Canadian History Roundup – Week of November 19, 2017

Woman (possibly Rosemary Gilliat Eaton) wearing a winter coat with a fur-trimmed hood and using photographic equipment to make images of frost on the windows. Shilly Shally Lodge, Gatineau Park. N.D. Rosemary Gilliat Eaton / Library and Archives Canada, No. R12438

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

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

• There’s a deer in my kitchen, deer Liza, deer Liza….
• This week marked Historica Canada’s Canada History Week 2017. This year’s theme was: “Human Rights in Canada: Challenges and Achievements on the Path to a More Inclusive and Compassionate Society.”
  • You can see the accompanying booklet here and check out the three thematic videos included
    • Indigenous Rights, featuring Senator Murray Sinclair
    • LGTBQ2 Rights, featuring Charlie Hill
    • French Language Rights, featuring André Laurendeau
  • You can also follow the conversation online with the hashtag #historyweek2017
• This week on the LAC blog was a look at another WW1 Victoria Cross Recipient, Lieutenant-Colonel Harcus Strachen.
  • And his medals were just acquired by the Canadian War Museum.
• I’m not sure how he did it, but Jarett Henderson actually managed to write a blog post about Lord Durham and sex. My hat is off to you, sir.
• Remember the names of the Indigenous women and girls who have been murdered or are missing.
• Robyn Lacy takes us through the dos and don’ts of burial ground conservation this week! Since her last blog post, she has also graduated with an MA! Congrats Robyn!
• This week’s most commonly used words in #envhist, according to Jessica DeWitt are: “Tailings,” “Sands,” and “Tar”! Also, this week is possibly the cutest word cloud ever.
• New on Active History this week is an open letter to all Canadians by Emma Stelter, asking us to examine our privilege and what settler Canadians can do to be better allies to Indigenous peoples across the country.
• Do you do women’s or gender history in Canada? Then this message is for you: the Canadian Committee on Women’s history is seeking nominations for a new Vice-President. This position is in urgent need of filling. For more information on the responsibilities and how to apply, go here. The best bonus: you get to work really closely with the wonderful Carmen Nielson!
• Also this week was the 10th Canada’s History Forum, featuring a range of presentations on the theme of “making history relevant.” You can follow the conversation on Twitter with the hashtag #histforum17. You can check out the programme and find out about the speakers, or you can watch the morning and afternoon sessions, including a presentation by yours truly in the morning, here!
• As part of the Forum, the Governor General’s History Awards were also handed out to recipients at Rideau Hall.  Since I was on the jury for the award for Excellence in Community Programming, I got to attend! (You can see the back of my head in this picture. I’m in the third row from the bottom on the right side, third seat in from the aisle. I’m sitting next to Catherine Ulmer, and she’s sitting next to Lindsay Gibson. Adele Perry is closer to the front in yellow. And I have no clue who anyone else is.) Here’s some information about some of the winners:
  • Alexander Angnaluak won for this beautiful art piece, How the Narwhal Came to Be.
  • The Manitoba Museum won for their project Spirit Lines, which involved the creation of kits to teach children about the Indigenous history of this area, created in collaboration with Norway House and Garden Hill First Nations. This also involved the creation of a keyboard programmed for writing in Swampy Cree and Oji-Cree.
  • The Treaty4Project won for their work integrating treaty education into Saskatchewan classrooms. Though the article does not mention this, the two teachers who won, Leia Laing and Naomi Fortier-Freçon, worked with Calvin Racette and Life Speaker Noel Starblanket to create the project.
  • Denise Lipscombe won for her work creating a French exchange program that allowed students from Quebec City to visit Inuvik, North-West Territories. The students stayed with local families and learned about life in the North.
  • Lheidli T’enneh First Nation and the Exploration Place Museum in Prince George won for their collaborative project, Hodul’eh-a: A Place of Learning. This was the prize that I was on the jury for.
    
  • Janet Ruest won for her work with Canada 150: My Story, where children were required to interview someone at least 30 years older, and then share what they learned.
  • Daniel Francis won the Pierre Burton Award for his contributions to Canadian history.
  • Sarah Carter received the Sir John A. Macdonald Prize, which was also awarded during this summer’s annual meeting of the CHA.
