Category Archives: Canadian history

Podcast: “Beyond Orange and Green: Toronto’s Irish, 1870-1914” by William Jenkins

The 2013 History Matters lecture series kicked off on January 31st, when migration historian William Jenkins (York University) gave a talk to a crowded room at the Parliament branch of the Toronto Public Library.  His presentation examined immigration patterns and political allegiances of Toronto’s Irish between 1870 and World War I, and how struggles at home and abroad had an… Read more »

More Canadian History, More Better

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By Sean Kheraj “Canada’s history is worth emphasizing,” according to a recent pathetically inoffensive editorial headline in the Globe and Mail. Such an argument is so bland and broad as to be almost entirely pointless. What drove the editorial team at the Globe to boldly stick its neck out with such a feeble statement? The temerity of the Leader of… Read more »

Exploring the Old Canadian Internet: Spelunking in the Internet Archive

By Ian Milligan If you do recent history, you run into problems pretty quickly with archives. Chronic underfunding means that many recent acquisitions sit, awaiting cataloguing. Donor restrictions are often still in place, and – probably most importantly – much of this material is still not archived as it isn’t always thought of as history yet! If you aren’t part… Read more »

The Drake “Smoke Screen” Phenomenon: A Podcast Discussion with Dalton Higgins on Drake and Canadian Hip Hop History

On December 8, 2012, Accents on Eglinton, a community bookstore that specializes in publications on Africa and its diasporas, along with host Francesca D’Amico (PhD candidate in music history at York University), hosted an evening with Dalton Higgins, award-winning journalist, radio and TV broadcaster, to discuss his latest book Far From Over: The Music and Life of Drake (ECW Press)…. Read more »

Trunks & Trains: Summers at Winnipeg Beach

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By Ruthann LaBlance Winnipeg Beach: Leisure and Courtship in a Resort Town, 1900–1967 Dale Barbour University of Manitoba Press Paperback, 264 pages, $24.95 Dale Barbour’s Winnipeg Beach: Leisure and Courtship in a Resort Town, 1900–1967 chronicles the rise and fall of a Manitoba resort community. Not only does Barbour craft a history of Winnipeg Beach, he explores how ideas of… Read more »

2013: It’s time to commemorate the 1763 Royal Proclamation

NDP Leader Thomas Mulcair made a good suggestion last week.  After the Prime Minister publicly outlined the marching orders for his ministers – which did not address recent tensions with First Nations but did emphasize the allocation of funds and resources towards a handful of historical celebrations – Mulcair took him to task. Picking up perhaps on the contradiction of… Read more »

History on Steroids: How a Local Community is Using New Media to Explore its Past

By Glenn McKnight The Foundation for Building Sustainable Communities (FBSC) has launched its own War of 1812 commemoration project in Oshawa, sponsored in part by the Government of Canada with a combination of tried and true presentations and displays along with some added “muscle enhancers.” FBSC is known for its Oshawa Remembers audio recordings of World War Two and Korean… Read more »

The Maritime Treaty Context of #IdleNoMore

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https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/John-Reid-January-17-2013.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadOn January 17th the students and faculty at Acadia University invited historian John G. Reid to provide historical context to the #IdleNoMore movement.  This hour long lecture builds on Reid’s forty-year career as a historian of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century northeastern North America and expert witness in a number of court cases involving Treaty and… Read more »

A Web of History: How Digital and Social Media is Changing Heritage Awareness in Toronto

By Jay Young A common cliché of our time is to observe that the internet has made us more connected than ever.  Although historians might question the accuracy of this statement, the web, social media, and smart phone apps have allowed new opportunities for engagement with historical artifacts, stories, and landmarks. One only has to look at Canada’s largest city. … Read more »

Graphics in the Archive: History and Comics Unite!

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By Krista McCracken I have a love for most things history related and I thoroughly enjoy all kinds of comics.  So when these two interests collide I take note. There are a number of great contemporary history themed comics such as Machiavelli and Hark! A Vagrant (check out Ian Mosby’s great post about this webcomic).  The idea of using comics… Read more »