment. Yet, even the story of the 165th sheds light on the varying experiences of Canadian soldiers in the Canadian Expeditionary Force. 

Gregory Kennedy is Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Professor of History at Brandon University. He was previously Professor of History at the Université de Moncton, and from 2015 through 2023 was the Research Director of the Institut d'études acadiennes. He has two monographs, Lost in the Crowd: Acadian Soldiers of Canada's First World War and Something of a Peasant Paradise? Comparing Rural Societies in Acadie and the Loudunais, 1604-1755, both with McGill-Queen's University Press. Kennedy is the lead researcher of the SSHRC-funded Partnership Development project Military Service, Citizenship, and Political Culture in Atlantic Canada. He is also the co-editor of a forthcoming interdisciplinary collection of essays called Repenser l'Acadie dans le monde, and a co-researcher of the SSHRC-funded Partnership project Trois siècles de migrations francophones en Amérique du Nord.

Today’s book recommendation is by Gregory Kennedy titled Lost in the Crowd: Acadian Soldiers of Canada’s First World War, published by McGill Queen’s Press in 2024. 

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If you happened to grow up in North Vancouver, British Columbia (like I did) the name Harry Jerome was one seen everywhere. Harry Jerome was not just an Olympian, a world record holder, a Canadian athletic legend, a profoundly impacting community leader, but he was also Black in a time when the US was still embedded in the Jim Crow era and segregation, racism and prejudice were rife throughout this country as well. In this episode I have an incredible talk with Harry’s sister Valerie Jerome. Valerie herself was an incredible athlete, who trained alongside her brother and competed at the Olympics, Commonwealth and World championships. Like her brother she went on to become a community leader and teacher, even running for civic, provincial and federal elections for the B.C.’s Green Party. Myself and Valerie sit down to talk about what it was like being Black in Canada in the 1950s, life in North Vancouver, the quest to become an Olympian, overcoming incredible odds and the important legacy of Harry Jerome.

Today’s book recommendation is by Valerie Jerome titled “Races: The Trials and Triumphs of Canada’s Fastest Family” 

As well you can catch live footage of Valerie competing back in the day in the CBC Gem series – Black Life: Untold Stories – an eight episode documentary that looks at Black lives in Canada.  

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Several episodes back, season 9 episode 15, we had on as a guest Alan Greer to talk about alcohol and its role in early colonial North America. One of the areas that was touched upon, that I thought would make an excellent future episode was alcohol’s role in the fur trade. As many are probably aware much of Canada’s early interactions between First Nations and Europeans came in the form of the fur trade. Some could make a strong case that the Canada we know today owes much to that early fur trade process.  In this episode we look back on how alcohol played a role in allowing Europeans to impose a credit/debt system within the fur trade, and the effects that this system had on European-Indigenous relationships. As well, how was alcohol used at the sharp end, where Europeans and Indigenous traders interacted? And was this all simply a European imposed system or did Indigenous traders act and react, resist and accept or outright reject these European tactics, tools and techniques of trade? 

Book recommendation: Allan Greer’s Property and Dispossession: Natives, Empires and Land in Early Modern America, Cambridge Univ. Press in 2018 

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When the British government declared war on Germany in August of 1914, no one in Canada (who was automatically thrust into the conflict by Britain’s declaration) ever could have predicted the incredible contribution the country would make in manpower, material and money. By the end of that war 650,000 Canadian soldiers were in unform and Canada had one of the most powerful corps formations on the western front. But what people often don’t think about, is how did Canada find the cash to support such a significant contribution. And that question is the focus of the newest CCH episode. How did Canada figure out a financing system that supported an almost unbelievable contribution to the world’s first global industrial war? Who was in charge? How was the program carried out and what was the reaction of every day Canadian? 

To answer these questions we have brought on David Roberts. David is a retired editor/historian at the Dictionary of Canadian Biography / Dictionnaire biographique du Canada. In addition to writing several articles for that publication, he is the author of In the Shadow of Detroit: Gordon M. McGregor, Ford of Canada, and Motoropolis (2006), published by Wayne State University in its Great Lakes Books series.  Mr Roberts lives in Don Mills, Ontario.

Today’s book recommendation is David’s newest book Boosters and Barkers: Financing Canada's Involvement in the First World War published in 2023 by the University of British Columbia Press for the Canadian War Museum's Studies in Canadian Military History series.

