Remembering Montreal’s Cabarets

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By Mireille Mayrand-Fiset

St-Laurent Boulevard, where most of the action took place in an earlier era. Photo by author.

Montreal, Quebec’s largest and most vibrant city, is known internationally for its joie de vivre, its festive ambiance and its open-mindedness. This reputation goes back a long while: from as early as New France, Montreal was known for being a joyful, pleasurable city. In 1721, François-Xavier Charlevoix, first historian of New France, wrote in his Journal of a Voyage Made in North America By Order of the King: “The City of Montreal has a most pleasant quality; is it well situated, well established and well constructed. The beauty of its surroundings, areas and vistas instils pleasure, felt by All.”

Montreal truly discovered its own potential of excitement during the twentieth century. Between the 1920s to the late 1960s, Montreal was one of the most lively, thrilling and somewhat decadent cities in North America. St-Laurent Boulevard, a.k.a “The Main,” was the epicenter of a effervescent nightlife: cabarets, gaming houses and brothels were everywhere, welcoming, at all hours of day or night, a crowd of night birds, many of whom came from the United States or Europe.

Here’s a glimpse at one of the most exciting pages of Montreal’s history; one which largely contributed to its modern uniqueness. Continue reading →

London’s Great Smog, 60 Years On

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When did the modern environmental movement begin? Did one event mark its beginning? Earlier this year we commemorated the fiftieth anniversary of Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, which is often identified as bringing about the environmental movement. While this book’s importance is without question, focusing on it as the birth of environmentalism ignores the importance of urban environmental problems, from unsafe drinking water to severe air pollution, in raising people’s environmental awareness.

Ten years before Carson’s book, a great smog blanketed Greater London. From Friday December 5th through to the following Tuesday (Dec 9) 1952, the thick air pollution disrupted daily life and killed thousands of people. In the aftermath of the Great Smog, the British passed the Clean Air Act (1956). This event, along with other deadly smogs in the United States (Donora), lifeless or burning rivers (Don, Cuyahoga, Thames), and the threat of nuclear radiation (CND), all combined with the ecological knowledge Carson made accessible to a wide public audience, to help make the environment a growing political concern in the post-war era.  The process was different between regions and nations, but not completely independent, as the media and publishing industries helped to spread stories about both environmental crises and the ideas within Silent Spring. Continue reading →

TV Documentary Explores Shipbuilding Legacy in the Maritimes

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Maritime shipbuilders in front of ship. Photo Credit: CBC.

It’s a chapter of history mostly forgotten, not just across Canada but even in the Maritime provinces themselves. Shipbuilding – like fishing – is an obvious fact of life on the Atlantic coast, but few people today know just how extensive the industry once was. There was a time not that long ago when men built ships in sheltered harbours, on open beaches and up narrow rivers – ships that went on to carry cargoes and passengers all over the world.

From the first boats built by the earliest settlers, to the golden Age of Sail in the 1800s, and from the Grand Bank fishing schooners to the high tech naval frigates of today – the thousands of vessels built in Atlantic Canada during the past 250 years have shaped the region like no other industry.

Maritime Shipbuilding is a half hour documentary that explores this seafaring history and the proud tradition that lives on to this day. The film travels to once-thriving shipbuilding centres in the Maritimes to rediscover the story of one of the world’s most vibrant, productive, and profitable shipbuilding regions.

Although no longer the economic driving force it once was, the shipbuilding industry in Atlantic Canada continues to prosper. The thousands of people who recently attended the re-launch of the Bluenose II in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia are a testament to that enduring legacy.

Maritime Shipbuilding was written and directed by award-winning Halifax documentary-maker Geoff D’Eon, (Blood On The Coal/Facebook Follies) and produced by Edward Peill from Halifax-based Tell Tale Productions Inc.

“This was an interesting piece to work on. More than 28,000 ships built in the Maritimes? Who knew?” says D’Eon “It’s not only the numbers that are surprising, but the locations where these ships were built, places that today show no trace of the industry that once was.”

