Category Archives: History and Policy

Blogging from the ground up: Active history and working against ‘post-truth’ discourses

While it’s true that more misinformation is flooding our algorithms with every passing day, it’s much more difficult for that misinformation to wind its way into complex, well-researched work. Amidst all the falsity that pollutes our social channels, perhaps blogging, for historians, can become a form of resistance against that tide.

How Do We Reflect on Our Past Without Knowing It?: YWCA Canada, Residential Schools, and Indian Hospitals

Black and white photo of two teenage girls bent over a table, working with fabric.

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.

Shocked, but not Surprised: The End of USAID in Historical Perspective

Photograph of a young Black girl. She is wearing a collared shirt with pink stripes and using a pen to write in a notebook.

It was a shock when I read that as the unofficial head of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a group that has no Congressional authority, Musk began to shutter USAID operations at the beginning of February. Musk bragged on his social media platform that he was putting USAID “into the wood chipper.”  At that time, the USAID website went dark, and as I am writing this, it is still down.

Understanding the Tools We Have and Rethinking the Tools We Need in Ontario’s Heritage Industry

Three men standing in front of a large, brown stone historic home. They are standing around a sign that says "The Brown Homestead 1317 Pelham Road."

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.

Ontario’s Bill 23 and Upheaval in the Heritage Industry

Black and white photo of children standing on a dirt road. Behind them, a line of detached homes extends into the distance.

Heritage gives texture to our shared sense of place, belonging, and local identity.

“Encouraging the Behaviour We Want to Encourage”: Faded Promises of Security in Toronto Public Housing

Colour photo of a city street corner with a police car marked "Metro Police" in the midground. Labeled "City of Toronto Archives, Series 1465, File 169, Item 144."

In what seemed to some MTHA workers a bizarre self-fulfilling prophecy of failure on the matter, MTHA also took it upon itself to modify the behaviour of all residents. Toward that end, it hired the criminologist and security “expert” Clifford D. Shearing to write a pilot study on how to solve MTHA security problems.

A Perception of Learned Helplessness: The Jane-Finch Neighborhood Versus Pessimism and Conflict at Toronto Public Housing

Colour photograph of a city landscape from high above. A lake is visible on the horizon.

In correspondence with North York Mayor Mel Lastman, Sheila Mascoll accused the mayor of the sort of neglect of and insensitivity toward Jane-Finch that had cast an unreasonable racist pall on a neighborhood where thousands lived, worked, and played.

Canada’s Sex Work Legislation Must Change

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Black and white photo of a person speaking into a megaphone.

Sex workers’ lives are directly at risk because of C-36.

Spotting the Difference: Comparing Canadian Sex Work Legislation from 1985 and 2014

Black and white photo of two women looking at a book with bookshelves behind them.

The countless number of sex workers, organizations, and newspaper articles all argued the same underlying premise as they had with Bill C-49: that the government’s legislation endangers sex workers.

Canada’s Sex Work Legislation Hasn’t Changed

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It is unsurprising that the Canadian Alliance for Sex Work Law Reform launched a constitutional challenge to the PCEPA in 2021- brought to the Ontario Superior Court between October 2 and 7, 2022.On September 18, 2023, the Ontario Superior Court released its decision in CASWLR v. Attorney General (Canada), deciding to uphold the PCEPA.