Canadian History Roundup – Week of February 17, 2019

Man and woman on ski lift, Mont Tremblant, P.Q. February 1961. Chris Lund. Credit: Library and Archives Canada. Copyright: Expired

The latest in blog posts, news, and podcasts from the world of Canadian history.

Missed last week’s roundup? Check it out here.

Environmental History

• The most frequently-used words in #envhist this past week, according to Jessica DeWitt, were: “Edison,” “Thomas,” and “New.”
• Mica Jorgenson has written a new blog post for Environmental History Now about the need for a transnational approach to mining history.
• Jessica DeWitt also published her comps notes for Doug Owram’s Promise of Eden: The Canadian Expansion Movement and the Idea of the West, 1856-1900.

Military History

• CHEK news profiled the Canadian Siberian Expeditionary Force.
• Kesia Kvill has written a new blog post for The Recipes Project, on the WW1 Office of the Food Controller and their campaign to reduce food waste.
• Joseph Gagné shared an account by a Canadien who was captured and held prisoner in South Caroline during the Seven Years’ War.
• Here is another neat story about letters from a WW1 soldier.
• Vintage Winnipeg shared this advertising stunt. Omg.

Archaeology

• Unist’ot’en Camp and a number of prominent archaeologists are calling out Coastal GasLink’s destruction of an ancestral site, and attempting to hold the Archaeology Branch of the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, and Natural Resource Operations and the BC Office of Environmental Assessment accountable for their failure to follow their own regulatory practices. As I mentioned previously, work stopped due to the discovery of Indigenous artifacts. This week came information that the Archaeology Branch and the BC Oil and Gas Commission trespassed on Unist’ot’en territory to steal the Indigenous artifacts that had been previously discovered. The Unist’ot’en Camp has issued an open letter to the Archaeology Branch, and asked anyone with graduate-level qualifications in archaeology or anthropology, or people who work in these fields or with Indigenous peoples with other qualifications, to sign. This is a hugely important issue. 
  • Joanne Hammond’s latest Dig It column explored this issue in more detail.

History Education

• I don’t know quite what I think about the title of this piece, but I’m glad to see enrolment in history courses is actually increasing at UPEI.
• I really love the story behind these posters, and how they honour lesser-known Black Canadian heroes, like Principal Wade Smith.
• CBC profiled the hugely influential Transitional Year Program at the University of Toronto that has roots in the Black community.
• Elizabeth Edgar-Webkamigad (Ojibwe and Pottowattomi, from Wiikwemikoong Unceded First Nation)and Krista McCracken, from the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, were kind enough to share their presentation slides from a recent workshop on teaching about residential schools.
• Allan Downey (Dakelh (Nak’azdli Whut’en) )also kindly shared the readings from his graduate seminar, Hist 777: Decolonizing indigenous History! Thanks, Allan!
• This piece is not historical, but I still highly recommend checking out Sandra Inutiq (Inuit)’s piece, “Dear Qallunaat” (white people).

Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration History

• Have you seen Desmond Cole’s new documentary, The Skin We’re In, on Black history in Canada?
• As Notisha Massaquoi pointed out on Twitter, despite the fact that Order-In-Council P.C. 1324 banned Black immigration to Canada in 1911, the Canadian government has still not apologized or offered any reparations.
• This week the UBC Library Digitizer’s Blog shared images from the Tashme internment camp, in honour of the 77^th anniversary of the order that officially began Japanese-Canadian internment.
• This week marked the 100^th anniversary of the 1919 Halifax anti-Chinese riots.
• Though Kimberley B. Sherman’s Nursing Clio post on 18^th century Scottish emigration isn’t specifically about Canada, it is definitely relevant.
• This piece is a really neat look at the history of the Slovak community in Sudbury, and how it has endeavoured to preserve the Slovak language.
• Natasha Henry put together a fantastic Twitter thread on how language can mask anti-Black racism, with respect to the No. 2 Construction Battalion.
• I’m totally nerding out over this new blog post from the Nova Scotia Museum showing an amazing sampler by Rachel Barrett from the African School. It appears to be one of the few pieces that can be attributed to a African Nova Scotian.
• This week Patrick Lacroix explored the failure of Quebec elites to stop French-Canadian emigration to the US in the 1840s, particularly with respect to a report on the subject of emigration by Charles Edmon Rouleau.
• The Montreal Gazette honoured four great Black Montrealers. 
• Shirley Tillotson put together a Twitter thread describing slavery in 18th century Nova Scotia.

