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

By The Champlain SocietyHistory

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

November 04, 2022 Canada in the 1950s: A Political History
In this podcast episode, Greg Marchildon interviews Nelson Wiseman, the author of 1950s Canada: Politics and Public Affairs. With his book, Wiseman chronicles each year of this decade, providing details of the social, economic, political, and cultural developments that shaped the nation. The book looks to the changes in crime rates, life expectancy, and discrimination; the interplay between Canada and other countries as well as the relationship between Quebec and the rest of the nation; and the competitiveness of federal and provincial politics during the era. This history of the politics and public affairs of Canada in the 1950s provides a record of these significant events against a backdrop technological, political, and economic change. Nelson Wiseman is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Political Science at the University of Toronto. He is the author of a number of political histories including the evolution of Canadian political parties.
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.
30 min
October 27, 2022 Bewitchment, Possession, and the Diabolical Arts: Daily Life in New France
In this podcast episode, Greg Marchildon interviews Mairi Cowan, the author of The Possession of Barbe Hallay: Diabolical Arts and Daily Life in Early Canada, a microhistory of bewitchment and demonic possession in New France. This account of the possession of Barbe Hallay serves as an example of the social and religious history in and around 17th-century Quebec. With these stories, Cowan illustrates the daily fears and anxieties of people of New France and details how this case of possession compares to others of the period. She provides a social and religious history that delves into beliefs about witchcraft, demonology, religion, Catholicism, power of the church, accepted social behaviours, and the overall precarious position of the colony during this era. Mairi Cowan is Associate Professor, Teaching Stream, at the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Toronto Mississauga with a cross appointment to the Institute for the Study of University Pedagogy. She is a historian of the late medieval and early modern world, with specializations in the social and religious histories of Scotland and New France. She is also an officer of the Champlain Society.
This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.
Photo credit: Kasia, flickr.com/photos/mysza/
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.
30 min
October 20, 2022 The Diefenbaker Revival: The Rise and Fall of the Diefenbaker Governments
In this podcast episode, Greg Marchildon interviews John Courtney, the author of a new book on the history of the rise and fall of Canadian Prime Minister John Diefenbaker’s governments. Revival and Change: The 1957 and 1958 Diefenbaker Elections, published by UBC Press in December 2022, provides an interesting account of the elections as well as the path to Diefenbaker’s victories, including the challenges and characteristics that shaped it. It is a story of the influential and significant era in Canadian history and its legacy in Canadian politics. John Courtney is currently Senior Fellow in Residence at the Johnson Sciama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Saskatchewan campus. He has written extensively on political institutions, Royal commissions and elections in Canada.
This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.
Photo credit: Louis Jacques. Library and Archives Canada, C-080883
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.
38 min
October 13, 2022 No Booze and No Dogs: A History of Tourism in Prince Edward Island
In this podcast episode, Greg Marchildon interviews Alan MacEachern and Edward MacDonald, the co-authors of a new book on the history of tourism in Canada’s smallest province. The Summer Trade: A History of Tourism on Prince Edward Island was published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in 2022. This book covers the various stages in the history of tourism from its early beginnings in the late nineteenth century to its mass commercialization in the postwar era. The land of Anne of Green Gables has been a favourite destination for generations of visitors seeking peace in an idyllic and timeless setting. Alan MacEachern is a professor of history at the University of Western Ontario who has published widely on Canadian environmental history. He is joined by Edward MacDonald, a professor of history at the University of Prince Edward Island who has also written on environmental 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.
37 min
October 07, 2022 The History of a First Nation: The Story of the Carry the Kettle Nakoda
In this podcast episode, Greg Marchildon interviews Jim Tanner, one of the many authors of a new history of the Nakoda First Nation in Saskatchewan. Entitled Owóknage: The Story of Carry the Kettle Nakoda First Nation, this book was a collective effort by the Nakoda (formerly known as the Assiniboine) First Nation members. The book was published by University of Regina Press in 2022. The book weaves together the oral histories provided by elders and other knowledge holders with the documentary record. Jim Tanner was involved with the First Nation’s land use study and presented the views of the other authors in the study.
