The First World War occupies a complicated space in our public memory. For many Canadians, places like Vimy Ridge or Passchendaele are certainly familiar, Remembrance Day is generally well attended, issues like shell shock are broadly understood, and the traumatic events of the conscription crisis are often taught, though in very different ways whether one is French-Canadian or not. Yet, in the last two decades more and more scholarship has appeared which has added nuance and complexity to...

I’m sure all our listeners at some point in their lives have encountered an uncomfortable moment when discussing sex and sexuality, and in many places and communities within Canada discussions of sex are still quite taboo. Today, we’re breaking that taboo and asking some real questions about sex in Canada. How has the subject of sex in Canada changed over time? When did issues related to sex and sexuality really undergo significant change in this country? How much sex did Canadians used to...

When one thinks of the pre-confederation development of North America one might think of war and empires, competing nations, economic trade, fur, colonization, resistance and so many other themes and topics that have been enshrined in our understanding of early French and British North America.  What’s interesting, is that present in almost all of this is alcohol. In fact, alcohol has been at the heart of the settler-colonial experience since the first Europeans arrived on the banks of the...

Hockey has had both an enduring but also a complicated relationship with ideas about what it means to be ‘Canadian’. While not every Canadian skates, or plays the game, or even cares about the game, the sport itself occupies a serous place in the Canadian cultural psyche. While the game has often been seen as something to unify Canadians, or to express ‘Canadianness’, it has also been exposed for very serious flaws in its culture, its infrastructure, and its dubious place as a game of...

In May 2023, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) commemorated its 150th anniversary. The federal police force – which originally started out as the North-West Mounted Police – is almost as old as the Dominion of Canada itself. This episode examines the complex and painful history of an institution that has historically mistreated Indigenous peoples and women. It also takes us back to the scene of one of the RCMP’s largest manhunts – the search for fugitive Albert Johnson, also known as...

One of the most talked about shows currently available is Masters of the Air. A program detailing the lives of American bomber crews serving in the US Army Air Force during WW2. In today’s episode, I bring on a past guest of CCH, historian Alex Fitzgerald-Black, to talk about the Canadian version of Masters of the Air. While the Americans bombed during the day, at night Canadian crews also took the bomber war to Germany and Axis powers. In today’s discussion we trace the beginning of the...

The Houthis are a non-state Shia Islamist politically and military movement, and they have controlled key parts of western Yemen since the Yemenis Civil War broke out in 2014. In response to the recent Israeli attacks on Gaza the Houthis began launching missile and drone strikes at cargo ships entering the Red Sea (shipping destined for the Suez Canal). The Houthis claim to be aiming their strikes at Israeli shipping as a show of support for the Palestinians, but as it’s turned out they seem...

The fortress of Louisbourg was once thought to be one of the finest fortresses of its day. It was considered a marvel of engineering, a dominating position that helped secure French control over the eastern seaboard of modern day Canada. Today, the fortress is one of the most important historical places in the country, it was at the centre of French control over what would become Canada and was the site of several key battles. The story of Louisbourg sheds light on the decades long colonial...

The Avro Arrow is a topic that has fascinated Canadians since its controversial cancellation in 1959. However, in the last ten years the narrative has changed dramatically from an American plot to ruin our aerospace industry to a decision made by the Canadian government based on very real calculations about the security threat to North America and the changing defence landscape of the late 1950s. In this episode we talk with Alan Barnes who has recently uncovered some incredible research that...

For this 2023 Holiday Reboot episode we go back to Season 2 Episode Six for a look at the militia of Upper Canada during the early days of the War of 1812. On paper, the militia was a sizeable force, yet in reality it was dubious in its commitment to the defence of Canada and questionable in its quality to do so were they even to show up. A British general by the name of Isaac Brock was responsible for this rag-tag group of would-be soldiers and he did his  very best to ensure both their...

For this 2023 Holiday Reboot episode we go way back to Season 2 Episode 1 for one of the strangest tales of the Second World War. In the closing days of the conflict a group of VIP prisoners, incarcerated at Castle Itter in Austria, near the city of Tyrol, fight a desperate battle against a murderous band of SS Soldiers seeking to inflict death across the Austrian countryside as the Third Reich collapses. While the prisoners themselves are a mixed bag of Europeans, they are eventually joined...

On the 30th of May 1867 Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederate States of America, arrived in Toronto following his imprisonment after the Civil War. In a speech to a crowd of Canadian onlookers he said, “I thank you for the honour you have shown me, May peace and prosperity be forever the blessing of Canada, for she has been the asylum of many of my friends, as she is now an asylum for myself, may god bless you all.” What did he mean by an asylum for himself and many of his...

