Active History

History Slam Episode Fifty-Five: Celebrating Canada Part 2

November 5, 2014 1 Comment

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.

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A Historian on Catalan Independence

November 4, 2014 No Comments

Supporters of independence, 2012. Photo by Pere prlpz. Source: Wikipedia Commons.

By Aitana Guia

On November 9, 2014, hundreds of thousands of Catalans, perhaps millions, will print their own unofficial ballots and head to improvised polling stations to cast a vote for independence that nobody else but them will consider valid. Most Catalans opposed to independence will stay at home and lament growing political polarization. The result will be a resolute vote in favour of independence.

The Spanish government opposes a vote and argues that the best way to defend democratic rights and freedoms is to abide by the provisions of the 1978 Constitution. This Constitution, as a compromised product of the Transition to democracy, aimed at creating stability and thus requires absolute majority in the Spanish parliament to reform it. Even if all Catalan politicians were in favour of it, and they are not, they would never have enough parliamentary support to do it.

Pro-independence politicians and activists conveniently forget that all four Catalan provinces approved with high percentages of the popular vote the 1978 Constitution in a referendum and argue that democracy today demands acknowledging the right to self-determination for Catalonia, something completely outside of the scope of the Spanish constitution. They use the Spanish government’s immobility as a sign that Spain is today, as it has been for the last 300 years in their nationalist view, all about control by force and claim they are the only ones fighting for democratic rights and freedoms.

Catalan nationalism prides itself as a historically rooted, culturally vibrant, progressive movement. Continue reading →

Crowdsourcing Old Maps Online

November 3, 2014 6 Comments

“The Hudson’s Bay Territories and Vancouver’s Island; with an exposition of the chartered rights, conduct and policy of the Hudson’s Bay Corporation”

A little under a year ago the British Library released over a million images on Flickr Commons “for anyone to use, remix and repurpose”. This huge collection of historical images was “plucked from the pages” of digitized 17th, 18th and 19th century books automatically using the “Mechanical Curator,” created by the British Library Labs project. The library hoped that people on the internet would help them sort through the images and cluster them into useful categories and that is exactly what has been happening. At this point volunteers have identified more than 3000 maps in amongst the million images: “Maps, found by the community from the Mechanical Curator Collection“. With these maps identified, the British Library then fed them into another of their crowdsourced projects, where members of the community used an online tool to georeference historical maps. If you find a number of points on a historical map and on a modern map, the computer can then “pin” the maps over a modern digital map or a Google Earth digital globe. Depending on the quality of the original surveying and cartography and the care taken by the georeferencers, some maps lineup better than others and most suffer from some level of distortion when flat maps are stretched over a digital globe. Even with these problems, it is a really powerful tool to see historical maps layered over modern maps. In recent months people have worked to georeference most of the 3000 maps, adding to the existing collection crowd georeferenced maps shared by the British Library in recent years. Continue reading →

Vision in History a public lecture by Dr. Anne Kelly Knowles

November 3, 2014 1 Comment

Vision has influenced many important historical decisions, whether literally – what people could or could not see – or metaphorically, what people imagined or wanted to believe. This lecture examines the crucial role of vision at two junctures in American history. It reveals how antebellum entrepreneurs’ vision of industrial greatness fell afoul of geographical reality, and how General Robert E. Lee’s view of the Civil War battlefield at Gettysburg shaped his command decisions. Both studies are built around the visual methodology of historical GIS.

Anne Kelly Knowles, Professor of Geography, Middlebury College, has led historians and historical geographers in using Geographic Information Systems to study the past. The University of Saskatchewan’s Department of History and Historical GIS Lab were honoured to host Dr. Knowles for the Bilson Lecture in early October 2014.

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Podcast – Celebrating Canada Roundtable

October 31, 2014 1 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

On September 18 at the Canadian Museum of History, there was a roundtable discussion on the issues surrounding national celebrations and commemorations in Canada. The roundtable was part of the Celebrating Canada Workshop, which was chaired by Matthew Hayday and Raymond Blake.

Moderated by Matthew Hayday (University of Guelph), the roundtable featured Yves Frenette (Université de Saint-Boniface), Marc-André Gagnon (University of Guelph), Robert Talbot (University of New Brunswick), and Mark Kristmanson (CEO, National Capital Commission).

This was a bilingual session.

Acitvehistory.ca is pleased to feature a recording of this roundtable.