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Imagine you are a maritime Canadian finishing your PhD dissertation in Germany right when the First World War breaks out. As a subject of the British empire, your country (and empire) is automatically at war with Germany and thus you are now an enemy alien in that country. This is the situation that faced Winthrop Bell in 1914, and it began an incredible story that led to Winthrop Bell becoming a British imperial spy in Germany, and in many ways, a prophet. Long before anyone predicted the horrific regime that would become the Nazis, Canadian Winthrop Bell was already sending back warning signs about this emerging National Socialist party, their agenda, and the growing public support for the ultimate goal of that regime. 

 

Today we have on as a guest Jason Bell, PhD. Jason is a professor of philosophy at the University of New Brunswick. He has served as a Fulbright Professor in Germany (at Winthrop Bell’s alma mater, the University of Göttingen) and has taught at universities in Belgium, the United States, and Canada. He is currently writing a book on Allied deception operations in the Balkans during World War II. 

 

This week’s book recommendation is Cracking the Nazi Code: The Untold Story of Agent A12 and the Solving of the Holocaust Code by Jason Bell, published by Pegasus Books in 2024. 

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**SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT – NEW BOOK**

 

Our very own David Borys has a new book coming out in September titled “Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867” published by Dundurn Press. The book is an easy to read, single volume history of Canada at war since 1867. This photograph-rich volume covers nearly 150 years of the Canadian military, tracing its evolution from a small, underfunded, poorly trained militia to the modern, effective military it is today

 

The book will be released on September 24th in Canada and October 22nd in the United States. 

 

As part of the pre-sale campaign CCH is dropping a series of short readings by David from sections of the book. 

Today’s excerpt takes us back to 1870/71 where we dive into the middle of the last gasp efforts of the Fenian Brotherhood to invade Canada and incite rebellion in Ireland.  

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**SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT – NEW BOOK**

 

Our very own David Borys has a new book coming out in September titled “Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867” published by Dundurn Press. The book is an easy to read, single volume history of Canada at war since 1867. This photograph-rich volume covers nearly 150 years of the Canadian military, tracing its evolution from a small, underfunded, poorly trained militia to the modern, effective military it is today

 

The book will be released on September 24th in Canada and October 22nd in the United States. 

 

As part of the pre-sale campaign CCH is dropping a series of short readings by David from sections of the book. 

Today’s excerpt takes us back to 1870/71 where the Canadian government has sent out a military expedition to secure the annexation of the Red River Colony. This expedition, known as the Wolseley Expedition, is not sure if they are going to encounter violence when they finally arrive in Red River after what was an arduous and challenging journey to what would become Canada’s newest province.   

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Our very own David Borys has a new book coming out in September titled “Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867” published by Dundurn Press. The book is an easy to read, single volume history of Canada at war since 1867. This photograph-rich volume covers nearly 150 years of the Canadian military, tracing its evolution from a small, underfunded, poorly trained militia to the modern, effective military it is today

 

The book will be released on September 24th in Canada and October 22nd in the United States. 

 

As part of the pre-sale campaign CCH is dropping a series of short readings by David from sections of the book. 

For today’s story we go back to the late 19th century where heated debates rage throughout Canada regarding the nation’s role in the broader British empire. Some believe that Canada can continue to rely on Britain’s military assistance like it has always done, others are arguing for significant improvements to Canada’s current small and underfunded force, while others are adamant that Canada begin sending young Canadians to go overseas to fight for the empire as Britain becomes more and more embroiled in putting out imperial fires across its vast empire. 

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Welcome back to Season 10!! In the first episode of the newest season we take you to Penetanguishene, Ontario along the shores of Georgian Bay where once existed the Oak Ridge ‘Criminal Insane Building.’ Oak Ridge has been deemed the ‘Alcatraz of Canada’ and ‘the most terrible institution of all.’ For decades it housed some of Canada’s most violent criminals and in particular violent criminals with serious psychiatric illnesses. Yet in the 1960s an intensive and radical therapy program arrived, promoting the widespread of drugs and treatment methods that frankly bordered on torture. The Social Therapy Unit at Oak Ridge is still remembered by some as a successful venture in utopian experimentation though for others it embodies a state-authorized subjection of the individual without any checks or balances. A place where patients became test subjects in a radical and controversial program of rehabilitation.

This week’s book recommendation is Watching the Devil Dance by William Toffan, published in 2020 by Biblioasis.

