Category Archives: Canadian history

A Provoking Sort of Puzzle:  The Narrative of a Soviet Tour

By Kirk Niergarth This post is part of a series, a virtual tour of the Depression-era Soviet Union, in part through the eyes of Canadians who traveled there and, in part, through Kirk Niergarth’s eyes as he attempted to retrace some of their steps during a trip to Russia in 2014. The previous installments are available here and here.  In retrospect,… Read more »

From Wanting In to Opting Out: Home Sewing and Fashion Then and Now

Cayley Bower I’m a third generation home sewist.[i] My grandmother lived through the Great Depression and the Second World War—the height of the make do and mend movement—and made clothes for herself and her family with such skill that they were indistinguishable from store-bought items yet came at a fraction of the cost. My mother started sewing in 1970 at… Read more »

What We’ve Learned About Ontario’s Multicultural History

Screenshot of black history exhibit

By Allana Mayer There are lots of digital divides. There is a literacy divide (understanding the production of the things you see), an access divide (having the infrastructure in the first place), and then there are representation divides – seeing people like you in the materials that circulate online. As archives and heritage organizations increasingly digitize and share their unique historical… Read more »

What Does Canadian History Look Like? A Peek into University Classrooms before CHA 2018

By Thomas Peace It’s that time of the year again. Over the coming weekend, historians will join our colleagues in the social sciences and humanities in Regina for the annual Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities, during which the Canadian Historical Association (CHA) will meet. This year, the CHA has been organized around the theme of “Gathering Diversities,” reflecting… Read more »

The “Lost Stories” Project: A Tool for Introducing Students to Questions about Historical Markers, Public Memory, and Commemoration

This is the final essay in a five part series featuring the Lost Stories Project. By Scott Pollock It seems as of late that whenever I turn on the news, or pick up a newspaper, I am confronted with another story about historical markers, public memory, and commemoration. Recent examples range from the debate over the possible re-naming of Sir… Read more »

Revived Stories Promote Reconciliation Across Cultures and Across Time

This is the fourth in a five part series featuring the Lost Stories Project. By Keith Thor Carlson The same week that a mob of torch-carrying white supremists marched through Charlottesville Virginia protesting the removal of a statue of Confederate general Robert E. Lee a group of Indigenous and settler Canadians gathered in Hope BC to celebrate the erection of… Read more »

The Yees Return to Regina

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This is the third in a five part series featuring the Lost Stories Project. By Ronald Rudin Mamie Wong left Regina in 1947, never expecting to return. But this all changed when she learned a story about her father that had been largely lost to her family for decades and which is now featured both in a public art project… Read more »

Outside the Frame: The Making of Qamutiik: From the North to Ottawa’s Southway Inn

This is the second in a five part series featuring the Lost Stories Project. By John C. Walsh I played a lead role in the Lost Stories episode Qamutiik: From the North to Ottawa’s Southway Inn, serving as associate producer of the film. Due to this involvement, whenever I watch it I am able to see what sits just off… Read more »

Public History is Messy

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This is the first in a five part series featuring the Lost Stories Project. By Ronald Rudin In mid-June 2017, I received a phone call from a senior official in the New Brunswick Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture. He wanted to talk with me in regard to the Lost Stories Project that I direct. We seek out little-known stories… Read more »

The Place of History in the Alberta Social Studies Curriculum

This month, as part of the review of the History and Social Studies curriculum across Canada, Profs. Lindsay Gibson and Carla Peck from the University of Alberta have reviewed the Alberta’s Social Studies curriculum to situate the current revisions within a larger context. Current Curriculum Context Based in “progressive” child-centered, inquiry-based curriculum reform that began in the mid-1930s, Alberta is… Read more »