On 13 May the Lakehead Social History Institute will be holding its Annual General Meeting at the Thunder Bay Museum (425 Donald Street East).  The meeting will begin at 7:00 pm and feature a guest presentation by Kim Manduca anKathy Toivonen. They will be talking about “Community Ties: Mapping Out the Culture of the Rails.”

Everyone is welcome.

The Canadian International Council - Thunder Bay Branch is pleased to host Walter Stechel, Consul General of the Federal Republic of Germany. He will speak on “25 Years after Unification: Germany’s Role in a Changing World.”

This free presentation will be held on 7 May at 7:30 pm in the Faculty Lounge at the Thunder Bay Campus. 

For those interested in the dinner beforehand, contact Dr. A. Ernest Epp at (807) 767-0934 or eepp@lakeheadu.ca

As part of this year's In Conversation – with Lakehead University at the Orillia Public Library, Michael Stevenson will talk about "Orillia's Champlain Monument: Historical Insights."

What is the history behind one of Orillia’s most talked-about, and sometimes controversial, landmarks? Sculpted by Vernon March and originally intended to commemorate the 300th anniversary of Champlain’s travels through the region, the monument was unveiled in 1925 after being delayed by the First World War. Dr. Michael Stevenson will highlight the issues of historical memory, civic boosterism, and the representation of Aboriginals that emerged during the construction of the Champlain Monument and that continue to resonate today.

Registration is required for all events. Register at the Library, 36 Mississaga St. E., by email: info@orilliapubliclibrary.ca or by phone: 705-325-2338.

The Lakehead University History Society invites you to the year end History Semi-Formal on March 20th at the Finnish Labour Temple (314 Bay Street).

Tickets are 25$ a person.
Cocktail hour starts at 5pm
Dinner starts at 6pm

Dinner includes:
Fried Chicken, Roast Beef and Roast Turkey
Perogies, Veggies and Mashed Potatoes
Dessert

Tickets will be sold at the History Social this Friday between 4-6 up stairs of the Outpost, or you can email Ashley at acenglis@lakeheadu.ca to purchase tickets.

History for Lunch on 11 March will feature Stefan Huzan who will be speaking on “Fort William and the Internment of Ukrainians during WWI.”

History for Lunch is a lecture series sponsored by the Department of History and, in recognition of the centennial of the First World War, is focused this year on non-Canadian aspects of the conflict. This is an opportunity to put a bit of History in your diet and for members of the Department of History to showcase their research. More information about the sessions can be found on the Department of History website, and on our Facebook page.

The Lakehead History Society will be holding its annual Archive Crawl on the 28 February. Come out and get a behind the scene look at the Thunder Bay Brodie Resource Library, City of Thunder Bay Archives, Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame, and the Thunder Bay Museum.  The crawl begins at 9 am at the Brodie Library. Free pizza and drinks will be provided at the end of the crawl.

Full Schedule:
9 am - Brodie Library
10 am - City of Thunder Bay Archives
11 am- Northwestern Ontario Sports Hall of Fame
12 pm - Thunder Bay Museum

The Department of History, Lakehead University Library, Office of Aboriginal Initiatives, and Thunder Bay Museum is pleased to present Dr. Donald Smith (Professor Emeritus of History, University of Calgary) who will speak on “John A. Macdonald and the First Nations.”

Dr. Smith will also be recognized before the presentation for his significant donation of materials relating to Indigenous history to the Lakehead University Library.

A number of scholars argue that the Macdonald administration had a negative attitude toward the First Nations. In a 2013 contribution to the Globe and Mail, for example, James Daschuk identifies Macdonald as one of those most responsible for the horrors inflicted upon the Aboriginal people on the prairies. He concludes “that modern Canada is founded upon ethnic cleansing and genocide.”

Based on recently published work in the collection, John A. MacDonald at 200: New Reflections and Legacies, this presentation takes a biographical approach to the question of Macdonald and Aboriginal Canada.  Don Smith will examine our first prime minister¹s personal contact with the First Nations from his boyhood to the troubles of 1885.

