Category Archives: History and Policy
Canada’s Sex Work Legislation Hasn’t Changed

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.
Role and Responsibility of Historians in Fighting Denialism

One problem is that those engaging in Indian Residential School denialism understand the important role that truth-telling about the past has on social change. If establishing the truth is, as the TRC contended, the precondition for healing, justice, and reconciliation, then denialists seek to deliberately divert attention away from the truths about the horrors of Indian Residential Schools.
Consultant Woes, Community Relations Worker Doubts, and Bureaucratic Stasis at Toronto Public Housing in the late 1980s

In a reflection of the city itself, the racial, religious and ethnic dynamic of public housing had changed dramatically over the preceding decade. And for all the discussion among consultants, MTHA administrators, Community Relations Workers, and tenants themselves, Metropolitan Toronto Housing Authority managers and employees seemed oblivious to initiatives that might specifically address that transformation and how it was impacting the lives of tenants.
Helter Skelter: Dreams and Disappointments in Social Service Programming at Toronto Public Housing in the late 1980s

key impediments made the implementation of a sound social service strategy impossible. First, and to their great credit, CRWs dreamed big on program implementation. But many (not all) harbored questionable, socially conservative assessments of tenants and their problems. That is, the socially conservative basis of their analysis of tenant lives and what programs were needed was often flawed.
Ecological Amnesia: Reflections on Historical Change and the Northern Cod Moratorium

By Andrew Nurse On June 26th, Fisheries and Oceans Canada announced what it called the “historic decision” to end the northern cod moratorium. Its press release was, in fact, at pains to establish this decision’s supposedly historic character in a twofold sense. First, the announcement suggests that a long period in Atlantic regional history – the era of the moratorium… Read more »
Watching the Watchmen: A Historical Look at the Legacy of the Thunder Bay Police

By Jacob Richard On December 2, 1920, The Globe reported in its ‘News of the Day’ that Joseph Buchie, an “Indian convict” in the Port Arthur Jail, had cleverly “locked his warder in his cell, released two others, cooked a breakfast and walked out.”[1] Buchie must have felt elated when he walked free of the prison doors; the full breakfast… Read more »
The Late 1980s Crisis in Toronto Public Housing: Disability and Danger

David M. K. Sheinin This is the first in a series of articles on Toronto public housing in the late 1980s. All entries in the series will be collected here. To protect their privacy, initials substitute for the names of residents who are or may still be alive. Language used on “disability” reflects terminology used in the 1980s. On May… Read more »
Opting for “Sexual Wellbeing for All”: Community & Sex Education in Alberta, 1970s and 2024

Karissa Patton and Nancy Janovicek Eric Dyck’s comic lampoons a longstanding dispute on sex education in Canada: comprehensive sex education as crucial to young people’s health, bodily autonomy, and human rights vs. parents’ rights to make decisions about what knowledge and services their children’s access. Since the 1960s, students and youth have been vocal in the debates about curriculum on… Read more »
On Bill 18: Danielle Smith, the Calgary School, and the Politics of Academic Freedom

Mack Penner On 10 April 2024, the United Conservative Party (UCP) introduced Bill 18, or the Provincial Priorities Act, in order to “support Alberta’s government in pushing back against overreach by the federal government.” If passed, the bill would require “provincial entities” of all kinds to pass any agreements with the federal government through provincial review. The bill fits neatly… Read more »