Active History

Unpacking Public Opinion in Oshawa and Durham Region: A Tale of Two Polls

November 5, 2012 2 Comments

By Christine McLaughlin

Mark Calzavara, Christine McLaughlin and Gail Bates (Friends of Oshawa’s Waterfront General Meeting, 1 November 2012). Photo courtesy of Robert T. Bell.

I recently wrote about an ongoing struggle in Oshawa around the city’s waterfront – the federally-appointed Oshawa Port Authority (OPA) has approved an ethanol refinery at the harbour, despite longstanding local opposition. The battle over public opinion has coalesced around two polls conducted on this topic. The first, commissioned by the OPA, shows a majority in support of the ethanol plant. A second poll, commissioned by the Council of Canadians, shows a majority opposed to the ethanol plant. I was rather disappointed to read an “analysis” of this in a local paper that reached an immensely disappointing conclusion: “ignore both polls, demand accountability, answers.” There are many valid reasons why two polls can show contradictory results – none of these provide good reason to discount polling entirely, or to ignore any poll. There is no need to demand answers- they are readily available to us all if we just take the time to ask the right questions. Continue reading →

Upcoming public roundtable in Winnipeg: “Canada, Citizenship, and the Politics of Belonging”

November 4, 2012 No Comments

“Canada, Citizenship and the Politics of Belonging”

Tuesday, November 13^th, 7:00pm
Carol Shields Auditorium, Millennium Library
21 Donald Street, Winnipeg

Inspired by the recently published People’s Citizenship Guide, this roundtable will discuss the relationship between citizenship and community, past and present. Panelists include Debra Parkes (Law, Univ of Manitoba), Ian Hudson (Economics, UofM), Nora Sobel (MA Education candidate, UofM), Ali Saeed (Human Rights and Refugee Advocate), and Naw Kay Seng (Refugee and Community Activist).

For more information contact Esyltt.Jones@ad.umanitoba.ca

Sponsored by the People’s Citizenship Guide Project with financial support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada

Call for contributions

November 3, 2012 No Comments

Shopping for Change: Consumer Activism in North American History

Editors: Louis Hyman (Cornell University) and Joseph Tohill (York University)

We invite proposals from academics and activists for a collection of essays, Shopping for Change: Consumer Activism in North American History, that will bring together different historical and contemporary perspectives on consumer activism in the United States and Canada between the turn of the twentieth century and the present.

In the aftermath of the Occupy movement—a grassroots global movement that originated in North America and that sought to alleviate the social and economic inequalities of present-day global corporate capitalism—we are once again looking for historical perspectives on sustaining successful social movement struggles. If Occupy was able to become so important so quickly, why did it seem to fade away almost as quickly? Like many other social justice movements, Occupy confronted the contradiction between building a broad movement that maximizes participation and maintaining the ideological focus necessary for sustaining activism over the long haul. This balancing act is nothing new for social movements, particularly those grounded in consumer politics.
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History Slam Episode Eight with Aaron Boyes: Anti-Americanism in Canada

November 2, 2012 No Comments

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By Sean Graham

Has there been a week in recent memory that has been this scary? Start off with an earthquake in the Pacific, then the ‘Frankenstorm’, and top it off with Halloween. Given the fear associated with these events we wanted to do a podcast that really addressed some of this country’s greatest fears. But then it dawned on me – is there anything scarier to Canadians that the United States? Since the American Revolution, people in the northern colonies have been leery about the United States and the possibility of an American takeover. Certainly the invasions in 1775 and 1812 didn’t help that perception, nor did the Oregon or Alaska boundary disputes, the Fenian Raids, or the Civil War. Throw in unpopular 20th American policies and personalities like Herbert Hoover, the Vietnam War, and Richard Nixon and this country has long history of anti-Americanism.

In this episode of the podcast, I chat with Aaron Boyes about anti-Americanism in Canada. We talk about anti-Americanism as a founding principle of the country, the use of anti-Americanism in Canadian politics, and try to identify some the American most disliked by Canadians. Given that November 1 is perhaps my favourite day of the year (cheap candy!) it’s fitting that we’re talking about one of my favourite historical issues. So sit back, relax, and enjoy your sugar high while you listen to the latest episode of the History Slam.

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.

Chop Suey on the Prairies

November 1, 2012 2 Comments

This is the first in a series of posts for the upcoming temporary exhibit about Chinese restaurants in Alberta opening at the Royal Alberta Museum in April 2013. Over the final months of planning and mounting the exhibit this series will give a glimpse into what goes into creating a museum exhibit as well as share some of the stories that are too long for an exhibition.

Chinese Restaurant in Rural Alberta, Bruderheim AB.

By Lauren Wheeler

Chinese restaurants: Every town on the prairies seems to have one.

