Canadian Institute for Historical Education

Canadian Institute for Historical Education Through public education and research, CIHE fosters informed engagement with Canada's past

The Canadian Institute for Historical Education (CIHE) is a non-partisan, not-for-profit research organization dedicated to promoting historical literacy in Canada.

09/29/2026

Historian Barbara Messamore breaks down two very different political styles during the King-Byng affair:

Arthur Meighen: A coldly logical debater whose biting wit was admired by his caucus, but failed to win over wavering politicians or the general public.

vs.

Mackenzie King: Lacked charisma and persuasive skills, instead frustrating opposition members by simply "flooding the zone" with unassailable platitudes.

Listen to the full episode here: https://buff.ly/uB4T5L4

Designed by Canada’s Defence Research Telecommunications Establishment, Alouette 1 studied the ionosphere, the electrica...
09/29/2026

Designed by Canada’s Defence Research Telecommunications Establishment, Alouette 1 studied the ionosphere, the electrically charged region of the upper atmosphere that can affect radio communication.

Launched on September 29, 1962, the satellite was expected to operate for just one year. Instead, it transmitted valuable scientific data for a decade, helping establish Canada as an important contributor to space science and communications technology.

Alouette 1 was built in Canada but launched by NASA from California. Its success demonstrated Canada’s ability to develop advanced space technology while collaborating with international partners.

More than six decades later, Alouette 1 remains an important milestone in Canadian science and engineering, and a reminder of what Canadian researchers and institutions can accomplish.

LAST CALL FOR TOMORROW'S EVENT: 250 Years of Fending off the AmericansJoin the Canadian Institute for Historical Educat...
09/29/2026

LAST CALL FOR TOMORROW'S EVENT: 250 Years of Fending off the Americans

Join the Canadian Institute for Historical Education on September 30 for 250 Years of Fending off the Americans, featuring Madelaine Drohan, author of He Did Not Conquer: Benjamin Franklin’s Failure to Annex Canada, alongside Greg Koabel, host of the Nations of Canada Podcast.

The discussion will explore Benjamin Franklin’s efforts to bring Canada into the American colonies and later the United States, why those efforts failed, and what this history reveals about the long relationship between Canada and its southern neighbour.

📍 Cameron Hall, Toronto
🕖 September 30 | 7:00 PM ET
💻 Attend in person or watch via livestream
🎟️ Free admission

Learn more and register: https://buff.ly/OGir1IU

ON THIS DAY IN CANADIAN HISTORYOn September 28, 1972, Paul Henderson scored the most famous goal in Canadian hockey hist...
09/29/2026

ON THIS DAY IN CANADIAN HISTORY

On September 28, 1972, Paul Henderson scored the most famous goal in Canadian hockey history.

But the Summit Series had become about much more than hockey.

The eight-game series matched Canada’s leading NHL professionals against the Soviet Union’s state-supported national team. It was played at the height of the Cold War, when the two countries represented opposing political and economic systems.

Many Canadians expected an easy victory. Canada considered hockey its game, and NHL players were widely regarded as the world’s best. The Soviet team was dismissed by some as a collection of amateurs.

That confidence disappeared in Game 1.

The Soviets stunned Canada 7–3 in Montréal, revealing a fast, disciplined and highly skilled style of play. By the time the series moved to Moscow for its final four games, the Soviet Union held the advantage.

The contest became a national drama. Schools and offices paused to watch. Millions of Canadians followed games being played thousands of kilometres away, seeing the result as a test of national identity and even of the Western system itself.

Canada won Games 6 and 7, setting up the deciding game on September 28.

In Game 8, the Soviets led 5–3 after two periods. Phil Esposito and Yvan Cournoyer tied the score in the third. Then, with only 34 seconds remaining, Henderson lunged at his own rebound and lifted the puck past Soviet goaltender Vladislav Tretiak.

“Henderson has scored for Canada!”

The goal gave Canada a 6–5 victory and the series, four games to three, with one tie.

The Summit Series changed hockey. Canada learned from the Soviets’ emphasis on conditioning, puck possession and teamwork. The Soviets demonstrated that hockey excellence existed beyond the NHL.

It also revealed how easily sport can become a stand-in for politics, ideology and national pride.

Paul Henderson scored the winning goal. But what Canadians celebrated that day was larger than the final score: reassurance that the game they believed belonged to them was still, at least for that moment, theirs.

Winning Goal, 1972 Paul Henderson scored the dramatic goal in Moscow to give the Canadians the series victory.(photo by Denis Brodeur)

They became known as the British Home Children.Organized by churches, charities and child-migration agencies, the progra...
09/28/2026

They became known as the British Home Children.

Organized by churches, charities and child-migration agencies, the program was presented as an opportunity to give disadvantaged children a better life while providing Canadian families with help on farms and in their homes.

Many of the children were not orphans. Some came from families experiencing poverty, illness or other hardships. Once sent across the Atlantic, however, they were often separated permanently from their parents and siblings.