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For 113 terrifying days in 1940, Nazi Germany’s air force, the Luftwaffe, threw everything it had at Great Britain in hopes of early victory in World War II. The task of defending southern England from airborne attack fell to pilots in the Royal Air Force, supplemented in their darkest hour by more than 100 flyers from Canada. These Canadians, some from famous families, some straight off the farm, served in forty-seven different Battle of Britain squadrons. They fought bravely in the skies, risked their lives to defend Britain and participated in one of the most battles of the entire war. These Canadians were some of “the few” so many famously quoted by Winston Churchill.

To talk to us today about this little known chapter in Canadian military history is author and historian Ted Barris. Ted Barris is an award-winning journalist, author, and broadcaster. His writing has regularly appeared in the national press, and magazines as diverse as Air Force, esprit de corps and Zoomer. He has also worked as host/contributor for most CBC Radio network programs, NPR in the U.S. and on TV Ontario. He taught journalism at Toronto’s Centennial College for 18 years. Ted is also the author of 22 books, many of them award winning publications. For instance, Ted’s 20th book, Battle of the Atlantic: Gauntlet to Victory was published in the fall of 2022 and immediately landed on the Globe and Mail and Toronto Star bestsellers lists. Following the book’s publication, Ted received word that he’d received Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee Award, recognizing “extraordinary contributions to our community and Canada.” On Dec. 29, 2022, Rideau Hall announced its latest Honours list. Ted Barris learned he will be appointed Member of the Order of Canada, “for advancing our understanding of Canadian military history as an acclaimed historical author, journalist and broadcaster.”

This week’s book recommendation is Ted’s 22nd book titled Battle of Britain: Canadian Airmen in Their Finest House, published in 2024 by Sutherland House Books. 

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Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867 is officially out! Check out this photograph-rich single volume history of Canada's military at war. You can purchase a copy right now at the below links:

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All around the world today there are people who listen to music made by Canadians. Most of us are familiar with Drake and Justin Bieber but long before those two superstars, all over the world Canadian musical acts had been transmitting into the ears of humans. But in some alternate reality, none of the Bieber’s or Drake’s exist. In fact, there is probably an alternate reality somewhere where Canada is nothing more than a musical dumping ground for American acts. And if you want to know what that might look like, simply look at Canadian music before 1971. Prior to that year Canadian radio stations played whatever was charting in the US and whatever was being dictated by US labels. While some domestic music was played on local stations, the musical conversation was a south to north one, never an east-west one. But that all changed with CANCON – the introduction of Canadian content regulations. While CANCON was certainly controversial when it came out, it became the catalyst for the creation of a domestic music industry, one that would germinate, then grow, then expand, then cultivate some of the biggest acts, biggest producers and biggest musical icons the world has ever seen.

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When one thinks of an iconic Canadian painter one does not have to go through many names before thinking of Emily Carr. And if one is looking for an influential west-coast painter than generally one’s first thoughts land on Emily. It is undeniable that Emily Carr has had a significant impact on the Canadian artistic landscape, as a woman, as a modernist, as an author, and as developing a particularly unique pacific northwest style. But Emily’s life, like so many painters, was full of immense challenges and even controversy. She spent most of her life in obscurity on Vancouver Island and it wasn’t until her final decades that the nation began to take notice. 

To discuss Emily’s life today we have invited on Pascale Halliday. Pascale is a historian and educator from Whitehorse, Yukon. Previously she worked as an interpreter at the MacBride Museum of Yukon History and as executive director for the Emily Carr House in Victoria, BC. 

The Emily Carr House is a beautifully restored provincial and national historic site in Victoria, BC, and was the birthplace of famed writer and artist, Emily Carr. Now the building and gardens are a vibrant cultural centre for education, exploration and mentoring. Drop in today as the House is launching a series of programs inspired by the themes of Emily Carr's life. 

