Artifactuality

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.

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 and why it’s important for the Museum to collect objects related to controversial current events such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

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 released evidence of unmarked graves on the site of the former residential school in Kamloops, B.C. 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 History, and how art can help people recognize the truth about Canada’s colonial past.

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.

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 story shows that some sports and athletes are singled out for unfair and harmful treatment.

In 2022, a popular uprising in Iran was inspired by the death of Kurdish student Masa Jini Amini at the hands of the so-called “morality police.” Thousands of Canadians took to the streets in solidarity with Iranian women’s rights and their victimization by state violence. 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, the importance of transnational movements and communities to Canadian history, and how Iranian Canadians manage the challenge of watching a crisis unfold from afar.

In this episode, we talk to Mitsou about her early costumes and the highs and lows of her music career. As it turns out, being a pop star may have been Mitsou’s origin story, but there was much more to come.

The National Hockey League was dominated by white men until 1958, when the first Black player made history by joining the Boston Bruins. Listen to two special guests talk about hockey and the racial barriers of yesterday and today, including why more needs to be done to tear down barriers so that anyone who wants to play, can play.

For the Blackfoot of southwestern Alberta, there is no doubt: their stories, songs and ceremonies have always been here. A discussion between archaeologist Gabriel Yanicki and Blackfoot Elders.

Between 1975 and 1985, refugees from Southeast Asia came to Canada in what was the largest refugee resettlement in Canada since the Second World War. Take a closer look at two individual’s stories: Stephanie Stobbe, the lead curator of the Hearts of Freedom exhibition, and Kim Thúy, the show’s host.

Why can’t the objects we use every day be beautiful, unique and useful? This is the question that drives Karim Rashid, an industrial designer known for his affordable designs.