Maritime Shipbuilding will have its world broadcast premiere on CBC Television’s Land & Sea on Sunday, December 9, 2012 at 12 Noon. Following the broadcast, the documentary can be watched on the CBC TV website at:  www.cbc.ca/landandsea. Land & Sea is CBC’s 2nd longest running TV series and can be followed on Twitter: @cbclandandsea

Maritime Shipbuilding was produced in association with CBC TV with funding from Film NS, and Provincial and Federal tax credits.

How Should the Great War be Remembered? Your Chance to Weigh In with Canada’s Leading Educators, Historians, Community Leaders & Museum Curators

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2014 marks the 100th Anniversary of the start of the First World War. It was the world’s first global conflict and it affected every level of society. Over 500 high school students from Victoria High School are remembered in the Great War Roll of Honour; the first woman officially in the Royal Canadian Navy was a ‘nursing sister’ from Bruce County, Ontario named Elizabeth Pierce; 700 men from the Newfoundland regiment were killed or injured during the First World War and children across Canada saved their pennies to buy War Savings Stamps.

Cenotaphs in tribute to these sons, daughters, men and women exist in virtually every city and town acrooss the country yet only 22 in 10 Canadians attend annual Remembrance Day events in their communities. Teachers and community groups are now seizing upon the centennial anniversary to renew interest about Canada’s role during the Great War and make the distant past more relevant for Canadian students.

Canada’s History Forum will bring together over 150 of Canada’s leading educators, students, community leaders, historians and museum curators to join with the Governor General’s History Award recipients and critically examine leading practices inside the classroom and in community commemorations. The theme of this year’s 5th national history forum is ‘How should World War I be remembered?” As the First World War fades from public memory, efforts as to how to preserve the world’s first global conflict as a vibrant part of the Canadian historical and cultural landscape will be explored. Continue reading →

Wikipedia and Warriors: Quickly Exploring Canada’s Wikipedia Past, 2003-Present

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Page views for the "History of Canada" wikipedia page. Note regular declines during school breaks.

Page views for the “History of Canada” wikipedia page. Note regular declines during school breaks!

By Ian Milligan

The 2009 Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship, laid out – in the eyes of a diverse group of Canadian academics – a new vision for Canada (too many links to list, but some are here). A redefinition of Canada based upon war and conflict, with the military assuming a prominent role and the First and Second World Wars assuming center stage in the official understanding of the past. The evidence seems clear: one needs only to attend a hockey game (well, you know, at least during the last season), attend an official ceremony, read the pronouncement of the Minister of Heritage, to see that the Canadian military certainly is playing a larger role in both contemporary and historical accounts. But how do everyday Canadians respond to this alteration of their history? Is this shift reflected in the most common source of historical information, Wikipedia.com? Continue reading →

Municipal Conflicts of Interest in Canada, Old and New

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By Daniel Ross

He was a controversial mayor from the start. An unabashed populist, he rallied support during his campaigns by promising to cut taxes and reduce waste at city hall. As a result, he won an impressive share of the popular vote. He never denied having links to the city’s business and development community—he ran a successful business himself—and his policies certainly reflected that. From early on, accusations of bending the rules shadowed his career. But it was a legal challenge from an ordinary citizen alleging a conflict of interest that led to him losing his job.

Rob Ford and William Hawrelak. Sources: City of Toronto; City of Edmonton Archives, EA-10-1600

That man’s name was William Hawrelak, mayor of Edmonton from 1951-59, 1963-65, and 1974-75. His story is remarkable, and not just because of its superficial similarities to that of recently deposed Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. Few Canadian politicians have managed to combine success and failure as dramatically as he did in his 30-year career in public office. But in another way, his tale, like Ford’s, is nothing new. Concern over politicians using public office for private benefit has often dogged local politics in Canada, and one result has been strict conflict of interest law.

In this post I’d like to take a look at Rob Ford’s removal from office in light of a short history of municipal conflict of interest in Canada. It turns out there is nothing unprecedented about the penalty he faces, or the populist way he and his supporters have responded to his removal. Continue reading →

History Slam Episode Ten: The Foundation for Building Sustainable Communities

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By Sean Graham

In the six months or so since I started this podcast, I’ve been amazed to learn how many different groups and organizations are working around the country to promote the study of history. For as much lamenting and hand-wringing that goes on every time a study is released decrying Canadians’ general lack of historical knowledge, there are thousands of people working to engage people in the stories of the past. At a time when there’s been lots of talk of cuts that could prove damaging to the discipline, it’s good to know that there’s so many people from coast-to-coast working so hard to promote Canada’s history.

