The Birth of Quebec
In the twentieth instalment of ‘Nations of Canada,’ Greg Koabel describes how Samuel de Champlain and Récollet missionaries established a fledgling French colony in what we now call Quebec City.
Indigenous History
59 articles
Canada’s Elusive Unmarked Graves: a Third-Anniversary Update
Many of the public figures who stoked the country’s morbid 2021 social panic are now doing their best to change the subject.
The Lonely Death of an Ojibway Boy
Charlie Wenjack has come to symbolise the deadly horrors of Canada’s Residential Schools. Unfortunately, many details of his tragic story have been misrepresented in the process.
A Different Way of Fighting
In the eighteenth instalment of ‘Nations of Canada,’ Greg Koabel describes the confusion that resulted when French and Indigenous fighters jointly assaulted an Iroquois village in 1615.
Looking Back at the ‘Unmarked Graves’ Social Panic of 2021
A new book tries to explain how millions of Canadians became convinced that the bodies of 215 ‘missing’ Indigenous children had been discovered in British Columbia.
Make Way for the Jesuits
In the seventeenth instalment of ‘Nations of Canada,’ Greg Koabel describes how The Society of Jesus became a powerful player in the colonization of North America.
Australia Day: A Contentious Celebration
The founding of Australia is still worthy of commemoration.
The Laurentian Coalition Takes Root
In the 16th instalment of ‘Nations of Canada,’ historian Greg Koabel describes how Samuel de Champlain overcame a decade of frustration by finally establishing a successful French fur-trading monopoly.
Sailing Into Canada’s Great ‘Northern Sea’
In the fifteenth instalment of his series on the history of Canada, Greg Koabel describes Henry Hudson’s tragic 1610-11 voyage to the saltwater bay that now bears his name.
United Against the Iroquois
In the fourteenth instalment of his series on the history of Canada, Greg Koabel describes Champlain’s military alliance with France’s new Innu, Algonquin, and Wendat trading partners.
Joseph Boyden Isn’t Indigenous. But his Historical Fiction Is Still Worth Reading
The author’s widely celebrated 2013 novel, ‘The Orenda,’ helped educate Canadians about their country’s colonial roots. It shouldn’t be cast into literary oblivion just because Boyden misrepresented his ancestry.
Champlain Goes to War
In the thirteenth instalment of our series on the history of Canada, Greg Koabel describes the crucial battlefield alliance that French explorers forged with Indigenous allies in 1609.