About the Speaker: Donald Smith is a respected professor emeritus, a senior scholar in the history of Aboriginal Canada, an esteemed biographer and a champion for Aboriginal students at the University of Calgary. He excelled at leadership, research, teaching and community service during the 35 years that he taught Canadian history at the university. Smith’s research and service to numerous historical organizations advanced and highlighted the history of Western Canada. His latest book Mississauga Portraits: Ojibwe Voices from Nineteenth Century Canada received the Donald Grant Creighton Award from the Ontario Historical Society and the Floyd S. Chalmers Award from the Champlain Society.

On 24 February, Bruce Adamson will be presenting on "Waterfalls and Landslides in Northwestern Ontario: A History.”

Kakabeka Falls exists because of a hard cap rock underlain by softer shale material.  Erosive forces, freeze-thaw damage and changes in the rock formation, were changing the falls into a rapids.  In order to preserve the historical appearance, to protect the infrastructure in the area and to keep a prime tourist attraction, a project was undertaken in 1989 to slow down the erosion and improve the visual effect of the limited water available.

The unique engineering challenges related to rock mechanics, concrete technology, construction and doing the work so viewers wouldn't know anything had been done. The second part of the presentation concerns an April 1990 landslide into the Nipigon River.  The displaced clay and silt totally filled the 8 m deep river.  Man-made disturbances in the area could have led to the landslide. They were investigated and decisions had to be made about actions to restore "normal" conditions in the area.

The speaker, Bruce Adamson, is a professional engineer.  From 1974 to 1998 he was MNR's Regional Engineer responsible for providing civil engineering services to MNR's various programs.  This included managing the two projects described in the talk.

Since 1908, the Thunder Bay Historical Museum Society has been regularly holding talks on a wide range of topics on the fourth Tuesday of each month at the Thunder Bay Museum (425 Donald Street East) from September to April.

The 2014-15 TBHMS Lecture series is sponsored by the Department of History.

Canada as Imperialist in Mining?
Canada as Victim in Manufacturing?
Or Canada as Both?

Should We Redesign Rules Protecting Foreign Investment?

The Department of History, Canadian International Council, and the Lakehead University Resources, Economy, and Society Research group are please to host Dr. Stephen Clarkson who will speak on "Should We Redesign Rules Protecting Foreign Investment?"

A Professor of Political Economy at the University of Toronto, Dr. Clarkson is one of Canada’s preeminent political scientists, Member of the Order of Canada, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, Senior Fellow of Massey College, and Senior Fellow at the Centre for International Governance.

His acclaimed and awarding winning books include Does North America Exist? Governing the Continent After NAFTA and 911, Uncle Sam and Us: Globalization, Neoconservatism, and the Canadian State, The Big Red Machine: How the Liberal Party Dominates Canadian Politics, and the two volume Trudeau and Our Times.

The FREE presentation will be held in ATAC 1010 (Thunder Bay) and OA 2006 (Orillia).

Those interested in attending a dinner being before hand to be held at the Prince Arthur Hotel can contact Dr. Ernie Epp at  (807) 767-0934 or ernie.epp@lakeheadu.ca

Please RSVP for the dinner by 27 January. The cost of the dinner is $30.

A free public screening of Ronald Harpelle's latest film, Pulp Friction: People, Places and the Global Economy on Thursday, February 5 at Memorial University's St. John's Campus, Science Building SN 2109 and Grenfell Campus, Room LC 301. The show starts at 7:30 pm.

Pulp Friction explores the intersection of globalization and community in Terrace Bay, Ontario, Kemijärvi, Finland and Fray Bentos, Uruguay. The film focuses on the challenges of communities with a dependence on a single industry as the economic mainstay and on the impact of the global markets on the lives of people at the opposite ends of the earth.

The filmmakers and representatives of the forest sector will participate in a panel discussion following the film.