This may seem like a vast generalization about the rural west and the proliferation of Chinese cuisine in Canada, but anyone from rural Alberta will tell you there is more than a grain of truth to it. Continue reading →

Truly Community Museums

October 31, 2012 No Comments

By Wendy Robicheau

The community museum. Is there a better way to understand your community? In this post, however, I refer not to buildings filled with artefacts, though these types of museums are great. Instead, on the eve of Halloween, I want to discuss every community’s best and most comprehensive museum: the graveyard.

Heritage Division, NS Dept. of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, 2005

A wealth of artefacts and personal stories, the graveyard embodies the essence of a community. Who lived here? When? Was there disease? Who had wealth? Who had power? The graveyard knows it all.

Continue reading →

Hurricane Sandy: A Teachable Moment

October 30, 2012 No Comments

Image of Hurricane Sandy from NASA.

By Dagomar Degroot

As this is published, so-called “Frankenstorm” hurricane Sandy is flooding large swaths of the American east coast. The deaths of more than sixty people in the Caribbean will likely represent this historic storm’s most direct and poignant toll. However, as reports of devastation come in from across the most densely populated regions of the United States it is the hurricane’s potential to influence the American election and, possibly, the shape of the world in years to come that has most captured the world’s attention. Whether the worst fears of meteorologists come to pass or not, Sandy presents a unique “teachable moment” for historians of climates past, many of whom study interactions between weather and historical events.

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Not as Funny as ‘Binders Full of Women’: The History of Motherhood, the Culture of Mother-Blame, and Why we are not as Outraged by Romney’s Critique of Single Parenthood

October 29, 2012 1 Comment

By Angela Rooke

Responding to an audience member question about assault rifles falling into the hands of criminals, Governor Mitt Romney pivoted and connected crime to families: “gosh, to tell our kids that before they have babies, they ought to think about getting married to someone — that’s a great idea because if there’s a two-parent family, the prospect of living in poverty goes down dramatically.” Though they have not generated nearly as much excitement as his now infamous “binders full of women” remark, Romney’s comments which implied that single mothers were to blame for the culture of violence in America ought to outrage us just as much. Such comments are just as revealing of widespread sexism and misogyny in our culture. Many probably laughed at Romney’s tactless single-mothers comment, but evidently there’s something more appealing about attacking “binders full of women” than criticizing mother-blame. In this post, I suggest that mother-blame is so deeply ingrained in our culture, so deeply rooted in our history, that Romney’s criticism of single parenthood simply wasn’t as funny to condemn. By suggesting that the solution to gun violence is to fix the ‘problem’ of single-parent families, Romney effectively blames single mothers for social problems that are beyond their control. Continue reading →

Cogs in the Machine?: We need a wrench!

October 25, 2012 2 Comments

OPA: The Goods are coming, don’t bid prices up

By Joseph Tohill

Less than two weeks to go in the US presidential election campaign, and the candidates are (surprisingly) running neck and neck. The sense of disappointment in incumbent President Barack Obama is palpable, especially after his sleepy first debate performance turned what should have been a runaway race into a real contest. Of course, the current disappointment is just the latest in a string of disappointments—from the failure to close Guantanamo Bay to the failure to reform social security. Combined, they have turned 2008’s campaign slogans such as “Change We Can Believe In!” into a bitter memory for many audaciously hopeful liberals, lefties, and social activists of all sorts.

Remember “Yes We Can!”—exuberant, confident, optimistic? Compare that with 2012’s “Forward,” which seems less like a campaign slogan than the kind of thing you might hear desperately shouted in one of those tragic films about the Great War. You know, the hoarse cry of some ill-fated officer, his eyes filled with terror, standing in the middle of ‘no man’s land,’ half his troops lying dead and butchered around him, trying frantically to rally what’s left of his company to fix bayonets and carry on with their pointless charge toward certain doom before the enemy’s trenches. (Incidentally, as we learned in the final presidential debate, bayonets are no longer the fashionable battlefield accessories they were a century ago.)

Small wonder there’s little of the excitement of 2008 in this year’s campaign. But there is the record of the Obama administration. Despite tenacious opposition, tough legislative fights, and dire warnings from opponents about the sky caving in, there have been some notable successes, such as bringing the war in Iraq to an end and ending (eventually) “Don’t ask, don’t tell.” Continue reading →

Unfinished History

October 24, 2012 1 Comment

Pots and pans demonstration outside the Icelandic Parliament, 2009

By Tina Loo

When Eric Hobsbawm died earlier this month, his passing was the occasion for a lot of thoughtful reflection about the practice of history and its connection to a larger politics. Hobsbawm, his comrade E.P. Thompson, and Natalie Davis were partly responsible for me doing what I now do. As a science undergrad, my program was fairly structured, but through serendipity and the student grapevine, I was introduced to Captain Swing and Primitive Rebels; to the working class, “time-work discipline,” and Martin Guerre – and the rest is history, so to speak. Continue reading →

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