Category Canada
Ah…Mystery!
The Wisdom of Bartholomew Wolfe Bandy
I was entering some dummy citations into a social networked text sharing project on the weekend. Serendipitously I chose the genre of historical fiction and ended up reflecting on some of the more memorable books I have enjoyed. At the…
Thompson on the Asymetry of American-Canadian Relations
The Wilson Centre for Canadian History was privileged to have John H Thompson speak today on “Managing in the Bush Leagues: The Canada-US Relationship since 2001.” Thompson’s lively talk was marked by his personal reflections on what it’s like to…
Melnick, Cruikshank and Bouchier Weave Magic on the Bay
The Wilson Centre in Canadian History officially launched an awesome new learning tool destined for the classrooms of local schools last night. The People and the the Bay is an historical environmental documentary created by Nancy Bouchier, Ken Cruikshank and…
Alan Taylor on the Vision of Joseph Brant
I attended a SRO lecture by Alan Taylor last week. He delivered a wonderful narrative on the life of Joseph Brant couched in the currently contentious discussion over native land rights in the Grand River basin. Taylor is the author…
Graham and Pauly on the Complexity of Global Relations
The 2007-2008 Wilson series of lectures in Canadian History kicked off at McMaster University today. John Weaver, the acting Wilson Chair in Canadian History, has attracted an exciting list of speakers for the coming year. Lou Pauly spoke on ’Globalization,…
How Canadian Voters Cope with Crises
Apparently, when the going gets tough, Canadians turn to lawyers. I have semi-arbitrarily qualified the two world wars as national crises (yes, we could argue over what other crises may well have faced the nation, but for sake of simple…
What Did Parliamentarians Do? The Prequel
In an earlier post, I pondered the occupational composition of the House of Commons and its implications on policy making. This post cast an historical gaze on the occupations of MPs at Confederation. It compared the occupational composition with the current…
What Do Parliamentarians Do?
A colleague and I were discussing this anecdotal perception that there has been a shift from relying on lawyers to craft policy and laws in Canada towards reliance on businessmen. This post ponders how our elected representatives self-identify themselves and what…
Famine Rememberances
Last weekend Toronto dedicated a starkly breathtaking park/memorial to the Irish Famine immigrants of 1847. Ireland Park was opened by Mary McAleese, President of Ireland and features a rather striking memorial wall made up of glass bricks commemorating those who…
Baskerville: Silent Revolution
I attended a very informative and thought provoking presentation by Peter Baskerville at the University of Guelph today. He postulates that the shift in wealth from men to women during the period 1860 – 1930 was of similar magnitude to…