This is a Blackfoot language translation of an episode of Artifactuality from our first season. Western research has long offered theories about Indigenous lands, peoples and histories. Its colonial biases have often diminished and denied the traditions, stories, and even the continued existence of Indigenous Peoples. For the Blackfoot of southwestern Alberta, there is no doubt: their people, stories, songs and ceremonies have always been here. Curator Gabriel Yanicki talks with Blackfoot Elders...
Mar 30, 2025•1 hr 19 min•Season 2Ep. 11
In 1996, Donovan Bailey became both the world champion and the Olympic gold medallist in the 100-metre race. He became an enduring Canadian sports hero. In this final episode of season 2, Kim Thúy talks with Bailey in front of a live studio audience. They discuss his origins, the hard lessons of discipline, and competition. Hear his surprising thoughts on the connections between winning and losing. Transcript: https://www.historymuseum.ca/dod/podcasts/transcripts/s02e10...
Nov 13, 2024•26 min•Season 2Ep. 10
Charlotte Nolin is a Two-Spirit Métis elder who overcame violence and prejudice to become a leader, uplifting and making space for Indigenous 2SLGBTQQIA+ people. Before North America was colonized, many Indigenous peoples recognized a range of genders and sexualities. But European settlers imposed rigid views of gender and forced many trans, queer and gender fluid people to hide their identities. Recently, Charlotte’s portrait by Métis artist JD Hawk was acquired by the Canadian Museum of Histor...
Nov 06, 2024•22 min•Season 2Ep. 9
Chances are your favourite TV show as a kid was made in Canada. Nostalgic shows from the 1980s — Polka Dot Door, Fraggle Rock and Today’s Special — reflect a distinctly Canadian approach that was replicated around the world. Canadian shows offered kids education, respect and inclusion. The classic show Today’s Special embodied these values. And its star, Nerene Virgin, inspired a generation of young viewers. Transcript: https://www.historymuseum.ca/dod/podcasts/transcripts/s02e08 Canadian Museum...
Oct 30, 2024•20 min•Season 2Ep. 8
When workers began digging beneath Ottawa’s streets to build a new transit line, they discovered a forgotten 19th century cemetery. History Museum curator Janet Young was called in to help identify the early settlers buried there. Find out how she investigates burials and solves the mysteries of who these people were and how they lived. Transcript: https://www.historymuseum.ca/dod/podcasts/transcripts/s02e07 Canadian Museum of History Blog: “Bone Detective: Mysteries of Those Found Beneath Downt...
Oct 23, 2024•20 min•Season 2Ep. 7
In 2022, a popular uprising in Iran was inspired by the death of Kurdish young woman Mahsa Jina Amini at the hands of the so-called “morality police.” Tens of thousands of Canadians took to the streets in solidarity with Iranian women’s rights and their intersectional demands for justice. The Canadian Museum of History is documenting this story through the stories of local activists and the poster art they create for demonstrations. Hear about the Museum’s efforts to document unfolding events, t...
Oct 16, 2024•22 min•Season 2Ep. 6
Figure skater Elizabeth Manley was mercilessly criticized and fat-shamed in the lead-up to the 1988 Winter Olympic Games. She nonetheless persevered and triumphed, winning a silver medal and proving her critics wrong. Hear how she fought back and what she’s doing now to help other athletes rise above similar pressures. Her Olympic team jacket is part of the collection at the Canadian Museum of History. It illustrates the patriotism and fame that comes with elite athletic performance, but her sto...
Oct 09, 2024•21 min•Season 2Ep. 5
In the ‘80s and ‘90s, Dale King was English Montréal’s most in-demand aerobics instructor. She did this by breaking from the Jane Fonda approach and bringing Black culture, music and dance to the fitness scene. Her surprising advertisements are part of the collection at the Canadian Museum of History. How we move our bodies matters. Learn why we should take aerobics seriously. Transcript: https://www.historymuseum.ca/dod/podcasts/transcripts/s02e04 Canadian Museum of History Blog: “How Dale King...
Oct 02, 2024•24 min•Season 2Ep. 4
Kwaguʼł Master Carver Stanley Hunt created an impressive and moving 18-foot-tall memorial to the children who were victimized by Canada’s residential schools. He was inspired to act when the Tk̓emlúps te Secwépemc Nation announced that the unmarked graves of Indigenous children had been found at the site of the former Kamloops Residential School in 2022. Hear Stanley talk about how he turned his anguish into inspiration, the journey of his monument across the country to the Canadian Museum of Hi...
