History Slam Episode Fifty-Five: Celebrating Canada Part 2

By Sean Graham

Last Wednesday we posted the first part of our first ever two part episode in which I talked with Matthew Hayday, Marc-André Gagnon, and Robert Talbot about the Celebrating Canada workshop. Then on Friday we posted a recording of the roundtable discussion that kicked off the workshop.

In this episode of the History Slam, I chat with various participants in the workshop about their contributions to the Celebrating Canada project. I start by talking with Lee Blanding, Sessional Lecturer at Langara College, about issues of multiculturalism during centennial celebrations. I then chat with Anne Trepanier of Carleton University about the contested terrain and conflicting celebrations that occur on the final Monday before the 25th each May. This is followed by my conversation with CDCI’s Gillian Leitch in which we discuss representations of British identity during parades in Montreal. Marcel Martel of York University and Joel Belliveau of Laurentian University stop by to talk about the evolution of Empire Day. I then chat with Peter Stevens of York University about the changing meaning of Thanksgiving in Canada. The episode concludes with Cristina Ogden and the 2005 Alberta Centennial celebrations.

Sean Graham is a doctoral candidate at the University of Ottawa where he is currently working on a project that examines the early years of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He has previously studied at Nipissing University, the University of the West Indies, and the University of Regina and like any red-blooded Canadian his ultimate dream is to be a curling champion while living on a diet of beer and poutine.

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