• This week on Unwritten Histories, Stephanie Pettigrew reflected on her experience at the recent Canada Before Confederation: Early Exploration and Mapping  Conference which she attended last week! And we’re hoping that you will get to hear a bit more soon, but we’re going to keep that under wraps for now.
• Owen Temby is, with Harold Bérubé, the new editor of the Urban History Review. He has written a blog post for NiCHE this week explaining their vision for the future of the journal.
• Sean Kheraj asked: can Google Home act as a history calculator? Find out the answer in his most recent Active History post. Sean, say “Hey Google, what is the social gospel of polar bears?” if Google Home is holding you hostage. We’ll send rescue.
• Samuel Holland, general surveyor of Lower Canada in 1794, is featured this week on Instantanés. Apparently he got into some trouble when it came to following the instructions….
• Phil Wight contextualizes the recent Keystone XL spill and the DAPL with some historical geography of the transmission of hydrocarbons  on the Great Plains.
• Settler scholar and Fulbright Research Chair at the University of Calgary, Ryan Hall was interviewed about his research on the Blackfoot.
• Lachlan MacKinnon, Will Langford, and Andrew Parnaby have a new blog post for the Acadiensis blog this week, on the transient legacy of  Allan J. MacEachen for Cape Breton and its  industries.
• In the Toronto Reference Library Blog’s ongoing series for their 40th anniversary, the latest post focuses on the evolution of the library catalogue.
• In the latest installment of the LAC’s series on Who Do We Think We Are, guest curator Jill Delaney takes a look at historical photographs and the John Vanderpant fonds.
• Retroactive explores the history of the Hardisty Bison Pound, and how Plains Indigenous peoples used bison pounds for communal hunting.
• Bill Waiser is back this week with a new column. This week’s topic is the Great Depression in Saskatchewan, the devastating impact of the drought, and the poetry of Edna Jaques.
• The University of Alberta is paying tribute to Métis historian, Olive Dickason.
• Katie Biitner is back with a recap of the final two weeks in her archaeological field methods course.  The reason for the delay: the site was looted.
• I’m so excited to announce that Krista McCracken has officially launched a new podcast called Historical Reminiscents, all about public history and archival practice! The first five episodes are already available, and more will be released on a weekly basis. I’ve listened to the first episode so far, and I thought it was great!
• Eric Story reviewed Brian D. McInnes’ Sounding Thunder: The Stories of Francis Pegahmagabow for the Laurier Centre this week.
• The latest Flickr album from LAC is now available, and it features images of snowshoes. Check out the pictures themselves here.
• Take a peek at the McGill Library’s McGill@Expo 67 exhibit!
• You have until midnight Sunday PST to vote in the final round of the Canada’s Most Memorial English TV thing! Mr. Dressup for the win!
• There is a new project out of the University of Moncton to learn about the origins of names in Kent county, and what this can tell us about Acadian  history in New Brunswick. And our very own Stephanie Pettigrew is part of the project!
• I’m not sure how she does it, but Shirley Tillotson is on a mission to make tax history exciting! She’s posted a series of Twitter essays this week on the subject including
  • One on the hatred of income tax pre-1970.
  • And another on “quasi-voluntary income tax.”
• The Canadian Centre for the Great War has a new blog post about brass button polishing guards, used by soldiers in WW1 in order to make sure their buttons were shiny and the fabric beneath was unstained.
• Remember our interview with Jenny Ellison about the Hockey Exhibit? Well, the exhibit is now on loan to Pointe-à-Callière! In honour of the occasion, co-curator Jennifer Anderson spoke with LAC about her role in creating the exhibit.
• The latest biography from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography is for Jewish philanthropist Lillian Freiman Bilksy!
• The Nova Scotia Museum shared this amazing image of a Halifax Explosion memorial quilt with the names of victims hand-beaded in braille.
• This week the University of Alberta Faculty of Law Faculty blog looks at murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.
  • They began by emphasizing that we must remember and say their names.
  • The blog also looked at Christi Belcourt’s work on Walking with Our Sisters, using art to honour the murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls.
  • Finally, the blog looked at the work that has gone into bringing the issue to the attention of the public and the national government, culminating in the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.
• Ottawa Rewind looks back on the former community of Long Island, a 19th century village that appears to have vanished sometime in the 20th century.