Sep 25, 2024•25 min•Season 2Ep. 3
Ottawa residents were fed up when the 2022 truckers’ protest shut down large parts of the city. Citizens took matters into their own hands, blocking a key intersection in an event that became known as “The Battle of Billings Bridge.” A small bronze plaque with a cheeky message was covertly installed to commemorate it in 2023. But no sooner had it arrived, it disappeared. Its creator has remained anonymous … until now. Learn how a fake history marker made its way to the Canadian Museum of History...
Sep 18, 2024•22 min•Season 2Ep. 2
When you hear the words “museum artifact” you probably don’t picture a bobblehead. Nav Bhatia’s enthusiastic devotion to the Toronto Raptors made him a celebrity — and the first fan inducted into the NBA Hall of Fame. Now, he’s been immortalized as a “Superfan” bobblehead doll. The Canadian Museum of History recently acquired a Nav bobblehead for our collection. Hear Nav tell his story and curator Sarah Barnes talk about why fans matter so much to sport history. Transcript: https://www.historymu...
Sep 11, 2024•21 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Artifactuality returns for Season 2.
Sep 04, 2024•2 min•Season 2Ep. 1
Karim Rashid is one of the most famous industrial designers in the world. In this episode of Artifactuality, he explores his early influences, including his family’s journey from Egypt to Europe to Montréal during Expo 67, and his adolescence in the Toronto suburbs. Rashid is perhaps most famous for designing the iconic Garbo wastepaper basket for Umbra. The sleek, curved and utilitarian design is emblematic of his aesthetic, which often involves bright moldable materials such as plastic. During...
Jun 12, 2023•21 min•Season 1Ep. 5
Between 1975 and 1985, 100,000 refugees from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam arrived in Canada, making it the largest refugee resettlement in Canada since the Second World War. In this episode of Artifactuality, we take a look at the stories of two individuals: Stephanie Stobbe, lead curator and researcher for the Hearts of Freedom project, and Kim Thúy, host of the show, reading from her autobiographical novel, Ru. LINKS Transcript https://www.historymuseum.ca/dod/podcasts/transcripts/s01e04 Hearts ...
Jun 12, 2023•25 min•Season 1Ep. 4
This special episode of Artifactuality features conversations with Blackfoot Elders about the decolonization of archaeology and how the Blackfoot think about history, time and territory. It starts with a tour of the area around Wally's Beach in southwestern Alberta — home to the Siksika, Kainai and Piikani Nations of the Blackfoot Confederacy. Moving to Head-Smashed-in Buffalo Jump, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the Canadian Museum of History’s Curator of Western Archaeology, Gabriel Yanicki, li...
Jun 12, 2023•36 min•Season 1Ep. 3
This episode of Artifactuality features an interview with Elizabeth Cooke-Sumbu, granddaughter of the legendary Frank Cooke, who played in the Colored Hockey League of the Maritimes. Elizabeth talks about Frank’s legacy, the racial barriers Black hockey players overcame in the past — and must still overcome today — as well as why more needs to be done to tear down barriers, so that anyone who wants to play, can play. The episode also includes an interview with Percy Paris, an eighth-generation A...
Jun 12, 2023•29 min•Season 1Ep. 2
Singer, actor, producer, radio host, TV personality, entrepreneur; it seems as though there’s nothing Mitsou can’t do. But before she conquered the world with her global hit, Bye bye mon cowboy, she was a talented Montréal teenager with an iconic style pulled together from her own closet and brought to the world stage. Mitsou talks about her early days in Montréal, the people who helped and inspired her along the way, and how Hollywood disappointment turned into an amazing reinvention. LINKS Tra...
Jun 12, 2023•28 min•Season 1Ep. 1
Imagine a museum of the future, made up entirely of the stories we tell each other. Which stories would resonate with you? Which ones will last? And which will go on to shape how we live our lives, now and in the future? Introducing Artifactuality , a podcast series featuring remarkable stories generously shared with the Canadian Museum of History. Hosted by acclaimed novelist Kim Thuy, each episode is an audio time capsule of a part of Canadian history told in the voices of the people who lived...
May 23, 2023•2 min•Season 1Ep. 1
