Explore every episode of the podcast The Nations of Canada

1919-1920.  In a series of trials the federal government attempts to fashion a narrative of what happened in Winnipeg in the spring of 1919.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Spring 1919.  Months of mounting tension culminates in a general strike in Winnipeg - the outcome of which could re-shape post-war Canada.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

May 1919.  Labour unrest in Winnipeg spills over into the largest strike in Canadian history to that point, threatening the status quo throughout the country.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1919.  Before Canadians can recover from the trauma of war, a deadly pandemic reaches the nation's shores.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1919. The Canadian government faces the daunting task of transporting 260,000 soldiers across the Atlantic and re-incorporating them into a rapidly changing domestic society and economy.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1918-1919.  Determined to tackle the forces of international revolution head on, Canada leads an imperial military expedition to Siberia.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1919. As the war comes to an end Canada faces a threat just as grave at home - international revolution.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1919: Indigenous veterans of the Canadian Expeditionary Force return home to find that the freedom and democracy they fought for in Europe is not much in evidence in Canada.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1918. Explorer Vilhjalmur Stefansson returns from five years in the Canadian arctic with a new vision for 20th century geopolitics - with the far north at the centre of it.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1918.  German attacks on Canadian nurses become the subject of war crime trials after the conflict ends.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Summer-Fall 1918.  The Canadian Corps completes a three-month-long marathon of battles until Germany finally sues for peace.  The end of the war brings a mixture of joy, relief, and bewilderment. 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1918.  After months of speculation, the Canadian government begins forcibly enlisting young men in earnest, sparking resistance in expected and unexpected corners of the country.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

December 1917.  Disaster strikes Halifax, one of the busiest ports in the world due to the trans-Atlantic convoy system, as a collision between two ships creates the largest manmade explosion to that point in history.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

December 1917.  Canada holds its most contentious federal election yet, as both sides (Union vs. Laurier Liberals) see the outcome as setting the country down an irrevocable path.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Summer/Fall 1917.  Arthur Currie takes command of the Canadian Corps, but finds it difficult to replicate the success of Vimy Ridge in the mud of Passchendaele.




























Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1917. As Quebec roils with anger over the Military Service Act, French Canadians in Ottawa and Windsor clash with police over French language rights in Ontario's schools and churches.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1917.  On the prairies, the war reinvigorates the politics of minority rights, as Anglophone majorities restrict the use of other languages in schools, and Francophone and Ukrainian communities organize politically.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1917.  Prime Minister Robert Borden uses every instrument at his disposal to undermine Liberal party cohesion and form a Union government ahead of Canada's first war-time election.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1917.  A revolution in China (partially funded by contributions from British Columbia) upends life for Chinese-Canadians.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1917.  With Black Canadians rejected at recruiting offices in suspiciously high numbers, a campaign emerges to form a distinctly black unit within the Canadian Expeditionary Force. 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1917. After touring the battlefield at Vimy, Prime Minister Robert Borden determines that conscription is necessary to maintain the Canadian Corps, sparking Canada's most divisive debate since Confederation.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Spring 1917.  All four divisions of the Canadian Corps work together for the first time, demonstrating a distinctively Canadian approach to the conundrum of trench warfare at Vimy Ridge.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1916  Faced with war-time budget cuts, the Commissioner of Canada's National Parks system, James Harkin, sees an opportunity in labour provided by interned enemy aliens.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1916.  The residents of Berlin, Ontario face the challenge of being German-Canadians in a nation mobilized for war against Germany.  

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1916.  After two years (and intense study of battlefield conditions), the Canadian Expeditionary Force begins its evolution from colonial auxiliary to vanguard of the British Imperial Army.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1916. The Newfoundland Regiment finds itself at the centre of the worst day in the history of the British Army.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1916.  As the Canadian Expeditionary Force matures, its soldiers, officers, and (eventually) the politicians back in Ottawa come to realize it has outgrown its erratic creator, Militia Minister Sam Hughes. 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1915. A group of writers, journalists and activists based in Winnipeg, score the first victory for Canada's women's suffrage movement.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

The Canadian economy, still reeling from a post-war recession, struggles to meet the production total war demands.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Spring 1915.  The Canadian government grapples with the fact that over 100,000 residents in the country are foreign nationals, native to countries Canada is now at war with.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Spring 1915.  The Canadian Expeditionary Force prepares for its first battle outside the Belgian city of Ypres, where, unbeknownst to the Canadians, the Germans make their own preparations to unleash a terrifying new weapon.  

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Summer 1914.  Canadians prepare for a war far from their shores, that will nevertheless change their lives forever. 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1867-1914.  How did we get here?  Where are we going next?

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Summer 1914.  Ireland teeters on the brink of civil war, re-opening old sectarian divisions in Canada.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1914. A Sikh businessman charters a Japanese passenger liner to test Canada's anti-Asian immigration laws, while anxious British officials and Indian nationalists look on. 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1914. In India, the British government attempts to convince a growing independence movement that Indians enjoy all the benefits of subjecthood, including free movement within the Empire.  A key test of that proposition comes in British Columbia.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

Spring 1914.  A disastrous seal hunt raises questions about the growing social and economic inequalities of an industrializing Newfoundland.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1913.  Over a decade of consistent economic growth comes to an end, souring relations between Ottawa and the provinces, and forcing the military occupation of the Vancouver Island coal district. 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1912.  Robert Borden finds that his broad coalition (which was so successful on the campaign trail) makes for an unruly government.  Especially with Britain ever more insistent on contributions to the Royal Navy.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1912.  New regulations on the use of French in Ontario public schools galvanizes the province's growing francophone population and sets off a fresh round of French Canadian nationalism in Quebec.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1911.  A panic over black settlers moving into western Canada sparks a heated debate on Canada's immigration laws, and the country's racial politics. 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

September 1911.  An unlikely partnership of conservative imperialists and French Canadian nationalists bring an end to Wilfrid Laurier's fifteen-year rule in Ottawa.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1911. Desperate for a distraction from the Navy Question, Wilfrid Laurier is presented with a golden opportunity to fulfill a decades-long ambition by developments in Washington.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1911.  A damning report from a public health official sparks a national conversation on the future of the Indian Residential Schools program.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

As a growing pile of Canadian capital seeks new investment opportunities, a group of entrepreneurs, engineers, and corporate lawyers descend on the fast growing coffee economy of Brazil. 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1910.  When Britain calls on Canada to help fund its naval arms race with Germany, Wilfrid Laurier faces his greatest political test since the Boer War.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1910. Disillusioned with the governance provided by the elites of St. John's, Newfoundland's outport fishermen form their own political and social movement.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1910. Nova Scotia enters the industrial age with ambitions to become an international steel-making power.  However, by extension, the province also enters a new, modern age of conflict between the forces of labour and capital.

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1909. Canadians grapple with the implications of large scale migration from continental Europe, and begin a long-running debate on how so-called "New Canadians" fit into the national story. 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.

1909. A hustler from New Brunswick exemplifies a novel class of stock brokers and promoters who transform Canada's financial environment, and usher in a new era of industrial consolidation and economic inequality in Canada. 

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-nations-of-canada--4572969/support.