Stories behind the history

To reflect on the transformative summer of Montreal 1976, Canada’s History recently brought together two Canadians with thoughts to exchange. Heather Hiscox, a 43-year veteran of the broadcasting industry, spent two decades as the face of CBC Morning Live and has covered 10 Olympic Games. Richard “Dick” Pound is the longest-serving member of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). An Olympic sw...

The Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line was a radar defence network in Canada’s Arctic. It was a Cold War engineering marvel, but it had terrible effects on the land and Inuit communities. With Arctic defence once again a topic of concern, Canada's History Society CEO Melony Ward interviews experts about the DEW Line and its impact. 

From Black stevedores in the American Deep South, to Hawaiian Inuit dances, to folk singers on Canada's East Coast music scene -- discover the fascinating world of sea shanties in a special episode by Canada's History contributor Jonah Grignon. With music recorded live by the Bytown Sea Shanty Collective.  Music credits: Traditional shanties performed by the Bytown Sea Shanty Collective, used...

The victory at Vimy Ridge, France, remains Canada’s most storied attack of the First World War. Beginning on April 9, 1917, all four Canadian divisions advanced side-by-side for the first time in a single attack. But the victory came at a cost: During four days of fighting, Canada suffered more than ten thousand casualties. Today, war letters offer a window on that long-ago time. Here, in their ow...

In 1948, the people in the British colony of Newfoundland faced a choice. They could become an independent country within the British Commonwealth. Or, they could vote to join Canada in Confederation. In this special series of episodes we travel to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to interview four prominent Newfoundlanders about their memories of the Confederation debate, and ask if they think Newfoundl...

In 1948, the people in the British colony of Newfoundland faced a choice. They could become an independent country within the British Commonwealth. Or, they could vote to join Canada in Confederation. In this special series of episodes we travel to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to interview four prominent Newfoundlanders about their memories of the Confederation debate, and ask if they think Newfoundl...

In 1948, the people in the British colony of Newfoundland faced a choice. They could become an independent country within the British Commonwealth. Or, they could vote to join Canada in Confederation. In this special series of episodes we travel to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to interview four prominent Newfoundlanders about their memories of the Confederation debate, and ask if they think Newfoundl...

In 1948, the people in the British colony of Newfoundland faced a choice. They could become an independent country within the British Commonwealth. Or, they could vote to join Canada in Confederation. In an upcoming series of episodes we travel to St. John’s, Newfoundland, to interview former Premier Clyde Wells, artist Kathleen Knowling, writer Bernice Morgan, and former MP Richard Cashin about t...

Wilhelm Rahn was a 19-year-old German naval ensign when his U-boat was torpedoed by a British submarine off the coast of Corsica in 1943. Plucked from the water by the submarine's helmsman, he ended up in a POW camp in the backwoods of Canada. Join Rahn's grandson Sebastian Koester and historical researcher Bernard Wood for a discussion of life in a Second World War Canadian prisoner of war camp....

The war in Ukraine has reinvigorated NATO as a bulwark against Russian aggression. But has NATO been a force for peace, or for military escalation?  Historian Timothy Sayle digs into the alliance's 75-year history and explores its role in the world today.  Episode graphic: copyright NATO Theme music: "Red River Jig" by Alex Kusturok  Music & soundclip credits: All soundclips cou...

Gather 'round the campfire with Mi'kmaw poet Julie Pellissier-Lush for spine-tingling tales of the supernatural. Reclusive river sprites, ice-hearted ogres, and  a storm-summoning giant lynx stalk the wilderness in this storytelling session with additional guest author Amir Aziz and hosted by Canada's History magazine senior editor Kate Jaimet. Image illustration: Axana Zasorina

The roots of the drug addiction crisis in Vancouver's downtown Eastside stretch back to the opium dens of the nineteenth century and the heroin scene of the 1960s. Now, when thousands of people are dying of street drugs spiked with synthetic opioids, historian Dave Hazzan traces the origins of drug culture in Vancouver and other big Canadian cities. 

The border between North and South Korea bristles with weapons and with mistrust. A stress point in current global tensions, the border on the 38th Parallel is a seventy-year-old legacy of the Korean War.  General Wayne Eyre, Canadian Armed Forces Chief of the Defence Staff, discusses his experiences as Deputy Commander of the United Nations Command in Korea, and explains why the Korean War r...

When King George II signed Treaties of Peace and Friendship with  PEI's MI'kmaw Chiefs more than 200 years ago, the British monarch promised the Mi'kmaw people the right to hunt and fish on the island forever. But what happened to those treaties when PEI joined Canada in 1873? Historian Christopher Moore and Mi'kmaw legal scholar Cheryl Simon discuss how British law,  international treat...

The obsessive quest to find a sea route through the Arctic to the riches of China and India claimed the lives of hundreds of European mariners. Best-selling historical author Ken McGoogan discusses the bold and gruesome three-hundred-year search for the Northwest Passage with Kate Jaimet, senior editor of Canada's History magazine. 

Winner of the 2023 Canadian Ethnic Media Award for Podcast Feature. When the British and French fought for global domination in the Age of Empire, Canada and India became battlegrounds, colonies, and sources of trade and wealth. International relations scholar Madhuparna Gupta and historical non-fiction author Stephen Bown discuss the colonial connections between Canada and India with host Kate Ja...