By Christine Cooling When Canadians tuned into their first radio broadcasts in the 1920s, much of what they listened to wasn’t Canadian. American stations with stronger signals and flashier programming initially dominated the airwaves. The radio audience developed over time as the medium entered the domestic space, but Canadian listeners were part of a transnational media environment from the very… Read more »
By Andrew Nurse I like reading old newspapers and I know that is not out of place for an historian. In one way or another, media are history’s life blood, even if we don’t all make use of them in the same way. The range of media at which historians look is broad. It includes posters and recordings, maps and… Read more »
John Price This is the second post in a two-part series based on a recently published article in the International Journal, “Resisting Palestine’s Partition: Elizabeth MacCallum, the Arab World and UN Resolution 181(II).”Part One is available here. The balance of evidence does suggest that Canada contributed more than any other country, including the USA, to the establishment of Israel. As… Read more »
John Price This is the first post in a two-part series based on a recently published article in the International Journal, “Resisting Palestine’s Partition: Elizabeth MacCallum, the Arab World and UN Resolution 181(II).” The second post in the series is available here. “I am a Zionist,” declared Justin Trudeau just before stepping down as prime minister. “No one in Canada,” he stated,… Read more »
Francesco Coirazza “Multiculturalism finally no longer applies to Quebec! […] It’s a model that has always been harmful to Quebec,” claimed Minister of the French Language Jean-François Roberge in the salon rouge of the Quebec legislature on 28 May 2025. On that day, Quebec’s National Assembly passed Bill 84: An Act Respecting National Integration, a controversial law introduced by the… Read more »
Ultimately, The Fort McKay Métis Nation: A Community History makes a vital contribution to Métis historiography and to the growing body of scholarship that centers Indigenous voices in historical research. Fortna’s work is respectful, informed, and grounded in his deep connections with the community. In a time when questions of Indigenous rights, land, and sovereignty remain urgent, this book offers both historical grounding and forward-looking insight into the future of Métis political and social movements. Accessible to both scholars and community members, the book’s concise narrative (at 225 pages) ensures its broad appeal, particularly among those interested in Indigenous histories and community-driven scholarship.
With my work now, I try to share engaging and unexpected stories — history that will catch people’s attention — and then connect those stories to their broader historical context. The story of the Toronto Circus Riot for instance — sparked by a brawl between clowns and firefighters at a downtown brothel — has a lot to teach us about the influence of the Orange Order and systems of power in Victorian Toronto. My hope is that if I can catch someone’s attention, provide them with some of that broader context, and point them toward the work of historians who’ve explored that context more deeply, that person might be curious enough to want to carry on learning more.
This is the final post in a three-part series about socialism at McGill in the 1930s. Raffaella Cerenzia 1930s McGill was a small, tight-knit place. Only 3,000 or so students roamed the university’s campus. They were taught by a short roster of professors; the Department of Economics and Political Science numbered just six in the early thirties. In this intimate… Read more »
This is the second post in a three-part series about socialism at McGill in the 1930s. Raffaella Cerenzia As the 1930s unfolded, the soaring unemployment and general miseries of the Great Depression breathed new life into the Canadian left. Socialism began to take root in federal politics, a process exemplified by the founding of the Co-operative Commonwealth Federation (CCF) in… Read more »
This is the first post in a three-part series about socialism at McGill in the 1930s. Raffaella Cerenzia Tick tock, tick tock. “Time to wake up!” In January 1933, deep in the midst of the Great Depression, a new student publication announced its arrival on McGill University’s campus. The paper was the production of McGill’s Labour Club, to which all… Read more »