Indigenous History

• I’ve mentioned in the past that Richmond has a very poor track record with respect to acknowledging the Indigenous history of this area. Which is why I was pleasantly surprised to see a new post from the City of Richmond Archives about the Indigenous history of this area, including detailed information about land use and occupation. Though I do wish they had identified the Indigenous nations whose land this is by name rather than simply saying “Coast Salish People.” The area currently known as Richmond is the ancestral, traditional, and unceded territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), sc̓əwaθenaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsawwassen), səl̓ilwətaɁɬ təməxʷ (Tsleil-Waututh),S’ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō), Kwantlen, Stz’uminus, and sq̓əc̓iy̓aɁɬ təməxʷ (Katzie) Peoples.
• Evelyn Korkmaz, a survivor of St. Anne’s, went with nine other survivors to the Vatican to meet with senior clergy on the subject of the church’s role in operating residential schools. However, the Pope declined to attend this meeting. Korkmaz is calling on the Church to apologize for their role and fulfill its promise of $25 million for healing and reconciliation program, as promised in the Indian Residential Schools Agreement.
  • More on this here.
• Robert Jago wrote a wonderful piece on the federal government’s long and problematic history with democracy and governance among First Nations peoples and communities.
• You definitely need to check out Darryl Leroux’s fantastic Twitter thread explaining how the “Eastern Métis” rewrite history and “play Indian” to justify their claims to Indigeneity.
• This is such fantastic news.
• So this week was Louis Riel Day (as it is known in Manitoba). LAC published a new blog post on Riel’s journey to Ottawa in 1874. I’m always a little uncomfortable with any kind of project that lists Riel as a “Canadian” figure, as Paul Seesequasis (Willow Cree) explains much more eloquently here.
• Catherine Murton Stoehr published a description of a recent panel discussion of the Robinson Huron/Superior Hennessy verdict.
• It may sound strange, but Teen Vogue has been publishing some really awesome stuff lately, including this piece by Somáh Haaland (Pueblo of Laguna), on how history museums portray Indigenous history in a racist fashion. Again, though it is an American piece, it has definite Canadian applications.
• This is a thoughtful reflection on the multiple meanings of residential school sites today, by Penny Smoke. She explored why, as part of the healing process,  some communities have chosen to tear the buildings down, while others have preserved them.
• CBC reporter Jessica Deer (Kanien’kehá:ka from Kahnawake) published a new piece exploring the mystery surrounding Theresa Rice. Rice was removed from her family in Kahnawake by police officers, and sent to St. George’s Hospital, a receiving home for British Home Children. Shortly after, she was relocated to the Spanish Indian Residential School in Ontario, and told that her parents had died, though they were very much still alive.

New France/British North America

• Jean-François Lozier spoke with La Presse about his new book, Flesh Reborn, and about Indigenous-settler relations in New France.
• I think I will take a hard pass on the “frog spawn water,” thank you very much Acadiensis. But as Lyn Bennett explains, it was a popular ingredient in pre-modern Western medicine.
• Biologists at the Université de Sherbrooke and Bishop’s have published a new study showing that grandmothers played an essential role in ensuring the survival of families in New France. 
• Mark Bourrie is publishing a new book on Pierre Radisson, and it promoting it with several Twitter essays. I won’t include them all, but here is one example. 

Social History

• The Nova Scotia Archives celebrated Love Your Pet Day with historical photographs. Alas, the only pets shown were dogs. Where are my cat people at?
• Find out the role that British MP Sir Charles Tilston Bright played in establishing the first transatlantic telegraph cable, between Newfoundland and Ireland in 1858. Granted, it only lasted a couple of months, but it was still cool!
• I have never heard of puffed wheat squares, but apparently they are an important part of Alberta history? (Side-note: I made a mistake typing “important” and my computer autocorrected it as “impotent.”)
• Instantanés remembered La Bolduc’s 1937 car accident, complete with police sketch.
• Alexander Klein has written a new blog post for Histoire Engagée on why historical research is so important for the future of mental health care.
• This week the Quebec City Archives looked back at Grace Kelly’s visit to the city in 1969.
• This is a gorgeous foot warmer.

The History of Gender and Sexuality

• This week Retroactive published another special guest post, this time by Darrin Hagen on Club 70, the first official queer gathering place in Edmonton.
• After ninety-nine plaques honouring men, McGill’s Strathcona Medical Building latest honoured a woman, Maude Abbott.  ::slow clap::

Local History

• This week Whistorical took a look back at the Dave Murray Ski Camps.
• The latest entry from the Historic Nova Scotia project was on Canadian Comfort Quilts in WW2, by Sharon M.H. MacDonald and the Halifax Women’s History Society. The work on these quilts is just stunning.
• I’m not sure how I feel about the news that the City of Vancouver Archives has just finished uploading nearly 5,000 more images of the Vancouver Olympics torch relay. Not only are there ethical considerations, but is 2010 really history yet???
• The latest Vancouver As It Was blog post is a profile of musician Wilf Wylie.
• Eve Lazarus remembered journalist George Garrett.

