Canadian History Roundup – Week of July 1, 2018

Two men and one woman chalking up the water temperature at Brackley Beach, Prince Edward Island National Park. Chris Lund. 1952. 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 common-used words in #envhist last week, according to Jessica DeWitt, were: “Minneapolis,” “River,” and “Park.”
• A section of the Boreal Forest, known as Pimachiowin Aki (which means ‘the land that gives life’ in Ojibway), has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site.The site is home to five First Nations, including Bloodvein First Nation, Poplar River First Nation, Little Grand Rapids First Nation, Pauingassi First Nation, and Pikangikum First Nation, all of whom participated in the project.
  • And as Adele Perry pointed out, the Globe and Mail accidentally posted a headline saying that Pimachiowin Ati straddled the Manitoba and Quebec borders. The article has since been corrected.
• Erin Spinney has written the latest CHESS reflection over on NiCHE, on women’s work on the prairies.
• And on a similar note, Nancy Langstron wrote a really important blog post discussing the Syllabus Project,which is dedicated to making environmental history syllabi more diverse by providing a list of recommended articles by women, Black, Indigenous, and non-Black scholars of colours, as well as scholars working on global history. Find out more about the project here, and visit the group’s Zotero library here.
• Judith Lavoie explored the environmental history of the Peace-Athabasca delta, including Wood Buffalo National Park, and the damage done by industrial development in the area.
  • This was the first of a three-part series. However, the latter two are not really historical. Nonetheless, they are well-worth a read:
    • In part two of the series,she spoke with local resource managers and directors about efforts to save the park, including Becky Kostka (Smith’s Landing First Nation) and Melody Lepine (Mikisew Cree First Nation), as well as Mikisew Cree Chief Archie Waquan.
    • And in part three,she spoke with a number of activists, Elders, and Chiefs from both Mikisew Cree Nation and Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation about the impact of the oil sands, and what lies ahead.
• These are some pretty cool Quebec log driver’s boots from the 1930s. They still run log booms on the Fraser river near where I live.

Military History

• Over at the Laurier Centre, Trevor Ford posted part two of his two-part article on Dyer’s Battalion, which included a number of Canadians, as part of the British-led North Russian Expeditionary Force’s attempts to defeat Bolshevik forces.
• LAC discussed the involvement of the Canadian government in training Polish officers living in North America who would be sent to fight for the Polish Army during WW1, to restore an independent Poland. The blog post is based largely on the diaries of one of the trainers, Colonel A.D. LePan.
• Find out about a really neat initiative to create a registry commemorating (and providing detailed information on) all of those who served in WW1 and WW2 from the Bay Roberts Area.
• Laura Brandon reflected on Canadian Sarah Beck’s art installation, ÖDE (ÖDE itself is a fictional Ikea-like weapons manufacturer), and how art can sometimes predict the future.
• Find out how WW2 Canadian soldiers celebrated Dominion Day.
• The search for Agent Orange continues.

Archaeology

• A group of archaeologists have just begun a dig at Kivalekh, a former Inuit winter village in the Okak Islands that was inhabited from the late 1400s to the early 1800s.
• In response to an attempt by Edmonton to annex a section of Leduc County, Katherine Gadd is mapping the Indigenous history of the area to serve as a tool to preserve Indigenous sites and help future archaeologists assess the historical significance of the area.
• There is a new study out showing that the original North American dog population was wiped out, likely by diseases and/or competition from European dogs resulting from the arrival of European settlers.

Transnational History

• This week on Canadian Eyes Only, Susan Colbourn discussed the series of advertisements run by the Canadian government in the Washington Post in February 1983, as an attempt to improve trade relations between the two countries.

Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration History

• The University of Windsor announced plans for a new sculpture honouring Mary Ann Shadd.The artist’s rendering looks beautiful.
• Lots of Viola Desmond news this week!
  • She received a star on Canada’s Walk of Fame
  • Part of a street in New Glasgow will be named after her. The street is right next to the former Roseland Theatre, where Desmond’s confrontation with the police began.
  • And, she was the subject of a Google Doodle! I think they did a fabulous job.
• Last week I mentioned that hockey player Willie O’Ree was honoured with an induction into the Hockey Hall of Fame. This week, The National Post spoke with New Brunswick MLA Matt DeCourcey about why this was important.
• Bashir Mohamed posted a scathing response to a really ignorant comment about tolerance in Alberta, providing a short illustration of Alberta’s racist history.
  • Also, since his Twitter account has been restricted due to his posting on the KKK, he has restarted his blog. In his first new post, he retells the story of Edward Bailey and anti-Black discrimination in Alberta, with some additional information.
• Part two of Kyle G. Brown’s radio documentary on slavery in Canada premiered this week, featuring guests Afua Cooper, Brett Rushforth, Camille Turner, Charmaine Nelson, Cikiah Thomas, George Elliot Clark, Natasha Henry, and Vanessa Fells.
• Japanese-Canadian artist Emma Nishimura reflected on her family’s experience of internment.
• There was a huge outcry this week about the mostly-white cast of a staging of SLĀV, based on African-American slave songs that resulted in its cancelling. George Elliot Clark spoke with CBC about the response, and ignorance of anti-Black racism in Canada and Quebec.
  • Webster also wrote about the project, and why he resigned his position with it as a paid consultant.

Indigenous History

• The British Library profiled the Beyond the Spectacle project,which I’ve mentioned in several roundups.
• The Law Society of Ontario has issued a new report showing that the legal system has resoundingly failed residential school survivors. I’m shocked.
• Krista McCracken shared a mini-preview of a project she’s been working on since 2012, the upcoming permanent exhibit at the Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre, “Reclaiming Shingwauk Hall.”
• A BC Supreme Court Justice has ruled that the 147 residential school survivors, who had been ruled ineligible for compensation by a disgraced law firm in Calgary, are now eligible for review.
• The Chronicle Herald spoke with MP Bill Casey about introducing a private member’s bill to assist in the repatriation of Indigenous artifacts abroad. The article only touches on a piece of Mi’kmaq regalia that was in storage in an Australian museum.
• Along the same lines as Bashir Mohamed’s Twitter essay earlier, Joanne Hammond discussed the ignorance of non-Indigenous Canadians with respect to Indigenous history and rights, and how a preference for ignorance inspires racism.
• Bimadoshka (Annya) Pucan, an anthropologist from Saugeen First Nation, has digitized and restored a collection of 1930s Ojibway songs that had been found in a London museum vault. The songs were sung by her relative and late Anishinaabe singer, Robert Thompson.
• The Winnipeg Free Press interviewed Mary Logan McCallum about the new Shekon Neechie website!
• I really love this carving, and you will likely be seeing it soon in a future blog post…
• I highly, highly recommend checking out the hashtag, #151YearsOfGenocide, which collects Audra Mitchell’s recent project, where, over the long weekend, she tweeted out one act of violence, colonial expansion, racism, and genocide for each year of Canada’s history.
• Waycobah First Nation residential school survivors and Elders are healing by making regalia for children.

New France/British North America

• Patrick Lacroix continued his ongoing series on early French Canadian migrations to the U.S. in the nineteenth century. This time, he focused on the earliest phase of the migration, in the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s.

Political History

• Cameron Vale profiled BC’s second premier and terrible human being, Amor de Cosmos, and his position toward political organization by the Nlha7kapmx Nation.
• Daniel Joseph Samson shared an excerpt from James Barry’s diary, on his opposition to Confederation.
• This week Myra Tawfik discussed the role of tariffs in Canadian/US relations in the mid-nineteenth century.
• And Trineesh Biswas discussed a similar subject: tariff disputes and the relationships between Canada, the US, and the UK in the mid-nineteenth century.
• In the latest guest post on Unwritten Histories, Shannon Stettner discussed the multiple meanings of protest and uncivil disobedience around the 1970 Abortion Caravan.

Social History

• The latest biography from the Dictionary of Canadian Biography is for Newfoundland fisherman and sealer, George Tuff, who may have been responsible for the Newfoundland Sealing Disaster of 1914.
• More coverage of the Manitoba Food History Truck project!
• Not that I’m advocating hiking in to investigate the wreckage of plane crashes (from the 1960s or otherwise), but this is a really cool story. The watch is just spooky.
• Jarrett Rudy spoke with the Centre d’histoires des regulations sociales blog about his work on smoking in Quebec.
• If you have ever lived in Quebec, then you know that July 1^st is officially known as Moving Day, the day on which all leases traditionally begin and end. The Journal de Montreal shows that it has always been a mess.You need to book moving vans months ahead these days….
• Jenny Ellison, official Queen of the Roundup (yes, there is a crown), makes a triumphant return this week! She’s in Winnipeg with the Canadian Museum of History’s touring Hockey exhibit, and spent time speaking with the media. Jenny, can I still be your friend even though you’re famous?
• Colin Rier explored the history of one of the most famous cookbook authors in Quebec, Jehane Benoit.
• The Archives of the Archdiocese of Toronto blog looked back on the various times when the Archbishops of Toronto have attended events at Massey Hall.
• Find out what Kesia and I thought of the latest episode of Back in Time for Dinner, on the 1960s!
• Find out about the two upcoming Heritage Toronto plaques, honouring Friar’s Tavern and Le Coq d’Or.

