Canadian History Roundup – Week of January 15th, 2017

“Dignity and Respect.” Image from the Vancouver, BC 2017 Women’s March. Taken January 21, 2017 by Ian Spence. CC by 2.0

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

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

• The Digital Archive Project of the Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies has just premiered! This new archive contains a wealth of digitized sources relating to the history of Ukrainian immigrants to Canada and their descendants. All of the materials are available for free online. Check it out here.
• Beth A. Robertson has a must-read post over on Active History about women and sexual misconduct in academia. Seriously, go read this now. The roundup will wait.
• NiCHE kicked off the week with a post by John Sandlos exploring the intersections of scholarship and activism with respect to environmental history, as well as the ways in which environmental historians can work together with scientists and policy-makers to enact change.
• Daniel Mcfarlane, writing for NiCHE, discusses his experiences teaching media literacy through the lens of environmental history. I’m so totally stealing this class exercise.
• This week on Acadiensis, Wiliam C. Wicken reviews the recent edited collection, Living Treaties: Narrating Mi’kmaw Treaty Relations, by Marie Battiste.
• One of my favourite blogs, Black Perspectives, from the African American Intellectual History Society, is planning a new blog series on the Black Canadian experience! I can’t wait. You can submit your proposals until April 1^st.
• LAC is back with their monthly update on the digitization of Canadian Expeditionary Force Personnel Service Files.
• Also on Active History this week is a post by Christo Aivalis on the relationship between Canada and the United States in historical context. And we’re all terrified to see what happens next…
• This week on Unwritten Histories, I spoke with Dr. Lynne Marks about the new MA program premiering at UVic in September. The new program will focus exclusively on public history, and involve actively collaborating with community organizations and institutions. I’m more than a little jealous. 😉
• The Museum of Vancouver blog interviews Maurice Guibord about his collection of Expo 67 memorabilia. The interview is in honour of a new exhibit at the museum for the 50^th anniversary of the Expo.
• Check out this super cool time-lapse of the archaeological excavations going on at Market Gallery in Toronto.
• The ROM’s textile collection showcased this beautiful quilt made by Mrs. Thomas Murray in Hamilton, in 1884.
• Adam Barker reflects on the usefulness of the concept of carcerality with respect to the study of colonialism in Canada.
• This week on the Atlantic Loyalist Connections Blog, Cora Jackson explores crime in 18^th and 19^th century Saint John, New Brunswick, especially the use of corporal punishment for larceny.
• The latest History Slam podcast episode is out this week! Sean Graham talks with Gregory Klages about his new book, The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson: Separating Fact from Fiction.
• The amazing Graphic History Collective has initiated a radical history poster project! It looks amazing.
• The South Peace Archives blog has some more amusing historical anecdotes this week.
  • This includes the story of a woman who would like to use squirrel skins to pay for a newspaper subscription.
  • And some potential drama with the local figure skating champions!
• The Borderlands Blog has a new book review this week of Linking the Histories of Slavery: North America and its Borderlands, edited by Bonnie Martin and James F. Brooks. While the topics in the collection are wide-ranging, there is discussion of slavery in the area we now refer to as Canada.
• Jan Raska talks about the challenges that shifting 20^th century European borders and inconsistent naming practices present when it comes to researching family history.
• Bernard Ducharme reflects on the past year at Histoire Engagée from an editorial perspective.
• Again, it’s not really Canadian, but the UBC Digitizer’s blog looks at A. A. Milne this week, focusing on the cultural impact of Winnie the Pooh at UBC. Winnie is named after Winnipeg, after all. Anyways, that’s my excuse. 😉
• Retroactive presents the first post in a series about the Alberta archaeological survey in 2016. This first post looks at archaeological permits.
• Bill Waiser is back with a new blog post about the 1970 Festival Express, a cross-Canadian musical tour, and how it stopped in Saskatoon to replenish their booze supplies.
• This week’s new biography from the DCB is about Robert Home Smith, an “Adonic” Toronto public servant and businessman, known as the“ Smiling Czar of the Humber.”
• Krista McCracken discusses the The Henceforward podcast, about the relationships between Indigenous and Black peoples. And my list of podcasts grows ever longer.
• The new issue of the London Journal of Canadian Studies is out!
• My second post for Active History went live this week! In this latest piece, I talk about how my experiences learning about the Holocaust shaped my approach to teaching about residential schools, and the desire to make an emotional impact without imposing further trauma.
• This week on LAC’s The Discover Blog, Julie Dobbin examines the relationship between Inuit women and seals, while also exploring the cultural importance of the seal to the Inuit. It’s also a great rejoinder to the current Lush campaign against seal hunting.