Pascale is also the co-host of the Klondike Gold Rush History podcast, which can be found on most major streaming platforms

Indian Reserve, North Vancouver, Emily Carr 11:05

 

Skeena, Beam Me Up!, Sonny Assu, 2015, 27:05

 

Crowsnest Mountain and the Seven Sisters, Joane Cardinal-Schubert, 1989, 27:10

 

Scorned as Timber, Beloved of the Sky, Emily Carr, 34:05

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Across Axis occupied Europe a shadow war raged as numerous resistance groups in all occupied countries sought to dismantle or disrupt the Axis forces implementing their brutal occupation regimes. In some cases, these groups were quite successful, in others only marginally so, in all, though, the Allies ensured that they supported these movements to continue to strike against their daunting enemy. In the former Yugoslavia, agents of the Special Operations Executive were sent in to assess the quality of the resistance forces within that country and then to support those groups deemed worth of such support. What they found was a complicated and fraught situation and the SOE needed people familiar with both the language, culture and region to help sort it all out. Many of these to-be agents were drawn from Yugoslavians and those of Yugoslavian descent living in Canada. These agents would go on to eagerly expose themselves to intense danger, from Axis soldiers but also Yugoslavian groups sympathetic to the Axis powers. They fought Axis soldiers, they provided intelligence on Axis locations, and by the end of the war the ‘Partisans’ became one of the most effective resistance movements of the entire Second World War.

Book recommendation Roy MacLaren’s Canadians Behind Enemy Lines, 1939-1945originally published in 1981 by UBC Press.

 

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The Group of 7 are some of the most iconic and well-known Canadian painters in the history of Canadian art. While forming on the heels of the First World War, during a dramatic period of social and political upheaval, the painters in the group came to define a uniquely Canadian style of art. One that reflected a country that was searching for new ways to express itself after the incredible and traumatic contributions of the Great War. From the artistic pioneers to the adventurous men of the woods, the Group of 7 reflected and embraced the optimism and pioneering spirit of the day and, while certainly not perfect, went on to become some of the most important painters in this country's history.

To help us talk bout the Group of 7 we have brought on John Geoghegan. John is a curator and writer based in Toronto. He joined the McMichael as Associate Curator Collections and Research in 2022 and has contributed to several McMichael projects on topics including the Group of Seven, historical Canadian women artists, contemporary Indigenous art, and many more . He holds an MA in art history from York University.

In addition to their regular programming, which includes permanent collection exhibitions that include many works by members of the Group of Seven, the McMichael is currently showing Jackson's Wars: A.Y. Jackson Before the Group of Seven, an exhibition curated by Douglas Hunter, closing February 2nd, 2025. Check it out today!

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November 30, 2024 marks 150 years since Lucy Maud Montgomery’s birth, and her legacy continues to endure. Best known for Anne of Green Gables, Montgomery created characters that embody resilience and imagination and  some have gone on to become Canadian fiction icons. In this episode her granddaughter, Kate Macdonald Butler, shares family stories, preserves her grandmother’s legacy, and reads from Emily of New Moon, which she views as Montgomery’s most personal work. The episode also explores her influence, her personal struggles, and Dr. Jessica Katz Edison’s insight into how Montgomery’s work resonates with neurodivergent audiences, long before such language existed.

Today we’re going to get some help in exploring the life of Lucy Maud Montgomery. You see, our friends at The Walrus Lab have just launched a brand-new season of Canadian Time Machine. Each episode, hosted by Angela Misri, revisits a key anniversary in Canadian history, exploring how those moments continue to shape the world we live in today. With rich storytelling, expert insights, and fresh perspectives, this podcast invites you to see history in a whole new light.

More episodes of Canadian Time Machine are available at: https://lnkfi.re/canadian-time-machine. To read episode transcripts in both French and English and explore more historic Canadian milestones, visit thewalrus.ca/canadianheritage. A French counterpart of the show, Voyages dans l'histoire canadienne, is also available—if you're bilingual and looking for more, head to https://lnkfi.re/Voyages-dans-lhistoire-canadienne.

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On the 7th of June 1939 a ship sailed for Cuba, on board were 907 Jewish refugees fleeing the violent antisemitic state that had become Nazi Germany. When arriving in Cuba, their visas were no longer accepted, and the passengers were told they could not disembark. The ship then sailed to the United States, where the passengers were once again refused asylum. Finally, the ship sailed to Canada in a last gasp effort for freedom…but they too were denied. Tragically, the ship returned to Europe and the passengers returned to a horrific fate. 

Jeremy Maron is the curator of Holocaust and genocide content at the Canadian Museum for Human Rights, where he has worked since 2011. In this role, Jeremy oversees content development in three of the museum’s core galleries – Examining the Holocaust, Turning Points for Humanity, and Breaking the Silence. He holds a PhD in Cultural Mediations from Carleton University, where his dissertation focused on the treatment of the Holocaust in Canadian cinema. His discussion of Victoria Beach in the episode has been written about here: The stain of antisemitism in Canada | CMHR and he was a contributor to a digital story about antisemitism in Canada here.