The History of Gender and Sexuality

• This week on the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives blog was a report on the recent event, “Promiscuous Archiving: The Joys of Curating Queer Black Legacies.”The post also includes a video featuring a conversation between activists Ajamu Ikwe-Tyehimba and Courtnay McFarlane.
• This week marked the 107^thanniversary of the marriage of Lucy Maud Montgomery and Ewen MacDonald. You know, if they were still alive. McGill-Queen’s University Press celebrated (?) with a list of some of their favourite publications about Montgomery.
• Do you remember how I discussed a recent donation of material relating to queer history in Vancouver to the City of Vancouver Archives? CBC spoke with the donor, Ron Dutton.

Local History

• Daniel Francis provided some important context regarding the designation of Highway 19 as Goodwin Way.
• Find out why the intersection at Portage and Main, in Winnipeg, was closed to pedestrian traffic in the first place.
• Poor Port Moody.
• This week, Heritage Winnipeg profiled the history of Upper Fort Garry.To be clear, the post is about the fort and its various iterations, not the general history of the area.
• LAC honoured Montreal with two posts this week: one on the Port of Montreal,and one featuring the new Flickr album of images of the Port of Montreal. See the images themselves here.
• The Toronto Public Library remembered the early days of the Royal Canadian Yacht Club.
• Whistorical looks back on the week of July 5^th in the 1970s and 1980s.
  • And they also took a look at what life was like in the Parkhurst Logging Camp.
• The Archives of Quebec City wished the city a happy birthday with some neat images from their collections.
• Harold Bérubé spoke with La Tribune about urban history and memory, and important lessons for Lac-Mégantic.
• Have you ever heard of Cuban Lunch chocolate bars?
• Find out about the origins of Ottawa’s Green Belt.

Digital and Public History

• The Yukon Archives is looking for help identifying people and places in images from its collections.
• Check out this neat look at some of the best Canadian comics, many relating to Canadian history. And the list includes the Graphic History Collective!
• Simon Houpt visited the CBC Archives as they are preparing to digitize, and then destroy parts of their collection.
• Krista McCracken explained a really neat e-book platform, Pressbooks, and how it can be used for Open Educational Resources development!
• The UBC Digitizer’s blog posted some images from their Uno Langmann Family Travel Photo Albums. However, I am uncomfortable with the last image, which features three Indigenous women without any names, identifiers, or explanations.
• I’m not sure if this couple are geniuses or impossibly nerdy. Or both.
• Lisa Guenther has written an important op-ed for The Globe and Mail on history,  public forgetting, and community, in relation to development plans for the former Kingston Prison for Women (P4W). 

Doing History

• This Active History piece by Jill Campbell-Miller and Ryan Kirkby on collaborations between historians and archivists, is a must-read.
• The Pun Family had all of their family pictures, spanning 50 years, stolen from their home. They are pleading with the public for their return.

Miscellaneous

• Check out the latest entry in the Historic Atlas of Quebec, on the North American Francophonie.
• Do you know who holds the record for most babies delivered in Canada and what that record is? The answer may surprise you.

Podcasts

• In this week’s episode of Witness to Yesterday, Patrice Dutil spoke with Roger Hall about Elizabeth Hale, and the Two Solitudes, based on his book, ‘The Rising Country’: The Hale-Amherst Correspondence, 1799-1825.
• This week’s History Chat is a reposting of a recording of a CHA roundtable on the Canadian politics of charity, featuring Lara Campbell, Sarah Glassford, Ian Mosby, Will Tait, Shirley Tillotson, and Jon Weier.
• The latest episode of the Juno Beach and Beyond podcast featured an interview with Mark Zuehlke on Operation Husky.

Calls for Papers

• Histoire Engagée has issued a CFP for a new series on Black history, called “Imaginations, existences et spatialités noires en (ré)émergences.”
• Patti Tamara Lenard and Laura Madakoro have issued a CFP for an upcoming working, The ‘Stakes of Sanctuary.’ Abstracts are due August 1.

That’s all for this week! 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!