While watching the NDP and Republican leadership races unfold in Canada and the United States, I’ve been struck by the very different political cultures of these two countries. This can be partly attributed to the divergent political philosophies of the right-wing Republican Party and the centre-left NDP. But the roots of these political cultures also [...]
Bill C-309, Preventing Persons from Concealing Their Identity during Riots and Unlawful Assemblies Act
My Conservative MP sent the following question to his constituents this week: “Debate has now begun on [Conservative] MP Blake Richards’ Private Members’ Bill C-309. The Bill proposes creating a new criminal offence for those that wear ‘a mask or other disguise to conceal their identity without lawful excuse’ during a riot or unlawful assembly. [...]
Connecting Past, Present and Future: A Website Review of Stacey Zembrycki’s “Sharing Authority With Baba”
Internet sources can present challenges in the university classroom, but they also offer many new, exciting, creative learning opportunities. Rather than barring internet sources altogether, we should be teaching our students to engage critically with a range of sources, including the many great digital projects available online. One such example is Stacey Zembrycki’s website, “Sharing [...]
IQT “Solutions”: Company Closures, Workers’ Rights, and the State of the Canadian Labour Movement
How does it feel to arrive at work one day to find the doors locked permanently? Most of us can imagine how cataclysmic an event this would be; unfortunately, 1200 more workers had to experience this recently, as IQT Solutions closed its doors in Canada. Claiming bankruptcy (no official filing could be immediately located), the [...]
Inside Job: Where is the Outrage?
A review of the documentary Inside Job, along with some relections on the lack of popular outrage in North America over current economic events.
Can Ontario Overcome Bob Rae’s Legacy?
Can one leader single-handedly sink an entire political party?
Some Reflections on Life Histories, Death, and Crossing between “Two Worlds”
Can we bridge the divide between popular and professional history?
Buy Domestic, Buy Local, Buy Union? Historical Lessons for Today’s Consumer Activists
A look at some of the problems with current consumer activist campaigns and some lessons we can learn from the past.
A Year in Review @ ActiveHistory.ca
A brief review of what we’ve been up to in 2010.
Can Facebook Get You Fired?
A discussion of recent labour board decisions in Canada and the United States on Facebook firings.
