Active History

Catastrophic Rhetoric: False Enchantments and ‘Unprecedented’ Disasters in British Columbia’s Punishing 2021

April 4, 2022 No Comments

Pine and grass ecology, Nlaka’pamux land. Photo by author, 2019.

This article is reposted, in slightly edited form and with permission, from the first issue of Syndemic Magazine: “Neo-liberalism and Covid-19.” Syndemic Magazine is a project of the L.R. Wilson Institute for Canadian History at McMaster University. Its second issue, “Labour in a Treacherous Time,” is also now available.

By Mica Jorgensen

It came suddenly, violently tearing up lives and landscapes, subjecting countless British Columbians to an unprecedented state of emergency. And in its wake the province reels – survivors mourn the loss of millions of lives, human and non-human; communities struggle to rebuild infrastructure; the insurance companies calculate billion-dollar losses. Here was a “natural disaster.”

But — which one? Covid-19 might be a first guess. As of early 2022, according to the BC Centre for Disease Control, the province had suffered a total of 314,787 cases and 2,554 deaths (including the first registered in Canada), with 144 patients in critical care.

Alternatively, many British Columbians might focus on the November 2021 floods, whose immediate cause was an “atmospheric river” that dropped a month’s worth of rain in two and a half days, breaking down the sides of mountains, unloading avalanches of debris on highways, killing at least six people and about 1.3 million farm animals, and causing billions of dollars of damage.

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History Slam 208: The Story of Yonge St, a City’s Transformation, & The Heart of Toronto

March 31, 2022 No Comments

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By Sean Graham

If you’ve visited Toronto for any length of time, you’ve probably found yourself on Yonge St. Starting on the shores of Lake Ontario, the street includes theatres, the Eaton Centre, the Air Canada Centre, and one of the city’s subway lines. Every day, thousands of people head to the street to work, shop, and socialize. As with any major street, however, Yonge Street has undergone significant changes over the past 70 years. From questions over accessibility and transportation to debates on the morality of certain commercial establishments and their clientele to reflecting Toronto’s emergence as the most prominent centre within Canada’s business community, Yonge Street has been a place where broad questions of power, community, and economics have played out from block to block.

That a such a prominent street would tell a city’s story is not necessarily unique to Toronto. In communities around the world, certain streets take on great meeting for their communities. Wherever you live, there is, very likely, a destination street where people have long gathered. So while the story of Yonge Street is specific to the circumstances of Toronto, the themes that emerge from its history can be found in cities and town across Canada. At the same time, however, the specifics of Yonge St, including its fame (or infamy depending on your perspective), and how its development influenced decision-making in other urban centres adds several layers to its history.

That history is the subject of Daniel Ross’ new book The Heart of Toronto: Corporate Power, Civic Activism, and the Remaking of Downtown Yonge Street. Tracing the street’s history in the post-Second World War years, Ross examines how it represents modern urbanism. As the city changed, Yonge Street changed with it. As power dynamics across the city changed, those who had a voice along Yonge Street changed. And as economic trends changed, the street’s landscape changed to capitalize on new markets. Within these changes, tensions emerged and debates played out against the backdrop of significant social and economic transformations. In telling these stories, Ross weaves together the local with wider societal shifts to tell a Toronto-story, the results of which reverberated in communities throughout North America.

In this episode of the History Slam, I talk with Daniel about Yonge Street, its transformation, and the book. We discuss the romantic image of Yonge Street and its place within Toronto (5:50), the debate over transportation and the addition of pedestrian spaces (17:20), and the controversy surrounding what was known as ‘Sin Strip.’ (20:51). We also chat about who had sway with city officials when making decisions for the street (32:05), the importance of the Eaton Centre (41:00), and the benefits and challenges of using the street to study the wider history of Toronto (44:01).

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History Slam 207: Navigating Online (Mis)Information

March 25, 2022 No Comments

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By Sean Graham

Over the past two years, the onslaught of misinformation has increasingly attracted public and government attention. From the Covid pandemic, to election results, to protest movements, we are bombarded by a daily avalanche of information and it can be, at times, challenging to distinguish reputable sources from those peddling nonsense. Many creators of misinformation are part of sophisticated operations that understand how to create confusion and sow doubt. As we collectively try to navigate this environment, it is important maintain a healthy critical eye when consuming digital content. This challenge also extends to classrooms, where teachers and university faculty bear some responsibility for teaching students about finding and using high quality sources.