After arriving in Canada, the children were placed with families—usually in rural communities. Some were welcomed, educated and treated as members of the household. Others were regarded primarily as cheap farm or domestic labour and experienced isolation, neglect, exploitation or abuse.

Many also faced a powerful social stigma. Being identified as a “home child” was sometimes treated as a mark of shame, causing some survivors to conceal their past even from their own families.

As a result, many Canadians may have a British Home Child in their family tree without knowing it. Passenger lists, placement records, census documents and other archival sources are helping descendants recover stories that remained hidden for generations.

September 28 is British Home Child Day in Canada—a time to remember the children who crossed an ocean, often with little understanding of where they were going or whether they would ever see their families again.

Could this history be part of your own family story?

Ask older relatives, examine family records and explore the British Home Children collections at Library and Archives Canada. You may discover a chapter of Canadian history much closer to home than you imagined.

09/27/2026

On June 26, 1926, Prime Minister Mackenzie King asked Governor General Lord Byng for fresh elections before his government could face a looming defeat.

Historian Barbara Messamore breaks down how King clung to the fact that he hadn't yet been officially defeated in the House of Commons, believing Byng was still obligated to follow his advice—triggering a famous constitutional crisis.

Listen to the full episode here: https://buff.ly/uB4T5L4

09/26/2026

It is the 100th anniversary of the King-Byng affair and historian Barbara Messamore believes there are still common misperceptions about it.

Listen to the full episode of the History Matters podcast here: https://buff.ly/uB4T5L4

Tariffs make imported products more expensive. An import ban stops them at the border altogether.The United States recen...
09/25/2026

Tariffs make imported products more expensive. An import ban stops them at the border altogether.

The United States recently announced that it will prohibit imports of certain Canadian alcohol, dairy products and motorcycles beginning September 29—an extraordinary escalation in the current trade dispute.

But it is not the first time Canadian products have been banned from the American market.

In 1979, Canada seized 19 American fishing vessels whose crews were catching albacore tuna within Canada’s newly asserted 200-mile fishing zone off the Pacific coast.

The United States retaliated by prohibiting imports of Canadian tuna and tuna products.

The confrontation became known as the “Tuna War.”

Canada challenged the ban under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade, or GATT—the international trading system that preceded the World Trade Organization. Canada argued that the United States could not impose a sweeping prohibition on its products simply to pressure Canada in a dispute over fishing rights.

A GATT panel ultimately agreed, finding that the American ban could not be justified under the trade agreement’s conservation exceptions.

But the dispute was not resolved by the ruling alone. Canada and the United States negotiated a treaty granting fishermen from both countries reciprocal access to albacore fishing grounds and ports. The ban was lifted, and the two countries established rules for managing the shared fishery.

Disputes between Canada and the United States have often been shaped by the tension between economic interdependence and national sovereignty. The Tuna War illustrates that tension clearly: a disagreement over fishing rights quickly became a trade confrontation, but ultimately returned to negotiation and reciprocal accommodation.

Nearly half a century later, another disagreement has moved beyond tariffs to the outright exclusion of Canadian products.

There is an important difference. The current American measures invoke Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930—an obscure provision from the Smoot–Hawley era that permits the president to restrict goods from countries considered to be discriminating against American commerce. While the law is almost a century old, researchers have found no previous occasion on which its power to ban imports was actually used.

The Tuna War offers a useful historical precedent—and perhaps a lesson.

Bans can inflict economic pressure and intensify a confrontation. But the 1979 dispute was ultimately resolved through established trade rules, reciprocal concessions and negotiation.

History does not repeat itself exactly. But it frequently confronts governments with familiar choices.



Photo by Red Shuheart on Unsplash

A new episode of the History Matters podcast is now live!Allan welcomes back Barbara Messamore, Emeritus Professor of Hi...
09/24/2026

A new episode of the History Matters podcast is now live!

Allan welcomes back Barbara Messamore, Emeritus Professor of History at the University of the Fraser Valley, to discuss the 1925 Canadian federal election, the subsequent King-Byng affair, and the 1926 election.

Messamore addresses common misconceptions regarding Governor General Julian Byng’s refusal of Prime Minister William Lyon Mackenzie King’s request for a dissolution of Parliament, examining how the crisis unfolded amidst the Customs Department scandal and Arthur Meighen’s short-lived government.

She also reflects on the political dynamics between King and Meighen, the evolving constitutional role of the Crown in Canada, and how similar parliamentary situations have played out in Canadian political history.

Take a listen and subscribe here:

https://buff.ly/uB4T5L4

-Byng

09/23/2026

From a backyard ale to Canada's beloved Moosehead Breweries, Susannah Oland's legacy continues to inspire. Celebrate her trailblazing contributions in our latest Telling Canada's Stories installment as told by CIHE advisory council member and Executive Director of the Canadian Business History Association, Joanne Archibald.

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