Witness to Yesterday (The Champlain Society Podcast on Canadian History)

In this podcast episode, Greg Marchildon speaks to P. Whitney Lackenbauer about his book, The Joint Arctic Weather Stations: Science and Sovereignty in the High Arctic, 1946-1972. The book is co-authored with Daniel Heidt. This history is a fascinating look at the Joint Arctic Weather Station (JAWS) initiative, and its five locations in Alert, Eureka, Resolute, Isachsen, and Mould Bay. Lackenbauer describes their creation, the Canada-US relations involved in the program, and the impact of the stations. He further looks at the roles of civilians and leaders in the functioning of the stations and the challenges that arose during this period. He concludes by elaborating on the reasons why JAWS was shut down and its lasting legacy.

Whitney Lackenbauer is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in the Study of the Canadian North and a Professor in the School for the Study of Canada and the Department of History at Trent University. He is one of Canada’s foremost experts on both Arctic history and contemporary issues concerning Arctic security and international relations in the region.

This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.

Image credit: Wilfred Doucette / National Film Board of Canada / Library and Archives Canada / PA-142404

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 speaks to Ted Glenn about his book A Very Canadian Coup: The Rise and Demise of Prime Minister Mackenzie Bowell, 1894-1896. Glenn provides a detailed and intriguing account of a little-known period of Canadian history, the life and times of Canada’s fifth Prime Minister, Mackenzie Bowell. Initially intended to be a “caretaker” Prime Minister, the Manitoba schools question changed Bowell’s role in history. Ultimately, this political crisis led to Bowell’s quiet removal as the leader of the Conservative Party. Though Bowell was initially well-liked, Glenn delves into the tumultuous political proceedings which led to the Conservative Party removing their support, instead backing Sir Charles Tupper, and Bowell’s consequent resignation.

Ted Glenn is a professor and Program Coordinator of Public Administration at Humber College. Specializing in public sector training and governance, he has been an advisor to various Canadian governments for over 20 years.

This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.

Image credit: William James Topley / Library and Archives Canada / PA-025662

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, Nicole O’Byrne speaks to Barry Wright about his book Canadian State Trials, Volume V: World War, Cold War, and Challenges to Sovereignty, 1939–1990, co-edited with Susan Binnie and Eric Tucker. The book was published for the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History by the University of Toronto Press in 2022. It is the final installment in a five-volume series on the history of Canadian State Trials and focuses on the political trials and national security measures of 1939 to 1990. Topics covered in this collection of essays include the internment of Japanese Canadians during and after WWII, labour strikes, and Indigenous protests, particularly in British Columbia. Canadian State Trials, Volume V is a diverse collection of work of legal scholars, historians, and interdisciplinary scholars.

Barry Wright is Professor Emeritus of law, criminology, and history at Carleton University. He has done extensive research on political trials, the administration of national security measures in Canadian history and on the rule of law and criminal law reform in the 19th century British Empire. He has co-edited all five volumes in the Canadian State Trial series.

This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.

Image credit: A.Y. Jackson and the Origins of the Group of Seven

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 speaks to Wes Olson about his book The Ecological Buffalo: On the Trail of a Keystone Species. The Ecological Buffalo is co-authored by Johane Janelle, Olson’s wife, and includes a beautiful collection of photographs by Janelle. The book is an in-depth history of the bison based on their combined experiences and years of studying and photographing bison in Alberta. Olson explores how North America’s largest land mammal, the bison, is a keystone species in the Great Plains ecosystem, and examines the historical extermination of the bison in the colonization of Canada. His focus is on ecological preservation and re-establishment of bison and other endangered Canadian species, and he highlights the impact to Indigenous people when this chain is disrupted. Wes Olson was a warden in the Canadian National Park System for over 30 years. He grew up in the foothills of western Alberta and currently lives on an acreage of forest and beaver ponds beside Elk Island National Park in central Alberta.

This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.

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, Nicole O’Byrne speaks to Jim Phillips about A History of Law in Canada, Volume Two: Law for a New Dominion, 1867–1914, a book he co-authored with Philip Gerrard and Blake Brown. This is the second volume in an ambitious three-volume series on the history of law in Canada. He explores the history of law in Canada through the period spanning from Confederation to the start of World War I, using guiding themes such as property rights, criminal law, labour and employment, women and minority rights, Indigenous-State relations, federalism, and the building of the nation and its legal systems. Jim Phillips is one of Canada's most respected and influential legal historians. He is a Professor at the University of Toronto's Law Faculty History Department and Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies. He previously served as a law clerk to Madame Justice Bertha Wilson at the Supreme Court of Canada. Phillips teaches and has written about property and trust law as well as Canadian legal history. Among his other numerous works, he has co-edited four volumes in the Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History series of essays on the history of Canadian law.

