Ontario Training Schools: State Violence and New Possibilities for Reconciliation

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John Rose

My dad is a great storyteller. Exaggerating at the right moments and building an exciting narrative, he shares anecdotes of incarceration and survival that reflect a man who grew up in a post-World War II (WWII) working-class family in the rust belt of Ontario. When I was growing up, he would tell his stories to me and my brothers over and over. Many of his regular tales involve his time at the Pine Ridge Training School in Bowmanville.

The Training Schools were juvenile detention centres that operated from 1931 to 1984. My dad did two “stints” there between the ages of eight and fourteen in the late 1950s and early 1960s. One of the measures that the staff would use to discipline the young residents involved lining the kids up facing a brick wall, then forcing them to bend over with the top of their heads against the wall. The staff would either kick them or strike them with a broom handle to crack their heads against the wall. My dad called this event “colour TV” as it made him and his co-residents “see colours.” Though my dad sometimes tries to find the humour in his experiences, these kinds of stories (of which there are too many) paint a harsh picture of life for a young boy at a public institution designed to “reform” him.

As I became a scholar, I started wondering more about the history of the Ontario Training Schools: Who started them? What was their purpose? What historical truths remain hidden in the stories of these institutions? For the last 15 years, I have worked as a researcher and educator, spending much of my time interrogating 19th and early 20th century settler colonial institutions in Canada. Thinking about what I have learned from Elders over the years, from the Reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, and from the many stories and books published by survivors, I could not help but make connections between Residential Schools and Training Schools. Although we should not equate the two institutions, incarceration and violence are systemic to the Canadian state and its historical treatment of youths. Does the history of Training Schools offer any potential to build on reconciliation efforts in Canada?

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History Slam Episode 163: Pier 21

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By Sean Graham

Between 1928 and 1971, around 1 million immigrants arrived in Canada at Halifax’s Pier 21. In the years since its closure as a reception centre for immigration, the site has taken on a symbolic role in representing mid-century Canadian immigration, embodying the policies, procedures, and attitudes of the immigration system. The site is now home to the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, which aims to “inspire and enable Canadians to explore their relationships” with immigration and migration.

To achieve this, the museum encourages people to share their personal stories with immigration. This can be a challenge, though, as immigration history can be full of contradiction. For some migrants, Canada provided new opportunities not available elsewhere. For others, however, Canada was exclusionary and refused to protect them when their lives were threatened.

Addressing these complexities is one of the challenges faced by Jan Raska and Steven Schwinghamer in their new book Pier 21: A History. Historians at the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21, they take first person accounts collected by the museum in crafting a larger narrative history of the facility. The book profiles Pier 21 from its role as an immigration facility to its military operations to its emergence as a site of commemoration.

In this episode of the History Slam, I talk with Jan and Steven about the book. We talk about their interview process, who wanted to participate, and crafting a narrative from personal experiences. We also discuss the contradictions within immigration history, telling challenging stories in museums, and the mythology surrounding immigration to Canada.

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On Grieving the Finnish Labour Temple and the Promise of the Community Hall

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Samira Saramo

The news crashed down on me like a tonne of red bricks: the Finnish Labour Temple had been sold. Since 1910, the Labour Temple in Thunder Bay, Ontario, has stood as the grandest symbol of Finnish immigrant presence in Canada. With its iconic cupola, it is also a beacon of Thunder Bay and the heart of the bustling Bay-Algoma neighbourhood. Now, removed from community ownership, the Labour Temple is slated to be turned into condos. As a historian of Finnish immigrant communities, and as someone whose life has featured the Labour Temple in many key moments, from our newborn’s naming ceremony to weddings to funerals and everything in between, the end of the Finnish Labour Temple as we know it has hit me hard. As I grieve this loss along with the community surrounding the “Finn Hall,” I would like to reflect on the history of the Finnish Labour Temple, particularly thinking on the legacy and promise of the community hall.

The Finlandia Association of Thunder Bay, an active community organization managing a popular restaurant and a unique event hall, had become burdened by significant financial difficulties. Continue reading →

Treaty Education and Settler Relearning in Post Secondary Canadian History Classrooms

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By Wren Shaman

Canadian history courses have the potential to create spaces to engage with processes of decolonization, but to date they still seem to reinforce the status quo.

The self-image of Canadians is closely tied to a brand of nationalism that reflects white prejudice, and the Eurocentric knowledge and traditions through its conception of Canada’s past. Too often this vision is ingrained in Canadian history classrooms and reinforced in many university-level Canadian history courses.[1] Ignorance and willful denial of Indigenous peoples’ lived realities and Settler relations to Indigenous peoples past and present, persists within Settler-Canadian society. How Canadian history is taught in post-secondary institutions needs to change if Settlers are to be active participants in the process of decolonization.[2] Without addressing this, decolonization remains impossible.

