Post-Modern Malaise and the Truth About Stories

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One of the most significant developments in academics in the last several decades is the rise of Post-Modernism. For the uninitiated, post-modernism questions the truth of everything – from social tradition to personal ritual, a post-modernist would argue that every aspect of human existence is constructed by human themselves. If everything is a construct, nothing is “true,” or we might say nothing is “real.” Post-modern historians have likewise questioned the value of history, since every fact or idea a historian has about the past represents their bias and the choices they make about how and what history they are presenting. But if it is so constructed, is history valuable? Today we examine our struggle with that question.

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Remembering and Reading Alistair MacLeod

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Alistair MacLeod died yesterday at age 77. For many years he has been one of my favourite authors. I've read his books many times and have always found it sad that more Canadians have not read his works. I've often looked him up in bookstores, hoping to see another published collection or novel. There is a small (but growing) club of great Canadian authors, though I am sure its members changes depending on who's speaking. For me, Alistair MacLeod is at the top of that list and his passing moved me to write this post in the hopes that maybe some of our readers will pick up his work.

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Canada's Cold War - Part III

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This post is part three of our examination into Cold War Canada. In our first post we situated Canada’s post-1945 national interests within the context of a North American bilateral security relationship with the United States, and in our second post we broadened that framework to examine social and cultural implications that resulted from the so-called “Gouzenko Affair” of 1945-46 and the subsequent “Red Scare” that took hold in Canada as well as the United States. Today we return to the topic of national security to further examine the unique defence relationship which emerged in northern North America during the early Cold War period.

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The Long History of Progressive Conservatives in Canada

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These are tough days for Canadian Conservatives. Their chosen government under Prime Minister Stephen Harper is losing support from scandals over the Senate and now over the heavily disputed Fair Elections Act. Since its 2003 merger with the Canadian Reform Party (then called the Canadian Alliance), the party has succeeded in forming a minority and majority government much to the chagrin of nearly 2/3rds of the Canadian electorate that voted for other parties. Many disparage the Conservative Party as a destructive right-wing movement that impedes Canada in the 21st century. Criticism of the neo-liberal policies of the Conservatives are usually based in ideological disagreements, which sometimes results in broad generalizations about all Canadian conservatives. It's worthwhile to remember the roots and success of the old Progressive Conservatives – Canadians conservatives should not be defined by one leader or one party in 2014.

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The Pope of Peace and the First World War

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It has been slightly over a year since Pope Francis was named the Vicar of Christ to replace the ageing Pope Benedict XVI. From the beginning, Pope Francis has been committed to shaking things up in Rome. He was the first non-European Pope since the Syrian Pope Gregory III in 1272, the first Jesuit Pope, the first South American Pope, and the first Pope to use a name not used by a predecessor since Pope Lando in 913. His pronunciations on the role of the Catholic Church and commitment to be a more humble and personable representative of Christ have been met with positives reactions by many. Though some critics wonder if Pope Francis is only speaking of reform but not initiating it, he's at least attempting to maintain the Church's influence in a world where religious institutions seem increasingly parochial – no pun intended. Today we examine one of Pope Francis' predecessor who also struggled to keep the Catholic Church relevant in a changing world.

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Quebec Election Night: The Dream of a Nation

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As you read this, Quebecois are voting for their next provincial government. The polls suggest that the Parti libéral de Québec will win and Phillipe Couillard will be the next the Premier. Parti Québécois leader Pauline Marois has seemingly done everything wrong this election. She dropped the writ believing her party could win a majority, but political missteps such as raising the possibility of another referendum or tacking to the right on the political spectrum has turned voters away from the PQ. For Canadians outside of Quebec, the expected results are called a firm condemnation of Quebec nationalism, be it a desire for sovereignty or as it was expressed through the much criticized charter of values. Such lines of thought are simplistic and today we delve into some of the concepts behind the continuing longevity of Quebec nationalism.

