Curious Canadian History – Détails, épisodes et analyse

Welcome back to Season 10!! In the first episode of the newest season we take you to Penetanguishene, Ontario along the shores of Georgian Bay where once existed the Oak Ridge ‘Criminal Insane Building.’ Oak Ridge has been deemed the ‘Alcatraz of Canada’ and ‘the most terrible institution of all.’ For decades it housed some of Canada’s most violent criminals and in particular violent criminals with serious psychiatric illnesses. Yet in the 1960s an intensive and radical therapy program arrived, promoting the widespread of drugs and treatment methods that frankly bordered on torture. The Social Therapy Unit at Oak Ridge is still remembered by some as a successful venture in utopian experimentation though for others it embodies a state-authorized subjection of the individual without any checks or balances. A place where patients became test subjects in a radical and controversial program of rehabilitation.

This week’s book recommendation is Watching the Devil Dance by William Toffan, published in 2020 by Biblioasis.

Don’t forget! You can pre-purchase a copy of Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867 right now at the below links:

Amazon

Indigo

Dundurn

Goodreads

Indiebookstores.ca

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**SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT – NEW BOOK**

Our very own David Borys has a new book coming out in September titled “Punching Above Our Weight: The Canadian Military at War Since 1867” published by Dundurn Press. The book is an easy to read, single volume history of Canada at war since 1867. This photograph-rich volume covers nearly 150 years of the Canadian military, tracing its evolution from a small, underfunded, poorly trained militia to the modern, effective military it is today

The book will be released on September 24th in Canada and October 22nd in the United States. 

As part of the pre-sale campaign CCH is dropping a series of short readings by David from sections of the book. 

Today’s excerpt takes us back to 1870/71 where the Canadian government has sent out a military expedition to secure the annexation of the Red River Colony. This expedition, known as the Wolseley Expedition, is not sure if they are going to encounter violence when they finally arrive in Red River after what was an arduous and challenging journey to what would become Canada’s newest province.   

You can pre-purchase a copy right now at the below links:

Amazon

Indigo

Dundurn

Goodreads

Indiebookstores.ca

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Hockey has had both an enduring but also a complicated relationship with ideas about what it means to be ‘Canadian’. While not every Canadian skates, or plays the game, or even cares about the game, the sport itself occupies a serous place in the Canadian cultural psyche. While the game has often been seen as something to unify Canadians, or to express ‘Canadianness’, it has also been exposed for very serious flaws in its culture, its infrastructure, and its dubious place as a game of character and inspiration for Canadian youth. The game of hockey, as we understand it now, has undergone dramatic challenges and changes since its first official appearance on ice in Montreal in the 1870s.  This episode seeks to understand some of the key developments in the game that we now recognize today. From the rules to the rink size, to professionalization, commercialization, internationalization, to the broadening of the hockey cultural mosaic. From its amateur roots to a game that is international in its appeal, incorporating men and women from different socioeconomic classes and ethnic groups, and one that continues to evolve alongside modern value systems while evoking serious discussion on its relevance to modern Canadians. 

Book recommendation: Canada’s Game: Hockey and Identity by Andrew C. Holman published McGill-Queen’s Press in 2009. 

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