Watching Settlers’ responses to events on Wet’suwet’en lands, and their responses to solidarity actions across Canada, has brought the Canadian history I have been taught into question.[3] It also caused me to question my beliefs surrounding the decolonial possibility of Canadian history.

Over the past year, I have begun to address these concerns through my senior honours research at the University of Victoria. I conceived of this project because of my anxieties surrounding what it means to be a Settler working in the field of Indigenous-Settler relations and because of the unevenness with which Indigenous-Settler relations were addressed during my secondary and post-secondary studies. Continue reading →

The Resonance of Almighty Voice (Kitchi-Manito-Waya)

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By James Cullingham

One Arrow First Nation Chief Tricia Sutherland says this “the right time for the story to be told.” The story concerns Almighty Voice (Kitchi-Manito-Waya) the young Cree man from One Arrow, a community near Batoche who became subject of one of the longest manhunts in Canadian history. Almost exactly 125 years ago, Almighty Voice slaughtered a settler’s cow. Months later, Almighty Voice was charged and briefly imprisoned before he escaped detention. As he set out on the lam, Almighty Voice killed a Mountie who was pursuing him. The manhunt was on in earnest and lasted more than a year.

Kitchi-Manito-Waya from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography (click the image to read the biography).

These events occurred barely a decade after the North West Resistance as severe privation and hunger threatened Saskatchewan First Nations and paranoia of ‘savage Indians’ was rampant among newcomers. The tragedy ended in May 1897 when Almighty Voice and a couple of companions were shot and shelled to death by a contingent of North West Mounted Police. Settler townspeople gathered for the spectacle. One Arrow residents including Almighty Voice’s mother Spotted Calf were also witness to the carnage. Spotted Calf is reported to have sung a death song following the fatal cannon salvo.

It’s an epochal Indigenous – settler story. Like Louis Riel, Almighty Voice resisted and was then killed by the Canadian state. Unlike Riel, Almighty Voice, until now at least, has not been widely considered a heroic figure and his story is less well known. In this moment of proclaimed reconciliation, the violent saga of Almighty Voice, his family, his community, his wives and lovers has renewed currency. Continue reading →

History Slam Episode 162: Thinking Historically

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By Sean Graham

Last week at the National Archives in Washington, the President of the United States hosted what was billed as the White House Conference on American History, during which he said that, through his administration, the National Endowment for the Humanities had “awarded a grant to support the development of a pro-American curriculum that celebrates the truth about our nation’s great history.” This elicited the predictable reactions from cable news pundits, but it also served as the latest in a series of events that put history and historical education at the centre of partisan debates over questions of national identity. From statues to the naming of buildings to a nation’s founding principles, these debates have increasingly become pillars of political campaigns.

Over the weekend, I spent a lot of time reading partisan responses to the Conference on American History. What stood out to me was how beholden each side is to a specific, unimpeachable truth. On one side, the United States is a country founded on freedom. On the other side, the United States is a country founded on slavery and inequality. As I read these think pieces, I couldn’t help but think what would have happened if you traveled to Virginia in the 1793 and asked people about the country’s founding principles? The answer would certainly vary depending on who you ask.

In so many of these pieces, it was clear that there was a lack of historical thinking. When we talk about history in schools and public commemoration, there are key questions that need to be asked: whose stories are we telling? What perspectives are included? Who or what is missing from the story? These tenets of historical thinking are too often missing when partisan pundits debate history and its place within society.

In a rather serendipitous turn of events, this most recent debate corresponded with the Canadian Historical Association publishing a series of posts by Lindsay Gibson asking What is Historical Thinking? The 3-part series explores the origins of historical thinking, its development over time, and some of the most frequent criticisms of the approach. Personally, these were a welcome addition to discussions which added a needed perspective given the current climate.

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History Slam Repost: Decoding Monuments and Memorials

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By Sean Graham

Last month in Montreal, protesters toppled a statue of Sir John A. Macdonald. In response, Quebec Premier François Legault said that “We must fight racism, but destroying parts of our history is not the solution.” This refrain that removing statues is an effort to erase history is common from those who argue in favour of statues. That leads to the questions, though – what is the connection between a statue and history?

As someone who doesn’t particularly like statues to individuals, I wanted to re-visit a conversation I had a couple years ago with Tonya Davidson, a sociologist for Carleton. We talked about why communities commission statues, how the public interact with them, and debate their value in encouraging historical thinking. We also walked through downtown Ottawa to look at some of the city’s monuments and talk about their place within the community.