• The blog of the Archives of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto is celebrating Movember this week, bearded and mustachioed clerics, and a suspicious “addition” to one photograph of an unidentified man.
• Robyn Lacy has also written a guest post for the Death and the Maiden blog on burial landscapes  in the colony of Avalon and how archaeologists can engage with the public about death positivity.
• The BC Studies Auction is live! Go bid!
• Find out about some of the services offered at the Provincial Archives of Alberta!
• The Canadian Encyclopedia has a new entry this week for WW2 Nehiyawak veteran Mary Greeyes Reid, the first Indigenous woman to join the Canadian army.
  • And another one for the Murdoch Mysteries.
• Have you ever wanted to ask the Librarian and Archivist of Canada, Guy Berthiaume, a question? You’ll get your chance on December 4th from 11:30 am to 1:00 pm EST. Just use the hashtags #AsktheLAC or #QuestionsauBAC and mark your calendar!
• Burlington, Ontario’s Royal Botanical Gardens is using historical seed catalogues from the late 19th century to learn about the crops, gardens, and flowers that were being planted more than 100 years ago.
• Joanne Hammond explains the concept of terra nullius and the landscapes of Indigenous history.
• The Vanalogue blog features the amazing  story of Sarah Cassell and the Black community of Vancouver.
• Eve Lazarus goes behind the scenes at the Vancouver Police Museum this week.
• There is a new Community Stories exhibit from the Virtual Museum of Canada. This latest one focuses on the story of Antoine Labelle, the unusual priest  of Saint-Jérôme and the Laurentians.
• Amy Mack and Taylor Little Mustache (of Piikani First Nation) spoke with the University of Lethbridge Institute for Child and Youth Studies podcast in a new episode about their project, Raising Spirit: The Opokaa’sin Digital Storytelling Project. The project is designed to preserve  Blackfoot knowledge about history, language, and values for future generations. The project is being done in collaboration with the Institute and the Opokaa’sin Early Intervention Society.
• Sarah de Leeuw spoke with the Media Indigena podcast about her work with Margo Greenwood, and their argument that recent Indigenous child apprehensions must be understood in relation to their historical and cultural contexts, like the Sixties Scoop and the IRS.
• Whistorical is back with part two of “the saga of the brew hut.”
• Chris Ryan had a whole bunch of blog posts this week!
  • He has begun mapping Ottawa apartments from the 1950s.
  • Next he looked at the work of architect Julius Morris Woolfson.
  • He looked back at the history of Thorncrest Shopping Centre.
  • He reflected on the changing face of Sandy Hill’s Major Apartments.
• Scholars in Quebec and Rennes are digitizing two historical wampum belts that are more than 300 years old and were made by the Huron-Wendat and Abenaki Nations. These seem to have been gifted to the Cathedral at Chartes by converts from each nation, although the article focuses more on “unraveling the mysteries of its construction” rather than on the belts as texts.
• The latest podcast episode  from the St. Catharines Museum features a talk about Jacques Poulin’s Volkswagen Blues, in discussion with Daniel Samson.
• There have been some new additions to the John William Foster fonds at the Archives and Research Collections at Carleton’s MacOdrum Library.
• The latest episode of the Ben Franklin’s World podcast focuses on smuggling in the Atlantic world and during the American Revolution.
• Check out this wonderful Twitter discussion about homemade bread in Newfoundland.
• The Vancouver Island World War One Connections blog takes a look at the Buxton Hospitals, where many Vancouver Islanders recuperated from war wounds.
• The Canadian Museum of History shared this piece by Inuit artist Pacome Qulaut of a traditional bear hunt.
• Did you grow up in Laval? The  Archives of Laval wants your home movies!
• Canadian History in the News
  • Information recently came to light regarding the remains of 145 Indigenous peoples that are still being kept at the University of Winnipeg. The university is apparently working to repatriate the remains, but Indigenous knowledge keepers, like Diane Maytwayashing, don’t think they are working fast enough.
  • Check out this great piece about the need for repatriation, and the problem with Western and colonial institutions possessing sacred objects and human remains that belong to Indigenous communities. Some of these sacred ideas are not meant to be seen by outsiders.
  • Find out about this wonderful new project to connect elders from the African Nova Scotian community to young people.
  • So 57% of Canadians don’t have a problem with the name of the Edmonton football team…
  • Six Nations Polytechnic has launched a new app this week to teach people how to speak Mohawk.
