Category Archives: Canadian history

Understanding the Tools We Have and Rethinking the Tools We Need in Ontario’s Heritage Industry

Three men standing in front of a large, brown stone historic home. They are standing around a sign that says "The Brown Homestead 1317 Pelham Road."

By educating the public about heritage designation, incorporating heritage into urban planning, and connecting with our wider communities, we can cultivate a brighter future for Ontario’s heritage industry.

“Encouraging the Behaviour We Want to Encourage”: Faded Promises of Security in Toronto Public Housing

Colour photo of a city street corner with a police car marked "Metro Police" in the midground. Labeled "City of Toronto Archives, Series 1465, File 169, Item 144."

In what seemed to some MTHA workers a bizarre self-fulfilling prophecy of failure on the matter, MTHA also took it upon itself to modify the behaviour of all residents. Toward that end, it hired the criminologist and security “expert” Clifford D. Shearing to write a pilot study on how to solve MTHA security problems.

A Perception of Learned Helplessness: The Jane-Finch Neighborhood Versus Pessimism and Conflict at Toronto Public Housing

Colour photograph of a city landscape from high above. A lake is visible on the horizon.

In correspondence with North York Mayor Mel Lastman, Sheila Mascoll accused the mayor of the sort of neglect of and insensitivity toward Jane-Finch that had cast an unreasonable racist pall on a neighborhood where thousands lived, worked, and played.

The Great State of Canada? Time for a Rethink

      1 Comment on The Great State of Canada? Time for a Rethink
Brother Jonathan rides a steam train over Louis Joseph Papineau as "liberty" escapes in the steam from the train's funnel.

By Thomas Peace Donald Trump’s return to the White House has brought with it a revival of continentalist rhetoric to North American politics. “It was a pleasure to have dinner the other night with Governor Justin Trudeau of the Great State of Canada. I look forward to seeing the Governor again soon…” A few days ago, when Finance Minister Chrystia… Read more »

Exposing Residential School Denialism’s Transnational Network

Colour lithograph map showing a Mercator projection of the world, with trade routes and the British Empire in red.

Residential school denialism may have its origins in Canada, but it is increasingly circulating and being used around the world as part of a wider matrix of imperial apologetics – a transnational network of discourse that aims to defend the legacy of the British Empire in the metropole and former colonies

How I Survived: Sharing Stories about Recreation at Northern Residential and Day Schools

How I Survived was also envisioned as a way to further truth and reconciliation in this country, and engage with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s 94 Calls to Action.

The Global Pandemic in Saskatchewan: a history to remember

Erika Dyck and Jim Clifford The COVID-19 pandemic tested healthcare systems worldwide and pushed many of them to the breaking point. Canadians experienced the pandemic in diverse ways depending on where and how they lived, from single-family dwellings with converted virtual workspaces to long-term-care facilities with rigorous lock-down policies or First Nations reserves with inconsistent access to potable water, but… Read more »

Spotting the Difference: Comparing Canadian Sex Work Legislation from 1985 and 2014

Black and white photo of two women looking at a book with bookshelves behind them.

The countless number of sex workers, organizations, and newspaper articles all argued the same underlying premise as they had with Bill C-49: that the government’s legislation endangers sex workers.