ActiveHistory.ca

Shannon Stettner explores the Woodside National Historic Site, the childhood home of PM William Lyon Mackenzie King. The visit highlights portrayals of gender, specifically through the material environment. Shannon is a regular contributor to Active History; make sure to check out her other posts!

“It illustrates that Canada is not insulated from inflammatory and misleading rhetoric targeting equity, diversity, and inclusion.”

Sara Wilmshurst reviews the recent report from the House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research (SRSR), especially looking at their stance on EDI. Sara is a member of the Active History editorial collective and a contributor to the blog, make sure to check out more of her posts!

"Grant Notley could have cashed in on the golden goose of Western alienation, but he chose the harder path: optimism." Annabelle Penney explores her thoughts on Alberta and the impending referendum election through Grant Notley's historical legacy and political work.

Jessica Jack with Chloë Farr and Jacob Polay explore how using LLMs in historical research helped reframe research on small Saskatchewan settlements. This post is part of a series on AI and Collaboration; if you would like to contribute to the series please email activehistoryinfo@gmail.com

"The archive is too big to read alone." As part of an AI and Collaboration series, Jacob Polay, with Chloë Farr and Jessica Jack, explores the use of AI and LLMs to construct history-focused open-data Knowledge Graphs. Read other posts in the series here: activehistory.ca/ai-and-colla...

As part of our series on AI and Collaboration Jacob Polay with Chloë Farr and Jessica Jack explore the building and designing of LLM tools in the history field. Read the other series posts here: activehistory.ca/ai-and-colla...

The most recent blog post in our series on AI and Collaboration with @activehist.bsky.social. In this post, I look at how AI is changing what tools historians can access, and how we should build and share tools with each other. activehistory.ca/blog/2026/09...

Chloë Farr with Jessica Jack and Jacob Polay explore the use and development of OCR enabled by AI vision language models (VLM-OCR) in galleries, libraries, archives, and museums institutions. This post is part of a series on AI and Collaboration. activehistory.ca/ai-and-colla...

Scott Berthelette adds historical context to discourse around the 'renaming' of Lake Ontario by exploring seventeenth-century history and maps. Cross-posted with @nichecanada.bsky.social for their series exploring environmental history and the current US administration

"A Toronto-based protégé of Goldman’s (1869-1940) who outlived her “idol” by almost 70 years, Tiboldo (1904-2008) has remained virtually unknown even to Goldman specialists." Cynthia Wright and Franca Iacovetta explore 1920s anarchism in Toronto through the lives of Marie Tiboldo and Emma Goldman.

Rosemarie Forsberg explores the history of lesbian spaces in Fredricton, New Brunswick. Highlighting the importance of building informal networks and challenging ideas that queer spaces and histories are inherently urban.

Edward Dunsworth continues exploring the use of AI in classrooms and describes how he attempted to "teach against AI" in one of his undergraduate courses in Fall 2025. Take a look at another Active History series exploring AI use here: activehistory.ca/generative-a...

We’re back from our summer hiatus! Keep an eye out for some new posts this week and new changes that we’ll be rolling out later this year! Image: “Algonquin Park,” October 4, 1995, photo by Dick Loek, published by the Toronto Star (Toronto Star Archives, Toronto Public Library).

"The Indian Act as Wendigo" by Jenni Makahnouk is part of our series exploring the environmental dimensions of the Indian Act, in collaboration with @activehist.bsky.social niche-canada.org/2026/07/28/t... #envhist #indigenous #cdnhist #indianact

"Documents are only partial records of the past. Archives preserve the records those in power choose to keep. Absence in the record is itself evidence." Read the new essay from @historyjacob.bsky.social, Chloë Farr, and Jessica Jack.

Nastasha Sartore explores the importance of 'busywork' in writing history amid ongoing discussions about the use of AI in academia and research. Read more below and check out our other series exploring AI in the classrooms here: activehistory.ca/generative-a...

"This project builds on a lineage of place-based public history and crowdsourcing projects that bring the public into the research process." Amelia Palacios, Molly Blake, Jenny McBurney and Kirsten Delegard, the co-founders of Save Our Signs, discuss the importance of it and public history.

July 4th 2026 marked the 250th anniversary of the United States of America's Declaration of Independence. Felicia Gabriele @feliciagabriele.bsky.social explores how she approached teaching it in a Canadian university classroom and shares some of her students' projects. Read it below!

July 1st 2026 marks the deadline for the Canada–United States–Mexico Agreement (CUSMA), which replaced the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 2020. James Cullingham's post explores the history of this moment and other major events the three countries have experienced.

Michael Dawson explores the history of tourism and anti-tourism in Venice amid current local frustration regarding overtourism. From the 1940s to now, check out the story below!