In this episode of the History Slam I talk with Glenn McKnight and Bob Bell from the Foundation for Building Sustainable Communities, a local historical group from Oshawa, Ontario. We chat about the group’s projects, which include the re-creation of a WWII Victory Garden, geocaching, and their new War of 1812 project, which included a dinner featuring regency dancing and “Kentucky militia” kidnapping the Queen’s representative. After talking about the American perspective of the war in an earlier podcast, it was fun to look at it from a local perspective.

As an added bonus, we also re-assemble the Prime Minister Fantasy Draft for a short recap. We talk about the responses to the draft – good, bad, and indifferent – and announce the big winner – even though it’s been pointed out to me that perhaps nobody can be a winner in a PM Fantasy Draft.

Sean Graham is a doctoral candidate at the University of Ottawa where he is currently working on a project that examines the early years of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. He has previously studied at Nipissing University, the University of the West Indies, and the University of Regina and like any red-blooded Canadian his ultimate dream is to be a curling champion while living on a diet of beer and poutine.

Bookstores and Memory: Marking the Closure of the Toronto Women’s Bookstore

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By Adele Perry

Photo by Cory Doctorow, Oct 26 2012

Last Friday, the Toronto Women’s Bookstore opened its doors for the last time.  This is an occasion for the kind of celebration and mourning that has occurred in events held in Toronto and beyond.   It is also a chance to think about alternative bookstores, change, and remembrance. Continue reading →

Announcement – Far from Over: The Music and Life of Drake, 8 December in Toronto

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Click through for a PDF version of the poster.

On Saturday December 8th at 7pm, please join Accents on Eglinton and host Francesca D’Amico (York University PhD candidate in music history) for an evening with Dalton Higgins, award-winning journalist, radio and TV broadcaster, to discuss his latest book Far From Over: The Music and Life of Drake (ECW Press). Higgins and D’Amico will engage in a conversation intended to use the life and music of Drake as a lens by which to discuss and highlight how the historical meets the contemporary. The issues that will be under discussion will include: the history of urban music in Toronto in particular, and Canada at large; race and ethnicity (given that Drake is of Jewish and African American descent, born and raised largely in Toronto, and has spent the ocasional summer in Memphis, TN prior to signing with his American record label); the role of media and industry; music and technology; and the current state of Hip Hop, Canadian culture and Canadian cultural icons as exports in a global market.

Far From Over is the first biography of the platinum-selling hip-hop artist; it examines Drake’s transition from Aubrey Drake Graham, heartthrob Canadian actor on the hit show Degrassi, to Hip Hop emcee. Featuring original interviews and insights surrounding the history of Canada’s Hip Hop scene, technology, social media and the music industry, and detailing the social and cultural conditions in Toronto that helped create the Drake phenomenon, Far From Over reveals the still unfolding story of an artist whose star continues to rise.

The event will take place at Accents on Eglinton located at 1790 Eglinton Avenue West in Toronto, at the intersection of Eglinton Avenue West and Dufferin Street.

Podcast: Ian McKay and What’s Wrong With Flanders Fields

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“Clearing the Battlefields in Flanders” (1921), by Mary Riter Hamilton. Source: Library and Archives Canada, Acc. No. 1988-180-142

This past Remembrance Day, historian Ian McKay gave a lecture titled “What’s Wrong With Flanders Fields.”

He argues that Remembrance Day in general and the poem in particular have been conscripted as part of what he calls the “right-wing militarization of Canadian society.”

McKay delivered the talk to the Queen’s University Institute for Lifelong Learning on November 11, 2012.

You can listen to a podcast of the talk here.

McKay is a professor of history at Queen’s University. He recently published Warrior Nation? Rebranding Canada in a Fearful Age   (Between the Lines, 2012), co-authored with Jamie Swift.