Cold Cases: Hypothermia before, and after, Stonechild

October 30, 2014 1 Comment

By Josh MacFadyen

[First published by The Otter]

The 2013 ice storm left hundreds of thousands of Canadians out in the cold and made some people pause to consider the fragility of urban energy systems in a changing climate. The idea of so many people spending Christmas in the cold made me reflect on some of the better-known cases of Canadians freezing to death in the past. Frankly – and aside from Sir Franklin – most of us likely couldn’t name a single person who died in this way. But one name we should all know is Neil Stonechild. His story, and the stories of other victims of hypothermia, should shape how we think about systemic racism and other social injustice.

Neil Stonechild (1973-1990), Saskatoon, SK undated photo

This month marked the 10th anniversary of the inquiry that brought a police force, an entire city, and many parts of Canada to consider some of these problems. The body of 17-year-old Neil Stonechild was found in an industrial area at the northern edge of Saskatoon in November 1990. He had frozen to death in that position five days earlier, wearing light clothing and only one shoe. His face was bruised his blood alcohol content had been high, and some of his friends and family suspected foul play. They were told that a full investigation had been conducted and that the teen had wandered to this remote location under his own volition. A cold case if ever there was one. Continue reading →

History Slam Episode Fifty-Four: Celebrating Canada, Part 1

October 29, 2014 2 Comments

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

By Sean Graham

Full disclosure: I live in Ottawa and regularly walk past Parliament Hill and the National War Memorial on my way to Library and Archives Canada. For me, last Wednesday was a surreal day and in the week since the majority of the people with whom I have spoke have agreed with that assessment. Throughout the day I was confused, sad, scared, and angry. I was locked down in a building at Rideau and Dalhousie Streets (about 4 or 5 blocks from the memorial) and yet as I walked home around 5:00 everything seemed a little too normal – with the possible exception of more traffic. When I finally got home, I turned on the CBC and watched until both Stephen Harper and Thomas Mulcair spoke.

At the time, I appreciated hearing from them both. Say what you will about Stephen Harper’s speech, but that he didn’t seem to be shaken was somewhat reassuring in the moment. Say what you will about Thomas Mulcair’s speech, but his paternalistic delivery was somewhat soothing in the moment. And yet when I woke up on Thursday and watched the speeches again, I was incredibly disappointed in what I saw: two men encapsulating their political ideologies in speeches intended to address a national tragedy.

Upon further reflection, however, my anger or disappointment waned and I thought about how these moments of national reflection are coated in political ideology and competing conceptions of Canada. Similar messages can be found in Remembrance Day ceremonies just as they can in Canada Day celebrations. For as much as I want to believe in an altruistic intention of those who organize these types of events, it is difficult to ignore their political or ideological underpinnings.
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Debriefing Toronto’s Municipal Election

October 28, 2014 2 Comments

By James Cullingham (@JamesCullingham)

John Tory, Bloor Street, Toronto July 2014, (photo by James Cullingham)

Darkness has lifted over Toronto. While that might be temporary, it does not make that arrangement any less welcome. With the election of Mayor elect John Tory Toronto is no longer led by a man who is frequently described as addicted, angry, and insulting. To the best of our knowledge, John Tory carries no such labels. So…we have progress.

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Thinking about Thalidomide in Transnational History: Canada and South Africa

October 28, 2014 5 Comments

By Christine Chisholm

What was the global impact of thalidomide? On September 24th, the Department of History, the Institute of Interdisciplinary Studies/Disability Studies, and the Institute of African Studies at Carleton University came together to host two speakers to Ottawa as part of a day-long meeting on the transnational history of the infamous drug thalidomide. Developed by the German company Chemie Grünenthal GmbH, the drug was officially marketed from the mid-1950s to the early to mid-1960s under dozens of brand names. Dr. Susanne Klausen, medical historian and organizer of the event, pointed out in her introduction that thalidomide was a “drug in search of a disease.” However, while pharmaceuticals marketed the drug as a cure for many symptoms, it has gained its notorious reputation because of its use as a remedy for morning sickness in pregnant women. Although the drug was advertised as being “completely safe,” it caused severe birth defects – including deformed and/or absent organs, phocomelia, and several other life threatening deformities – in children whose pregnant mothers had taken the drug during the first trimester of pregnancy.

Alexandra Niblock was the first speaker of the day. Continue reading →

Towards an Active History

October 27, 2014 2 Comments

By Thomas Peace

Over the past couple of weeks, the Active History editorial collective has begun the initial planning for a stand-alone conference to be held in late 2015 or 2016. Agreed that there was a need for a conference, we set about to determine the conference’s overall purpose and goals. What quickly became apparent was that we had slightly divergent views about the meaning and practice of Active History. As our conversation continued (and moved toward fruitful resolution), it occurred to me that these varied perspectives might be of interest to the broader readership of ActiveHistory.ca and, through the comments section, provide a good opportunity to hear about your thoughts: What is Active History? Continue reading →

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