Category Archives: Canadian history

2010 is Year of the British Home Child in Canada but Some Descendants Want More from Ottawa

The Government of Canada has declared 2010 to be the Year of the British Home Child.  Earlier this month, Canada Post released a commemorative stamp to honour this recognition. The stamp, designed by Debbie Adams of Adams+Associates Design Consultants, contains three images: the SS Sardinian, on which home children migrated from Britain to Canada; a photograph of a home child… Read more »

New Book Review: Mitch Primeau on Karen Dubinsky’s The Second Greatest Disappointment: Honeymooning and Tourism at Niagara Falls

ActiveHistory.ca is happy to announce that it has published its second book review written by an individual outside the academy.  Mitch Primeau, a teacher living in Toronto who was raised in Niagara Falls, provides his thoughts on reading Karen Dubinsky’s The Second Greatest Disappointment: Honeymooning and Tourism at Niagara Falls. We want to expand our book review section.  If you… Read more »

Exploring Toronto’s Rich Beer History

      4 Comments on Exploring Toronto’s Rich Beer History

By Mirella Amato Toronto has a rich brewing history. This is a fact. I got my first glimpse into this history in 2007 in my early days working with beer. At that time, I did some work for Oliver Dawson on the Old Toronto Beer Tour. This daylong tour explores Toronto’s current breweries as well as the remnants of older… Read more »

History Matters: A lecture series connecting Toronto historians with the city and its people

by Lisa Rumiel On Tuesday, September 14th the Toronto Public Library (TPL) will kick off its 6 part History Matters lecture series.  As you might have guessed from the title, the idea for the series was inspired by what’s been going on over the past couple years with the folks at Active History – both at the blog and the… Read more »

In Search of the Franklin Expedition

      2 Comments on In Search of the Franklin Expedition

In 1845 the Franklin Expedition disembarked from coastal England in search of the Northwest Passage, but instead of achieving this goal, the voyage became the source of one of history’s most enduring stories that would continue to spark interest over 150 years later. This summer Parks Canada has announced its intention to continue its search for the wrecks of the… Read more »

Canadian Census Data: A Lost Resource

      3 Comments on Canadian Census Data: A Lost Resource

Statistics Canada is making significant changes to the way that the Canadian census is conducted.  Beginning in 2011 the long census form will no longer be distributed to Canadians. Previously, this portion of the census collected information on topics such as ethnicity, religion, employment, education, income, and various other social concerns.  Information on some of these topics will now be… Read more »

Dr. Georgina Feldberg, 1956-2010

      5 Comments on Dr. Georgina Feldberg, 1956-2010

The history community lost a great teacher, scholar and active historian this week.  I had the pleasure of knowing Dr. Feldberg during my first year at York.  She was one of the professors in a graduate course on the history of science, health and the environment.  I learned a lot from her as a teacher and from her book, Disease… Read more »