Peoples' History Walking Tours

10/14/2026

This Saturday! My big new FREE talk series begins with THE BURNING OF THE REBEL'S HOME! It's at Gibson House at 4pm. It kicks off 9 talks at 8 museums over the next 6 months — all about one of the most dramatic stories in Toronto history: the Rebellion of 1837! www.toronto.ca/MuseumTalks

10/14/2026

On September 24th, the Ottawa community gathered to uncover the city's radical history by drawing on the experiences of oppressed groups.

10/12/2026

Tonight, the Secretary of State made the right call to stop this unwanted march from going ahead. But nobody should be in any doubt about what produced it.

This didn’t come from the Parades Commission, which folded the moment the DUP and the TUV turned up the pressure. It didn’t come from the courts, which made a series of harried decisions through the night. Nor did it come from a Secretary of State who spent nearly a fortnight disingenuously insisting his hands were tied.

It came from the community of the Garvaghy Road, as well as thousands of ordinary people standing with them over the past two weeks. Working class communities organised from below forced every institution in this place to move. That's a lesson that should never be forgotten.

This crisis has also exposed the utter failure of ruling class unionism to deliver. It can’t deliver a single thing for the communities it claims to speak for. It reaches for sectarian division instead, because division is the only thing it has ever reliably produced.

Working class Protestants are on the same housing lists and in the same hospital queues as their Catholic neighbours, and no march down anybody’s road has ever changed that.

The Orange Order was built for exactly this job. Orangeism is not a culture, but an instrument for keeping working people apart while those at the top hold on to what they have. We should expect unionist elites to fight this all the way. More court action, more talk of surrender to the mob, possibly even collapsing the institutions in protest. Let them try.

The political leaders of unionism - elected and unelected - spent two weeks trying to mobilise a base that didn't turn out, because most Protestants and unionists in this country have no appetite whatsoever for a return to the bigotry of the past.

What replaces it is up to us. Not a united Ireland run by the same landlords and developers who run things now, but a socialist Ireland built by working class people - of all backgrounds and from all communities - organised together. We've seen a glimpse of what that looks like on the Garvaghy Road. Our job now is to build it across Ireland.

10/07/2026

10/01/2026

When the Native Peoples’ Caravan travelled from British Columbia to Ottawa in 1974, the organizers’ intent was to arrive by September 30, the date of the official opening of the 30th Parliament of Canada.

The Native Peoples’ Caravan had been devised as a means of airing grievances and winning public support, as they had found official government-sponsored Native organizations to have so far proven ineffectual.

It was the Caravan leaders’ hope to meet with government leaders, including Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau and Judd Buchanan, the Minister of Indian Affairs.

The Caravan’s organizers had arrived with a list of ten demands, including constitutional recognition of Indigenous territory and treaty rights, a repeal of the Indian Act and an investigation into the Department of Indian Affairs.

On the appointed day, Monday, September 30, the 200+ Caravan participants, including men, women and children, peacefully marched to Parliament Hill to the beat of traditional drums.

Large numbers of communist supporters joined in the march as well, carrying bright red banners. There was extensive press coverage.

As the protesters arrived on Parliament Hill and approached the steps to the Centre Block, many were surprised to find themselves blocked by barricades manned by the RCMP.

After some pushing and shoving, the protesters backed away from the entrance and peaceful demonstration drumming recommenced.

Shortly after, however, a helmeted RCMP riot squad, carrying shields and clubs, forcefully evicted the Caravan from Parliament Hill altogether, the Ottawa Citizen reporting that the Mounties' assault on the protesters resulted in “bloodied noses and bludgeoned faces of protesters”.

One woman suffered a fractured skull. Another reported a concussion from a club. It was said to have been especially terrifying for the children that had been among those participating in the assembly.

A week or so after the events on the Hill, federal cabinet ministers met leaders of the National Indian Brotherhood to discuss the violent clash. However, no Caravan members were invited to the meeting.

In the end, the protesters did not achieve their demands, but the Caravan and the violent reception they encountered on Parliament Hill highlighted Indigenous grievances in a way never before seen.

Public sympathy rose. With coast-to-coast television coverage of the events on Parliament Hill, police tactics were also visible for all to see, embarrassing the government.

In this latest release from his “Today in Ottawa’s History” blog, James Powell recounts this day of demonstration on Parliament Hill on September 30, 1974, one in what had been a growing series of protests being led by Canada’s Indigenous peoples to draw attention and action to long-standing concerns:

https://todayinottawashistory.wordpress.com/2026/08/29/native-peoples-caravan/

09/15/2026