Stories Behind the History

Canada's History magazine senior editor Kate Jaimet interviews special guests for an in-depth look at the people and events that shaped our nation.
Produced by Canada's History Posted October 12, 2023

Behind every historical moment are the people who lived it. Join renowned historians — and witnesses to history — for a deep dive into Canada's storied past, from Indigenous cultures and the fur trade to the World Wars and much more. Because history lives in all of us. 

Episodes

Cold War Tech and Its Discontents

The Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line was a radar defence network in Canada’s Arctic. A Cold War engineering marvel, with terrible effects on the land and Inuit communities.

Voices of Vimy

Listen to the stories of soldiers who fought at the Battle of Vimy Ridge and the loved ones back home who cherished them.

Newfoundland’s Big Choice: Canada or Independence?

World wars and flamboyant orators changed the British colony's destiny in the twentieth century.

Behind Barbed Wire: A German POW in Canada

Exploring the memoirs of a captured Nazi sailor.

NATO vs Russia: 75-year standoff

Founded in 1949, the NATO military alliance grew out of the ashes of the Second World War.

Mi'kmaw Myths & Canadian Lore

What uncanny creatures lurk in the depths of the Canadian wilderness? Gather ’round the campfire for some spine-tingling stories of the supernatural.

Vancouver: Hippie City, Heroin City

From Vancouver’s nineteenth-century opium dens, to the 1970s hashish trade through Montreal’s French Connection, drug use and abuse has created subcultures with their own personalities and rituals. 

Canada in the Korean War

A stress point in current global tensions, the border on the 38th Parallel is a seventy-year-old legacy of the Korean War. Seventy years after the 1953 armistice, Canadian War Museum historian Andrew Burtch and Chief of the Defence Staff General Wayne Eyre discuss Canada’s involvement on the Korean Peninsula, from wartime to the present day.

How Prince Edward Island Joined Canada

More than 200 years ago, the British monarchy promised the Mi'kmaw people the right to hunt and fish on the island forever. But what happened to those treaties when PEI joined Canada in 1873?

Quest for the Northwest Passage

Best-selling historical author Ken McGoogan discusses the bold and gruesome search for the Northwest Passage with Kate Jaimet, senior editor of Canada's History magazine.

The Canada-India Connection

Many of the same British aristocrats wielded power in both India and Canada. A podcast with international relations scholar Madhuparna Gupta, historical non-fiction author Stephen Bown and senior editor Kate Jaimet.Winner of the 2023 Canadian Ethnic Media Award for Podcast Feature.

Theme music: Red River Jig by Alex Kusturok

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