The Past Speaks

In HIST 1406, my Canadian history survey course, I gave two lectures. The first lecture was on the impact of the American Civil War on Canada. (I also spoke about the Underground Railroad). The Google Map associated with this lecture is here.

Studio portrait of the Salem Band, who played for the Elora Volunteer Rifle Company at the time of the Fenian Raids. Archives of Ontario

The second lecture of the week was on Confederation. The Google Map of sites related to Confederation is here.

On Friday, the students handed in the final paper of the term.This paper is on the Manitoulin Treaty of 1862. Manitoulin Island is about 1.5 hours from this university by car, so this paper has some local appeal. More importantly, it deals with issues of national and transnational importance.

For the purposes of this assignment,  the students are to imagine that you are a young and ambitious civil servant in Ottawa.  You have been asked to write a three-page memo on the Manitoulin Treaty of 1862 for the use of the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.  In the 1980s, a historian/civil servant names Robert J. Surtees wrote a lengthy report about the treaty, which is online. However, the Minister is a very busy man and does not have time to read the entire report for himself. He wants someone else to read it and boil its contents down to their most salient points. The Minister has five questions about the treaty he wants answered.

First, how were the terms of the 1862 Manitoulin Treaty different from those of the 1836 Manitoulin Treaty?

Second, why did the government renegotiate its arrangement with the Natives in 1862? What were its motives?

Third, what did those individuals who signed the Treaty get in return for giving up their land?

Fourth, why did the band at Wikwemikong refuse to sign?

Fifth, how did Robert J. Surtees find out about the making of the treaty? After all, Surtees was born long after 1862, so he wasn’t an eyewitness. So how did he get his info?

In HIST 3266, I gave lectures on the lives and times of David Suzuki and Barry Goldwater.

In HIST 4135, our readings this week were on the theme of British North America and the Civil War.  The students discussed:

Robin Winks, Canada and the United States: the Civil War Years (Baltimore : Johns Hopkins Press, 1960) and the following primary sources:

The American war and slavery : speech of the Hon. George Brown, at the anniversary meeting of the Anti-Slavery Society of Canada, held at Toronto, on Wednesday, February 3, 1863. CLICK HERE

Primary Source: Toronto Globe for  17 April 1865.

We also listened to a student presentation on the life and times of Benjamin Wier based on his entry in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography