Canadian history

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  1/25/2023
  

  Canada's Hottest Tourist Attraction Could be the Government's Doomsday Bunker

  Canada's Diefenbunker was decommissioned in 1994, and today is one of the few places where tourists can see the preparations made to preserve government in the event of the unthinkable. 

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• SOURCE: Black Perspectives
  9/22/2022
  

  Institutional Histories of Canadian Slavery

  by Melissa N. Shaw

  McGill University’s institutional history dramatically changes when it accounts for the fact that its founder, James McGill, was an enslaver and trader of enslaved Black and Indigenous people.

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• SOURCE: The Conversation
  7/24/2022
  

  A Brief History of the Vatican and Western Canadian Missions

  by Roberto Perin

  "Residential schools and the papal bulls justifying the fallacious doctrine of discovery call out for concrete acts of atonement and reparation on the part of the church."

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• SOURCE: Axios
  7/26/2022
  

  Pope Francis Seeks Forgiveness from Indigenous Canadians over Residential School Abuses

  "I am deeply sorry, sorry for the ways in which, regrettably, many Christians supported the colonizing mentality of the powers that oppressed the Indigenous peoples," Francis said.

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  6/27/2022
  

  A Guide from the Past for Travelers Seeking an Abortion

  by Sarah Elvins

  "Women traveling to procure abortions is nothing new. Before the 1973 Roe ruling, state-to-state travel existed, as did highly organized transnational networks to guide women across borders."

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• SOURCE: The Conversation
  5/31/2022
  

  The Asian-Canadian Gay Pioneer Theorist of Sexuality

  by Laurie Marhoefer

  Li Shiu Tong, the partner of better-known German sexologist Magnus Hirschfeld, was an important theorist and activist whose once-lost writings anticipated today's politics of gay rights and liberation. 

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• SOURCE: The Conversation
  4/8/2022
  

  What Does Pope Francis's Apology Mean to Indigenous Americans?

  by Annie Selak

  "Pope Francis apologized on April 1, 2022, to First Nations, Inuit and Métis delegations, acknowledging the harm done by residential schools in Canada and marking a crucial step in the church admitting its role in the abuse of Indigenous communities and children."

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• SOURCE: Made By History at the Washington Post
  2/11/2022
  

  Ottawa Truck Protests are an Extension of Canada's Settler Colonial History

  by Taylor Dysart

  Today's Canadian protesters include many of the contemporary far right, but they all draw on a concept of freedom as individual entitlement to rule that has roots in the displacement of the nation's indigenous people. 

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• 10/17/2021
  

  The Trouble with Truth, Reconciliation, Peace and Friendship Treaties: Indigenous Land and Resource Rights Among the Mi’kmaq  

  by Rachel Herrington

  Honoring the history of the treaties is not just about the past but also about the present and future of indigenous Canadians. 

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• SOURCE: The Conversation
  10/11/2021
  

  Canada is Going through its Own History Wars

  by Ian Rocksborough-Smith

  "To what degree will well-established professional historians and scholars respond and engage with younger generations of activists, intellectuals and cultural workers adamant about centring the experiences of marginalized people?"

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• SOURCE: National Post
  8/16/2021
  

  The Canadian Historical Association's Genocide Statement "Brazenly Unscholarly" (Opinion)

  Columnist Barbara Kay supports Canadian historians who have dissented from the Canadian Historical Association's statement that Canadian treatment of First Nations peoples was genocidal. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  6/26/2021
  

  With Discovery of Unmarked Graves, Canada’s Indigenous Seek Reckoning

  The discoveries of the remains of hundreds of First Nations children at the sites of boarding schools intended to separate them from indigenous language and culture are forcing Canadians to confront the brutality of the nation's history. 

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• 4/18/2021
  

  Review: "The Third Man: Churchill, Roosevelt, Mackenzie King, and the Untold Friendships that Won WWII"

  by Walter G. Moss

  Canadian Prime Minister William Mackenzie King kept a voluminous diary that is an incredible source of insight into his role as a witness (and often an influencer) to the wartime and post-World War II leadership of Roosevelt and Churchill. A new book distills the 30,000 pages of the diary. 

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  12/6/2020
  

  A Polarizing Documentary Spurs Debate Over a Violent Time in Quebec

  Canadians are debating whether a documentary released at the fiftieth anniversary of a campaign of political violence by Quebecois separatists valorizes terrorism and ignores peaceful progress toward a bicultural Canada; the filmmaker is the son of one of the convicted conspirators.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  11/25/2020
  

  The Myth of North America, in One Painting

  Explore an immersive, interactive page that shows how "The Death of General Wolfe" by Benjamin West created a heroic myth of the British defeat of the French near Quebec, which helped decide the Seven Years War.

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• SOURCE: CBC
  10/17/2020
  

  Samuel L. Jackson's Enslaved and the Lost History of Canadian Slavery

  Canadian historian Charmaine Nelson says that many Canadians are overly accepting of the narrative of their nation as the endpoint of the Underground Railroad and unaware of the history of slavery in Canada. A new documentary by the famed actor highlights the need to push past comfortable understandings.

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/26/2020
  

  ‘Schitt’s Creek’ Star, and His Fans, Are Taking Indigenous Studies

  “I’m learning a lot of this embarrassingly late in the game,” Mr. Levy said during the first discussion. “But ultimately these stories are crucial to the identity of our country.”

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• SOURCE: New York Times
  9/1/2020
  

  A Statue of Canada’s First Prime Minister Is Toppled, but Politicians Want It Restored

  Prime Minister Justin Trudeau angered Canadian antiracism activists by condemning vandalism of a statue of the country's first Prime Minister. He angered other Canadians by not offering a stronger condemnation at a time when public acknowledgment of Candian oppression of indigenous people is becoming a hot issue. 

• SOURCE: Toronto Globe and Mail
  8-16-13
  

  Totem pole celebrates Haida’s pact with Canada

  A new totem pole the height of a three-storey building now looms over the southern Haida Gwaii, carved with symbols to note the remote land is protected from ocean floor to mountaintop.Hundreds gathered in the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve to watch the nearly 3,000-kilogram pole raised using six ropes and sheer manpower, the first such raising in over a century. Spectators were dwarfed by the colourful and intricate pole, which took more than a year to carve and paint and represents Gwaii Haanas’ modern and ancient history....

• SOURCE: Toronto Star
  7-19-13
  

  Storm knocks down tree tied to Canada's first unofficial national anthem

  A crowd gathered in front of a tree felled during Friday night’s thunderstorm to take pictures and collect a leaf or two as a memento and even mourn, for this was no ordinary tree.Perhaps 150 years old or more, the silver maple tucked away on Laing St. in Leslieville, is famous for being the inspiration of what used to be Canada’s unofficial anthem. Historians are dubious, but as the story goes, a persistent leaf from the tree stuck itself to poet Alexander Muir’s sleeve in the fall of 1867, serving as the inspiration for “The Maple Leaf Forever,” a poem-turned-song-turned-unofficial-anthem.But, “it’s not forever anymore,” said Julie Ritchie, watching the tree lying sprawled across the road from her front porch. “There was something really special about the tree, even though it was quite old and in bad shape.”...