Digital and Public History

• I am loving this Quebec kitsch project.
• Find out about the fantastic museum exhibit on an Acadian village that Chantal Richard is working on, along with our very own Stephanie Pettigrew!
• This year Nova Scotia honoured artist Maud Lewis for Heritage Day.
• The Virtual Museum of History launched a new online exhibit from the Agassiz-Harrison Historical Society on the legacy of corn. I haven’t looked at the exhibit in detail, but it appears to focus on settler history exclusively, and uses corn as a device to explore the history of the Agassiz family.
• Historica launched a brand new Heritage Minute this week, on the Vancouver Asahi Baseball Team!
  • You can see the video here.
  • CBC explained the new Minute here.
  • Sportsnet did a special feature here.
  • And Lisa Uyeda shared her experiences working on the minute here.
• LAC has begun work with the Ontario Genealogical Society to digitize Vernon’s historical directories.
• The Peel Art Gallery, Museum, and Archives digitized a newsreel on the rollout of the Avro Arrow, called Unveiling the Avro Arrow. You can watch it online yourself here.
• Earlier this week, former Quebec cabinet minster Denis Vaugeois made some truly heinous comments about colonialism and antisemitism in Quebec.
  • Isabelle Picard responded with a beautiful piece on how her life as an Indigenous woman has been shaped by colonialism, and the impact of her father’s experiences at an orphanage.
  • Jean-François Nadeau explained why Vaugeois was wrong.
  • And a group of Quebec historians and professors published a collective letter calling him out on his comments.
• Christine Chevalier-Caron spoke with Alexis Martin about the history of the Nouveau théâtre expérimental, and how the theatre has used historical research as creative material.

Doing History

• This isn’t really historical, but I think Nickita Danielle (Saulteaux) makes some really important points here about the problems with settlers writing about Indigenous people’s experiences, and settler privilege with respect to publications, particularly in reference a new book by Kent Roach on the Gerald Stanley case.
  • Rob Innes (Cowwessess First Nation) has more here.
• Joseph Gagné gave us a tiny glimpse into his dissertation research.
• Again, not specifically Canadian, but absolutely relevant: the Black Women’s Studies Booklist is now online.The list is an open-access bibliography of scholarly research, designed as a guide for researchers and educators.
• Exciting news: the Bulletin d’histoire politique is digitizing its back catalogue!
• This week, Montecristo profiled the first Vancouver city archivist, Major James Skitt Matthews.
• LAC has published their Winter 2019 edition of “What’s New in the Collection!”
• This week I read all the things again, and shared my favourite scholarly articles in Canadian history from the past month!
• And this week I also published a new post on Active History, on my husband’s recent hospitalization and the impact that frequent moves as a sessional instructor has had on my sense of self, place, and community. 

Miscellaneous

• The latest biography from The Dictionary of Canadian Biography is for civil engineer, James Laurin.

 Podcasts

• The latest episode of the Living Heritage Podcast described the sinking of the USS Pollux and the USS Truxtun, which ran aground near St. Lawrence, Newfoundland, in 1942.
• In this week’s episode of the Witness to Yesterday podcast, Greg Marchildon spoke with Jane Nicholas about her book, Canadian Carnival Freaks and the Extraordinary Body, 1900-1970s.
• The latest episode of the Juno Beach and Beyond podcast is all about great Canadian women and WW2, featuring interviews with Marie Eve Vaillancourt and Britt Braaten.
• The Secret Life of Canada podcast looked at early Caribbean immigration to Canada as well as the history of Black railway porters, their wives, and labour activism in Winnipeg. 

Calls for Papers

• The Northeast and Atlantic Region Environmental History Forum has issued a CFP for their 2019 workshop. Proposals are due March 29.
• The Canadian Journal on Children’s Rights has issued a CFP for a special themed issue on “Disability and Children’s Rights: Reflecting on the CRC-30 Years and Beyond.” Submission of full manuscripts for this issue are due April 1.

I have been absolutely blown away by the response to my latest Active History post. I’ve gotten so many messages of support and expressions of gratitude that I am overwhelmed. Thank you to everyone. ❤️

I hope you enjoyed this week’s roundup. If you did, please consider sharing it on the social media platform of your choice. And don’t forget to check back on Tuesday for a brand new blog post! See you then!

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