Some strategies for doing so can be found in Bethany Kilcrease’s new book Falsehood and Fallacy: How to Think, Read, and Write in the Twenty-First Century. A great resource for students, the book explores strategies to use in the digital age to ensure what you read is of good quality. With the traditional gatekeepers losing power and influence – which is simultaneously good and bad for the dissemination of knowledge – evaluating the legitimacy of sources needs to be central to our daily consumption of information and to academic curricula. With logical fallacies, causation confusion, and falsehoods commonplace, the book offers useful strategies for avoiding these materials while also offering tips to improve our own writing.

In this episode of the History Slam, I talk with Dr. Kilcrease about the book. We discuss the assumption that young people are well prepared for online misinformation (10:55), increased accessibility of quality sources (18:40), and the pros and cons of gatekeepers’ reduced power (22:40). We also chat about the CRAAP test (27:05), the benefits of short-form online writing (34:10), and proving causation (43:05).

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Making Private Property in Rural Britain and Canada

March 23, 2022 1 Comment

Photo by Thomas Hawk CC BY-NC 2.0

Robin Ganev

Recently the government of Saskatchewan strengthened existing trespassing law to the benefit of farmers and to the detriment of Indigenous people. The new laws took effect on Jan. 1, 2022. Under previous legislation, land owners had an obligation to put up posting if they wanted to limit access to their land. Now it is the responsibility of “trespassers” to ensure they are not on the wrong land, by obtaining permission from landowners to use their land for activities such as hunting, fishing, or hiking. The Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations has objected to the new laws, on the grounds that they violate treaty rights, which allow Indigenous people to live off the land. The fact that these laws were passed in the wake of the 2016 Colten Boushie shooting makes them all the more egregious and sends the message that the Saskatchewan government condones Gerald Stanley’s right to protect his private property.

Indigenous advocates have pointed out the irony of charging Indigenous hunters with trespassing upon land that was taken away from them. Converting previously accessible “public” land to strictly controlled private property has a parallel in the history of enclosure and resistance to it in England. Revisiting this history can help us rethink notions of “private property” and who the land belongs to. It also allows us to reflect on how private property rights became much stronger in Canada than in the United Kingdom, where rights of way (England) and right to roam (Scotland) customs and laws prevent rural landholders from restricting access for recreation.

The English Village Before Enclosure

The pre-enclosure English village comprised the lord of the manor, tenant farmers with different leases, cottagers or commoners – defined as small owners or occupiers with enough land and common rights to feed themselves – and squatters, who lived upon the land but had no ownership.[i] Continue reading →

Two Dead White Men – A Review

March 22, 2022 No Comments

By Robin Benger

So many worlds to explore. So little time to do it.

James Cullingham may have bitten off more than its possible to chew with Two Dead White Men, the eye-catching but somewhat misleading title of his ambitious and fascinating book. Nevertheless, it is a great read, an adventurous journey and a brave exploration of two of the most interesting, and contradictory characters of 20^th century colonial politics.

World class geniuses in their own fields.

Duncan Campbell Scott as a poet in Canada, Soustelle as an intellectual and ethnologist in France. They were both given unachievable tasks of central importance in the development of settler-indigenous relationships in two of the most interesting countries in the world. Continue reading →

Stories from coast to coast to coast: An interview with Adam Bunch

March 21, 2022 No Comments

A man in a suit jacket, jeans, and hat facing away from the camera. He is looking out over a grassy landscape.

Ashley Brook/Canadiana

Sara Wilmshurst

Author, documentarian, and educator Adam Bunch met with one of our editors to talk about his work bringing Canadian history to the masses. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

SW: One of the things that is notable about your Canadian history documentary series, Canadiana, is how much of the country you visit to make it all come together. Not only do you roam the country seeing cool places, but you must also meet fascinating people. Are there any characters from your experience?

AB: It is one of the big privileges of getting to do Canadiana, that we get to travel so much, all across the country. As a film crew from Toronto, we do a lot of research for each individual episode and learn everything we can, but then get to meet people who dedicate years of their lives, or their whole lives and careers, to exploring the history of that one place that they know so well. So much better than we ever can. Getting to meet people who are that passionate about their own local history, and excited to tell us about it because we’re showing interest and going to share it with a new audience, is one of the most fun parts of doing it.

There was one person we met very briefly when we were in Dawson City filming. Continue reading →

The Canadian Flag was politicized long before the Freedom Convoy

March 15, 2022 2 Comments

A home in Ottawa’s Centretown Neighbourhood reclaims the Canadian Flag, February 2022 (Photo: Robert J. Talbot)

Forrest Pass

The first time a Canadian maple leaf appeared on a flag, it was flown in the final days of a violent protest. At the Battle of Saint-Eustache in 1837, Patriote fighters carried a white banner charged with a Maskinongé fish, pinecones, the initials “C” and “JB” (for “Canada” and “Jean-Baptiste” respectively), and a branch of green maple leaves. To its creators, this makeshift maple-leaf flag was a symbol of patriotic resistance to British colonial oppression.