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Fifteen Years of Nunavut: A Look at Canada's History with the Inuit

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Tuesday marked the fifteenth anniversary of the creation of Nunavut, Canada's newest territory, and the largest land claim in Canadian history. At least, by territory – there are some 33,000 people spread over 2 million square kilometres in Nunavut. On April 1, 1999, the federal government finished a decades long process over the recognition of Inuit peoples as an indigenous group by the Canadian government. Nunavut was split off from the Northwest Territories as the Canadian government as a negotiation over land ownership. Part of the Nunavut Land Claims Agreement that gave Inuit the ability to govern themselves was that they also had to “cede,release and surrender ... all their aboriginal claims, rights, title and interests.” This post looks at part of the process that gave them those rights.

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Education and Public Service: The CBC as a National Broadcaster

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In recent years the future of Canada's public broadcaster, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, has been in doubt. The current Conservative government is no fan of the CBC and many times since they took power in 2006 they implied that the country would be better off without the CBC. They believe it has a left-wing bias that naturally slants their coverage against the right-wing Conservative movement. Recently, it's been suggested that the CBC switch to a purely online format ala Netflix as a means of securing its survival. How do such present concerns reflect on the origins of Canada's public radio?

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Is Nuclear War Conceivable? A Cautionary Retrospective on the Escalating ‘Crisis in Ukraine’

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Since the so-called ‘Crisis in Ukraine’ made international headlines, speculations abound over the possibility of escalated war. Considering that U.S. President Barack Obama has led international leaders in the continued condemnation of Russian action toward Ukraine, it’s not surprising that concerns over a potential war have been partially wrapped in Cold War rhetoric. Both the United States and Russia have maintained their nuclear arsenals and international intervention in the Crimea remains a real and perhaps immanent possibility, but is there any real legitimacy to the comparisons drawn between the contemporary situation and the Cold War which characterized the second-half of the twentieth century? Setting ideological considerations aside, this post provides a brief overview of the post-1945 technological strategic balance to answer this question.

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The Hunt for the Mad Trapper of Rat River

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As the world's eye turns to the waters of the Indian Ocean in the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370, speculations abound about its fate – perhaps too many some say. The massive air search for any sign of debris is reportedly the largest in history, though we don't have any facts to confirm that claim. It brings to mind another search by air that happened eighty years ago – the first in Canadian history. The manhunt for the Mad Trapper of Rat River spanned hundreds of kilometres and used searches by plan and radio communication. It is relatively well known among the public and historians alike as one of Canada's great mysteries. We still don't know the true identity of Albert Johnson and what went through his head during the month-long manhunt through the Canadian arctic that resulted in his death.

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An Unwritten Covenant? Veterans' Benefits in Canada

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In October 2012 six Canadian veterans who served in Afghanistan filed a class-action lawsuit against the federal government claiming that the compensation structure of the New Veterans Charter (2005) violates the Canadian Constitution and the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. In this post we examine the historical context for the arguments provided by both sides.

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A Short History of Canadian Book Publishing

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In February 2014, Oxford University Press Canada announced that it was shutting down the school division, which published textbooks and learning resources for kindergarten to grade 12 classrooms across Canada. Like any other Canadian industry or sector, publishing has become increasingly affected by large, multinational—and usually foreign—mergers and consolidations. The largest companies producing and distributing learning resources in Canadian classrooms are not Canadian at all. Pearson Education, Nelson, and McGraw-Hill dominate the already small, but competitive, market in Canada.

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Anyone Can Cook: AskHistorians and Engaging with History

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One of the recurring themes of Clio's Current is history in the digital age. As the existence of our blog suggests, we are continually trying to map out the space historians occupy in 2014 where we are no longer restrained to the “real world.” The virtual world of the internet is a diverse, complex and often chaotic space. Our blog is a “work in progress” as we seek to define these new boundaries. Regardless, there will always be a responsibility for historians to communicate history to the public. This post examines one aspect of the new digital “tool set” of historians, how we use it to fulfil that responsibility, and the online community where historians of all stripes are doing the same: /r/AskHistorians.

