Louis Riel, speech to the jury, 1885

Louis Riel was hanged in Regina on November 16, 1885 but his trial occurred in July into August of that year. Riel led the Métis agitation at Red River that resulted in Manitoba’s becoming a province in 1871, but was forced into a lonely exile in the United States. In 1884, the Métis at Batoche asked Riel to help defend their rights against a government that ignored their requests. Riel returned, led a short-lived rebellion, was captured and tried for treason. Here is his speech to the jury in his own defence.

November 16, 2019 2

John Turner, Brian Mulroney debate free trade, Oct. 1988

John Turner (left) debates Brian Mulroney on free trade, 1988 The mother of all election debates occurred in 1988 over free trade between Canada and the US. Brian Mulroney had defeated John Turner and the Liberals in the 1984 election. Mulroney scored a coup in the televised debate that year by attacking Turner for making... Continue Reading →

September 18, 2019 0

J. S. Woodsworth, no to war with Germany, Sept., 1939

James Shaver Woodsworth had an almost prophetic status among members of his CCF caucus and party. Woodsworth was also a pacifist. When Hitler invaded Poland on September 1, 1939 and it became obvious that Canada would likely soon be at war, the caucus held a wrenching internal discussion in which most members disagreed with Woodsworth,... Continue Reading →

September 2, 2019 4

George Brown on Confederation, 1865

George Brown was the founder and editor of the Toronto Globe and leader of the Reform Party. Brown was a fierce opponent of John A Macdonald and the Conservatives and he advocated free trade and representation by population. Brown also believed that any close union with Lower Canada (Quebec) was an obstacle to the future... Continue Reading →

March 4, 2019 0

Chrystia Freeland on trade and democracy, June 2018

Canada’s Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland was named “diplomat of the year” at a forum hosted by the Washington, D.C.-based Foreign Policy magazine in June 2018. In her acceptance speech, Freeland talked about both the strengths of democratic societies and the threats to them. She also defended a globalized, free-trade order against the protectionist measures being taken... Continue Reading →

June 20, 2018 1

Wilfrid Laurier on Liberalism and the church, 1877

Young Wilfrid Laurier was a rising political star in Quebec in the 1870s but the Catholic church was hostile to liberals, associating them with the revolutions that had occurred in nineteenth century Europe. Some in the church even contemplated setting up a Catholic political party. Laurier took them on with a speech delivered to a... Continue Reading →

May 4, 2018 1

Antoine-Aimé Dorion, no to Confederation, 1865

Dorion led the Parti Rouge (Liberals) in the 1850s and he had served with George Brown in a short-lived government. Early in 1865 representatives from the United Province of Canada (today’s Quebec and Ontario) met to decide if they would proceed with a federation that had been negotiated to include the English colonies in Atlantic Canada.... Continue Reading →

December 29, 2017 2

John A. Macdonald, yes to Confederation, 1865

In 1864, the colonies of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland planned to meet in Charlottetown to investigate a union among the British Maritime colonies. John A Macdonald and other representatives from Upper and Lower Canada invited themselves to the meeting and arrived by steamship. They proposed a wider union which would include... Continue Reading →

December 26, 2017 0

Thomas D’Arcy McGee’s Canadian nationalism

Thomas D’Arcy McGee was one of the great pre-Confederation orators. This speech was delivered three years prior to conferences in Charlottetown and Quebec City, which negotiated the details of Confederation. McGee called for the creation of a new Canadian nationality. His remarks then are worth revisiting now in the wake of Donald Trump's lunatic rumblings about Canada becoming the fifty-first U.S. state.

December 19, 2017 12

Romeo Saganash on Indigenous rights, 2017

The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples was adopted in 2007. Its recurring theme is that Indigenous peoples have the right to dignity and self-determination, and that no actions regarding their persons or lands should be taken without their “free, prior and informed consent.” Canada became a signatory in 2014, but the... Continue Reading →

December 7, 2017 0