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

The Champlain Society
  • 5.0 (8)
  • History
  • Updated Biweekly

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 relevance to today. If you like our work, please consider supporting it: https://bit.ly/support_WTY. To learn more about the Society and Canada’s history, subscribe to our newsletter at https://bit.ly/news_WTY.

  1. 1d ago

    John Turner: An Intimate Biography of Canada's 17th Prime Minister (2023 reissue)

    In this masterful and engaging biography, acclaimed journalist Steve Paikin brings to life John Turner (1929-2020), one of the most glamorous and successful politicians in Canadian history. Born in England, raised in BC, Turner was a champion sprinter and a Rhodes scholar who captured the national imagination as escort for Princess Margaret on her 1959 Canadian tour. Elected to Parliament in 1962, he served in Prime Minister Lester Pearson’s cabinet and as Pierre Trudeau’s attorney general, minister of justice, and finance minister. In 1984, he won a hotly-contested Liberal leadership contest and served a brief four months as Canada’s seventeenth prime minister before falling to Brian Mulroney in a Progressive Conservative landslide. In this surprisingly candid and personal book, Paikin draws on unprecedented access to Turner’s personal and public papers to show how he struggled to meet the towering expectations that came with his abundant gifts, and keep his faith in Canadian democracy despite the challenges of his own career. STEVE PAIKIN has been a journalist in Canada for 40 years, the last 30 of them at Ontario’s provincial broadcaster, TVO. He is the anchor of The Agenda with Steve Paikin, now in its 17th season. He is an officer of the Order of Canada and a member of the Order of Ontario. A Hamilton native, he splits his time between Toronto and Manitoulin Island. This is his eighth book. 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.

    John Turner: An Intimate Biography of Canada's 17th Prime Minister (2023 reissue)

  2. Aug 14

    The Lives of Canada’s War Women (2022 reissue)

    In this podcast episode, Greg Marchildon interviews Stacey Barker and Krista Cooke on the lives of Canadian women and their involvement in the two world wars of the 20th century. They along with co-author Molly McCullough wrote Material Traces of War: Stories of Canadian Women and Conflict, 1914-1945 published by the University of Ottawa Press in 2021 as part of the Canadian Museum of History’s Mercury Series. This book provides short biographies of selected women who served as military nurses, volunteers and workers or who suffered great loss during the two wars. Stacey Barker is an historian in Arts and Military History at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa while Krista Cooke is a Parks Canada curator with two decades of experience in archives and museums. 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. Image Credit: University of Ottawa Press

    The Lives of Canada’s War Women (2022 reissue)

  3. Aug 7

    Rough Justice (2023 reissue)

    Nicole O’Byrne speaks with Keith Mercer about his book, Rough Justice: Policing, Crime, and the Origins of the Newfoundland Constabulary, 1729–1871. In Rough Justice, Keith Mercer examines the history of policing and crime in early Newfoundland. It focuses on the period between the appointment of the first constables on the island in 1729 to the establishment of the Newfoundland Constabulary in 1871, now known as the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary. This makes the Constabulary the oldest continuous police service in Canada. These early policemen, mostly untrained amateurs, were officers of the court, but they also played important roles in some of the most notable historical events and social crises of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. The establishment of the Constabulary in 1871 built upon that strong foundation of community service. Rough Justice weaves that narrative into the larger history of Newfoundland. Keith Mercer was born in Gander and holds graduate degrees in history from Memorial and Dalhousie Universities. He works for Parks Canada as the Cultural Resource Manager in Mainland Nova Scotia. He lives in Bedford, Nova Scotia, with his wife, Amy, and children, Abby and Sam. 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.

    Rough Justice (2023 reissue)

  4. Aug 6

    The Rise and Fall of One-Industry Towns in Northern Canada (2019 reissue)

    Greg Marchildon speaks with Steven High about his book One Job Town: Work, Belonging, and Betrayal in Northern Ontario. There’s a pervasive sense of betrayal in areas scarred by mine, mill and factory closures. Steven High’s One Job Town delves into the long history of deindustrialization in the paper-making town of Sturgeon Falls, Ontario, located on Canada’s resource periphery. Much like hundreds of other towns and cities across North America and Europe, Sturgeon Falls has lost their primary source of industry, resulting in the displacement of workers and their families. One Job Town takes us into the making of a culture of industrialism and the significance of industrial work for mill-working families. One Job Town approaches deindustrialization as a long term, economic, political, and cultural process, which did not begin and simply end with the closure of the local mill in 2002. High examines the work-life histories of fifty paper mill workers and managers, as well as city officials, to gain an in-depth understanding of the impact of the formation and dissolution of a culture of industrialism. Oral history and memory are at the heart of One Job Town, challenging us to rethink the relationship between the past and the present in what was formerly known as the industrialized world. Steven High is professor of History at Concordia University and co-founder of the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling. 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.

