rabble.ca's Activist Toolkit explores Black History Month this February.
canadian history
Harkening back to Champlain's immigration policy
Americans gripped by immigration and ethnicity issues should glance for perspective at the large print on the base of the Statue of Liberty: Give me your tired, your poor ... Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me ... Canadians with similar anxieties about immigrants and refugees -- categories that were often historically identical -- should think about Samuel de Champlain, who founded our country in the early 1600s.
Norman Bethune: Stepping forward to revolution
Extraordinary Canadians: Norman Bethune
(Penguin Canada,
2009;
$26.00)
When Norman Bethune left Montreal for Spain in 1936 to help the Republicans in their doomed effort to hold back Franco's fascists, he spoke no foreign languages and had no fixed role waiting for him. But he was among a group of determined individuals who believed "if fascism could be stopped in Spain, a larger war would not break out," and he wasted no time making himself useful. When Bethune left Madrid less than a year later, he had created and implemented a mobile blood transfusion unit, the first of its kind, that treated soldiers right at the front and drastically reduced fatalities. He was also on the verge of collapse, drinking heavily and making enemies on all sides.
Choosing not to look away: Confronting colonialism in Canada
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Canada has "no history of colonialism." So said Stephen Harper in 2009. Today the Idle No More movement is shouting down this lie through actions both creative and courageous. In its place, it is telling Canadians at large what some of us have always known: that the country we live in was founded as -- and continues to be -- a colonial-settler state.
Toronto exists because of a swindle of epic proportions
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Toronto exists because of one of the biggest swindles you can think of.
In 1787, the British Crown first made what was known as the Toronto Purchase from the Mississaugas who were the Indigenous Peoples in the region. However, this was no tidy real estate transaction, the deed for the original purchase was left blank, the exact size of land was unclear and the names of Mississauga chiefs were attached to it by separate pieces of paper. Payment for this dubious purchase was some small arms and tobacco.
Tecumseh & Brock: The antidote to Harper's War of 1812 propaganda
Tecumseh & Brock: The War of 1812
(House of Anansi,
2012;
$29.95)
Stephen Harper’s interest in communicating his version of Canada’s past has been on full display this year, with his government spending lavishly on celebrations of the War of 1812.
Book signing: Who Killed Abraham Lincoln by Paul Serup
Date: Tuesday, November 20, 2012 - 5:00am
Location
Willowbrook Mall
19705 Fraser Hwy, Unit 456 Canada
Langley, BC
Canada
49° 6' 46.7388" N, 122° 40' 39.4068" W
See map: Google Maps
Author and Researcher Paul Serup will be signing his book Who Killed Abraham Lincoln, just in time for the new movie release on the subject and to add to stockings. 22 years of research has culminated in a fantastic expose of the Canadian Connection to the assasination of Abraham Lincoln
Remembrance Day and the glorification of the military in Canadian schools
I teach History in the public secondary system. Early November is a time of year that most of we History teachers love because Remembrance Day often makes Canadians pause -- if only for a moment -- to reflect on Canada's relationship with the rest of the world and, perhaps more importantly, listen to the stories that our aging veterans have to tell.
But I increasingly find myself fighting a sense of trepidation over the approach of November 11th.
The misuse of November 11: How the Harper government exploits Remembrance Day
This Sunday, on November 11, millions of Canadians will pause to lament the human cost of Canada's wars past and present. But this year, like last year, and the year before that, and the year before that, Prime Minister Stephen Harper and members of his government will urge Canadians to think about other things, too. Things like Canada's historical excellence in trench warfare and the country's vital contribution to the Cold War.