I draw no equivalence, of course, between the anti-colonial cause of the Lower Canadian Patriotes and the various grievances of the so-called “Freedom Convoy”. But the use of maple leaf flags unites these two movements. Like many Canadians generally and Ottawans specifically, I have found the use of the Canadian flag during the recent anti-vaccination mandate demonstrations unsettling. Yet as an historian who studies past flag use in Canada, I also see historical echoes and continuities in the demonstrators’ use of the national emblem. Considering the history of Canadian “flag culture” – the circumstances in which societies display their flags and the rules and rituals that surround this use – helps us make sense of the demonstrators’ American-style deployment of the flag, and the evolving political resonance of our most familiar national symbol.

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Digital History Tools: Making Timelines

March 14, 2022 1 Comment

Krista McCracken

My work at the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centrecurrently includes a Canada History Fund funded project to create education modules connected to Residential Schools and colonialism. These modules are geared toward high school aged students and will be used as part of ongoing educational programming. When I wrote the grant proposal I included the idea that the modules would include interactive timelines. I thought they would be helpful educational tools. At the time I had no idea how I would make them come to life in practice.

Fast forward to actually getting the grant funding and starting to work on this project. A lot of our team prep work happened in a Google Doc, with staff building out narrative content in a fairly traditional way. We had multiple timeline sections that were huge walls of text and dates.

We decided to use Omeka as our platform for this project. Omeka’s exhibition module is really user friendly and something that we were able to customize to our own needs. The Neatline Time plugin is the most common timeline plugin for Omeka. It worked, but wasn’t exactly a perfect fit for the type of timeline I was hoping to create. Neatline uses Omeka’s item library to build out its timeline, which is great if you’re preparing a timeline around archival items or artifacts. We were looking for something that wasn’t as tied to the item library – something that could contain dates that weren’t associated with objects, but were more standalone. Continue reading →

History Slam 206: Fighting Sexual Harassment in the Workplace & “It Should be Easy to Fix”

March 10, 2022 No Comments

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By Sean Graham

On July 29, 1987, the Supreme Court of Canada issued its ruling in the case Robichaud v. Canada. In its decision, the court noted that the Canadian Human Rights Act places “responsibility for an organization on those who control it and are in a position to take effective remedial action to remove undesirable conditions.” For Robichaud, the case was part of an over decade-long effort for justice following her experience working at the Department of National Defense. Having started as a cleaner in 1977, she was sexually harassed by her supervisor, but the Department did not take action, instead trying to fire her. So through her union, she filed a grievance and fought for her right to a safe workplace. The case went through many levels of the legal system, but ultimately the Supreme Court’s precedent-setting decision was a significant step towards protecting people subjected to inappropriate behaviour at work.

Bonnie is sharing her story in a new memoir entitled It Should be Easy Fix. The title is the response she gave her union rep when he told her she was the first to make a complaint about harassment. In telling her story, it’s clear that it was not easy, but her passion and strength in face of at times intimidating odds have made workplaces safer. Certainly, reports of harassment are still far too common, but through this case there are greater protections for those subjected to harassment and more responsibilities on employers to take meaningful actions when those reports are made.

In this episode of the History Slam, I talk with Bonnie Robichaud about her memoir. We discuss the timeline of her case and how the book came together (4:00), her reaction to the case taking so long (18:45), and having other women reach out to her throughout the process (21:50). We also chat about the decisions leading to the Supreme Court case (26:05), the problem with non-disclosure agreements (32:00), and her advice for anyone going through a similar circumstance (34:55).

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A survey and the past that is still here

March 9, 2022 No Comments

Karen Dubinsky and Adele Perry

Surveys are a well-established research method. Twice in the last month or so, some (but certainly not all) academics in Canada received an email invitation to complete one such survey. For some, an email arrived on 9 February 2022, from “Leger au nom de l’Université Trent et de l’Université Concordia” (followed by English), with a subject line that read “Trent University and Concordia University want your opinion, (followed by French). The email opened with Trent, Concordia and Leger (the polling company) logos, and explains its contents in ten short lines. It’s a request for participation “in a survey on the role of university professors in Canada” and the purpose is “to understand how professors see the role of universities and university professors in Canada today.”

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