https://media.rss.com/whatsoldisnews/2025_04_02_16_08_28_f2fbd94a-c940-4d3d-9ea0-ee12ff2e678b.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham This week, I talk with Nina Studer, author of The Hour of Absinthe: A Cultural History of France’s Most Notorious Drink. We talk about the drink’s origins, its cultural importance in France, and its consumption by French soldiers. We also chat about the class distinctions associated with the drink, how gender… Read more »
By Jacob Richard “Show patriotism by supporting the Hudson’s Bay Company,” declares a recent letter to the editor in the Vancouver Sun. Lamenting the news that the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) is on the verge of financial collapse, the letter writer argues that there is “nothing more tragic to becoming the 51st state than to see the Hudson’s Bay close… Read more »
June Chow The right to know through Canada’s Access to Information Act and the right to personal privacy under the Privacy Act hang in perpetual balance at our national archives. In 2021, an ATIP request submitted to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) sought to open a set of historical government records that remained Restricted within its Chinese Immigration records series, namely, C.I. 44 forms and… Read more »
https://media.rss.com/whatsoldisnews/2025_03_26_03_52_52_64878597-5584-4bd7-95e8-6ae4538fe9b6.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadSean Graham talks with Ruby Smith Diaz, author of Searching for Serafim: The Life and Legacy of Serafim ‘Joe’ Fortes. They discuss Ruby’s introduction to Serafim’s story, how she went about researching the book, and some of the challenges she faced in the process. They also chat about how Ruby’s artistic background shaped the book’s structure,… Read more »
Gilbert Gagné This is the third post in a series on tariffs based on a roundtable organized at Bishop’s University in February 2025. Read the introduction by David Webster here and the first post by Heather McKeen-Edwards here. The second post by Gordon S. Baker appears here. Everything seems to be about tariffs now; how exposed to potential US tariffs… Read more »
Gordon S. Barker This is the second post in a series on tariffs based on a roundtable organized at Bishop’s University in February 2025. Read the introduction by David Webster here and the first post by Heather McKeen-Edwards here. Donald Trump’s transactional use of tariffs does not break new ground. In fact, tariffs have played an instrumental role in American… Read more »
This is the first post in a three-part series on the history of tariffs. You can read the introduction by David Webster here. Heather McKeen – Edwards The idea of tariffs is far from new, politically or economically. In fact, most countries in the world have some tariffs right now. Tariffs are a type of trade barrier, and their goal… Read more »
David Webster— Tariffs on you!— No, bigger tariffs on you!— No, I have the biggest, most beautiful tariffs, and I am slapping them on you! Anyone could be excused for thinking it was a battle of toddlers. But this is deadly serious: a trade war, one that reminds us of moments of trade tension between Canada and the United States… Read more »
By Robert Englebert The tariff war has begun. Since coming into office only weeks ago, Donald Trump’s on-and-off again threat of taking a sledgehammer to free trade has kept Canadians on edge. Canadians are angry and frustrated, especially at Trump’s continued assertion that our country is not viable and that we should become the 51st state. I am not… Read more »
Eric W. Sager I did not expect to publish a book towards the end of the eighth decade of my life. And if you had asked me, ten years ago, whether I would write a book about the meaning of history, I would have declared such a thing to be impossible. In retirement, however, I found myself determined to try… Read more »