  • Monique Giroux has written a fantastic article for The Conversation arguing that Indigenizing education should be difficult, and if it isn’t, we’re doing something wrong.
  • The Huron-Wendat First Nation was honoured this week with the unveiling of embossments on the new Solina Road Bridge in Clarington, Ontario.  The embossments are meant to honour the fact that the bridge was built on the traditional territory of the Huron-Wendat.
  • The Liberal government claims that it will back a bill calling for the full implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
  • Lynn Paul is trying to find the baby boy she gave up for adoption in 1979, so that he can learn about his Indigenous heritage.
  • The PEI government has created mobile lending libraries of museum artifacts, to make PEI history more accessible to the public. Um, this is too cute.
  • Looks like the colonists at Jamestown were eating some interesting things…
  • Lieutenant-Colonel David Currie’s family is still trying to keep his medals in the country.
  • Learn about the history of Emily Carr’s family home.
  • The Senate 150th Anniversary Medal: because nothing says “meaningless honour” like an award that you give to yourself….
  • Some people are saying that the signing of a treaty between Ontario and the Algonquins of Ontario is not far off.
    • But others think it will be several more years.
  • The military is stepping in to help clear the siege corridor and besieger’s camp at the Fortress of Louisbourg.
  • There is a new app dedicated to Toronto’s history! Developed by Driftscape, the app features information from Spacing and their 50 Objects that Define Toronto project.
  • Did you know that a whole bunch of Norwegian sailors spent WW2 in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia? I didn’t, but there is a new project called Camp Norway dedicated to telling their stories.
  • If you’re a Canadian historian, you likely already know this, but for those who aren’t, allow me to introduce you to Emily Murphy, feminist and raging racist who was in favour of the forced sterilization of those deemed “unfit to breed.”
  • There is also a new app all about Nanaimo’s history! And don’t be like me, who pronounced it as “Na-na-eee-moe” for years…..
  • Check out some of the cool archaeological finds that were made during the replacement of the Johnson Street Bridge in Victoria, and the new pop-up exhibit featuring them. I have very fond memories of that bridge….
  • Have you got money you don’t need? Then you could be the proud owner of a piano that survived the Halifax Explosion, complete with scars.
  • The government apology to individuals who were fired from the military and civil service because of their sexual orientation or because of their gender identity is coming on Tuesday.
    • And in preparation, the Calgary Gay History Project looked back on the work that went into arranging the apology.
    • And there is new information that the RCMP spied on the Waterloo gay community in the 1960s and 1970s.
  • The Globe and Mail is highlighting the section of the new Canadian History Hall devoted to Dorset history this week. I was lucky enough to actually see these artifacts in person this week, thanks to a wonderful tour with Jamie Trepanier!
  • Whatever you do, don’t use the word “beaver” in the name of your recipe for beaver tails. (and by beaver tails, I mean the pastry. 😛 )
  • The Inuit of Greenland and the Inuit in Canada are working together to ensure that Pikialasorsuaq, the open water which links the two nations, is co-managed by both groups.
  • This week Justin Trudeau was in Happy Valley-Goose Bay to apologize to residential school survivors and their families in Newfoundland and Labrador.
    • Here is coverage of the apology itself.
    • Here is an interview with survivor Toby Obed, and a discussion of why apologies are not enough. Obed was responsible for deciding whether or not to accept the apology on behalf of all IRS survivors. He ultimately did accept the apology.
    • The Innu Nation has announced that it will refuse the apology.
    • And the province of Newfoundland and Labrador is also planning to issue an apology.
  • The Regional District of Central Kootenay has officially recognized the Sinixt Nation and its continuing existence. And Joanne Hammond reminds us why the Canadian government declared them extinct in the first place.
  • The Kelowna RCMP is searching for the owner of an antique WW2 locket they received anonymously from someone who found it several years ago and signed the accompanying note as “a procrastinator.” Lee, was that you?
  • Find out about the history of Oshawa, Ontario’s Parkwood Estate, formerly owned by auto-baron Robert Samuel McLaughlin.
  • The Montreal Jazz Festival is preserving its history with a médiathèque archive (a combination of books, audio, photographs, and more).
