Our findings are not unique to YWCA Canada. We know that similar work in Residential Schools and Indian Hospitals was carried out by service organizations and philanthropic societies across Canada. We believe our report joins the important work of many others who seek to move the history and ongoing impact of Residentials Schools and Indian Hospitals beyond the narrow scope allowed by the Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement.
Overall, we believe that Canadians can, and should, scrutinize Robert Carney’s past views on schooling for Indigenous Peoples, press Mark Carney to clarify his commitment to truth and reconciliation, and challenge the twisting of truth by residential school denialists. Doing all of these things can demonstrate truth and reconciliation leadership and help build a more honourable future. Unlike the denialists, then, our task is to guide public understanding with nuanced, historical work that promotes empathy, understanding, healing, and justice.
By Jacob Richard “Show patriotism by supporting the Hudson’s Bay Company,” declares a recent letter to the editor in the Vancouver Sun. Lamenting the news that the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) is on the verge of financial collapse, the letter writer argues that there is “nothing more tragic to becoming the 51st state than to see the Hudson’s Bay close… Read more »
June Chow The right to know through Canada’s Access to Information Act and the right to personal privacy under the Privacy Act hang in perpetual balance at our national archives. In 2021, an ATIP request submitted to Library and Archives Canada (LAC) sought to open a set of historical government records that remained Restricted within its Chinese Immigration records series, namely, C.I. 44 forms and… Read more »
Gilbert Gagné This is the third post in a series on tariffs based on a roundtable organized at Bishop’s University in February 2025. Read the introduction by David Webster here and the first post by Heather McKeen-Edwards here. The second post by Gordon S. Baker appears here. Everything seems to be about tariffs now; how exposed to potential US tariffs… Read more »
David Webster— Tariffs on you!— No, bigger tariffs on you!— No, I have the biggest, most beautiful tariffs, and I am slapping them on you! Anyone could be excused for thinking it was a battle of toddlers. But this is deadly serious: a trade war, one that reminds us of moments of trade tension between Canada and the United States… Read more »
By Robert Englebert The tariff war has begun. Since coming into office only weeks ago, Donald Trump’s on-and-off again threat of taking a sledgehammer to free trade has kept Canadians on edge. Canadians are angry and frustrated, especially at Trump’s continued assertion that our country is not viable and that we should become the 51st state. I am not… Read more »
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.
Alan MacEachern Last year, an email informed me of a death. Two, actually. Top Hat would no longer publish Origins: Canadian History to Confederation or Destinies: Canadian History since Confederation as either print or e-books. These twin textbooks, once as much staples of Canadian history survey courses as, well, the staples thesis, were being discontinued due to low demand. Origins… Read more »
Heritage gives texture to our shared sense of place, belonging, and local identity.
