Toronto Before the G20: A History of Violence
The police violence and the limited acts of vandalism at the recent G20 protests were inexcusable, but not at all unprecedented in Toronto’s history.
Category Archives: Canadian history
Waving the Flag in Distress
Today is the one-hundred and forty-third anniversary of Canada’s Confederation and the formal birth of the country’s federal political system. And instead of waving the flag in a perfunctory fashion (yes, I know the Queen is visiting), I’d like to wave it in distress over the present dysfunction in our federal politics by briefly singling out four serious issues in… Read more »
International Museum Day at the Canadian Museum of Civilization – May 18th, 2010
Since 1977, International Museum Day has taken place across the world on, or around, the 18th of May. This day is meant raise public awareness towards some of the daily challenges that museums face and allows members of the public a glimpse into the way a museum operates. Each year the International Council of Museums (ICOM) chooses a theme that it… Read more »
Giving voice to history
by Laura Madokoro Last week, the first event by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission on residential schools was held in Winnipeg. In the same week, British Prime Minister David Cameron issued an apology on behalf of the British government for the “unjustified and unjustifiable” killings of thirteen people in Londonderry, Northern Ireland in 1972 – an event now famously known… Read more »
Learning about Teaching Canadian Rural History at Black Creek Pioneer Village
This post re-caps the inaugural event in the Approaching the Past workshop series, which is co-sponsored by ActiveHistory.ca. It discusses what we did at the workshop, and hopefully helps people learn some teaching tips.
Scientific Instruments as “a History with, of, and Through Things”*
The “Reading Artifacts: Summer Institute in Material Culture Research” at the Canada Science and Technology Museum is another symptom of the growing trend in history and philosophy of science studies to include scientific artifacts as a resource for historical investigation and argumentation. In Leviathan and the Air Pump, Shapin and Schaffer argued scientific instruments are integral to the making of… Read more »
Colborne Street Breakdown II: Demolition and Community History
Colborne Street is the historic downtown of Brantford and by many accounts this stretch of buildings represents the longest stretch of pre-Confederation buildings remaining Canada, but Tuesday June 8th was a dark day for history, heritage and the city of Brantford.
The possibilities of digital media and print publication
The use of new digital media in conjunction with conventional print publication is one of the many important contributions that Joy Parr’s recent Sensing Changes: Technologies, Environments, and the Everyday, 1953-2003 (2010, UBC Press) makes to our understanding of the past. The book examines how Canadians living in environments affected by megaprojects built after the Second World War responded to… Read more »
Approaching the Past: A Series Connecting People Teaching History
On Wednesday, June 16th graduate students in History and Education, academic historians, history teachers, and public history professionals will gather at Black Creek Pioneer Village for an evening of discussion around the theme of “teaching history by doing history.” The event is part of a new series called Approaching the Past: A Series Connecting People Teaching History, sponsored by The… Read more »
What the Copyright Modernization Act Means for Historians
Sean Kheraj Last week the federal government tabled its long anticipated copyright reform legislation for first reading in the House of Commons. The Copyright Modernization Act or Bill C-32 attempts to overhaul many of the out-dated provisions of Canada’s copyright law that have fallen far behind major technological changes of the last thirty years. For instance, under the proposed legislation,… Read more »