Category Archives: Canadian history

The CBC, Budget Cuts, and the Environmental Movement

By Ryan O’Connor On April 10th CBC/Radio Canada announced an immediate budget cut of $130 million. This move will have dire consequences for the network, with 657 jobs cut over the next two years, numerous service cutbacks, and a reduction in original television programming. Having already lost the Canadian rights to broadcast the National Hockey League to Rogers Communications –… Read more »

Of History and Headlines: Reflections of an Accidental Public Historian

By Ian Mosby When I first heard Alvin Dixon’s voice I was driving along Dupont Avenue in Toronto with my partner, Laural, and our three-month-old son, Oscar. Dixon was talking to Rick MacInnes-Rae, who was filling in as the co-host of the CBC Radio show As It Happens. The interview was about Dixon’s experience at the Alberni Indian residential school (AIRS)… Read more »

The Value of Thinking Big: Experimenting with Pedestrian Space in Toronto, 1970s and 2014

By Daniel Ross In cities across Canada, citizens are emerging from their winter hibernation to a spring and summer season packed with street festivals, concerts, and other special events. In Toronto alone there are hundreds each year, from Salsa on St. Clair to Pride to the literary Word on the Street, and on summer weekends it’s hard to walk more… Read more »

Bringing Labour History Alive Through Photos & Film

By Erica Landrock  Over the past two and a half years, I’ve been working to produce a three part history series about Working People and labour history in British Columbia for BC’s non-profit broadcaster, Knowledge Network.  When my team and I began the project back in 2011, it seemed like a straightforward and easily manageable task. How hard could it… Read more »

Heritage Toronto Awards: Call for Nominations

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The Heritage Toronto Awards celebrate outstanding contributions in the promotion and conservation of Toronto’s history and heritage by professionals and volunteers. The deadline for nominations is 4:30pm, May 16, 2014. Check out the poster below for more details.

“And bold and adventurous amazons they were”: Colonial encounters with LGBT Indigenous people in the Pacific Northwest fur-trade

By Eric Wright An earlier version of post originally appeared on the author’s blog Actually History.  In 1814, an Irish fur-trader in the employ of the Northwest Company by the name of Ross Cox was conducting business with Indigenous people near present day Spokane, Washington when he encountered, in his eyes, a remarkable individual.  In his journal under the titillating heading… Read more »

Old Conflicts in a New Century: The Problems of Prairie Grain Transportation

By Laura Larsen Few Canadians missed the news stories of grain piling up on the prairies and denunciations of the system’s failures. The Federal government’s recent announcement of financial penalties for the railways is the latest act in a long running problem facing western Canadian grain farmers: how to economically get their grain to market when long stretches of prairie and… Read more »

Memory and the Built Landscape: Edmonton’s Architectural Heritage Website

By Tim O’Grady When you think of important events in your life, chances are you associate them with physical places. Whether it is your childhood home, a former school, or a family cottage or favourite vacation spot, the connection between memory and place is intangible, though very real. People are connected to the buildings in their city. They have lived… Read more »

Faster Than a Speeding Canoe: ‘The Superheroes’ of the Fur Trade

By Eve Dutton There’s a certain image that the term “voyageur” conjures up in the Canadian consciousness: bearded, burly, and boastful rascals who prized their independence above all else, accomplished feats of superhuman strength and endurance, and braved the uncharted wilds with a song in their heart. This portrait of the voyageur has a long pedigree — it comes to… Read more »

New Paper: Sean Carleton: Rebranding Canada with Comics

ActiveHistory.ca is pleased to announce the publication of Sean Carleton’s Rebranding Canada with Comics: Canada 1812: Forged in Fire and the Continuing Co-optation of Tecumseh: In the current age of austerity, the Harper Government allocated over $28 million to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the War of 1812. For many historians this proved to be an unpopular decision. It even… Read more »