    The Rise and Fall of One-Industry Towns in Northern Canada (2019 reissue)

  5. Jul 24

    On the Ground (2023 reissue)

    On the Ground (2023 reissue) by The Champlain Society

    On the Ground (2023 reissue)

  6. Jul 17

    Reinventing Canada after 1945 (2020 reissue)

    Greg Marchildon speaks with Dimitry Anastakis about his book Re-Creation, Fragmentation and Resilience: A Brief History of Canada since 1945 This book is an engaging survey of post-Second World War Canada, exploring ten themes key to the Canadian experience since 1945. An accessible narrative brings together recent scholarship to show how Canadians first re-created the nation following the Second World War, then experienced the fragmentation of the Canada that had emerged, and ultimately remained committed to Canada as a nation-state and community. DIMIRTY ANASTAKIS is Professor and L.R. Wilson/R.J. Currie Chair in Canadian Business History at the University of Toronto in the Department of History and the Rotman School of Management, where he teaches about business, the state and politics, globalization, and automobility. He has published twelve books and edited collections, including five books on aspects of the Canadian auto industry in North America including Dream Car: Malcolm Bricklin’s Fantastic SV1 and the End of Industrial Modernity. 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.

    Reinventing Canada after 1945 (2020 reissue)

  7. Jul 10

    Demanding Equality

    Nicole O’Byrne speaks with Joan Sangster about her book Demanding Equality: One Hundred Years of Canadian Feminism. In Demanding Equality, Joan Sangster weaves together various moments of women’s activism over a 100 year period to explore what feminism is in Canada. Sangster delves into the riches of Canadian feminism, beginning with nineteenth-century tracts and continuing beyond the recent intersectional turn. Challenging the popular “wave” theory of feminist history, she argues for the movement’s surprising continuity amid decades of social transformation. This comprehensive study revitalizes a wider public conversation about the diverse movement of Canadian feminism past, present, and future. Joan Sangster is Vanier Professor Emeritus at Trent University, and past president of the Canadian Historical Association. She has written countless articles about working women in the labour movement, the history of the left, feminist theory and historiography, the criminalization of women and girls, and Indigenous women and the law. She's the author of several influential books, including One Hundred Years of Struggle: The History of Women and the Vote in Canada, Transforming Labour: Women and Work in Postwar Canada and The Iconic North: Cultural Constructions of Aboriginal Life in Postwar Canada. A Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, she's held a Killam Fellowship as well as visiting professorships at Duke, Princeton, and McGill Universities. Joan Sangster is Vanier Professor Emeritus at Trent University and a past president of the Canadian Historical Association/Société historique du Canada. She is the author of One Hundred Years of Struggle: The History of Women and the Vote in Canada; Transforming Labour: Women and Work in Postwar Canada; and The Iconic North: Cultural Constructions of Aboriginal Life in Postwar 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.

    Demanding Equality

  8. Jul 3

    Canada's Odyssey

    Greg Marchildon speaks with Peter Russell about his book Canada’s Odyssey: A Country Based on Incomplete Conquests. 150 years after Confederation, Canada is known around the world for its social diversity and its commitment to principles of multiculturalism. But the road to contemporary Canada is a winding one, a story of division and conflict as well as union and accommodation. In Canada’s Odyssey, renowned scholar Peter H. Russell provides an expansive, accessible account of Canadian history from the pre-Confederation period to the present day. By focusing on what he calls the "three pillars" of English Canada, French Canada, and Aboriginal Canada, Russell advances an important view of our country as one founded on and informed by "incomplete conquests." It is the very incompleteness of these conquests that have made Canada what it is today, not just a multicultural society but a multinational one. Featuring the scope and vivid characterizations of an epic novel, Canada’s Odyssey is a magisterial work by an astute observer of Canadian politics and history, a perfect book to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Confederation. Peter H. Russell is a professor emeritus of political science at the University of Toronto. 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.

    Canada's Odyssey
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Ratings & Reviews

5
out of 5
8 Ratings

About

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 relevance to today. If you like our work, please consider supporting it: https://bit.ly/support_WTY. To learn more about the Society and Canada’s history, subscribe to our newsletter at https://bit.ly/news_WTY.

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