This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.

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 to Scott Berthelette about his book Heirs of an Ambivalent Empire: French-Indigenous Relations and the Rise of the Métis in the Hudson Bay Watershed. The book is based on Bethelette’s PhD dissertation which he completed at the University of Saskatchewan in 2020. He explores how relationships and family ties were involved in the relations between sovereign Indigenous nations and the French colonial government of the 17th and 18th century. His focus is on the fur trade and the relationships between the French-Canadian (Canadien) men who traded with Indigenous trappers and hunters. Scott Berthelette is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at Queen’s University. His research focuses on the history of Indigenous Peoples with a focus on the Métis and their relations with New France and the English through Hudson’s Bay Company. He is also a member of the Manitoba Métis Federation.

Image credit: Hudson Bay Exploration Western Interior map by Alexrk2

This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.

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 Catherine Carstairs about her newest book The Smile Gap: A History of Oral Health and Social Inequality. Carstairs presents the first cultural and social history of oral health in Canada and explores the ways in which society places high value on good teeth. For those Canadians without access to good, or any, dental care, there is a gap as they struggle with their general physical health and their self-image. Consequently, people without an “attractive smile” may be at a disadvantage professionally and socially. Carstairs further elaborates on the history of dental care, examining the improvements in the field over the past 100 years, in particular the use of fluoride, the focus on children’s dental care, and the rise of cosmetic dentistry. Catherine Carstairs is Professor of History at the University of Guelph, where she specializes in the history of health and medicine, as well as gender history.

This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.

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 Stephanie Rutherford about her newest book Villain, Vermin, Icon, Kin: Wolves and the Making of Canada. Rutherford explores human-wolf relations from the time of Canadian settlers to present day. She further investigates the emotions behind these relations – fear of wolves by early settlers to the disgust of wolves as savage animals. She continues by discussing the representation of the wolf in folktales and other media, as well as identifying times where the wolf is a romanticized figure. Rutherford finishes her book by suggesting we look to Indigenous teachings in their relationship with wolves and recommending we use empathy as a model for moving forward in human interactions with wolves, particularly as a way of facing the global biodiversity crisis. Stephanie Rutherford is an associate professor in the School of Environment at Trent University in Peterborough, Ontario. She describes her research as inhabiting the intersections among political ecology, animal studies, and bio politics.

This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.

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 Nicholas Eyles about his biography of Jock Tuzo Wilson, one of Canada’s most important scientists of the twentieth century. Eyles describes Tuzo’s youth, his beginning as a geologist, his experiences during World War II, and his impact on the science of geology. This culminates with the revolution of plate tectonics, which significantly altered the way we think about the Earth. Nick Eyles is Professor of Geology at the University of Toronto Scarborough where he has taught for nearly forty years. In addition to his many scientific publications, he is the award-winning author of the popular “Rocks” series, including Ontario Rocks (2002), Canada Rocks (2007), and the Canadian Shield – The Rocks that Made Canada (2011). His edited book Georgian Bay: A Unique North American Ecosystem (2018) was awarded the Floyd S. Chalmers Medal by the Champlain Society.

This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.

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 Douglas Hunter, the author of Jackson's Wars: A.Y. Jackson, the Birth of the Group of Seven, and the Great War. In this book, two critical cultural aspects of Canadian history intertwine – the Group of Seven and the Great War. This biography provides a vivid and detailed account of the great Canadian painter A.Y. Jackson and the origins of the Group of Seven. Hunter illustrates Jackson’s childhood, beginnings as an artist, and the influence of the First World War on Jackson’s work and life. Hunter offers an in-depth story of a peak, and transformative, period of Jackson’s life that led to his evolution as an artist and the birth of the Group of Seven. Douglas Hunter is a non-fiction professional writer. He has a PhD in History (2015) from York University and is the author or co-author of at least twenty non-fiction books. He is also an artist and works as an illustrator and graphic designer.

This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.

Image credit: Mortimer Lamb/Library and Archives Canada

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.