Welcome to Witness to Yesterday. This summer, we will be reissuing our top 10 episodes. We hope you enjoy revisiting these with us. The Witness to Yesterday team is working hard, and we're excited to bring you the next new season in September, 2023. Thank you for listening.

Original Episode Description: Patrice Dutil discusses the life and military career of James Wolfe, the commander of British troops that conquered Quebec in 1759, with Larry Ostola. Ostola is the editor of the 2021 Volume of the Champlain Society entitled &ldquo;Your Most Obedient and Affectionate Son&rdquo;: James Wolfe&rsquo;s Letters to His Parents, 1740-1759. Dutil and Ostola explore the quality and content of Wolfe&rsquo;s letters to his parents as he details his rapid climb in the military, the people he meets and the places he visits. Ostola also offers a perspective on the development of Wolfe&rsquo;s personality and on the task of editing these letters. This podcast was produced by Jessica Schmidt.

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: <a href="https://bit.ly/support_WTY">https://bit.ly/support_WTY</a>. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society&rsquo;s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada&rsquo;s past.

The Intrepid James Wolfe (2023 Reissue)

Greg Marchildon speaks with Micah True about his book, The Jesuit Relations.

The Jesuit Relations were annual reports written between 1632 and 1673 by Jesuit missionaries in what is now Eastern Canada. Traditionally viewed as firsthand missionary narratives, Micah True’s work challenges this notion by revealing that the texts were shaped by many contributors—including Indigenous people, settlers, nuns, and editors in France. He explores the influence of historical context, such as Jesuit writing traditions and the Paris book trade, on their creation. True also examines how different editions since the 19th century have altered the interpretation of these texts. His analysis offers a more nuanced understanding of the Jesuit Relations and their role in shaping the history of New France and Indigenous-European encounters.

Micah True is professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies at the University of Alberta.

Image Credit: McGill-Queen’s University Press

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.


The Jesuit Relations

Larry Ostola speaks with Patrice Dutil about his book, Ballots and Brawls: The 1867 Canadian General Election.

Ballots and Brawls by Patrice Dutil explores Canada's first federal election in 1867, shortly after Confederation. The book vividly recounts the idealistic foundations laid in the 1864 Charlottetown and Quebec City conferences and delves into the chaotic and often violent summer election across Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario, and Quebec. Dutil highlights the key political and social tensions of the time—economic issues, taxation, defence, and cultural divides—while profiling major figures like John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier. Drawing on archival sources and poll data, the book provides a compelling, detailed look at the birth of Canadian democracy.

Patrice Dutil is a professor of politics and public administration at Toronto Metropolitan University and a senior fellow of the Bill Graham Centre for Contemporary International History at the University of Toronto. He is the founder of the Literary Review of Canada and was president of the Champlain Society from 2011 to 2017. He is the author and editor of several books on Canadian politics and governance, including Statesmen, Strategists and Diplomats: Canada’s Prime Ministers and the Making of Foreign Policy and The Unexpected Louis St-Laurent: Politics and Policies for a Modern Canada.

Image Credit: UBC Press 

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.

Ballots and Brawls: The 1867 Canadian General Election

Greg Marchildon speaks with Kevin Nikkel about his book, Founding Folks: An Oral History of the Winnipeg Folk Festival.

Founding Folks tells the story of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, which began in 1974 at Birds Hill Provincial Park in Manitoba. The book explores how founder Mitch Podolak’s vision grew into one of North America’s leading folk festivals. Through interviews with musicians, staff, and volunteers—including Bruce Cockburn and Tom Jackson—filmmaker Kevin Nikkel highlights the festival's role in community building, politics, and cultural expression. Featuring over 90 photographs, the book celebrates the festival’s legacy and its impact on prairie arts, culture, and folk music lovers.

Kevin Nikkel is an independent filmmaker and educator based in Winnipeg. He is a long-time member of the Winnipeg Film Group. He co-directed the documentary Tales from the Winnipeg Film Group with Dave Barber in 2007.

Image Credit: University of Manitoba Press 

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.

Founding Folks: An Oral History of the Winnipeg Folk Festival

Greg Marchildon discusses the significance of this event of a hundred years ago with Patrice Dutil and David MacKenzie, authors of "Embattled Nation: Canada's Wartime Election of 1917" (Dundurn Press). This podcast was produced by Sumeet Dhami and Pernia Jamshed in the Allan Slaight Radio Institute at Ryerson University.

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.


Canada's Khaki Election of December, 1917 (2025 reissue)

Patrice Dutil speaks with Christopher Moore about the infamous massacre that took place in May 1754 that sparked the Seven-Year War. Christopher Moore writes “History News”, a very popular blog on Canadian History (christophermoorehistory.blogspot.com) and is the author of a dozen books including Three Weeks in Quebec City: The Meeting that Made Canada (Allen Lane).

