History Matters by Canadian Institute for Historical Education – Details, episodes & analysis

What does settler colonialism really mean, and how does it shape the way we see Canada’s past? In this special live episode of History Matters, we feature journalist and author David Frum delivering his talk “Settlers and Colonialists,” recorded at a CIHE event in Toronto.

Frum challenges audiences to think critically about how the language of settler colonialism has reframed the histories of Canada, the U.S., and Israel, and what that means for national identity, guilt, and democracy today. Whether you agree or disagree, this is a provocative exploration of how history and politics collide in modern discourse.

https://davidfrum.com/page/about

How does a library protect democracy? In this episode, I speak with Vickery Bowles, former City Librarian of Toronto, about how the Toronto Public Library became the largest library system in North America, 100 branches strong.

We talk about the Toronto Reference Library, its remarkable special collections, and why intellectual freedom remains a core democratic value. Plus, Vickery shares news of a big milestone: all 100 branches are now open on Sundays for the first time ever.

Vickery Bowles

https://www.linkedin.com/in/vickery-bowles-68712665/?originalSubdomain=ca

What if one year and one election defined Canada’s destiny? In this first episode of History Matters, I speak with historian Patrice A. Dutil about his new book Ballots and Brawls: The 1867 Canadian Election, and why context matters in understanding our past.

We unpack the first election after Confederation, the chaos of open ballots and political brawls, and how a fragile democracy took root under Sir John A. Macdonald. Patrice also shares insights from his award-winning Sir John A. Macdonald and the Apocalyptic Year 1885, when rebellion, smallpox, and railways collided to test Canada’s young nation.

Subscribe for more thoughtful takes on the moments that shaped Canadian history.

Patrice Dutil

https://www.linkedin.com/in/patrice-dutil-8962a12b7/

Canada’s history is full of triumphs, tensions, and turning points. Yet too often, it’s reduced to headlines or overshadowed by present-day debates. History Matters was created to give space for deeper conversations — ones that connect the past to the present, and help us see why context matters more than ever.

Through engaging storytelling, candid interviews, and spirited discussion, History Matters will explore:

• The pivotal choices and challenges that have shaped Canada
• Stories of the people — both well-known and overlooked — who influenced our path
• How history continues to inform today’s debates about politics, culture, and identity

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Host Allan Williams welcomes J.D.M. Stewart, Eric McGeer, and Christopher Dummitt for a special tribute to Tim Cook, the award-winning Canadian military historian and chief historian/director of research at the Canadian War Museum. The panel reflects on Cook’s life, generosity, and extraordinary output—19 books that made the World Wars accessible without sacrificing scholarly rigour. They spotlight must-reads including The Secret History of Soldiers, Warlords, Lifesavers and Body Snatchers, and his sweeping two-volume histories of WWI and WWII.

The conversation blends personal memories with critical insight into Cook’s popular and academic impact—how he balanced “worm’s-eye” human stories with meticulous research, and why his work will keep teaching new readers for years to come. Recorded in the spirit of gratitude and remembrance, the episode invites listeners to honour Cook by reading and sharing his books.

Host Allan Williams welcomes J D M James Stewart, author, broadcaster, podcaster, and veteran teacher, to discuss The Prime Ministers, Canada’s Leaders and the Nation They Shaped Sutherland House, 2025. They revisit R B Bennett’s reputation in the shadow of the Depression, examine Mackenzie King’s wartime stewardship, and consider how crisis, longevity, and electoral success drive rankings that often place King, Macdonald, and Laurier at the top. Stewart outlines his research approach using Hansard, press archives, and landmark biographies, and argues that the Indigenous file crosses every PM’s desk far more than most surveys acknowledge.

The episode widens to the challenge of historical literacy in Canada, highlighting the roles of schools, public broadcasters, film, heritage organizations, and publishers, without maple washing the past. Human details, from King’s diaries to Chretien and Clinton’s rapport, keep the story grounded in people as well as policy.

J.D.M. Stewart

https://cihe.ca/

What happens when a national biography doesn’t just celebrate—or condemn, but strives to understand? In this episode, I sit down with historian David A. Wilson to explore how the DCB is rethinking who gets included, how language is updated without “rewriting” the past, and why a birdseed magnate—James Nicholson—helped launch Canada’s most important biographical project.

