Curious Canadian History

Welcome everyone to the first episode of Season 9! In the late 1860s a man named Henri Le Caron was rising within the innermost circles of the Fenian Brotherhood. He had served alongside Fenian leader John O’Neill during the US Civil War and by the end of the 1860s found himself helping O’Neill organize and plan an invasion of Canada. Yet, what O’Neill and so many others didn’t know was that Henri...

In the 1770s the realization that sea otter pelts from the pacific northwest were fetching high prices in China led to an absolute bonanza of trading expeditions into the largely unexplored region. For many, the pacific northwest was one of the farthest places on the planet to reach. Yet, over the course of the last decades of the 18th century the pacific northwest became a collision of cultu...

Thayendenagay was a Mohawk war chief, British soldier, tireless advocate and an accomplished diplomat who straddled two very different worlds that were colliding in the latter half of the 18th century. He witnessed the rapid expansion of imperial Britain and then the violent birth of the United States of America all the while attempting to lead his people through the geo-political complexitie...

Many Canadians know of the incredible bravery and courage that Canadian soldiers showed on 6 June 1944 when the men of 3rd Canadian Infantry Division seized Juno Beach as part of the largest combined-arms operation in the history of warfare: Operation Overlord, the invasion of northwest Europe. And while there are many incredible books and several podcast episodes talking about this invasion...

The recent passing of Gordon Lightfoot is the loss of one of the most important Canadian singer-songwriters in the history of North American popular music. Not only has he released dozens of albums, including over 200 songs, but his music has been recorded by a nearly endless list of artists from a wide variety of genres. His lyrics and melodies have been sung in honky-tonk saloons, dive bars, on...

The words mutiny and cowardice are some of the most vile recriminations one could make against a ship and its crew. For years, these words were veiled behind the story of HMCS Uganda, Canada’s only naval vessel to fight against the Japanese. Yet, the story of HMCS Uganda is one of the most unique tales told in the history of Canada’s military and speaks to a strange time at the end of the Second W...

While the official start of the Cold War is still debated by historians, many agree that it began at some point in the late 1940s. Yet, it was clear by 1945 that the final battle lines drawn when the war in Europe ended would play a significant role in determining the future of the post-war world. One of the earliest examples of this tension playing out was over the German coastal town of Wismar....

The legendary sagas of the Vikings have always spoken of perilous, seaborne adventures to lands so far to the west as to literally drop off the edge of the known European universe. While some of these lands eventually became known as Iceland and Greenland, other parts would later be dubbed the “New World.” Yet, the discovery of the “New World” was attributed to Christopher Columbus. For centuries,...

Every city, town and village in this country has its own unique history. For this episode, CCH takes a deep dive into some strange tales from the great city of Toronto. From a brawl between clowns and firefighters, to a bizarre post-mortem request from one of Canada's most important political figures and finally to a strange contest that saw the birth rate of the city spike. Guiding us through the...

Prince Edward Island is one of the most beautiful provinces in Canada. It’s wind-swept beaches are stunning, it’s people are some of the friendliest in the country. It has beautiful golf courses, scenic terrain, a provincial proclivity for incredible music, inspired by both Celtic and French roots. It is the setting for Anne of Green Gables. It has a deep, almost magical connection to the waters t...

The history of Montreal’s Black community goes as far back as the very first French explorers to settle along the St. Larry River valley. The community has dealt with slavery, oppression, injustice, and both informal and formal racism. Yet, it is a community that has not only endured, it has thrived, despite significant challenges. It is also a community that was very much connected to the emergin...

In the autumnal darkness of October 6, 1894, an unseen figure slipped through the streets of Parkdale, rang the doorbell at the home of a well-to-do Toronto family, and shot Frank Westwood in his doorway, murdering him in cold blood. Six weeks later, the spotlight shone on the enigmatic Clara Ford, a Black tailor and single mother known for her impeccable work ethic and resolute personality –...

