Canadian History

Clara Hughes is famous for being the only Canadian to have won medals at the Olympic Summer and Olympic Winter Games. You can say that Clara was born to be an athlete, but it was her undying dedication to better her skills that made her a champion. If you want an inspiration to do better and to never give up, look up to Clara.

A Healthy Society offers a new approach to politics–and a new approach to building a healthier world. Dr. Meili argues that health delivery too often focuses on treatment of immediate causes and ignores fundamental conditions that lead to poor health such as income, education, employment, housing, and environment.

Harold Cardinal lived a life of resistance and fulfillment. He was a man who initiated program that affirm indigenous religion, tradition, and culture. He was a also a leader who explored treaty negotiations and agreements from the perspectives of the First Nations community elders. Pick up lessons from the extraordinary life of Harold Cardinal. Use this educational audiobook today.

Canada has the reputation of being a boring place. More tranquil than its southern neighbor, it goes along in its quiet way sustaining one of the most stable and prosperous democracies in the world, and does so with little fuss or drama. It doesn't get in the news much, which considering the content of most news stories is a good thing. People get along, the economy is expanding, and there are no regular disasters. While all this makes Canada a pleasant place to live, it does not make it particularly interesting. But dig a little below the surface, and you'll find a different Canada, a stranger Canada, one of murder, mystery, and paranormal experiences.

In late 1936, as Franco’s armies stormed toward Madrid, Stalin famously termed the defence of Spain “the common cause of all advanced and progressive mankind.” As a German emigrant to Winnipeg, Hans Ibing recognized the importance of the Spanish Civil War to the struggle against worldwide fascism in a way that most people in Canada did not - joining the International Brigades in their fight to defend the Spanish Republic was his “chance to fight Hitler.”

In 1913, a beat-up old whaling ship called the Karluk was taking the men of the Canadian Arctic Expedition north of Alaska. They were in search of an undiscovered continent and things were going just swell - that is, until their ship became trapped in an ice floe and their leader, Viljamur Steffanson, abandoned them.   

Daphne Odjig was a self-taught visual artist who showcased her originality, social awareness, and feminism to create masterpieces that are reflective of he Anishinaabe culture. Daphne gave the indigenous people of Canada a voice to the foreground of contemporary art. See the world through Daphne Odjig’s eyes.

Rosemarie Kuptana is no ordinary woman. She is a Canadian politician and an Inuit rights activist. She is also a broadcaster and a journalist. But did you know that she was born on an igloo while her parents were out hunting? Her birth into the world is the best introduction to her story of great will and greater actions.

James Naismith was a man of many talents. He was a physician, an innovator, a Christian chaplain, a physical educator, and a coach. But he is best known for being the inventor of today’s most widely played sports game - the basketball. Listen about the man who invented basketball. Learn how the game changed the sports landscape, first in North America and the world.

Elsie MacGill achieved many firsts in science and engineering. In 1923, at the age of 19, she became the first woman to attend engineering classes at the University of Toronto. She was the first woman in North America to hold a degree in aeronautical engineering and the first woman aircraft designer in the world.

Since its first publication in 1981, Daughters of Copper Woman has become an underground classic, selling over 200,000 copies. Now comes a new edition that includes many pieces cut from the original as well as fresh material added by the author. Here finally, after twenty-two years of gathering dust, is the complete version of the groundbreaking bestseller.

Alanis Obomsawin used the art of documentary film making to bring into public consciousness the plight of the indigenous people of Canada. As a member of the Abenaki Nation herself, Alanis encountered bullying and the promotion of European cultural superiority in her community. 

Canadian hockey is rife with tales of the odd, the strange, the funny and, occasionally, the disturbing side of the game: in 1976, Maple Leafs coach Red Kelly installed pyramids in the players’ dressing room and under the bench in an attempt to harness “pyramid power”; the Cusimano brothers started the tradition of “octopus hurling” during the 1952 playoff games; in 1930, Toronto Maple Leafs’ general manager Conn Smythe placed a winning bet on a longshot horse to pay the cash-strapped Ottawa Senators for star player Frank “King” Clancy; and more!

Peter Skene Ogden was a Canadian fur trader and explorer. As a zealous member of Canada’s North West Fur Company, his vicious campaign against Hudson’s Bay Company members marked him as one of the most dangerous personalities on the continent, unpredictable and capable of the lowest tactics for unseating the great British power.

Sir Oliver Mowat served as a Christian lawyer, politician, premier of Ontario, and was one of the Fathers of Canadian Confederation. He was known by all his contemporaries as being a godly man who sought to do what was right in the sight of God, and who believed passionately in the proclamation and defense of the gospel, and the administration of its graces. Near the end of his life, he published two works on Christianity and its evidences and Christianity and its influence as his contributions to the development of a holistic Christian apologetic.

Feared by settlers and natives alike, the Shawnee tribe have been misunderstood by people throughout history. Who were these conservative people? What was their daily life like? How were their villages organized? This informative book will answer these questions and more in the first volume of the We are Shawnee series.

James Marsh tells of his evolution from a troubled childhood to a long career in publishing that culminated in the creation of The Canadian Encyclopedia—what one reviewer called “the intellectual equivalent of the building of the CPR.” Through friendships, curiosity, the insights of a charismatic psychiatrist, his passion for books, and the intimate encounters with the authors he met, he championed a diverse and inclusive view of Canada, which was used to draw the great minds of an impossible nation together in a common national enterprise.

Let’s learn from the story of Sir Frederick Banting, who was never satisfied with knowledge. It was Sir Frederick who first mentioned a bodily substance that might be the cure for diabetes. He spent years looking for an answer until he, together with his lab partners, discovered insulin. Sir Frederick’s story is that of an unrelenting pursuit for knowledge. Listen to his story today. 

Que peut bien raconter le concierge d’un évêché, dans le Témiscamingue ontarien des années soixante ? Pas mal de choses, en vérité, quand il est un observateur sagace de la réalité qui l’entoure, quand il est amateur d’histoire régionale, quand il a un passé riche et diversifié, quand il a une personnalité forte et un verbe truculent, quand il a un auditeur privilégié en la présence d’un jeune qui ne demande pas mieux que de le faire parler !

Brasileiros, quando pensam no Canadá, vislumbram uma terra de gelo e neve, com rios e lagos repletos de salmões saltitantes. Um lugar de florestas muito frias, imensas massas verdes que se estendem até o horizonte e terminam em geleiras. Um país de cidades limpas, organizadas e seguras, com policiais educados dando orientações aos transeuntes perdidos...