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Canada: A People's History is a 17-episode, 32-hour documentary television series on the history of Canada. It first aired on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation from October 2000 to November 2001. The production was an unusually large project for the national network, especially during budget cutbacks. The unexpected success of the series actually led to increased government funding for the CBC. It was also an unusual collaboration with the French arm of the network, which traditionally had autonomous production. The full run of the episodes was produced in English and French. The series title in French was Le Canada: Une histoire populaire. In 2004, OMNI.1 and OMNI.2 began airing multicultural versions, in Chinese, Greek, Hindi, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, and Russian.
The series was truly a people's history; as much as possible, the story was told through the words of the people involved, from great leaders and explorers to everyday people of the land at the time. In the first season, these words were spoken by actors representing historical figures. In the second season, photographic images and film were shown while words were read by actors, or spoken by the figures themselves wherever archival recordings could be used.
[edit] Episodes
[edit] Series 1
| # |
Title |
Time span |
Topics |
Personalities |
| 1 |
When the World Began... |
15,000 BC–1800 AD |
First Nations and Inuit history; first European contact |
John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, Chief Donnacona, Henry Hudson, John Jewitt |
| 2 |
Adventurers and Mystics |
1540–1670 |
European exploration, hunt for Northwest Passage, founding of New France, start of fur trade |
Samuel de Champlain, François le Mercier |
| 3 |
Claiming the Wilderness |
1670–1755 |
Expansion of New France and its fur trade, conflict with British colonies, Acadian deportation |
Louis de Buade de Frontenac, Marquis de Sallières, William Shirley |
| 4 |
Battle for a Continent |
1754–1775 |
Period around the Seven Years' War, including the battle of Louisbourg, and the taking of Quebec City at the Plains of Abraham |
Louis-Joseph de Montcalm, James Wolfe, Benjamin Franklin, Guy Carleton |
| 5 |
A Question of Loyalties |
1775–1815 |
The effects of the American Revolution on Canada, including attempted invasion and the Loyalist migration; the War of 1812 |
Isaac Brock, Charles-Michel de Salaberry, Tecumseh, Joseph Brant, Benedict Arnold |
[edit] Series 2
| # |
Title |
Time span |
Topics |
Personalities |
| 6 |
The Pathfinders |
1670–1850 |
The Northwest is opened by the fur-trading Hudson's Bay Company and Northwest Company; explorers and adventurers discover the layout of Canada's interior. |
Alexander Mackenzie, Pierre-Esprit Radisson, David Thompson, Pierre Gaultier de Varennes |
| 7 |
Rebellion and Reform |
1815–1850 |
Advocates of democracy clash with colonial governors; bloody rebellions are quashed, but the goal of self-government is realized |
Joseph Howe, Louis-Joseph Papineau, William Lyon Mackenzie, Robert Baldwin |
| 8 |
The Great Enterprise |
1850–1867 |
The story of Confederation; advocates of nationhood struggle to create a new dominion, as the American Civil War rages |
John A. Macdonald, Agnes Macdonald George Brown, George-Étienne Cartier, Harriet Tubman |
| 9 |
From Sea–Sea |
1867–1873 |
Canada's fledgling dominion tries to spread west, provoking the Red River Rebellion; British Columbia joins Confederation |
John A. Macdonald, Thomas D'Arcy McGee, George-Étienne Cartier, Louis Riel |
[edit] Series 3
| # |
Title |
Time span |
Topics |
Personalities |
| 10 |
Taking the West |
1873–1896 |
The Macdonald government faces economic trouble, the fate of Riel, and the Manitoba Schools Question; the CPR is completed |
Alexander Mackenzie, John A. Macdonald, Louis Riel, Crowfoot, Big Bear |
| 11 |
The Great Transformation |
1896–1915 |
The immigration boom and prairie settlement bring sweeping change; political movements and intolerances arise; the First World War looms |
Wilfrid Laurier, Clifford Sifton, Guglielmo Marconi, Nellie McClung, Henri Bourassa, Robert Borden, Won Alexander Cumyow |
| 12 |
Ordeal by Fire |
1915–1929 |
World War I bears a heavy toll in Europe and at home; conscription is a divisive issue; labour unrest follows war's end |
Robert Borden, Nellie McClung Sam Hughes, Lionel Groulx, Wilfrid Laurier, Arthur Meighen |
| 13 |
Hard Times |
1929–1940 |
The Great Depression and the Dust Bowl bring suffering and crisis; international turmoil leads to the next war |
William Aberhart, Maurice Duplessis, R.B. Bennett, Mitchell Hepburn, William Lyon Mackenzie King, Carine Wilson, Adolf Hitler |
[edit] Series 4
| # |
Title |
Time span |
Chapters |
Personalities |
| 14 |
The Crucible |
1940–1946 |
|
William Lyon Mackenzie King, Winston Churchill, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, Tommy Douglas, C. D. Howe |
| 15 |
Comfort and Fear |
1946–1964 |
- Opening Vignette
- Episode Beginning
- “From Sea to Sea”
- “Refus Global”
- Boom
- Seeing Red
- Affluence for Almost All
- “On Guard for Thee”
- First Tremors
- A Prairie Storm
- The Crossroads
- Shifting Symbols
- “Time for Change”
- The Fight for Medicare
- The Shadow of Nuclear War
|
Louis St. Laurent, John Diefenbaker, Joey Smallwood, Maurice Duplessis, Tommy Douglas, Lester Pearson, René Lévesque |
| 16 |
Years of Hope and Anger |
1964–1976 |
- Opening Vignette
- Episode Beginning
- “Maîtres Chez Nous”
- The Planners of Happiness
- A Question of Equality
- Under a New Flag
- Going Down the Road
- “Vive le Québec Libre”
- Do Your Own Thing
- Taking Back the Past
- Language Wars
- October 1970
- A Most Fundamental Choice
- The End of Illusions
- A Winning Strategy
|
Lester Pearson, Pierre Trudeau, Jean Lesage, Patrick Moore, René Lévesque, André Laurendeau, Gerald Pelletier |
| 17 |
In an Uncertain World |
1976–1990 |
- Opening Vignette
- Episode Beginning
- The Choice
- Hard Times
- Solidarity
- “The Night of Long Knives”
- “The World was Mine”
- A Changing Face
- The Computer Moves In
- From the Ground Up
- Land and Nation
- “Honour and Enthusiasm”
- Winners and Losers
- Epilogue: The Journey
|
Pierre Trudeau, René Lévesque, Brian Mulroney, John Turner, Jean Chrétien, Robert Bourassa |
[edit] Production
The production team, christened the Canadian History Project and later renamed the CBC Documentary Unit, is headed by producer Mark Starowicz. They continue to work on CBC documentaries, including the series The Canadian Experience, The Greatest Canadian, and Hockey: A People's History.
[edit] External links
Canada
