Canada's History Podcast

The war in Ukraine has reinvigorated NATO as a bulwark against Russian aggression. But has NATO been a force for peace, or for military escalation?  Historian Timothy Sayle digs into the alliance's 75-year history and explores its role in the world today. 

Episode graphic: copyright NATO

Theme music: "Red River Jig" by Alex Kusturok 

Music & soundclip credits: All soundclips courtesy NATO except the following:

00:00 - Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 - II. Aase's Death – Edvard Grieg - Czech National Symphony Orchestra – Public Domain / creative commons license / https://musopen.org/music/777-peer-gynt-suite-no-1-op-46/

00:48 - Chiselling – freesound.org / creative commons license / https://freesound.org/people/acostadelgado/sounds/200803/

00:50 - Outdoor crowd – freesound.org/ creative commons license / http://www.freesound.org/people/klankbeeld/

06:41 - Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 - II. Aase's Death – Edvard Grieg - Czech National Symphony Orchestra – Public Domain / creative commons license / https://musopen.org/music/777-peer-gynt-suite-no-1-op-46/

06:45 –– Dwight Eisenhower report to a joint session of Congress on the war in Europe and Africa, June 18, 1945 / US National archives (38.15)  / unrestricted use https://catalog.archives.gov/id/2363636

08:48 – Soviet Anthem / Wikimedia commons / creative commons attribution – share alike license / https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Soviet_Anthem1955_vocals.ogg

21:58 – Beethoven Moonlight Sonata, Op. 27 No. 2 / performed by Paul Pitman / public domain / creative commons license / https://musopen.org/music/2547-piano-sonata-no-14-in-c-sharp-minor-moonlight-sonata-op-27-no-2/

22:05 – President Ronald Reagan – speech at the Berlin Wall – 1987-06-12 / White House Television Office /  public domain - https://ia801907.us.archive.org/5/items/ReagansSpeechAtTheBerlinWall/President%20Ronald%20Reagans%20Speech%20at%20the%20Berlin%20Wall%201987-06-12.mp4

29:34 – Tchaikovsky 1812 Overture – Skidmore College Orchestra – Creative Commons licence - https://musopen.org/music/5072-1812-overture-op-49/

30:28 - Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, speaking at a joint press conference with U.S president George H.W. Bush, July 31 1991 / public domain / George Bush Presidential library / https://bush41library.tamu.edu/audiovisual/videos/77

Gather 'round the campfire with Mi'kmaw poet Julie Pellissier-Lush for spine-tingling tales of the supernatural. Reclusive river sprites, ice-hearted ogres, and  a storm-summoning giant lynx stalk the wilderness in this storytelling session with additional guest author Amir Aziz and hosted by Canada's History magazine senior editor Kate Jaimet. Image illustration: Axana Zasorina

The roots of the drug addiction crisis in Vancouver's downtown Eastside stretch back to the opium dens of the nineteenth century and the heroin scene of the 1960s. Now, when thousands of people are dying of street drugs spiked with synthetic opioids, historian Dave Hazzan traces the origins of drug culture in Vancouver and other big Canadian cities. 

The border between North and South Korea bristles with weapons and with mistrust. A stress point in current global tensions, the border on the 38th Parallel is a seventy-year-old legacy of the Korean War.  General Wayne Eyre, Canadian Armed Forces Chief of the Defence Staff, discusses his experiences as Deputy Commander of the United Nations Command in Korea, and explains why the Korean War remains relevant today, along with Canadian War Museum historian Andrew Burtch and Kate Jaimet, senior editor of Canada's History Magazine. 

When King George II signed Treaties of Peace and Friendship with  PEI's MI'kmaw Chiefs more than 200 years ago, the British monarch promised the Mi'kmaw people the right to hunt and fish on the island forever. But what happened to those treaties when PEI joined Canada in 1873? Historian Christopher Moore and Mi'kmaw legal scholar Cheryl Simon discuss how British law,  international treaties, and the deal PEI made with Canada at Confederation  have affected everything from fishing rights to property ownership in Canada's smallest province.

The obsessive quest to find a sea route through the Arctic to the riches of China and India claimed the lives of hundreds of European mariners. Best-selling historical author Ken McGoogan discusses the bold and gruesome three-hundred-year search for the Northwest Passage with Kate Jaimet, senior editor of Canada's History magazine. 

Winner of the 2023 Canadian Ethnic Media Award for Podcast Feature. When the British and French fought for global domination in the Age of Empire, Canada and India became battlegrounds, colonies, and sources of trade and wealth. International relations scholar Madhuparna Gupta and historical non-fiction author Stephen Bown discuss the colonial connections between Canada and India with host Kate Jaimet, senior editor of Canada's History magazine.