Canadian History Roundup – Week of January 13, 2019

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 commonly-used words in #envhist last week, according to Jessica DeWitt, were: “Parks,” “Park,” and “Also.”
• As a Montrealer born and raised, I will never not find this funny.
• This week Tina Adcock launched a new series on NiCHE, called Canopy. This series features interviews with established environmental historians. In the first post, she spoke with Alan MacEachern about the origins of NiCHE.
• NiCHE and the Canadian Journal of History are highlighting work published in a new special issue edited by Andrew Watson on the Material Realities of Energy Histories. In this latest post, Richard W. Unger examined difference energy sources in Canadian history.
• As someone living in the Lower Mainland, I also find this post about a 169-year old tradition in St. John’s of complaining about snow clearing highly amusing.Yes, I am evil.

Military History

• The latest blog post from the Canadian Centre for the Great War focused on the Paris Peace Conference of 1919.

Archaeology

• Joanne Hammond discussed some of the archaeological work she’s involved in at the Arrowstone Hills.
• One lucky family found an archaeological treasure while renovating their basement.
• In the latest Retroactive blog post, Tatyanna Ewald explained a new method of studying dental microwear in bison, revealing important new archaeological information.
• I just love Steph Halmhofer’s take on the new tv show, Legends of the Lost.
• Unmarked Acadian graves have been located in the burial ground at Fort Anne in Annapolis Royal.

History Education

• Skylee-Storm Hogan, Krista McCracken, and I published a new piece on Active History this week, part of the Beyond the Lecture Series. This post, on how and when to invite Indigenous speakers into the classroom, is the first in a new mini-series on Indigenous education. And we’re super pleased with the response so far!
• Adele Perry started a fascinating discussion about map exercises in introductory Canadian history courses on Twitter. And she posted the results here.
• The Indigenous Peoples Atlas giant floor map is making an impact across the country.
  • And the book version is coming soon to an Alberta school near you.
• Stó:lō educator Jo-ann Archibald Q’um Q’um Xiiem shared her hopes for Indigenous education in Canada.
•  Matt Henderson argues that studying history is a key component in countering the rise of fascism.

Transnational History

• Lui Xia Lee shared her recent experiences of working as an archival researcher on Canadian nursing in WW2-era China.

Race, Ethnicity, and Immigration History

• David Wilson has written the latest post on Borealia this week, on Jim McDermott and an attempted Fenian raid on New Brunswick in 1866.
• Marie-Laurence Rho has written a new post on Histoire Engagée on the Sir George Williams affair and how it was covered in student newspapers.

Indigenous History

• Paul Seesequasis (Willow Cree)spoke with Rosanna Deerchild about his work, and how historical photographs can show the strength, humour, and resilience of Indigenous communities.
• Seesequasis also wrote this fantastic Twitter thread about how skulls from the decimation of the bison herds on the Canadian prairies ended up as bone china.
• Also on the subject of photos, I love this piece about the work being done by Sherry Farrell Racette (Timiskaming First Nation and is Algonquin, Métis and Irish) pushing back against the complicated history of Indigenous peoples and photography.
• This information on ancient Indigenous trade routes, illustrated with a new discovery of quinoa seeds in Ontario, is cool, but also not really news. Once again, Indigenous peoples have been saying this forever.
• Paul W. Bennett has written the latest piece on the Acadiensis blog, on the Indigenous origins of Canadian hockey.
• Ottawa will soon be apologizing for the forced relocation of Ahiarmiut from southwestern Nunavut to the coast of Hudson’s Bay.
• This piece by Hayden King (Anishinaabe) on why he regrets writing the Ryerson territorial acknowledgement is incredibly brave and powerful.
  • As Carmen Nielson noted, this thread by Max FineDay (nêhiyaw) is a call for educators to “Help your students write meaningful land acknowledgments, give them safe spaces to trip over their tongues, and ask them to think carefully about how they are situated in colonial geographies. Give them tools to do better.”
• Last week I also mentioned that there was a new website being launched to help residential school survivors consent and donate their testimony. Sean Carleton explains why this important issue needs more attention.
• The UN Human Rights Committee in calling on Canada to remove sections of the Indian Act which discriminate on the basis of gender. This call stems from nearly fifty years of activism and legal challenges by Indigenous women, including Jeanette Corbiere Lavell (Anishinaabe from Manitoulin Island), Yvonne Bédard (Onondaga from Six Nations in Ontario), Sharon McIvor (Lower Nicola Indian Band), and Sandra Lovelace (Wolastoqiyik, Tobique First Nation).
• Joanne Hammond showed how 5,000-year-old building traditions among the Secwepemc, Dene, Carrier, Sekani, Syilx, Kt’unaxa, Nlaka’pamux and Tsilhqot’in for c7ístkten̓ (pithomes) are informing modern building practices at Skeetchestn Indian Band.
• This is how you handle finding a ceremonial pipe in your backyard.

New France/British North America

• If you remember last week I mentioned that there was evidence regarding the earliest visit by a Scot to Newfoundland. Thomas Brochard discusses this in more detail in the latest blog post on Findings/Trouvailles.

