Category Archives: History in the News

Returning Home: Repatriation and Missing Children

      1 Comment on Returning Home: Repatriation and Missing Children

Last week the remote Northern Ontario community of Peawanuck First Nation welcomed home Charlie Hunter.  Charlie passed away in 1974 while attending St. Anne’s Residential School in Fort Albany.  He died while saving a fellow student who had fallen through ice near the school.  Following his death Charlie Hunter was buried in Moosoonee without the consent of his family. The… Read more »

From Andrew Carnegie to Margaret Atwood: Toronto’s “Unelected” Champions of Public Libraries.

Toronto city councillor Doug Ford, brother of city mayor Rob Ford, recently ignited public controversy over potential cuts to the city’s public library services when he claimed not to know much about author Margaret Atwood, who had spoken out against possible cuts to services and closures of library branches. Councillor Ford’s insistence that Atwood “get democratically elected” so that she… Read more »

Looking Back on Pride

      2 Comments on Looking Back on Pride

By Mathieu Brûlé The relationship between the City of Toronto and the city’s queer communities has been a popular topic of discussion in Toronto over the past few weeks. Prompted by Mayor Rob Ford’s decision to forego Pride Week’s festivities in exchange for time at his family cottage, many, critics and supporters alike, have expressed disappointment in the mayor’s decision to… Read more »

The “Asbestos Issue” Then and Now, Again and Again

By Dr. Jessica Van Horssen [Re-posted from NiCHE’s Group Blog, The Otter] This past July 1st, I was fortunate to have been able to attend one of the anti-asbestos protests in London on Canada Day while in the United Kingdom for research. Why was I researching in the UK? Because the first reported death due to asbestos-related disease was a… Read more »

Like history? There’s an app for that

      6 Comments on Like history? There’s an app for that

I recently purchased an Apple iPhone, so that means I now enjoy texting, web browsing on the go and, of course, a higher monthly cell phone bill.  But I’m also able to use a number of great apps that relate to history. An app (short for “application”) is essentially a computer program for a smartphone.  Apps are often created by third-party developers… Read more »

Contesting White Supremacy: An Interview with Professor Timothy Stanley

By Yeow Tong Chia Professor Timothy A. Stanley recently published his new book Contesting White Supremacy: School Segregation, Anti-Racism, and the Making of Chinese Canadians (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2011). The launch of this book is timely, as it comes in the wake of Maclean’s Magazine TOO ASIAN article, which stereotypes Asians as nerdy and hardworking and “whites” as fun and… Read more »

Catastrophic Flooding: Manitoba’s Perennial Challenge

This originally appeared on the Network in Canadian History and Environment [NiCHE] group blog, Nature’s Chroniclers. Shannon Stunden Bower’s given us permission to repost it here. Southern Manitoba has flooded. Again. Given the large number of notable floods that have occurred in the past few years, this must be a surprise to precisely no one, environmental historian or otherwise. Traversed… Read more »

Canadian Political Leaders, the Campaign Trail, and the “Ordinary Joe”

As another federal election enters high gear, television screens and newspaper pages are filled with images of party leaders trying to show that they are ordinary Canadians. When did Canadian politicians begin to depict themselves as ordinary Canadians, not elite members of society?

The Toronto Star’s Lackluster Coverage of the American Civil War Anniversary

By Matthew Furrow Let me tell you about a newspaper article I just read and what it taught me about history. Apparently, this week marks the 150th anniversary of the start of the American Civil War. (The war started because southern forces fired the first shot, although it’s not clear why). This is a “Big Deal,” at least to certain… Read more »