The Globe and Mail is an absolute fixture of the Canadian media landscape. One would be hard pressed to find a single Canadian who would not know what the Globe and Mail is, or could not name it if asked to name three Canadian newspapers. Yet so few Canadians know the man who founded it. This man was a figure of Gatsby-esque proportions. A media mogul, a sports enthusiast, a wealthy and connected Toronto elite who had immense influence over both the Canadian cultural and political landscape....

Back in episode 4 myself and historian Per Anders Rudling spoke in length about the history behind Ukrainian Waffen SS veterans settling in Canada in the aftermath of the Second World War. This discussion was a result of the embarrassing moment in Canada’s parliament where parliamentarians gave a former Waffen SS soldier a standing ovation. Our conversation was so good and there was so much covered we decided to turn it into a two parter. Thus, in this second part of our discussion we explore...

The relationship between Israel and Palestine is a complex and chaotic situation which is not only fraught with acrimonious debate but continual violence. When we ask why this situation is so far from ever being solved, part of the answer, or the blame you might say, lies with the international community. That being the nations that proposed the partition of Palestine, the newly formed United Nations that backed it, and then the international community that stepped away from the ultimate...

In September 2023 the Canadian parliament gave a standing ovation to 98 year old Yaroslav Hunka, who at the time was being applauded for his role in fighting the Soviets during WW2. This soon became a national and international embarrassment when it was realized that while Hunka did indeed fight the Soviets he did so as part of an SS regiment. In the aftermath of this scandal it came to light that Canada in fact opened its borders to Ukrainian veterans of the Waffen-SS in the post-war period....

In recent weeks a diplomatic row between Canada and India erupted as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau publicly accused India of being behind the assassination of Sikh separatist and Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar. Nijjar’s involvement in the Khalistan Movement and the tensions within India over Sikh separatism have cast a spotlight on one of the most horrific terrorist attacks in North American history. On 23 June 1985 a plane was headed to Delhi from Toronto when it exploded killing all...

Sometime in the early to mid-19th century, thousands of Coast Salish warriors, from dozens of tribes, united in an incredible moment of Salish solidarity. They did this to stop an enemy that had been terrorizing the Salish people for years. In doing so, the Salish inflicted a devastating defeat on that enemy. The event that occurred has become a cornerstone of Salish history and identity. A story that has been passed down for many generations amongst many different Salish elders. A battle...

Welcome everyone to the first episode of Season 9! In the late 1860s a man named Henri Le Caron was rising within the innermost circles of the Fenian Brotherhood. He had served alongside Fenian leader John O’Neill during the US Civil War and by the end of the 1860s found himself helping O’Neill organize and plan an invasion of Canada. Yet, what O’Neill and so many others didn’t know was that Henri Le Caron was really named Thomas Beach, and Beach wasn’t working for the Fenians, he was a spy...

In the 1770s the realization that sea otter pelts from the pacific northwest were fetching high prices in China led to an absolute bonanza of trading expeditions into the largely unexplored region. For many, the pacific northwest was one of the farthest places on the planet to reach. Yet, over the course of the last decades of the 18th century the pacific northwest became a collision of cultures and empires: from various Indigenous groups to European imperial spearheads, to an American...

Thayendenagay was a Mohawk war chief, British soldier, tireless advocate and an accomplished diplomat who straddled two very different worlds that were colliding in the latter half of the 18th century. He witnessed the rapid expansion of imperial Britain and then the violent birth of the United States of America all the while attempting to lead his people through the geo-political complexities of that time. He would become one of the most famous Indigenous persons in the British empire and...

Many Canadians know of the incredible bravery and courage that Canadian soldiers showed on 6 June 1944 when the men of 3rd Canadian Infantry Division seized Juno Beach as part of the largest combined-arms operation in the history of warfare: Operation Overlord, the invasion of northwest Europe. And while there are many incredible books and several podcast episodes talking about this invasion today’s episode is actually the product of a special request from a listener. This long-time listener...

The recent passing of Gordon Lightfoot is the loss of one of the most important Canadian singer-songwriters in the history of North American popular music. Not only has he released dozens of albums, including over 200 songs, but his music has been recorded by a nearly endless list of artists from a wide variety of genres. His lyrics and melodies have been sung in honky-tonk saloons, dive bars, on legendary stages, in movie soundtracks, and reverberated in sound systems in some of the most...

The words mutiny and cowardice are some of the most vile recriminations one could make against a ship and its crew. For years, these words were veiled behind the story of HMCS Uganda, Canada’s only naval vessel to fight against the Japanese. Yet, the story of HMCS Uganda is one of the most unique tales told in the history of Canada’s military and speaks to a strange time at the end of the Second World War, when a Canadian government prioritised domestic political interests over those of the...