This discussion was recorded in 2018 and released as part of Episode 120.

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History Slam Episode 161: Identity, Race, & Sports

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By Sean Graham

On August 26, as the scheduled start time of the Milwaukee Bucks-Orlando Magic playoff game approached, word started to circulate that Bucks players would not be taking to the floor. Three days earlier in Kenosha, WI, about 40 miles from Milwaukee, Jacob Blake was shot 7 times in the back by police. In the hours that followed, all NBA and WNBA game were postponed and two MLB games were not played. Over the next couple of days, all MLB teams postponed at least one of their games and the NHL stopped play for a couple nights.

Prior to agreeing to enter the NBA’s return to play bubble in Orlando, players wanted to ensure that their social activism efforts would not be interrupted and that team owners would increase their support for social justice. In the days following the Bucks players’ strike, players again used their power to push for further concrete action, which included teams using their arenas as polling places and increased financial contributions by team owners.

As players used their platform, the response from some in the media was predictable. Calls for sports to be free from politics or misplaced nostalgia for days where athletes were apolitical were not hard to find. In looking through sports history, however, it becomes clear that there has always been a political side to sports. From protests over Jack Johnson’s Heavyweight Title win to Jackie Robinson breaking the colour bar in baseball to the 1980 American Men’s Olympic Hockey gold medal, sports has always been tied to political and social movements.

In addition to the History Slam, I also host the Game of Stones Podcast, which covers the world of curling. Over the past few months, we’ve hosted a couple of roundtables discussing diversity in the sport. We are committed to furthering these discussions and are pleased to present today’s episode, which is a collaboration between the two podcasts.

In this episode, I talk with Ornella Nzindukiyimana of St.Francis Xavier University about identity, race, and sports. We talk about the politics of sport, how athletes have used their platforms, and how race has influenced sports media. We also talk about boxer Larry Gains, race and amateur sport in early 20th century Canada, and how recreational sports can be more inclusive.

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Advice for Planning and Conducting Archival Research

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This is what my archival research gear looks like (plus tissues as it can be dusty!). Image by author.

(This post by Katrin Kleemann is published as part of a collaboration with Environmental History Now)

Do you remember when the only thing keeping you from conducting research in an archive in a different city or country was simply a lack of money? It turns out, those were the good old days! In memory of the pre-pandemic world, when historians were still able to conduct archival research, I created a checklist based on my own experience.

During archival research trips in Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, I’ve learned a lot, found valuable sources, and came up with ideas on how to develop my projects further. With each trip, I developed new methods for planning and making the next trip more productive and efficient—not only in the archive itself but also when analyzing the sources once I returned. I wish I had developed these methods even earlier. Let’s hope that (international) travel will be possible and safe again soon, and this advice will be of use to you when you finally will be able to embark on your next research trip.

Before you go:  Continue reading →

History Slam Episode 160: The Kissing Fence

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By Sean Graham

New Denver is a small town in southeastern British Columbia. With its population of around 500 along the shores of Slocan Lake, the community attracts people looking to escape urban centres in search of nature. In addition to the campsites and trails listed among the village’s attractions, it is also home to Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre, a National Historic Site dedicated to telling the stories and preserving the artifacts associated with the internment of over 22,000 Japanese Canadians during the Second World War.

In the 1950s, the New Denver sanitarium, which is where thousands of Japanese Canadians were interned, was again housing people who had been forcibly removed from their homes. This time, however, it was hundreds of Doukhobor children of the Sons of Freedom. Taken from their parents, they were placed into public schools while nights and weekends were spent in the sanitarium, which now served as their dormitory. Parents could go to see their children 2 Sundays a month, but were only allowed to visit through a chain link fence.

This is the subject The Kissing Fence by Brian Thomas-Peter. A historical fiction, the book follows two main characters. In 2018, William, who has rejected his Doukhobor heritage, suffers significant injuries in a biking accident, the first in a series of events that throws his life into disarray. In the 1950s, Pavel and Nina have been separated from their families and are struggling with life in the sanitarium. Unable to speak their first language, they focus on protecting younger children from the poor treatment to which they were subjected. As the two stories converge, the book explores how inter-generational trauma can shape family relationships and lead us to question our identity and place within our communities.  

In this episode of the History Slam, I talk with Brian Thomas-Peter about the book. We talk about his interviews with survivors, the legacy of internment within the local B.C. and Doukhobor communities, and the importance of telling difficult stories. We also talk about conveying forgotten stories through historical fiction, finding humanity in the past, and the damage caused by inter-generational trauma.

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