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It is impossible to deny the legendary status that Jackie Robinson has had in the game of baseball. There have been movies, songs, poetry, books and essays about his career and countless tributes and celebrations of his life and impact on the game. Jackie was born in Georgia in 1919 but spent most of his life growing up in Pasadena, California. By the time he went to college he was already a star athlete, in both baseball and football. He had a short stint in the army during the Second World War before joining the Negro Baseball League. It was there that he caught the attention of Brooklyn Dodgers General Manager Branch Ricky who in turn thought Jackie would be the perfect player to break the MLBs historic colour line and forever change the game of baseball. On his path to his legendary career Jackie spent one season on the Brooklyn Dodgers minor league affiliate, the Montreal Royals. In today’s episode we deep dive into Jackie’s incredible life focusing on his one season in Montreal and how that season set him up for a legendary career. 

For today’s episode we’ve brought on historian and author William Humber. Bill is a member of the Order of Canada (2021), and the first historian inducted into Canada’s Baseball Hall of Fame (2018). He has authored 15 books. Seven of which have been primarily focused on baseball’s history in Canada. (two have just recently been released– Tex Simone: The Man Who Saved Baseball in Syracuse, co-authored with the Simone family; and Old Ontario at Bat: Baseball’s Unheralded Ancestry, released by the Centre for Canadian Baseball Research). As well, he has written on soccer, bicycling, African-Canadian athletes, winter sports, his hometown of Bowmanville, Ontario and on the topic of urban regeneration. He has been listed in Canada’s Who’s Who for over 35 years. A retired Seneca Polytechnic administrator he was recognized for his work in environmental education including Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation’s Sustainability Educator of the Year, an Yves Landry Award for sustainability leadership, and by the College and Institutes of Canada for his Green Citizen campaign at Seneca. He has held secretarial positions, and still sits, on the Boards of Jury Lands Foundation, as well as Valleys 2000, both focused on enhancing the heritage and environment of Bowmanville within the Municipality of Clarington. His initial volunteer position was as President of the Visual Arts Centre of Newcastle in 1975, so he approaches 50 years of community engagement. His roots in Bowmanville date back to his great grandmother’s birth here in 1860 and Bill and his wife Cathie still live there but their grownup children, Bradley, Darryl and Karen have opted for the attractions of nearby big cities.

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For today's episode we've done something a little different. Craig Baird is a friend and fellow podcaster over at the great Canadian history podcast Canadian History Ehx and today CCH has opened up its floors to a CHX episode on a legendary moment in Canadian musical theatre history. In 1972 the hottest new Broadway production, Godspell, came to Toronto and hundreds of young actors auditioned for it. When the dust settled, and the cast was announced little did anyone know the legendary impact that this cast would end up having on Canadian and North American theatre, television and film. The cast became a veritable who’s who of Canadians that would become central to some of the most important television and film moments in the ensuing decades.  

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William Lyon Mackenzie King was Canada's longest-serving Prime Minister, from 1922 to 1930 and from 1935 to 1948. Historians have ranked him as Canada's greatest Prime Minister for his political leadership in winning Canada's autonomy from the British Empire and for organizing Canada's enormous war effort that enabled Winston Churchill and President Roosevelt to lead the western allies to victory in World War II. But what many people don’t realize is that Mackenzie King was also a die-hard spiritualist. From fortune tellers, to mystics, to seances with the dead, Mackenzie King used every tool in his spiritualist toolbox to communicate with his dead family and to help guide him in important political decisions. 

To help us dive into this matter we’ve brought on the show Anton Wagner. Anton Wagner was a founding executive member of the Association for Canadian Theatre Research and has edited ten books on Canadian theatre and drama. He was the Director of Research and Managing Editor of The World Encyclopedia of Contemporary Theatre, published by Routledge. Anton was a member of the Hiroshima Nagasaki Day Coalition steering committee in Toronto for more than a decade, and produced and directed Our Hiroshima on Canada, Mackenzie King, and the atom bomb for Canadian and international television. He holds doctorates in drama (University of Toronto) and theatre (York University). Anton has recently published a two-volume history of William Lyon Mackenzie King titled The Spiritualist Prime Minister which offers a uniquely fresh look at Canada’s longest serving PM. 