In this episode, I sit down with historian David Wilson, General Editor of the Dictionary of Canadian

Biography, to discuss the origins and history of this great institution that has been ongoing now for more

than seventy years. We cover how the DCB decides who gets included, how the language of older

biographies can be updated without “rewriting” the past, and why a birdseed magnate—James

Nicholson—helped launch Canada’s most important biographical project. I was particularly struck by

David’s line: “the goal of the dictionary is not to celebrate Canadian history, but nor is it to join the

bandwagon of those who condemn Canadian history; the goal of the dictionary is to understand

Canadian history in all its complexity.” We also touch on David’s award-winning two-volume biography

of Thomas D’Arcy McGee and his most recent book, Canadian Spy Story: Irish Revolutionaries and the

Secret Police, (McGill-Queen’s, 2022)—including the 3,000 letters in Macdonald’s papers that reveal a

real Fenian underground in Canada and why Macdonald downplayed the threat publicly while, in

contrast, he later amplied the threat from the Plains Cree in 1885. Along the way, David shares how he

accidentally became a Canadian historian, the DCB’s precarious funding reality, and three must-read

books for anyone who loves Canadian history.

If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe and share. Find History Matters on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Write to us at info@cihe.ca and learn more about the Canadian Institute for Historical Education.If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe and share. Find History Matters on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Write to us at info@cihe.ca

and learn more about the Canadian Institute for Historical Education.

In this episode, host Allan Williams welcomes historian and former Ontario cabinet minister Sean Conway for a wide-ranging discussion that connects contemporary political decisions to their deeper historical roots.

Conway reflects on the Ontario provincial election of 1985, which brought an end to the 42 year PC dynasty, and the unusual circumstances that led to his receiving official briefings on the “Separate School Funding” issue as much as six weeks before the Frank Miller government fell and Conway was sworn in as Minister of Education in the David Peterson government. The conversation also explores the longer constitutional backdrop, from the Union period in the 1840s to Confederation, and how denominational school rights shaped provincial and national politics well into the twentieth Century.

Conway closes by sharing the family influences that led to his interest in Canadian history and recommending two books by Christopher Moore for listeners eager to learn more about Canada’s founding moment.

Sean Conway is part of our Advisory Council.

https://share.google/G9az9o9u3gliqKmoC

https://cihe.ca/

Did you know that in World War II, Canada’s “best business brains” traded Bay Street boardrooms in support of the country's war effort?

In this episode of History Matters, I sit down with Winnipeg-based historian and author Allan Levine to talk about his new book, The Dollar a Year Men: How the Best Business Brains in Canada Helped to Win the Second World War (Barlow Books, 2025). 

We open with a gripping story from December 1940: C.D. Howe, E.P. Taylor, and other Canadian industrialists crossing a U-boat–infested Atlantic, only to see their ship torpedoed and still pressing on to London to negotiate urgently needed munitions for Britain.

From there, Allan and I trace how a small, mostly agrarian country of just over 11 million people became the fourth-largest industrial power in the Allied war effort. We explore the rise of C.D. Howe as Minister of Munitions and Supply, the “dollar-a-year men” who left lucrative private-sector careers to serve, the creation of Crown corporations, and the “bits and pieces” subcontracting system that turned refrigerator and bicycle factories into producers of tanks, guns, and Lancaster bombers. Along the way, we talk about labour tensions, accusations of war profiteering, and how Mackenzie King’s cautious political genius coexisted with Howe’s bulldozing efficiency.

We also zoom out to ask bigger questions: What does this wartime experiment in state–business partnership tell us about Canadian political culture, emergency powers, and the limits of parliamentary accountability? Why has this story been so neglected in mainstream Second World War histories? And what lessons—good and bad—might it hold for governments facing crises today?

If you enjoy historically grounded conversations about Canadian politics, World War II, economic history, and the people behind the policy, this episode is for you.

Allan Levine

https://www.linkedin.com/in/allan-levine-90284869/?originalSubdomain=ca

This episode is the second of two taken from a CIHE event held in March 2025 with Oxford Professor Nigel Biggar, recently appointed to the UK House of Lords, and Margaret MacMillan, Companion of the Order of Canada.

This second part features the conversation between Lord Biggar and Professor MacMillan that followed his opening statement. They examined the moral complexity of empires, especially the British Empire, and the modern push to revise or erase elements of Canadian history. Margaret MacMillan calls for rigorous historical thinking, warning against using history as a political weapon or reducing it to moral judgment.

https://cihe.ca/