E.A. Heaman No, “not assimilate your French”: I think he’s been misread. Lord Durham would have better advice than that because he lived in a world not unlike our own. Devastating and state-discrediting pandemic? Check. Disaffected fringe looking to topple the state? Check. Popular American violence lending strength to popular violence everywhere, including Canada? Check.… Continue Reading
Latest in: Current Events
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Dan Horner On the night of April 25, 1849, a riled-up crowd of protesters showered Montreal’s parliament building with rocks, stormed through its front doors, and set the building—a repurposed public market in the city’s west-end—on fire. In many ways, the Rebellion Losses Riot stemmed from the same sense of grievance that shaped the unrest… Continue Reading
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Jerry Bannister Like many Canadian historians, I have followed with interest the ongoing debate over John A. Macdonald, including the recent letter sponsored by the Macdonald-Laurier Institute. Among the thoughtful responses to the letter, I’d highlight three points. First, as Andrew Nurse explains in Borealia, we should be wary of pro-Macdonald calls for “balance,” which… Continue Reading
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Andrew Nurse The Macdonald-Laurier Institute (MLI) and the Friends of Canadian History have issued a statement in “In Defence of Sir John A. Macdonald and his Legacy.” The statement–which is actually not just a statement but a petition—is a response to the on-going statue wars in which Macdonald and his legacy have come under an… Continue Reading
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Jerry Bannister Like everyone else this evening, I’m struggling to keep up with the news. What’s striking about the latest crisis in the United States is that, even at the very heart of American power, there remains so much confusion about what’s happening on the ground in Washington. Despite the ocean of tweets, there is… Continue Reading
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Angela Tozer Canadian settler colonialism set the stage for the current attacks on Mi’kmaw fishers from Sipekne’katik First Nation. From the end of summer and into the fall of 2020, settler fishers argued that the Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) needed to circumscribe Mi’kmaw fishers in favour of commercial Nova Scotia fisheries. The… Continue Reading
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Jerry Bannister Last spring, in response to Denis McKim’s thoughtful post about the potential impacts of the pandemic on the study of Canadian history, I started a short piece on how the larger social crises were shaping our historical perspectives. As spring turned into summer, and we took advantage of the Atlantic bubble, my notes… Continue Reading
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Denis McKim Thomas Paine likened the American Revolution to the deluge. In much the same way that God had hit the “reset button” on history itself through the flood recounted in Genesis, the United States had initiated a new epoch by revolting against British rule and launching what Paine hoped would become an egalitarian republic.… Continue Reading
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Donald Wright When we received instructions to distance and isolate, I called my 92-year old mother who lives alone in another province. She seemed to be taking the pandemic in stride. “I survived the Depression, the war, and the energy crisis,” she said. “I’ll survive this.” To ease her loneliness and to find re-assurance, she… Continue Reading
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Scott Berthelette Near the end of the summer of 1782, Hudson’s Bay Company chief factor of York Factory, Matthew Cocking lamented: “Never has a Letter in Hudson’s Bay conveyed more doleful Tidings than this… Much the greatest part of the Indians whose furs have been formerly and hitherto brought to this Place, are now no… Continue Reading
Borealia 