By Alison Norman and Lisa Pasolli How much does it cost to raise a child? Should the costs of child care be considered a standard expense for Canadian families? Those questions are on a lot of minds lately, thanks to a storm of controversy around the Fraser Institute’s report The Cost of Raising Children. The report’s author, economics professor Christopher Sarlo,… Read more »
By Amanda Walters It’s something we seemingly can’t live without, and something most of us know very little about. Coins, and all forms of money for that matter, are an important part of our lives, allowing us to buy food, drinks and other products as well as to pay for parking and for services. Yet we don’t tend to stop… Read more »
By Greg Kennedy I have recently made a habit of asking this question at opportune moments in classes and public lectures. Hilarious bewilderment usually ensues. Younger people shrug, while older people often get angry because of corrupt senators. I am increasingly convinced that this has become an esoteric question in our modern society. Political scientists for example, would probably answer… Read more »
By Daniel Ross Discussed in this post: Reg Whitaker, Gregory S. Kealey and Andrew Parnaby, Secret Service: Political Policing in Canada from the Fenians to Fortress America (University of Toronto Press, 2012). Beginning before Confederation—but especially since the mid-twentieth century—political policing has been something of a growth industry in Canada. As a landmark new book on the subject makes clear, over… Read more »
ActiveHistory.ca is on a two-week hiatus, but we’ll be back with new content in early September. During the hiatus, we’re featuring some of our favourite and most popular blog posts from this site over the past year. Thanks as always to our writers and readers! The following post was originally featured on April 2 2013. By Kaitlin Wainwright Recently, I… Read more »
By Francesca D’Amico In 1991, Toronto rapper Maestro reminded Canadians that, “we live in this place with racism called C-A-N-A-D-A. I’m watching it decay everyday. We got to hurdle the system, cause hate penetrates multiculturalism.”[1] Referencing the 1990 Oka Crisis, Maestro’s lyrics suggested that Canada’s language of tolerance of diversity was hypocritical and reflected an unequal treatment of racialized people…. Read more »
By Katharine Rollwagen On July 15, 2013, the chairman of Loblaw, Canada’s largest supermarket retailer, announced the company’s purchase of Shoppers Drug Mart, the largest pharmacy chain in the country. The merger of two of Canada’s most recognizable retail brands was quickly hailed as a mega-deal that will create a “homegrown juggernaut” – a $12.4 billion acquisition that positions the… Read more »
https://activehistory.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Lyle-and-Dominique-Cuts.mp3Podcast: Play in new window | DownloadBy Sean Graham Over the course of the past week, Ian Mosby’s work on nutritional experiments on aboriginal students in residential schools has received plenty of attention in the national media. While it will take a while before the full impact of the research is felt, there was some immediate excitement within the historical… Read more »
By Krista McCracken Though the government of Canada legalized same-sex marriage in 2005, marriage remains a contested point of debate within many Canadian religious denominations. Since the 1980s Christian denominations across Canada have debated and developed policies around human sexuality, marriage, and ordination. Currently, the Catholic Church and the Presbyterian Church in Canada do not condone gay marriage or the… Read more »
By Lachlan MacKinnon On 30 May 2013, the controversial statue of Edward Cornwallis standing in downtown Halifax was once again thrust into public debate. That morning, the rear of the monument’s base was found to have been graffitotagged with the word “fake.” Similarly, the plaque bearing Cornwallis’s name was defaced with the words “self-righteous ass.” This was the latest salvo… Read more »