In the Autumn of 1945 a Soviet cipher clerk defected to Canada instead of returning home to the Soviet Union. The information he brought with him shocked officials. It named a certain Sam Carr, a Toronto resident and labour activist, as a key figure in not only helping to establish a spy ring, but being the mastermind behind it all!  Book recommendations:  Amy Knight  How the Cold W...

At midday on November 8th 1861 the USS San Jacinto stopped and boarded the British mail steamer, RMS Trent. A party of American marines then boarded the British vessel and removed from it two Confederate diplomats on their way to Europe to court British and French support for the Confederate cause in the recently erupted American Civil War. This event sparked a massive diplomatic crisis and b...

Before there was Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, New Kids on the Block, or the Osmonds, there was Paul Anka. One of Canada’s most important contributors to the landscape of modern pop music. While not the first teen star, he was the first one from Canada and defied the odds by leaving Ottawa for New York to make it big, and make it big he did. His career has spanned decades, his success has been gl...

If you took a stroll along the banks of Tay River, in Perth Ontario, just on the northeast edge of the town, you would come upon on a strangely named location, Last Duel Park. Certainly, for many, they might just walk on by, chalking it up to just a strangely named location. But the more curious might wonder, how did this park get its name? The name is not a clever one, it’s given to the park beca...

Henri Bourassa is one of the most famous Quebec journalists in the history of Canada. His writing at  Le Devoir , the paper he founded, was embraced by many as the voice of French-Canadians struggling to assert their place in a rapidly changing Canadian nation. He was a complex man, a devout ultramontane Catholic, a French-Canadian nationalist, but also a man who saw a future where English an...

There are many ways in which Canadians express their national identity. Through song, poetry, tattoos, pride over historic and international achievements, the celebration of multi-culturalism, the singing of the anthem, voting in an election, and so many other expressions large and small help us define who we are and who we think we are as Canadians. Sport has always played a central role in this...

The St. Lawrence River is one of the most important waterways in the western hemisphere. It has been home to a multitude of peoples and has provided both food and commerce for centuries.   It is both a cornucopia and a highway. First Nations have lived along its banks for more than a millennium and when Europeans began arriving I the late 16th century they entered into a divers...

In the late 19th century a number of Canadian missionaries travelled to China ultimately arriving in the province of Honan, north of the Yellow River. These members of the Presbyterian Church of Canada sought to establish a series of missions in the volatile region. They sought to provide health care to the inhabitants while preaching the gospel. Yet, the years would not prove kind to the intrepid...

From 1864 until 1871 a relatively secret organisation of Canadian police patrolled Canada’s border with the United States. What began as a mission to prevent increasing tension between Britian and the US evolved into a concerted effort to undermine a major threat to Canadian sovereignty. This threat came from the Irish Republican organization known as the Fenians. Through a complex array of inform...

Perhaps no single person in the aftermath of the Second World War aroused so much widespread and continued interest in Canada than that of Nazi officer and war criminal Kurt Meyer. Meyer was a murderer, a die hard Nazi, and a ferocious battlefield commander. He ordered the execution of numerous Canadian soldiers during the fighting for Normandy. Despite being found guilty for his crimes, and becom...

For our last episode of Season 7 we look at how war in the US showed a deep connection between peoples on both sides of the US-Canada border. While the border between Canada and the United States is now regularly patrolled and controlled heavily on both sides, for many decades it was far more nebulous. It was a border that cut across territory where families and entire peoples had once moved freel...

In Part 2 of our two-part series we explore the aftermath of the Avro Arrow’s cancellation. While the cancellation sent short-term shockwaves through Ontario but not much beyond, in later years the cancellation becomes wrapped up in the larger conversation of Canada’s role in the Cold War world. Specifically, our relationship to our American allies and our ongoing efforts to try and grasp on to po...

There are a very few topics in Canadian history that have generated more acrimonious debate than that of the Avro Arrow. Some have called its cancellation a travesty that destroyed a Canadian industry, many of those have laid the blame at the feet of the Americans. Others have approached the topic with a more circusmpect eye, noting it’s exorbitant costs and the refusal of the Canadian government...