• The Canadian Great War Centre blog tells a really lovely story that connects a cut-glass container, Lady Astor, and Nursing Sister Ethel Kathleen Moody.
• SFU professor Dana Lepofsky discusses her work with the Mountain Top to Ocean Floor research project, in collaboration with Heiltsuk First Nation and UVic, documenting the relationship between the Heiltsuk and their traditional territory.
• The new issue of BC Studies is out!
• Harold Berubé introduces a new series on Troisième Centenaire de Montréal in 1942 and the commemoration of specific “anniversaries” in historical context.
• This week on the BC Studies Blog, Kelly Black discusses the selection of a conference poster for the upcoming BC Studies Conference, and how the image represents the conference goals of examining the partial success of settler colonialism.
• The Virtual Museum of Canada has premiered a new virtual exhibit by the U’mista Cultural Centre, entitled “Living Traditions: The Kwakwaka’wakw Potlatch on the Northwest Coast.” It looks fantastic.
• The Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture has published a resource guide to vast Early America.
• In a triple-header this week, Unwritten Histories also posted its monthly look at upcoming publications in Canadian history, even though there are only two new books.
• The Scholarship and Activism blog, from the Landscapes of Injustice project, posted some thoughts from a number of individuals on the Trump presidency. These thoughts discuss a range of subjects, including academic inequalities, the politics of hope, our responsibility as citizens to fight against the colonial project, discrimination and oppression, and post-war Japanese Canadian activism.
• This blog post, by Kate Biittner, is an absolute must-read on why the ongoing search to date the arrival of humans in North American reinforces settler colonial narratives, and subsequently discards and delegitimizes Indigenous knowledge in favour of the colonial structure of archaeology. Seriously, go read this now. The roundup will wait.
• Carleton University is celebrating its 75^th birthday this year, and has posted some interesting images from its establishment.
• Stephanie Ann Warner is back with another blog post about her attempt to track down the real history of her great-great-grandfather James Rowe.
• The Museum of Vancouver blog also spoke with Angus McIntyre and Lyanne Smith about their collection of public transportation memorabilia.
• CHA President Joan Sangster reflects on the long history of Canadian women marching in solidarity with their American counterparts, beginning with the participation of Canadian suffragists in the 1913 Washington suffrage demonstration.
• Find out about the Brandon Mental Health Industries, located at the Brandon Hospital for Mental Diseases. During the 1960s, patients were “taught” work skills, and the items they produced were then sold in a retail store.
• The archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto shares a letter from the Honourable James Baby (pronounced Baw-bee) about the building of the Old St. Paul’s Church.
• Whistorical takes a look at unusual housing strategies some opted to find housing in Whistler from the 1970s to the 1990s.
• Canadian History in the News
  • Remember how I mentioned that Dennis Molinaro was being blocked by the Canadian government in his attempt to access top secret files from the Cold War? The day after the story went public, guess who caved? Oh, and the best part? One of the missing documents details the Privy Council order to allow wiretapping, without informing the public or the House of Commons.
  • The Regina Leader-Post looks at the amazing Project of Heart program, teaching the history of residential schools at the University of Regina.
  • More details are emerging about the stories that will be featured in Ronald Rudin’s The Lost Stories Project. For instance, we’ve just learned that Yee Clun will be featured. Clun was a Saskatchewan restaurateur who fought against the “white women’s labour law,” which barred Asian men from employing white women.
    • You can see which other projects will be produced this year here.
  • Duncan McCue discusses the problems that arise when journalists focus mostly or only on negative issues relating to Indigenous communities. I think the same advice should apply to historians as well.
  • Walking with Our Sisters, an art installation honouring missing and murdered Indigenous women, girls, and two-spirit persons has just opened in Halifax. This installation was initiated by Métis artist Christi Belcourt.
  • The Art Gallery of Ontario’s library and archives held a Wikipedia edit-a-thon, to highlight the work of Black Canadian artists.
  • The Metlakatla First Nation is creating a new plan to protect their cultural heritage, history, and language. Members of Metlakatla First Nation are currently meeting in Price Rupert to discuss the plan.
  • Apparently Hamilton, ON is where it’s at when it comes to cool public histories this week. There is a new graphic novel by Rob Kristofferson and Simon Orphana about the 1946 Hamilton strikes. The novel was created in collaboration with the archives and map collections of McMaster.
  • In 1992, during Canada’s 125^th birthday, the Trans Canada Trail was established to create an unbroken trail that stretched the length and breadth of the country. It will finally be completed this year, though it is now known as the Great Trail.