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You cannot turn on the news right now without hearing about President Donald Trump’s threat to apply a 25% tariff to Canadian goods. While his claim that our border is contributing to America’s fentanyl and illegal immigrant problem may be dubious, the ramifications of a tariff war are very real. Has a tariff war like this ever happened before? How has Canada historically responded to American economic aggression? What would the consequences of a trade war be today?

To help us walk through these complex issues we have brought on economist Trevor Tombe. Trevor is a Professor at the University of Calgary’s Department of Economics and the Director of Fiscal and Economic Policy at The School of Public Policy. His research explores a broad set of topics, from international trade to public finances to fiscal federalism. He has published in top economics journals, is co-author of the textbooks Public Finance in Canada and Macroeconomics, co-editor of the recent volume Fiscal Federalism in Canada, and is Co-Director of Finances of the Nation. In addition to his academic work, he actively advises various governments on a wide range of issues (currently a member of the Government of Canada Working Group on Productivity in the Public Sector; and previously a member of the Bank of Canada panel reviewing its pandemic response) and contributes to policy development and discussions through regular op-eds, articles, and media engagement.

Website: www.trevortombe.com

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Since the election of Donald Trump, one of the most frequently discussed issues has been that of the Canadian-American border. President Trump has labelled accusations that Canada has not done enough to stem the tide of fentanyl and illegal immigrants into the US. While the veracity of Trump’s claims is hotly debated, his emphasis on the border as a concern in Washington brings up some interesting historical questions. How did this massive national delineation get created? Have drugs and immigration always been a border issue? Are there historical precedents for what Trump is arguing?

To take us through a two-parter exploring the Canadian-American border from an historical lens is historian Benjamin Hoy. Benjamin is an associate professor of history at the University of Saskatchewan. His research focuses on the creation of the Canada-US border as well as on how communities, both past and present, have learned about history through the games they play. His first book, A Line of Blood and Dirt: Creating the Canada-United States Border across Indigenous Lands received the Governor General's Prize, the Albert Corey Prize, and the Best Book in Political History Prize. 

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While Canada is in the midst of immense economic uncertainty as a result of Donald Trump’s wildly unpredictable tariff threats, the border is continuously brought up by the American president as a key issue in why he seeks to create such economic chaos. In today’s episode we wrap-up a two-part conversation with Benjamin Hoy on the history of the Canadian-US border. We chat about cross-border cooperation, the reaction to the border by First Nations in both countries, efforts to modernize the border post-WW1 and the historic issue of crime and the border. Finally, Ben shares some thoughts on Trump’s current obsession over the border.

Benjamin Hoy is an associate professor of history at the University of Saskatchewan. His research focuses on the creation of the Canada-US border as well as on how communities, both past and present, have learned about history through the games they play. His first book, A Line of Blood and Dirt: Creating the Canada-United States Border across Indigenous Lands received the Governor General's Prize, the Albert Corey Prize, and the Best Book in Political History Prize.

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The Beatles are one of the most influential bands in the history of popular music. When they arrived in North America in the early 1960s, they forever changed the musical landscape. Countless musicians in both Canada and the United States speak of the arrival of the Beatles as if it was their own personal musical awakening and there are untold numbers of modern day rock stars who publicly state that their entrance into music was because of the ‘Fab 4’. The ‘arrival’ of the Beatles in North America is often attributed to their famous appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in February of 1964. What many don’t know is that the Beatles had already established a presence on the continent before this, but in Canada.  

To help us dive into this incredible subject we have brought on legendary broadcaster and radio personality Terry O’Reilly. Terry has had a long career in radio and broadcasting including CBC shows such as The Age of Persuasion and O’Reilly on Advertising. He has published several books on marketing and Canadian society and his most recent book titled My Best Mistake: Epic Fails and Silver Linings won the National Business Book Award in 2022. Terry is also the creator and host of the podcast Under the Influence which has just launched a new series called The Beatlology Interviews exploring the deep influence the Beatles have had on the North American musical landscape. 

