A twenty-two-year-old cancer survivor and amputee, Terry set out from St. John’s Newfoundland in April 1980, aiming to run across Canada to raise money for cancer research. His first months on the road in Atlantic Canada and Quebec were not only physically taxing—he ran the equivalent of a marathon a day—but frustrating as Canadians were slow to recognize and support his endeavor. That all changed when he met a young man named Bill Vigars, who on behalf of the Canadian Cancer Society led a campaign to ensure that every person in Canada knew the story of this outstanding young man. Vigars was by Fox’s side through all the highs and lows until the tragic end of his journey in Thunder Bay. A recurrence of his cancer cut short Terry’s dream and, soon, his life. Now, for the first time, Vigars tells the inside story of the Marathon of Hope—the logistical nightmares, boardroom battles, and moments of pure magic—while giving us a fresh, insightful portrait of one of the greatest Canadians who ever lived.

Bill Vigars was the Director of Public Relations and Fundraising for the Canadian Cancer Society’s Ontario Division, and acted as Terry Fox’s public relations organizer, his close friend and confidante. He set up several key events as the Run entered Toronto.

Image Credit: Sutherland House

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We Shall Persist captures both the long campaign and the years of disappointment. Suffrage victories across Atlantic Canada were steps in an unfinished and contentious march toward gender, race, and class equality.

This insightful book will appeal to readers with an interest in women’s history, as well as to historians, political scientists, and women’s studies scholars and students.

Heidi MacDonald is the author of numerous articles on women’s and gender history in Atlantic Canada. She is co-author, with Rosa Bruno-Jofré and Elizabeth Smyth, of Vatican II and Beyond: The Changing Mission and Identity of Canadian Women Religious. From 1999 to 2018, she taught at the University of Lethbridge and served as the founding director of the Centre of Oral History and Tradition from 2013 to 2017. In 2019, she became dean of arts and professor of history and politics at the University of New Brunswick Saint John.

Image Credit: UBC Press

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In Ice War Diplomat, Canadian diplomat Gary J. Smith gives his behind-the-scenes insight into the 1972 Summit Series at the height of tension during the Cold War. Caught between capitalism and communism, Canada and the Soviet Union, Smith shares stories from his first overseas assignment in Moscow where he opts for sports diplomacy, throwing off his embassy black tie and donning the blue-and-white sweater of the Moscow Maple Leafs. With unparalleled access to officials, coaches and players on both teams, Smith witnesses this unique and epic hockey series that has come to transcend time, becoming a symbol of the unity and clarity that sports can offer. Fifty years on, the 1972 Canadian-Soviet Hockey Series has gone down in history as a pivotal political event, changing the course of two nations and the world of hockey—the fascinating story in these pages will appeal to history and sports fans alike.

As a young Canadian diplomat to the Soviet Union, and a life-long hockey enthusiast, Gary J. Smith played an integral role in organizing (and sometimes rescuing) the historical 1972 Summit Series. Following this career highlight, Smith’s career spanned 30 years, taking from Israel to Lebanon, West Germany, Indonesia, and beyond. Now retired, Smith continues to consult and feature on documentaries, films and books about this iconic moment in global sports history.

Image Credit: Canada. Department of Manpower and Immigration. Library and Archives Canada, e010996348 /

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.

In this podcast episode, Greg Marchildon interviews Peter Neary. He is the co-author, with Melvin Baker, of Joseph Roberts Smallwood: Masthead Newfoundlander, 1900-1949, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in 2021. This meticulously researched biography covers Joey Smallwood’s life from birth to being elected Premier of Newfoundland in 1949. Professor Neary has written numerous books and articles on various aspects of the history of Newfoundland and Labrador as well as the history of Canadian veterans. He has been a professor in the Department of History at the University of Western Ontario since 1965 and is now Professor Emeritus.

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: https://bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past

In her book The Art of Sharing: The Richer versus the Poorer Provinces since Confederation, Mary Janigan explores the history of equalization – one of Canada’s most important yet least understood social programs. Based on a simple idea of the federal government redistributing a portion of the tax revenues it receives to lower-income provinces so that they can provide roughly comparable public services at roughly comparable provincial rates of taxation to other provinces, this program has been criticized by wealthier provinces from the beginning. In her interview with Greg Marchildon, Dr. Janigan describes the origins of the idea in the Commonwealth Grants Commission in Australia and how Prime Minister Louis St-Laurent’s government set up the first formal program and how this program has been refined since. Dr. Janigan describes the importance of equalization in keeping Canada more unified over time.

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.

Greg Marchildon speaks with Dr Esyllt W. Jones about her Book Radical Medicine (ARP Books). Jones is Professor in the Department of History at the University of Manitoba. This recording was produced by Michael Smith at Ryerson University.

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.

Patrice Dutil speaks with Christopher Moore about the infamous massacre that took place in May 1754 that sparked the Seven-Year War. Christopher Moore writes “History News”, a very popular blog on Canadian History (christophermoorehistory.blogspot.com) and is the author of a dozen books including Three Weeks in Quebec City: The Meeting that Made Canada (Allen Lane).

This podcast was produced by Hugh Bakhurst in the Allan Slaight Radio Institute at Ryerson University.

See this “Finding” on the same topic: George Washington’s French Canadian Victims, 1754

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: https://bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.

Patrice Dutil discusses the significance of the founding of the Parti québécois by René Lévesque on 11 October 1968 with Xavier Gélinas, a specialist on the Québec "Quiet Revolution" and curator of Politics at the Canadian Museum of History. This podcast is available in French on Témoins d'hier. This podcast was produced by Naomi Katz and Richard Anstey in the Allan Slaight Radio Institute at Ryerson University.

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.

Greg Marchildon discusses the significance of this event of a hundred years ago with Patrice Dutil and David MacKenzie, authors of "Embattled Nation: Canada's Wartime Election of 1917" (Dundurn Press). This podcast was produced by Sumeet Dhami and Pernia Jamshed in the Allan Slaight Radio Institute at Ryerson University.

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.

Greg Marchildon speaks with Kevin Nikkel about his book, Founding Folks: An Oral History of the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

Founding Folks tells the story of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, which began in 1974 at Birds Hill Provincial Park in Manitoba. The book explores how founder Mitch Podolak’s vision grew into one of North America’s leading folk festivals. Through interviews with musicians, staff, and volunteers—including Bruce Cockburn and Tom Jackson—filmmaker Kevin Nikkel highlights the festival's role in community building, politics, and cultural expression. Featuring over 90 photographs, the book celebrates the festival’s legacy and its impact on prairie arts, culture, and folk music lovers.

Kevin Nikkel is an independent filmmaker and educator based in Winnipeg. He is a long-time member of the Winnipeg Film Group. He co-directed the documentary Tales from the Winnipeg Film Group with Dave Barber in 2007.

Image Credit: University of Manitoba Press

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.