Posts Tagged with Canadian history

A blunt look at colonialism: The Outside Circle

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I had the pleasure of reading Patti LaBoucane-Benson and Kelli Mellings’ The Outside Circle as well as interviewing The Outside Circleboth creators for Prairie Books Now. As a graphic novel it’s not only beautifully drawn, it’s a wrenching story of gang life, family and the legacy of colonialism in Canada. I’d say it’s appropriate — and would highly recommend it — for anyone in their late teens through adulthood who wants to learn what Canada’s history and government policies have resulted in for too many Indigenous people, and how reconnecting with family, either chosen or blood, and cultural teachings, can help. The Outside Circle is published by House of Anansi Press.

You might not think a PhD dissertation could be the inspiration for a graphic novel. But with The Outside Circle, Patti LaBoucane-Benson and Kelly Mellings have brought to life in a powerful story Canada’s colonial history and its effects on Aboriginal people today.

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Canada’s forgotten battle: Hill 70

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I first became aware of the First World War Battle of Hill 70 when researching the 107th Capturing Hill 70“Timber Wolf” Battalion for a couple of short stories I was working on a number of years ago, which were “A Deeper Echo” and “The Wolves of Vimy.” Compared to the treatment of other battles Canada fought in during the First World War — such as the Somme, Vimy, and Passchendaele — it’s almost unheard of today, and I only stumbled across mention of it because the 107th played a part in it. However, as the contributors to the new volume Capturing Hill 70: Canada’s Forgotten Battle of the First World War, edited by Douglas E. Delaney and Serge Marc Durflinger, show, at the time it was seen as equally important as those other battles. I had the opportunity to review the book for the Winnipeg Free Press (presented below in slightly longer form).

Etched in stone on the war monument on Winnipeg’s Memorial Boulevard, along with SOMME, VIMY and PASSCHENDAELE, are the words HILL 70. Yet while Vimy and Paschendaele loom large in Canadian awareness of the First World War, Hill 70 has been forgotten.

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Dramatizing 1867: The Loxleys and Confederation

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When I was growing up, Canadian history was generally not thought of as being as “exciting” as U.S. history. Sir John A. MacDonald and Confederation just didn’t seem as dramatic as George Washington and the American Revolution. Well, things have changed — at least in terms of how Canadian children can learn about the country’s history. I had the opportunity to talk to the creators behind The Loxleys and Confederation, which was the sequel to The Loxleys and the War of 1812. Taken together the two graphic novels put a personal stamp on Canada’s precarious position in the 19th century, as the nascent country struggled to avoid domination by the expansionist United States.

 

For many Canadians, learning our history is a bit of a chore.  We feel, perhaps, Americans get all the exciting history — perhaps because Hollywood keeps telling us how thrilling it is — but Canada’s story is, well, boring. Right?

Maybe we just aren’t looking at it with fresh eyes.

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