  • The New York Times has a new article by Livia Albeck-Ripka about what the loss of sea ice means to the Inuit of Rigolet, Labrador. My one criticism is that I would have liked to see more of an emphasis on the traditional Inuit knowledge of the environment, and their knowledge of the changes.
  • Darryl Leroux and Adam Gaudry’s research was featured in this article about the settler re-imagining of Métis identity.
  • Archaeologists from Hydro-Quebec are searching for the fever sheds where thousands of Irish immigrants went to die of typhus in 1847, and any remains that might have survived.
  • Radio-Canada explores 50 years of divorce in French Canada, inside and outside of Quebec.
  • Le Quotidien explores the increasing popularity of genealogy and the resources available at BAnQ Chicoutimi.
  • Phill Di Cecco is searching for the owner of this WW2 helmet, which belonged to J.E. Gagnon. The helmet was found by his grandparents in their home in the 1960s.
  • Find out about the work being done by the International Grenfell Association to make the records of Wilfred Grenfell, a noted physician and missionary who lived in St. John’s, Newfoundland, accessible online.
  • And the Home Made Visible project is trying to collect more home movies from minority groups in Canada.
  • The Orpheum Theatre in Vancouver is 90 years old this week.
  • CBC looks back on the APEC protests at UBC in 1997 during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Summit.
  • CBC has a new piece by Oscar Baker III about the recent assertion of land title by  Elsipogtog First Nation in New Brunswick, featuring discussions with Chief Arren Sock and Kenneth Francis, who is representing Elsipogtog.
  • As Murray Whyte notes, many Ontario museums had grand ambitions when it came to Canada150 and reconciliation, but these mostly fell short.
  • Some Quebec archaeologists, curators, and archivists are concerned about the amount of Quebec artifacts that are being held in Ontario.
  • CBC spoke with Nathalie Cooke about the launch of her newest book, Catharine Parr Traill’s The Female Emigrant’s Guide: Cooking with a Canadian Classic.
  • There is another new podcast this week, The Nameless Collective, which focuses on the history of Vancouver’s South Asian Community. CBC spoke with Paneet Singh, one of the co-hosts, about the podcast.
• Better Late than Never
  • Chelsea Vowel unpacks the role of HBC blankets in Indigenous communities in both the past and the present.
  • Do you remember that giant map of the Battle of Vimy that Canadian Geographic put together? Here’s some more info on what’s happened to it, and how it was developed.
  • A 1937 CN Railcar in Halifax received a Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada plaque to commemorate its role as an entry point for new immigrants who arrived at Pier 21.
  • The University of Manitoba Archives is working to transcribe and digitize the diaries of WW1 soldiers in their collection.
  • Stuart McLean’s papers have been donated to McMaster University.
  • Archaeological excavations in Mississauga have revealed the existence of an Indigenous settlement that is more than 2,000 years old.
  • The people of Regina are deciding whether or not to rename Davin Elementary School, named after Nicholas Flood Davin. The Faculty of Education at the University of Regina has called for the change. and online consultations are open until December 15th.
• Calls for Papers
  • The 2018 competition for the Neil Sutherland Prize for the history of childhood and youth is now open for submissions!
  • The Canadian Society for the History of Medicine has extended their CFP for Congress to December 8th.
  • In honour of the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike, organizers of the 1919 Winnipeg General Strike Centenary Conference has issued a CFP for papers, panels, and roundtables on the following themes: the fight for a better life, solidarity across boundaries, and building a working-class alternative. Proposals are due February 1st.
  • The 3rd annual Jean-Marie Fecteau Graduate Student Symposium at UQAM is seeking paper proposals. There is no set theme. Proposals are due January 8th.
  • The Université du Québec en Outaouais (Gatineau) , and the Université du Québec à Montréal are organizing a conference on women and social housing. The conference is seeking submissions on the following themes:  the role of the state and institutions; colonial histories, territory, and housing; housing and economics; and power and housing. Proposals are due January 19.

I’m not going to lie, this week has been both overwhelming and amazing. I want to especially thank all of the wonderful people who, during Canada’s History Forum, came up to tell me how much they enjoyed Unwritten Histories. Seriously, you folks rock. Also, next time I should just put either “Unwritten Histories” or “The girl with the blog” on my name tag. 😉 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 our annual Holiday Gift Guide for Canadian Historians! See you then!

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