2020 Canada’s History Forum Program: Day Two

Master of Ceremonies: Meg Wilcox teaches journalism at Mount Royal University in Calgary, but before joining the faculty in 2018, her reporting career took her from Ottawa to Iqaluit to the Rockies ­– and many places in between! For almost a decade, she worked at CBC stations across the country as a host, producer and reporter. A history buff and a bit of a political nerd, Meg has worked with Historica Canada and Encounters with Canada, reported in the Parliamentary Press Gallery, and – one glorious summer – combined both loves as a historical tour guide in Parliament's East Block.

The year 2020 marked the 100^th anniversary of the advent of civil radio broadcasting in Canada. Montreal’s Musée des Ondes Emile Berliner, with the support of the Quebec Society for Vintage Radio Collectors, called on several key stakeholders in the Montreal region to assist them with a project commemorating this event that revolutionized communications in Canada. Anja Borck is director of the Musée des ondes Emile Berliner. Alain Dufour is a member of the board of directors of the Société Québécoise des Collectionneurs de Radios Anciens and of the Musée des waves Emile Berliner.

Sharon Snowshoe is a Gwich’in member of the Teetł’it Gwich’in band in Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories. She is the Director of the Gwich’in Tribal Council Department of Cultural Heritage (DCH), where she oversees numerous cultural, oral history, traditional knowledge, and other culture and heritage projects. The DCH recently completed the project “Gwich’in Goonanh’kak Googwandak: The Places and Stories of the Gwich’in” which resulted in three important outcomes: an online atlas, place name maps, and the official recognition of Gwich’in place names.

Created through a partnership between the Western Development Museum, Spirit Wrestler Productions, and the University of Saskatchewan, the Saskatchewan Doukhobor Living Book Project documented the history, culture, and religious beliefs of Saskatchewan’s Independent Doukhobors in five multimedia outputs. Dr. Elizabeth A. Scott is the Curator of the Western Development Museum and an Adjunct Professor in the Department of History at the University of Saskatchewan. Ryan Androsoff is a life-long member of the Saskatchewan Doukhobor community and founder of Spirit Wrestler Productions. Dr. Ashleigh Androsoff is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of Saskatchewan and currently serves as an Elder of the Doukhobor Society of Saskatoon.

Eric H. Reiter is Professor of History and Law & Society at Concordia University. His background is both as a historian (Ph.D. in medieval European history) and a lawyer (retired member of the Barreau du Québec). His research speciality is the history of Quebec civil law, especially how people’s stories intersected with legal categories. Wounded Feelings is his first book. He is currently at work on a second, a case study of a widow’s eight-year lawsuit in the 1880s against the Canadian Pacific Railway over the workplace death of her husband.

Originally from Thunder Bay, Ontario, Steven High is Professor of History and co-founder of Concordia University’s Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling. He is an interdisciplinary oral and public historian with a strong interest in transnational approaches to working-class studies, forced migration, and community-engaged research. He has headed a number of major research projects, most notably the prize-winning “Life Stories of Montrealers Displaced by War, Genocide and Other Human Rights Violations.”

Kristian Basaraba is a teacher, lead singer in a punk rock cover band, podcast host, semi-retired skateboarder and the founder of the community organization known as Rad Dads Edmonton. He has a Master’s of Science in Science Education from Montana State University and, throughout his 20 years of teaching, has taught all levels of high school science, but also has a passion for art and social justice education. His current work focuses on the positive impact of skateboarding in and out of the classroom to create systemic change, build relationships and educate.

Francis Lalande grew up in a sporty, adventurous family attached to his heritage. When he was younger, he loved listening to his grandfather tell him about Canadian history and go on bike rides with his family. He acquired his secondary education at Collège Laval and continued his studies in history teaching at the University of Montreal. His passion for history is now experienced every day in his teaching at Citizen College and it is an integral part of his life projects.

Dominique Laperle holds a doctorate in history from the University of Quebec at Montreal, and has worked in education for nearly 30 years. He teaches the history of Quebec and Canada in Secondary 4 at the Pensionnat du Saint-Nom-de-Marie, didactics of the social universe at the University of Montreal and religious history at the Institut de pastorale des Dominicains. He is also an associate researcher at the Tillard Chair in Consecrated Life at the Dominican University College of Ottawa.

Dawn Martens is a teacher at Buchanan Park Public School in Hamilton, Ontario, where she has taught grades 1 to 6, and itinerant music. For the past 26 years, she has been the Artistic Director of The Buchanan Park Opera Club. Her first love, however, is history. She was raised by parents who wrote history textbooks, and received an Honours degree in History and Art History from McMaster University, a BEd from the University of Toronto, and an MA in History from Western University. This year, she is a remote teacher for the Hamilton Wentworth District School Board.

Nathan Tidridge has been teaching history, civics, and Indigenous Studies at Waterdown District High School for nearly 20 years. He has authored a number of books and articles exploring history, Canada's constitutional monarchy and the Treaty relationships between the Crown and Indigenous Peoples. Nathan is very grateful to his students, colleagues (including his wife Christine Vanderwal) and Indigenous elders and knowledge keepers for their trust and teachings.

Chris Young is a social studies teacher at Kelvin High School in the Winnipeg, Manitoba. He is the author of Courage, Truth, Right: One Hundred Years of Kelvin High School History (2015) and the founder of the school’s first History club. He has led school-wide commemorations for the Kelvin 100th, Vimy Ridge 100th and the Winnipeg General Strike 100^th anniversaries. He is a lead organizer for Kelvin’s annual Remembrance Day ceremony and he has taken students to Europe on Canadian battlefield study tours.