Peter L. Twohig @ptwohig.bsky.social explores the history of occupational health and safety in health care alongside unions and the labour force. Check it out below!

I wrote a little piece for Active History on health, safety, and unions in health care. activehistory.ca/blog/2026/06... Thank you @activehist.bsky.social ... look forward to working with you again

For the ninth post of the Great Acceleration series, Stéphane Castonguay and Colin Coates explore the industrialization of Laurentian agriculture and the dairy transition. This series is cross-posted with @nichecanada.bsky.social Make sure to check out the entire series!

To explore Chile’s diplomacy with Canada and Quebec separatism, Thomas Stroyan takes a look at Quebec aircraft.

“History should make you feel weird.” Through the letters of Edward Whymper, Dani K. Inkpen confronts ideas of life and death and politics and compassion in the archives.

Jim Clifford challenges ideas of periodization in global history and Great Acceleration frameworks. This is the 8th post in a series on using the Great Acceleration as a framework and for reconnaissance in Canadian environmental history. This series is cross-posted with @nichecanada.bsky.social

Good nugget of international history from today's @activehist.bsky.social Fighting Fires: Quebec Separatism in Canada - Chile Relations, 1968 activehistory.ca/blog/2026/06...

Walter T. Cassidy explores the life of Christine Jorgenson and the parallels between the story and Queer, Trans, and Intersex communities today and in the past.

Amy Swiffen, Keith Charry, Hannah Wyile, and Kris Millett explore the history and specifics of Section 141 of the Indian Act, which was in effect from 1927 to 1951. This is the 6th post in the Indian Act 150 series; make sure to check out the entire series!

Erin Isaac and Cady Berardi revisit the Ross-Thomson House and the topic of Nova Scotia's rural museums facing budget cuts and closures. Isaac and Berardi first explored this in March 2026; that post can be found here: activehistory.ca/blog/2026/03...

Daniyal Elahi and Harris Elahi reflect on the research process that led them to discover Private Hasan Amat, Canada’s first Muslim soldier killed in the First World War. Their initial paper on Amat was posted on Active History in 2025 and can be found here: activehistory.ca/blog/2025/12...

"A Source of Perspective: The Great Acceleration and The Canada Land Survey System" by Andrew Burke is the seventh post in a series about the Great Acceleration, published in collaboration with @activehist.bsky.social niche-canada.org/2026/06/02/a... #envhist #cdnhist

For the third and final post of the Canada Post and Canadian Culture series, Christo Aivalis explores labour and bargaining rights and the increasing use of bureaucratic tools. Read it here: activehistory.ca/blog/2026/05...

“As political scientist David B. MacDonald would later put it. Indeed, Indigenous peoples are the ones who have born the expense of the political compromise of “multiculturalism within a bilingual framework,” the ones who have been consistently excluded by it.”

Daniel R. Meister looks at the foundations of Canada’s framework of official languages and cultures in light of the recent controversy regarding the Governor General being insufficiently “officially bilingual."

Shannon Stunden Bower explores the history of knowledge and science for the sixth post of the Great Acceleration series. This series is about using the Great Acceleration as a framework and reconnaissance for Canadian environmental history and is cross-posted with @nichecanada.bsky.social

For the fifth post of the Great Acceleration series, Alicia Carefoote rethinks environmental history, focusing on prisons and confinement. This series is cross-posted with @nichecanada.bsky.social Make sure to check out the entire series!

As part of the Canada Act 150 Series, Daniel Sims discusses the technicalities and nuances of the Indian Act. Make sure to check out the entire series!

CCEL member Jamie Jelinski was interviewed by @activehist.bsky.social about his book, Needle Work, for their podcast What’s Old is News. Link below! activehistory.ca/blog/2026/05...

Today we have "Mining Data and Canada’s Great Acceleration" by John Sandlos This is the 4th post in a series about the Great Acceleration as a framework and reconnaissance for Canadian environmental history, published in collaboration with @activehist.bsky.social niche-canada.org/2026/05/20/m...

"Reservoir Modernity: Lake Diefenbaker and the Great Acceleration on the Prairies" by John W. Bessai is the third post in a series about Canada's Great Acceleration, published in collaboration with @activehist.bsky.social niche-canada.org/2026/05/19/r... #envhist #cdnhist #skhistory #sask

The second feature in our series on Canada Post is an interview with Evert Hoogers, a retired postal worker, long-time union activist, representative, and organizer with the Canadian Union of Postal Workers. Read it here: activehistory.ca/blog/2026/05...

Andrew Watson introduces our series exploring the potential of the Great Acceleration as a framework & reconnaissance of Canadian environmental history. The posts in this series are cross-posted with @activehist.bsky.social. This is going to be a big series, folks! niche-canada.org/2026/05/12/c...