History Matters by Canadian Institute for Historical Education

In this episode Allan talks with Professor Duncan McDowall, University Historian Emeritus at Queen’s University, about the life and legacy of Sir John A. Macdonald. McDowall suggests that Macdonald’s early years in Kingston were critical in shaping his appreciation for the importance of building ties between Protestant and Catholic, English and French, and with the thousands of immigrants, particularly the Irish, who passed through Kingston en route to destinations beyond.
The conversation explores Macdonald’s political rise, his essential role in achieving Confederation, and his accomplishments as Canada’s first Prime Minister, including building the CPR and bringing Manitoba, British Columbia, and Prince Edward Island into Confederation. It also looks at relations with Indigenous Peoples and provides context on how Macdonald operated within the realities of 19th-century society while shaping a nation.
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In this episode of History Matters, host Allan Williams speaks with historian and former U.S. Army officer Ty Seidule about how history is remembered, interpreted, and debated in the United States.
The conversation begins with recent controversies over the renaming of U.S. military bases previously associated with Confederate figures, including the work of the Naming Commission. From there, Seidule reflects on his upbringing in the American South and the beliefs that shaped his early understanding of the past—an experience he examines in Robert E. Lee and Me.
The discussion explores the origins and influence of the “Lost Cause” narrative, how it has been sustained through education and popular culture, and how historical evidence can challenge deeply held assumptions. Drawing on his time teaching at West Point, Seidule explains how institutions and commemorative practices reflect broader social and political dynamics.
The episode also considers how societies decide whom to honour, the differences between historical figures such as Robert E. Lee, George Washington, and Thomas Jefferson, and why their legacies are evaluated differently. While focused on the United States, the conversation raises wider questions about public memory and the challenges of engaging with difficult histories.
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In this episode, Allan speaks with Joanne Archibald, Executive Director of the Canadian Business History Association, about the role of business history in shaping Canada’s past. The discussion begins with a business and logistical perspective on the Battle of Vimy Ridge, highlighting the contribution of Canadian industry and railways to the war effort. Archibald then outlines how business history connects with political, military, and social history, and why it remains an important but often overlooked field of study. The conversation also explores how business records are preserved, the challenges facing archives, and the importance of collaboration between historians and the business community. Drawing on her work with Livy Consulting, Archibald discusses how organizations can use their history to better understand and communicate their identity.
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In this episode, posted on the April 9th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge in 1917, Allan talks with military historian Dr. Eric McGeer about the battle and its place in Canadian memory.
The conversation covers the battle itself and its significance in the Arras Offensive and in the course of the First World War, the men who led the planning and preparations in the months leading up to April 9th primarily Sir Julian Byng and Arthur Currie, under Sir Douglas Haig, the Commander in Chief of the British Expeditionary Force, how Vimy came to be the focus of
Canada’s memorialisation of the Great War, and how the meaning of Vimy has shifted over time. In the process Eric and Allan discuss books about Vimy by Pierre Berton, Ted Barris,
Jonathan Vance and Tim Cook.
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Pictures from the podcast: https://cihe.ca/2026/04/09/episode-21-eric-mcgeer-on-vimy-ridge-the-battle-and-the-memory/

In this episode, Allan talks with journalist Jerry Amernic about his book Sleepwoking, published in November 2025.
The conversation opens with an anecdote about the founding of the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York in 1939, ostensibly because the first ever baseball game had been played there in 1839, an origin story subsequently debunked by the Hall of Fame itself. Sleepwoking, in a similar vein, considers the accusations that Sir John A. Macdonald “starved the Indigenous Peoples,” Egerton Ryerson was the “architect” of residential schools, Henry Dundas “delayed” the abolition of the slave trade, Edward Cornwallis put a bounty on the scalps of Mi’kmaq “men, women and children,” and Matthew Begbie sentenced six innocent “Chilcotin Chiefs” to death by hanging. “None of this is true,” says Amernic. It is history shaped by ideology rather than evidence. But the vilification of these six follows a common pattern: an initial charge amplified by activists, then quoted by deferential media and politicians until it becomes orthodoxy. Historians who present evidence to the contrary do so at the risk of their careers. All of this is possible, says Amernic, because “people do not know the history of their country.
https://www.jerryamernic.com/sleep-wokinghttps://

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