Who Killed Canadian History Revised Edition

Have we lost our past, and, in turn, ourselves? Who is slamming shut our history books -- and why? In an indictment that points damning fingers at our education system, the media and our government's preoccupation with multiculturalism to the exclusion of English Canadian culture, historian J.L. Granatstein offers astonishing evidence of our lack of historical knowledge. He shows not only how "dumbing down" in our education system is contributing to the death of Canadian history, but how a multi-disciplinary social studies approach puts more nails in the coffin. He explains how some teachers think studying the Second World War glorifies violence and may worsen French-English conflicts if conscription is mentioned, And he tells how the pride Canadians should feel over their past has been brushed aside by efforts to create a history that suits the misguided ideas of successive ministers of Canadian heritage and multiculturalism. Finally, he shows that there is hope, and there are steps we must take if we are to renew our past -- and ensure our future. With his intelligent and outspoken "blow the dust off the history books" approach to his subject, J.L. Granatstein has produced a brilliantly argued book that addresses a subject too important to ignore. Published to coincide with the anniversary of the battle of Vimy Ridge (April 9, 1917), and appearing at a time when our education system is coming under ever sharper attack Who Killed Canadian History? is a timely and provocative release. A recent test on Canada given to 100 first-year students at an Ontario university revealed the following statistics: -- 61% did not know that Sir John A. Macdonald was our first English-speaking prime minister -- 55% did not know that Canada was founded in 1867 -- 95% did not know that 1837 was the date of the Rebellions of Upper and Lower Canada -- 92% did not know the year of the first Quebec referendum

Canada is one of the few nations in the Western world that does not teach its history to its young people and to its new citizens. The result is a nation that does not understand and respect its past. J. L . Granatstein’s impassioned evaluation of the study. and teaching of Canadian history is even more relevant today than when it was first published nine years ago. The original edition of this slim but eloquent polemic caused a stir with its revelations that Canadian history had all but vanished from schools and universities in favour of trendy subjects and specialized social history. Almost a decade later, however, nothing has been done, and even less Canadian history is taught today in most provinces. In this revised edition—updated with a new introduction and conclusion, and two new chapters—Granatstein once more addresses the question of who killed Canadian history and offers detailed suggestions for putting history back into the schools and the minds of Canadians.

We are all our history. Yet in Canadian classrooms, students are often left questioning how they can study a past that does not reflect their present. Discourses of nationhood often separate “us” from “them,” and despite curricular revisions, the mainstream narrative that shapes the way we teach students about the Canadian nation can be divisive. Responding to the evolving demographics of an ethnically and culturally diverse population, Transforming the Canadian History Classroom advocates for a radically innovative practice that places students – the stories they carry and the histories they want to be part of – at the centre of history education.

"Jack Granatstein’s Who Killed the Canadian Military? is more than a history of the decline and rustout of a military that as late as 1966 boasted 3,826 aircraft (including cutting-edge Sea King helicopters) as opposed to today’s 328 aircraft-including those same Sea Kings and CF-18 fighters whose avionics are a generation out of date; the same can be said of the army and navy. Granatstein’s book is a convincing analysis of Canada’s embrace of a delusional foreign policy that equates knee jerk anti-Americanism with sovereignty and forgets that in a Hobbesian world of international relations, “power still comes primarily from the barrel of a gun” and not from Steven Lewis’s speeches about Canadian goodwill, tolerance or humanitarianism."--from amazon.com product desc.

The battle of Vimy Ridge, the Dieppe raid, the Italian Campaign: the Canadian military has been indispensable to many of the greatest victories - and disasters - of our time. The evolution of Canada as a military power is chronicled here by military historians J.L. Granatstein and Dean F.Oliver in this authoritative and highly readable book. Their entries include concise biographies from James Wolfe to Louis Riel to Rick Hillier; key military-political issues like the conscription crises, war finance, and Canada-US relations; lesser-known conflicts such as the Pig War and the Aroostook War; and more recent issues facing the CanadianForces, including sexual harassment and post-traumatic stress disorder. We see Canada through an international lens as a war fighter and a peacekeeper-and as a participant in some darker moments. Rare photographic material and original wartime paintings (reproduced in full colour) illustrate the people, events, and hardware that define Canada's military history. Additional material includes a timeline chart and a list of ministers and military chiefs. An authoritative guide and compellingread, The Oxford Companion to Canadian Military History reminds us of our collective history that we must continue to investigate, understand, and now-more than ever-remember.

Winner of the 2018 Louise de Kiriline Lawrence Award for Nonfiction Longlisted for the 2018 RBC Taylor Prize Shortlisted for the 2018 Edna Staebler Award for Creative Non-Fiction The sweeping, epic story of the mysterious land that came to be called “Canada” like it’s never been told before. Every map tells a story. And every map has a purpose--it invites us to go somewhere we've never been. It’s an account of what we know, but also a trace of what we long for. Ten Maps conjures the world as it appeared to those who were called upon to map it. What would the new world look like to wandering Vikings, who thought they had drifted into a land of mythical creatures, or Samuel de Champlain, who had no idea of the vastness of the landmass just beyond the treeline? Adam Shoalts, one of Canada’s foremost explorers, tells the stories behind these centuries old maps, and how they came to shape what became “Canada.” It’s a story that will surprise readers, and reveal the Canada we never knew was hidden. It brings to life the characters and the bloody disputes that forged our history, by showing us what the world looked like before it entered the history books. Combining storytelling, cartography, geography, archaeology and of course history, this book shows us Canada in a way we've never seen it before.

If an earthquake devastated the west coast of N orth America or if terrorists attacked the Toronto subway system, would Canadians be ready for a major military challenge in the 21st century? J. L. Granatstein says never mind hypothetical threats; our military is incapable of dealing with current and ongoing crises that require well-trained, well-equipped and properly deployed troops, supported by a confidentmilitary policy.Following a new preface that assesses the changes since Stephen Harper's government took office, Granatstein expands his argument to issues that include the protection of our northern sovereignty; negotiation with U.S. policymakers when anti-American sentiment colours our military and foreign policy; and the cloudy issue of exactly what constitutes Canada's "national interests." Discerning, reasoned and passionate, Whose War Is It? asks the hard-hitting questions that must be addressed before it's too late.

#1 NATIONAL BESTSELLER A shocking exposé of the deadliest killing spree in Canadian history, and how police tragically failed its victims and survivors. As news broke of a killer rampaging across the tiny community of Portapique, Nova Scotia, late on April 18, 2020, details were oddly hard to come by. Who was the killer? Why was he not apprehended? What were police doing? How many were dead? And why was the gunman still on the loose the next morning and killing again? The RCMP was largely silent then, and continued to obscure the actions of denturist Gabriel Wortman after an officer shot and killed him at a gas station during a chance encounter. Though retired as an investigative journalist and author, Paul Palango spent much of his career reporting on Canada’s troubled national police force. Watching the RCMP stumble through the Portapique massacre, only a few hours from his Nova Scotia home, Palango knew the story behind the headlines was more complicated and damning than anyone was willing to admit. With the COVID-19 lockdown sealing off the Maritimes, no journalist in the province knew the RCMP better than Palango did. Within a month, he was back in print and on the radio, peeling away the layers of this murderous episode as only he could, and unearthing the collision of failure and malfeasance that cost a quiet community 22 innocent lives.