Canada's History

The “Last Best West” was a program developed through the Immigration Branch of the Canadian Department of the Interior from 1896 until the First World War, which produced brochures, pamphlets, and atlases that were distributed in the United States and Great Britain to encourage farmers to settle in western Canada. Beverley Tallon, editorial assistant at Canada’s History talks to Dr. Laura Detre, an instructor of history at Washington & Jefferson University, Washington, Pennsylvania, about the subject.

He’s been called boring, a waffler, and a kook. But William Lyon Mackenzie King is also the longest serving Canadian prime minister. And there’s no denying that under his leadership, Canada was transformed from a minor player in the British Empire into a modern middle power, with great influence on the world stage. He’s also the history idol of historian Jack Granatstein who gives us a list of reasons to support his position in this podcast interview with Canada's History editor-in-chief Mark Reid.

Historian Margaret Conrad was a member of the Progressive Conservative Students Society at Acadia University in the late 1960s when she witnessed a speech given by Tommy Douglas. This experience turned her personal politics on its head. “He captured everyone in the room no matter what their political affiliation was,” she says. To Conrad, Douglas was defined by his altruism and his belief that the role of government is to help create a better society and a better Canada. Canada’s History’s editor-in-chief, Mark Reid, talks with Margaret about her History Idol, Tommy Douglas.

Despite her crucial role as diplomat for Hudson’s Bay Company Governor James Knight, few people will recognize the name of Thanadelthur. Enslaved by Cree for a year before escaping, Thanadelthur, a young (and likely teenage) Chipewyan woman, made a deal with Knight to work as a translator so that she could be reunited with her family. Her duties included brokering an “impossible” peace between the Cree and Chipewyan so that trading relations could be established and safely maintained. Canada’s History Society web editor, Tanja Hutter, came across Thanadelthur’s story while digitizing the Beaver archive and Thanadelthur immediately came to mind when asked, “Who is your History Idol?”