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.
36 min
June 30, 2022 What got missed in Medicare
In this podcast episode, Greg Marchildon interviews Catherine Carstairs and Heather MacDougall. They made important contributions on what got missed in the making of Canadian Medicare. Their chapters on dental care, prescription drugs and public health are in Medicare’s Histories: Origins, Omissions, and Opportunities in Canada, edited by Essylt Jones, James Hanley, and Della Gavrus, and published by the University of Manitoba Press in 2022. Catherine Carstairs is a Professor of History at the University of Guelph and has written books on the history of illicit drug policy and public health campaigns in Canada. Heather MacDougall was an Associate Professor of History at the University of Waterloo who has published on the history of public health and medicare in Canada.
This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.
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.
41 min
June 23, 2022 John A. Macdonald’s Anti-Fenian Spy Ring
Patrice Dutil meets David A. Wilson to talk about his book Canadian Spy Story: Irish Revolutionaries and the Secret Police, published by McGill-Queens University Press. In an effort to disable the Irish revolutionaries from attacking Canada and stirring Irish sympathies in Canada, Sir John A. Macdonald established a sophisticated spy ring to infiltrate Fenian ranks. They examine the ideas that animated the Fenians, their success and their failures. They also reflect on the socio-political situation and on the actions taken by the Government of Canada’s, taking particular note of individuals like Gilbert McMicken, Frederick Ermatinger, Charles Clarke and the grand spy Henri Le Caron.
This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.
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.
52 min
June 17, 2022 The Seismic Shift from Left to Right in Saskatchewan Politics
In this podcast episode, Greg Marchildon interviews Dale Eisler, the author of From Left to Right: Saskatchewan’s Political and Economic Transition. Published by the University of Regina Press in 2022, Eisler’s book explores the reasons why Saskatchewan evolved from being the cradle of social democracy to one of the country’s most conservative political cultures in the past half century. He traces the history of the left-oriented CCF-NDP as the long-time governing party of Saskatchewan to the dominance of the right-wing Saskatchewan Party since 2007. Dale Eisler is a former journalist, federal public servant (including time as an Assistant Deputy Minister in the Department of Finance), and Canada’s Consul General in Denver. Currently, he is Senior Policy Fellow at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy at the University of Regina. He is also an author of four books, including two previous books focused on Saskatchewan history.
This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.
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.
36 min
June 09, 2022 The Fight for Yonge Street
Patrice Dutil meets Daniel Ross, professor of History at the Université du Québec à Montréal, to talk about his book The Heart of Toronto: Corporate Power, Civic Activism and the Remaking of Downtown Yonge Street(University of British Columbia Press). The focus of the discussion is the politics of development during the 1960s and the 1970s when competing visions of urban development prompted a number of experiments. The projects around the lands owned by the Eaton Company in downtown Toronto, the push for a democratization of the street and the rising rate of crime along the famed artery are examined. The reaction of politicians in this story is examined and the various visions that shaped the famed street are analyzed. Is Yonge Street today any better than it was?
This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.
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.
41 min
June 03, 2022 A history of the biggest mining boom in Canadian history
In this podcast episode, Greg Marchildon interviews Charlie Angus, the author of Cobalt: Cradle of the Demon Metals, Birth of a Mining Superpower. Published by House of Anansi Press in 2022, the book explores the silver mining boom in Northern Ontario radiating from the town of Cobalt between 1903 and 1921. Charlie Angus is an author, journalist, broadcaster, musician, and a politician who ran as a candidate for the leadership of the federal NDP in 2017. He was born in Timmins but moved to Toronto as a young adolescent, and then founded a punk rock band when was still in high school. He moved to Cobalt with his wife and young family in 1990 where he has lived ever since.
This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.
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.
39 min

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

From the publisher's feed

Immerse yourself in Canada’s history! Witness to Yesterday episodes take listeners on a journey to document a time in Canada’s past and explore the people behind it, its significance, and its…