The Canadian West was an open landscape with few settlements, but the Canadian government wanted to change that. The Indigenous had occupied the landscape for millennia, shaping it and being shaped by it. Things began to change when fur traders...
Williams Lake currently lies within the traditional territory of the Secwepemc (suh-wep-muh) territory. Evidence of Indigenous habitation in the region dates back at least 4,000 years, with some estimates going back as far as 6,500 years. The region...
One of the most important political leaders for Canada during the first part of the First World War was a charming, somewhat vain and colourful man named Samuel Hughes. With his extremely strong belief in the Imperial connection with England, and in...
It was one of the darkest chapters in the history of the Canadian West, but from that would come an iconic symbol of Canada. At the same time, the outlaw nature of the Wild West of America would be stopped. Sadly, it all began with the slaughter of...
Following Richard Hanson, a new man would come into the role of the Leader of Opposition, and like Hanson, he too was not the leader of his party. Gordon Graydon would serve as the leader of the Official Opposition from 1943 to 1945, while at the...
A few episodes back I talked about the Pacific Scandal, an incident which effectively delayed the railroad for at least five years and ended the first incarnation of the Canadian Pacific Railway. Today, I am looking at the second incarnation of the...
The verified history of the Indigenous in the Melita area goes back not just centuries, but thousands of years. There is evidence of prolonged habitation that dates back as far as 800 AD. Located south of Melita, there are two very important sites...
When looking at Canada in the First World War, the pictures tend to tell the story of white Canadians fighting in battles. The stories of the soldiers also focus on white Canadians, but there were many others who fought, and died for their country...
It was an event 100 years in the making, and it was the moment that Canadians suddenly showed an immense pride in their country and for an entire year, they celebrated it. It was the Canadian Centennial in 1967, when from coast-to-coast, Canadians...
For three years, Richard Hanson led the Conservatives during a transitional period for the party, and through the bulk of the Second World War. His story is not a long one, but as with many others I will profile in this series, for a time he was one...