  • Did you know that the first automobile in Canada belonged to PEI priest, Father George A. Belcourt? PEI: paving the way forward. 😉
  • Check out these cool images of Banff from its early days in the first half of the twentieth century.
  • A new statue is being built to honour Nova Scotian Mona Parsons, a WW2 hero who helped Allied airmen escape during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands. She even has her own Heritage Minute, showing just how badass she was.
  • I’m stretching a little, but musician The Weeknd has sponsored the creation of a new course at UofT in the history and study of the Ge’ez language, the ancient Semitic religious language used in Ethiopia. How cool is that!
  • CBC discusses the future of Heritage Minutes. Historica Canada hopes to fill in some of the gaps in LGTBQIA history, disability history, and other missing subjects, while also exploring new filmmaking techniques.
  • Jason Harley, a professor at the University of Alberta, is developing a walking tour app that showcases the history of Edmonton’s queer community! I just love these walking tours.
  • The Canadian Museum of History has just acquired the collection of Les Harris, a filmmaker who produced several documentaries about the Iranian hostage crisis known as the “Canadian Caper.” The collection includes interviews with the hostages, shortly after their escape.
  • Find out what Royden Loewen thought of the CBC series Pure, about Mennonite drug smugglers. Spoiler alert: he doesn’t like it.
  • Find out about the Montreal Signs Project out of Concordia University, which salvages 20^th century historic signs from the city.
  • Claire Campbell has a wonderful article over at The Walrus about the lessons that we can learn from the history of national parks in Canada, and the changing relationship between humans and nature.
  • Check out this cute story about the first movie night in Whistler, in 1954.
  • While a reposting of an article that ran 14 years ago, this is a fascinating news article about how Montrealers helped to save a former slave from being hung in 1861.
  • Find out about Sonny Assu’s great work on We Come to Witness, reclaiming Indigenous landscapes in Emily Carr’s paintings, and see some of the images!
  • Adam Gaudry spoke with Emily Blake at rabble.ca about reconciliation in Canada’s post-secondary institutions; they discussed what has changed, and what still needs to change.
  • Radio Canada remembers the Canadian who inspired many of the great cinematic slapstick comedians, Mack Sennett.
  • National Geographic has published a guide to Canadian historic sites for Canada 150.
  • Canada’s History’s February-March 2017 issue is out!
  • Nuchatlaht First Nation on Vancouver Island has filed an historic aboriginal land title case!
  • The Montreal Gazette has also reposted an old article, this one about the time that Montreal was the capital of Canada, for like five minutes.
  • Jean Gagnon discusses why La Cinémathèque québécoise needs to take better care of its archival collection, and offers some suggestions.
  • There is a new exhibit in Iqaluit that highlights the role of Inuit oral history in the search for the Franklin Expedition. The exhibit is called “Inuit Qaujimajatuqangit (Inuit traditional knowledge) and Franklin,” and features the work of Inuit historian, Louis Kamookak.
  • Canada Post has honoured three Canadian UNESCO world heritage sites on some new stamps.
  • Helen Pike discusses why renaming Calgary’s Langevin Bridge as Reconciliation Bridge doesn’t actually change anything. A better option would be to rename it in accordance with the numerous Indigenous names for the area.
  • Remember the Active History post about the Indigneous grandmother that inspired the song “Imagine?” Well, CBC explores the long history of Indigenous musicians and their influence on popular music.
  • Marie Battiste’s book was also reviewed over at Atlantic Books Today.
  • Find out the story of a British man who traced his family back to a British Home Child  who was sent to Kitchener, Ontario.
• Better Late than Never (things that I missed!)
  • CBC looks at the ghost rivers of Hamilton. Many of our current cities were built over the remains of bodies of water that still flow beneath the streets.
  • Apparently, in 1881, someone thought it would be a good idea to build a railroad on an ice bridge in Montreal. Genius. What could possibly go wrong?
  • On January 4^th, the Google Doodle honoured Canadian scientist and activist for women’s rights in higher education, Carrie Derick.
  • Another of my favourite blogs, Notches, is also planning a new blog series on the history of sexuality in Canada. I’m so glad to see that the field of Canadian history is expanding its presence online!
  • Carleton University will start its new Northern Studies program in September!

That’s it for this week! It has certainly been an interesting one, to say the least. I hope you enjoyed this roundup, and I’d love to know what you think of the new section, “Better Late than Never.” I just kept coming across older articles that I really wanted to share. If you enjoyed this post, please considering sharing it on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media website. And don’t forget to check back on Tuesday for a brand new blog post. I’m premiering another new series, and I think you’ll really like this one. See you then!

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