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Canada’s Cold War – Part II

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This is the second post in a series which examines Canada’s Cold War. In our first post, we provided a framework to situate Canada’s postwar interests within a North American security context. Canada’s foreign and domestic policy in this era was to a large degree predicated by its role in the Commonwealth, but the geo-strategic vulnerabilities of northern North America forced a reorientation of Canada’s national allegiances. The United States replaced Britain as Canada’s primary security partner, and the Cold War’s impact on Canada must be understood accordingly.

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Is Russia of 2014 like Germany of the 1930s? Some Historical Context to Austria's Anschluss, Czechoslovakia and the Munich Agreement

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For many, the evolving situation in Ukraine harkens back to European history of the 1930s. Whether it is the German-Austrian Anschluss or the German claim to Czechoslovakia's Sudetenland, many across the world (and within Russia itself) have made the comparison between Russia's recent aggressive stance in the Crimea and the actions of Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler. Such comparisons can be useful as they place the situation in Ukraine in a comprehensible (if perhaps simplified) framework. Most informed observers of contemporary affairs are broadly familiar with the events leading up to the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, and can easily understand a conception of Russia's action within such a comparison. Given the number of sources that have made the comparison in the last week, we thought it would be fruitful to remind our readers of those events in more detail.

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The Borderland: Between Russia and the Rest

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In early December 2013, we wrote about the controversy surrounding Ukraine’s decision to sidle alongside Putin’s Russia rather than sign agreements with the European Union that would allegedly bring the country closer to European integration. Over the last few months, the controversy has evolved considerably from a string of peaceful protests to violent unrest. The official response has escalated in turn, leading to violent clashes in the streets and hundreds of casualties since mid-January of this year. The most recent developments, however, have raised the stakes significantly as both Russia and Ukraine mobilize their militaries for war and a weary diplomatic community scrambles to ease the tensions.

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Sexuality in the Mainstream: A Brief History of Regulation in Canada and the U.S.

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Michael Sam made sporting headlines recently by making his first public appearance since announcing openly that he is gay. Sam is a 6-foot-2, 255-pound defensive end who played football for the University of Missouri Tigers. Despite having won the Southeastern Conference co-defensive player of the year award, Sam is only projected as a mid-round pick in the upcoming NFL entry draft this May. With impressive credentials and a strong athletic frame, many around NFL circles believe Sam’s draft ranking is being hurt by his sexual orientation.

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If Information is Currency, Politicians must Share the Wealth

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Politics in Canada is changing. New forms of connecting with voters is transforming how Canadian politicians interact with the public and present their policies to Canadians. Prime Minister Stephen Harper is praised for his tight control of information in an age when information spreads instantaneously. The Conservatives' control of the public “message” about their party and intentions is part of the reason behind their continuing electoral success. However, we think that this will no longer be the case. It's been noted that information is becoming a currency in the digital age. Today we explore some of the history behind that idea and its implications for Canadian politics.

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Canada's Cold War - Part I

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Today we launch the first of a series of posts examining Canada's Cold War. It is a political history and our aim is to explore the ups and downs of the relationship between Canada and America. Canada's Cold War was anything but boring – as you will find out in the coming weeks – but we not always the most stalwart ally to our American neighbours.

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Making Asymmetrical Warfare Even: Drones and UAVs

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Since NATO’s International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF) became involved in the war in Afghanistan in the early 2000s, warfare has undergone a dramatic shift. The training that Canadian and American soldiers received in the 1990s closely reflected the types of operations in which they would eventually find themselves. In the former Yugoslavia, for example, NATO’s IFOR (Implementation Force) and SFOR (Stabilization Force) missions, of which Canada was an integral part, coalition forces often engaged a visible enemy, individuals clearly identified with one belligerent. Much of this changed, however, when Canada chose to participate in combat operations in Afghanistan in attempt to dislodge the Taliban from power and rebuild a country that had largely lain in ruins since the 1980s.

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