This podcast was produced by Hugh Bakhurst in the Allan Slaight Radio Institute at Ryerson University.

See this “Finding” on the same topic: George Washington’s French Canadian Victims, 1754

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: https://bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.

How George Washington Killed 10 French Canadians and Started a World War (2025 reissue)

Greg Marchildon speaks with Dr Esyllt W. Jones about her Book Radical Medicine (ARP Books). Jones is Professor in the Department of History at the University of Manitoba. This recording was produced by Michael Smith at Ryerson University.

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.

The Origins of the Modern Canadian Healthcare System (2025 reissue)

In her book The Art of Sharing: The Richer versus the Poorer Provinces since Confederation, Mary Janigan explores the history of equalization – one of Canada’s most important yet least understood social programs. Based on a simple idea of the federal government redistributing a portion of the tax revenues it receives to lower-income provinces so that they can provide roughly comparable public services at roughly comparable provincial rates of taxation to other provinces, this program has been criticized by wealthier provinces from the beginning. In her interview with Greg Marchildon, Dr. Janigan describes the origins of the idea in the Commonwealth Grants Commission in Australia and how Prime Minister Louis St-Laurent’s government set up the first formal program and how this program has been refined since. Dr. Janigan describes the importance of equalization in keeping Canada more unified over time.

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.

The History of Equalization in Canada

In this podcast episode, Greg Marchildon interviews Peter Neary. He is the co-author, with Melvin Baker, of Joseph Roberts Smallwood: Masthead Newfoundlander, 1900-1949, published by McGill-Queen’s University Press in 2021. This meticulously researched biography covers Joey Smallwood’s life from birth to being elected Premier of Newfoundland in 1949. Professor Neary has written numerous books and articles on various aspects of the history of Newfoundland and Labrador as well as the history of Canadian veterans. He has been a professor in the Department of History at the University of Western Ontario since 1965 and is now Professor Emeritus.

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: https://bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past

The Ambition and Vision of Joey Smallwood

In Ice War Diplomat, Canadian diplomat Gary J. Smith gives his behind-the-scenes insight into the 1972 Summit Series at the height of tension during the Cold War. Caught between capitalism and communism, Canada and the Soviet Union, Smith shares stories from his first overseas assignment in Moscow where he opts for sports diplomacy, throwing off his embassy black tie and donning the blue-and-white sweater of the Moscow Maple Leafs. With unparalleled access to officials, coaches and players on both teams, Smith witnesses this unique and epic hockey series that has come to transcend time, becoming a symbol of the unity and clarity that sports can offer. Fifty years on, the 1972 Canadian-Soviet Hockey Series has gone down in history as a pivotal political event, changing the course of two nations and the world of hockey—the fascinating story in these pages will appeal to history and sports fans alike.

As a young Canadian diplomat to the Soviet Union, and a life-long hockey enthusiast, Gary J. Smith played an integral role in organizing (and sometimes rescuing) the historical 1972 Summit Series. Following this career highlight, Smith’s career spanned 30 years, taking from Israel to Lebanon, West Germany, Indonesia, and beyond. Now retired, Smith continues to consult and feature on documentaries, films and books about this iconic moment in global sports history.

Image Credit: Canada. Department of Manpower and Immigration. Library and Archives Canada, e010996348 /

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.

Ice War Diplomat: Hockey Meets Cold War Politics

We Shall Persist captures both the long campaign and the years of disappointment. Suffrage victories across Atlantic Canada were steps in an unfinished and contentious march toward gender, race, and class equality.

This insightful book will appeal to readers with an interest in women’s history, as well as to historians, political scientists, and women’s studies scholars and students.

Heidi MacDonald is the author of numerous articles on women’s and gender history in Atlantic Canada. She is co-author, with Rosa Bruno-Jofré and Elizabeth Smyth, of Vatican II and Beyond: The Changing Mission and Identity of Canadian Women Religious. From 1999 to 2018, she taught at the University of Lethbridge and served as the founding director of the Centre of Oral History and Tradition from 2013 to 2017. In 2019, she became dean of arts and professor of history and politics at the University of New Brunswick Saint John.

Image Credit: UBC Press

If you like our work, please consider supporting it: bit.ly/support_WTY. Your support contributes to the Champlain Society’s mission of opening new windows to directly explore and experience Canada’s past.


We Shall Persist: Women and the Vote in the Atlantic Provinces

Immerse yourself in Canada’s history! Witness to Yesterday episodes take listeners on a journey to document a time in Canada’s past and explore the people behind it, its significance, and its relevance to today. If you like our work, please consider supporting it: https://bit.ly/support_WTY. To learn more about the Society and Canada’s history, subscribe to our newsletter at https://bit.ly/news_WTY.

The Intrepid James Wolfe (2023 Reissue)

Witness to Yesterday

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