Category Archives: Canadian history

Can Ontario Overcome Bob Rae’s Legacy?

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Can one leader single-handedly sink an entire political party?

The Morning After Canada Voted

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This morning we now know that the Liberal Party, once known as Canada’s so-called “governing party”, has been reduced to the third party in the House of Commons for the first time in Canadian history. This, of course, was not the first time that one of the traditional political parties in Canada was reduced to third party status.

New Papers: So What Is the Story? Exploring Fragmentation and Synthesis in Current Canadian Historiography

The editors of ActiveHistory.ca are proud to present a round table on the current state of Canadian History writing and teaching by Ruth Sandwell, Lyle Dick, Peter Baskerville and Adele Perry. The round table includes an introduction by Sandwell and Dick and four short papers from the authors. Prologue The idea for this forum arose from a discussion between Ruth… Read more »

New Paper: Geoffrey Reaume on Psychiatric Patient Built Wall Tours at Toronto’s CAMH

Professor Geoffrey Reaume of York University’s piece on the successful wall tours he has been running at Toronto’s Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) appears on ActiveHistory.ca today. Professor Reaume’s piece previously appeared in the Active History theme issue of Left History and we are very happy to cross-publish it here.

Canadian Political Leaders, the Campaign Trail, and the “Ordinary Joe”

As another federal election enters high gear, television screens and newspaper pages are filled with images of party leaders trying to show that they are ordinary Canadians. When did Canadian politicians begin to depict themselves as ordinary Canadians, not elite members of society?

New Paper: Matthew Hayday on “The History of the Recent”

Professor Matthew Hayday of the University of Guelph has written an evocative piece on some of the joys and potential pitfalls of engaging living activists in historical research. His piece, “The History of the Recent: Reflections on Social Movement History, Research Methods and the Rapid Passage of Time,” is a useful read for anybody interested in the connections between oral history, professional historians, social movements, and activists.

Using Word Clouds to Quickly See the Political Past

This is a demonstration by Ian Milligan of how word clouds can be used to visually display textual documents, with possible applications in the educational field, media field, and elsewhere. It also has lots of pretty pictures.

Upcoming Approaching the Past Workshop: Teaching the War of 1812

The next Approaching the Past workshop will be held on Wednesday April 27th at 7:oo pm at Toronto’s historic Fort York.  The theme of this workshop is “Teaching the War of 1812,” and will feature a tour of Fort York and two short presentations by Karen Dearlove and Carolyn King.  Karen will be discussing the upcoming Ontario Visual Heritage Project… Read more »

A Novel Approach to Connecting Young Canadians with the Past: Leaders and Legacies Series

Is historical fiction a useful approach for connecting young Canadians with the past?