Episode 29: Greg Koabel on The Nations of Canada

Episode 29: Greg Koabel on The Nations of Canada

In this episode, Allan talks with Greg Koabel, creator and host of the Nations of Canada podcast, to discuss his mission of bringing Canadian history to life through long-form storytelling. Koabel shares his journey from studying European history to producing over 300 episodes, emphasizing the importance of diverse perspectives and context—rather than mere chronology—in understanding the past. The conversation covers key historical topics, including the First World War, the Halifax Explosion, and Indigenous diplomacy. Additionally, Koabel discusses his new book, The Making of Canada: An Epic History in 20 Extraordinary Lives, offering a behind-the-scenes look at his research process. This episode serves as an engaging deep dive into one of Canada's most ambitious history projects, providing valuable insights for educators, students, and podcast enthusiasts interested in a more comprehensive understanding of the Canadian story.

Alan Sears and Carla Peck on How History Education can Help Save Democracy

In this episode Allan speaks with Carla Peck and Alan Sears about their 2026 book, Rescuing Reason: How History Education Can Help Save Democracy. The conversation explores their paths into history education, influenced by the late Peter Seixas, and examines the purpose of education: Sears and Peck argue that history is essential for fostering civic reasoning, empathy, and navigating complexity. www.cihe.ca

John Boyko on Sir Sandford Fleming

In this episode Allan talks with historian and author John Boyko about his latest book, In Pursuit of Tomorrow: The Inventive Life of Sandford Fleming. While Fleming is best known for coming up with the idea of standard time and time zones used around the world today, that was just one of a long list of significant achievements. By his mid-twenties, Fleming had already surveyed and mapped half a dozen Ontario cities, redesigned Toronto’s waterfront, created Canada’s first postage stamp featuring the beaver, founded the Canadian Institute, and established a reputation as one of the country's leading engineers. Fleming’s contributions shaped projects that helped define modern Canada, including the Intercolonial Railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway, Queen’s University, scientific institutions, and communications networks that connected the country to the wider world. www.cihe.ca

Donald Wright on the Canadian Historical Association and Donald Creighton

In Episode 26, recorded at the annual meeting of the Canadian Historical Association in Charlottetown, Allan talks with Professor Donald Wright, past president of the Canadian Historical Association and professor at the University of New Brunswick, about his biography Donald Creighton: A Life in History. The conversation opens with a look at the CHA itself—its bilingual mandate, its annual conference, and the role of the presidential address, before turning to Wright's own presidential address on historian Ramsay Cook and Cook's complicated relationship with his thesis supervisor, Donald Creighton. From there, Wright traces Creighton's life: his Toronto upbringing and devotion to literary storytelling, his Laurentian thesis of Canadian history, and his celebrated two-volume biography of Sir John A. Macdonald, a work Wright calls brilliant but deeply flawed in its hero-worship and silence on Indigenous policy. The episode closes with Creighton's bitter later years, his widely panned book on Mackenzie King, and Wright's reflections on writing a biography with the cooperation of Creighton's family. www.cihe.ca

Patrice Dutil on Mackenzie King and Conscription

In this episode Allan talks with Patrice Dutil, professor of Politics and Public Administration at Toronto Metropolitan University, about his edited volume The Enduring Riddle of Mackenzie King and what it reveals about one of Canada’s most puzzling political figures: how did someone with no obvious charm or charisma remain in office so long? The conversation focuses on the issue of conscription as a way into understanding King’s leadership, especially during the Second World War, the tension King had to manage between English and French Canada, and how carefully he navigated that divide. Dutil argues that King made little effort to understand French Canada, instead relying on Quebec lieutenants, first Ernest Lapointe and later Louis St. Laurent, who became his successor as Prime Minister. www.cihe.ca