Blog

Building the Rideau Canal and the Making of the Ottawa Working Class Historical walking tours as adult education Starting this week, I will be offering my historical walking tours as part of a six week ‘Learning in Retirement’ course at Carleton University with the title: “Walking Through Ottawa’s History: ‘Forgotten Stories’ from a Radical Tour Guide”. Teaching retirees is a new venture for me, and I’m greatly encouraged by the initial response to this course. (Apparently, [...]

The 1916 Easter Uprising in Ireland: Fighting Colonialism then and now The 1916 Easter Uprising in Ireland: Fighting Colonialism then and now April 24th will mark the centenary of the 1916 ‘Easter Uprising’ against English colonialism in Dublin, Ireland. Given the importance of the Irish in Ottawa history (e.g., building the Rideau Canal) and their ongoing battle against British colonialism, we would be remiss in not highlighting at least one of the Ottawa-based commemorative activities [...]

Stop Windmill’s ‘Zibi’ Project on the Chaudiere Islands – a Sacred Algonquin Site Stop Windmill’s ‘Zibi’ Project on the Chaudiere Islands – a Sacred Algonquin Site For more than 200 years, colonial authorities – first the British Government and now the Canadian one – have used force and fraud to transform traditional Algonquin territory into ‘private (settler) property’. And for 200 years, Algonquin have protested and resisted their dispossession. That ongoing conflict is now assuming [...]

80th Anniversary of the On-to-Ottawa Trek and the Campaign for Unemployment Insurance 80th Anniversary of the On-to-Ottawa Trek and the Campaign for Unemployment Insurance Eighty years ago, on July 1, 1935, millionaire Conservative Prime Minister, R. B. Bennett ordered the RCMP to crush the On-to-Ottawa Trek involving thousands of young unemployed men. (That is one of the stories I tell during my Protest, Strike and Rebellion walking tour in downtown Ottawa.) The Trek brought together unemployed activists [...]

Commemorating our History: the ‘Match Girls’ (les allumettières) Strike of 1924 Commemorating our History: the ‘Match Girls’ (les allumettières) Strike of 1924 In the labour history of Ottawa-Gatineau, the ‘Match Girls’ (les allumettières) employed by E B Eddy hold a place of honour, having conducted the first two major strikes (1919 and 1924) by women workers in this region. Led by their President, Donalda Charron, the women match workers demonstrated enormous solidarity when faced in [...]

My New Walking Tour Business My New Walking Tour Business ― George Orwell, 1984 So here I am, a long-time Ottawa political activist starting a new business – something I never thought I’d do. With Peoples’ History Walking Tours of Ottawa, I aim to satisfy the needs of visitors and residents alike to know more about the history of this city. Furthermore, I will do it – to the extent possible – by bringing people [...]