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Today we are changing things up! Several months ago David published his newest book titled Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867 which is a single-volume history of the Canadian Armed Forces at war since confederation. This book has proved timely. In recent months the Canadian military has been in the news frequently, more so than at any point since the end of Canada’s combat mission in Afghanistan in 2011. Part of the rhetoric surrounding the CAF addresses current issues of sovereignty and our ability (or lack thereof) to protect said sovereignty. Much of this is focused on the Arctic, however, there are also rampant discussions of Russia’s threat to Europe and Canada’s brigade group that is currently expanding in size in Latvia. Even the upcoming election has leaders putting defence issues at the forefront, something not seen in an election for decades. With the zeitgeist being as it is CCH has decided to change up the format for today and post an episode from the podcast Witness to Yesterday – brought to us by the Champlain Society and University of Toronto Press. Recently David was on discussing his new book and the state of the military today, so for today’s CCH episode David will be the interviewee and Larry Ostola will be the interviewer. 

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In the closing days of the Second World War, American, German, Austrian and a smattering of multi-national prisoners of war (plus a special Canadian thrown in there for good measure) defend Castle Itter against SS soldiers bent on destruction

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The same war correspondent that observed the relief of Castle Itter (S2E1) is also the first leader of Quebec's movement for sovereignty and a man who helped reshape the relationship between the Canadian federal government and the provinces.

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In 1885 an alliance of Metis and First Nations rebel against the Canadian government seeking to incorporate what would become the province of Saskatchewan. The rebels (or heroes to some) are forced into a final last stand at Batoche in May.

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During the War of 1812 a significant part of Canada's defence plans rested on the militia. Yet, could this militia be trusted to show up?

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In 1970 the Vancouver Women's Caucus planned a trip to Ottawa to protest the state's abortion legislation, little did they know they would become key targets for the RCMP's Security Service

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A musical history of one of Canada's greatest rock bands

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In October of 1970 the Canadian government faces off against the FLQ, Canada's most notorious terrorist organization

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Canada's first official participation in the land war of WW2 began ominously with the disaster at Hong Kong.

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William K. Lore was not just a wartime hero but he broke down racial barriers in the Royal Canadian Navy

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In October of 1924, Peter “Lordly” Verigin, the leader of the Doukhobor community of British Columbia, was killed in a mysterious train explosion. The case remains unsolved to this day.

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In the summer of 1914 a ship packed full of immigrants from India was denied the right to dock in Vancouver setting off an international incident and one of Canada's most infamous displays of anti-immigration.

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On April 9 1917 the Canadian Corps launched its attack on what was thought to be one of the most difficult objectives to capture along the entire Western Front. The ensuing victory would cement the battle of Vimy Ridge as one of the most well known events in the history of this country. Part 1 examines the battle. Part 2 later this month will examine the battle as part of Canadian myth and identity.

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Though Vimy Ridge was one of the more spectacular tactical successes of the First World War, strategically it did very little. Why then has it become such a well-known event in the Canadian historical consciousness? We look at some of those reasons.

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In December of 1917 two ships collided in the Halifax harbour setting off the largest man-made non-nuclear explosion the world had ever seen.

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The Verendrye family was one of New France's most famous explorer families of the 18th century, carving out a European presence in vast territories that were previously untouched by European feet. They were crucial in helping to open up modern day Manitoba and Saskatchewan to European exploration and settlement.

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In July of 1943 First Canadian Division faced one of their toughest challenges in all of Sicily when they were ordered to capture the heights of Assoro.

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The story of 150 Canadian years in less than 30 minutes. Buckle up!

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100 years ago today, August 15 1917, the Canadian Corps commanded by their newly appointed corps commander Arthur Currie were ordered to capture the city of Lens in support of the larger British offensive known as the Third Battle of Ypres. Currie changed the plans to focus on the slopes of Hill 70 and what ensued was a textbook ‘bite and hold' operation.

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The Last of the Mohicans is a 1992 film that tells the story of the last of a proud Indigenous people as they struggle to survive in the chaos of the Seven Years War. The film's plot takes place against the backdrop of events that were significant to Canadian pre-confederation history and to the political shaping of the North American continent.

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The Fenian Brotherhood was a paramilitary Irish nationalist group that attempted several invasions of British North American/Canadian territory during the 1860s and early 1870s. These invasions would play a key part in motivating the various British colonies of BNA to form the Canadian confederation.

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In 1926 the new Canadian Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King faced off against Canadian Governor General Lord Byng of Vimy in a political clash that would have significant ramifications for the British Empire.

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In the wake of the sad news of the passing of Gord Downie, frontman for legendary Canadian band The Tragically Hip, I thought I would re-release an episode from Season 2 with a bit of a foreword. RIP Gord.

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