Political History

• The Canadian Encyclopedia premiered a new entry on Toronto’s first Black elected official, William Peyton Hubbard.
• Darcy Lindberg explained the recent court case that affirmed that Indigenous laws are equal to those of Canada, Restoule v. Canada. This is the court case that recently determined that the provincial and federal governments are obligated to follow the annuity rules outlined in the 1850 Robinson-Huron Treaty. In her ruling, Justice Patricia Hennessey discussed how Anishinaabe law and governance informed her decision.
  •  And I’m in still in shock over this news, but the federal government has decided NOT to appeal the ruling.
• At the end of the month, the Parliament Building will be closed for the next decade. But you can still go on a virtual tour if you can’t make it to Ottawa before then.
• Merle Massie explained why government shutdowns don’t happen in Saskatchewan.

Social History

• While not Canadian history, this piece on how Indigenous infrastructure laid the basis for Chicago’s grid system will be of interest. 
• Jamie Bradburn explained how Loblaw’s became a supermarket giant in his latest piece for TVO. My grandfather always called it ‘Lowblows,’ because he liked to make up funny names. He called a certain Prime Minister ‘Baloney.’ I’ll let you guess which one that was. 
• Janis Thiessen live-tweeted Ian Kyer’s recent keynote talk on the history of the “Godderman and Worts Business Empire.”

The History of Gender and Sexuality

• Cheryl Thompson has written a new piece for The Conversation on the history and present of Black beauty in Canada, the experiences of Black women, and questions of representations in art, the media, and politics.
• Allyson Stevenson (Métis)’s piece on the long history of Indigenous women’s activists in Saskatchewan is a must-read.
• Also new from The Canadian Encyclopedia this week is an entry on Indigenous feminisms.

Local History

• The latest entry from Historic Nova Scotia is by Sharon M. H. MacDonald and the Halifax Women’s Historical Society, on the Musical Marsh sisters during WW2-era Halifax.
• This week Heritage Winnipeg profiled the Porter/Galpern Building.
• While the Vancouver As It Was blog is on the case of the missing commemorative plaque to the first survey stake driven into what is now the corner of Hastings and Hamilton to make the CFP Townsite in 1885. Part of me imagines a warehouse with all kinds of missing built-heritage somewhere.
• And also this week on Vancouver As It Was is a post about personality politics at the First Baptist Burch in 1905.
• The Whyte Museum blog profiled the Beach House Hotel, the first hotel in Lake Minnewanka.
• Meanwhile, the Toronto Reference Library blog looked back at images from their collection of Ontario Place.
• Some UBC profs have fascinating back-stories, like Peter Petro, who used to be a rock star and then became a Slavic Studies professor.
• This week, Eve Lazarus remembered former Vancouver coroner, Glen McDonald.

Digital and Public History

• A new video-game was released this week following Richard Preston’s escape from slavery. The game is based on a real-life Richard Preston, who escaped slavery in Virginia and eventually settled in Halifax. 
• CBC Marketplace investigated DNA ancestry kits.You’ll be shocked at the result… or maybe not if you’ve been reading this blog a while now.
• Adèle Clapperton-Richard and Catherine Larochelle looked back at the last year of Histoire Engagée.
• This week the UBC Digitizer’s blog profiled their Uno Langmann BC Postcards.
• There is a brand new exhibit from the Virtual Museum of Canada called “Images on Stone,” on rock art in Canada.
• John Seven reviewed the upcoming book from the Graphic History Collective on the history of strikes in Canada, Direct Action Gets the Goods.

Doing History

• This week on Unwritten Histories, I posted a new edition of Best New Articles, wherein I looked back at my favourite pieces on Canadian history published in November/December 2018.
• This is a great piece by Peter Goffin on why we need to recognize the problematic legacies of historic heroes in Canada.

Miscellaneous

• The latest entry from The Dictionary of Canadian Biography is for financier Alfred Ernest Ames.

Podcasts

• The latest episode of Crosscurrents featured talks by Ashlee Consolo, about ecological grief among Indigenous people in Labrador, and Sean Kheraj, speaking on research on the Trans Mountain Pipeline and oil and gas pipelines in general.
• There is a new episode of the On War and Society podcast, featuring a talk with Tom Cook about his latest book, The Secret History of Soldiers.
• LAC also published a new podcast, on Francis Mackey and the Halifax Explosion.
• The latest episode of History Chats featured Robert Rutherdale speaking on “Hometown Horizons: Local Response to Canada’s Great War.”

Better Late Than Never

• I can’t believe I forgot to include this post on the Hampsterdance in the last roundup.

Calls for Papers

• An upcoming conference at McGill, “Before Canada: Northern North America in a Connected World, ca. 1000-1800 AD,” is seeking paper proposals. The proposals are due March 15.

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Compared to last week, this roundup almost seemed like a vacation. But even if it’s short, I hope you also found it sweet! 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. I got the chance to speak to some of my very favourite historians, and get to share our conversation! See you then!