The theme for the Fall 2020 Public History course was Controversial Commemorations in Ontario. As a class, we researched and explored numerous locations, statues, and memorials across the province which have provoked controversy. This includes towns and townships which have already changed names, such as Berlin and Stalin Township, as well as place and statues that are controversial today, such as Amherstburg, Dundas, Jarvis, Kitchener, Macdonald, Russell, Ryerson, St. Volodymyr, and Swastika. Each student group selected one of these topics and created digital public history projects describing the history, background, and current issues surrounding these commemorations. You can access these projects by clicking on the black circle letters on the map.
Submissions from 2020
Egerton Ryerson: Figure of Knowledge or Oppression?, Loren Bugyi, Gabriel Moor, Stefan Giczey, and Tyson Baker
Ryerson: Origins of the Name, and Steps Towards Another, Kaitlin Calbery, Jessica Schummer, and Ling Jie Dong
Jeffrey Amherst’s Legacy and Modern Reconciliation, Elizabeth Cousineau, Madison Summers, Buckley Yates, and Owen Maertens
History of Swastika, Ontario and its Controversies, Kishan Dalal, Payton Sanderson, Harvey Ho, and Ryan Silvestri
What’s in a Name? The Name Change of Berlin to Kitchener, Stephanie Graham, Yuan Wang, Steven Winstanley, and Tushar Jain
An Examination of the Controversy Behind the Name of Russell, Ontario, Valeria Graham, Yuxin Zhang, and Farryl Chang
The Kitchener Name Controversy, Yilin Guan, Sarah Young, and Bianca Demelo
Benjamin Vaughan: The History of an Anti-Abolitionist, Amanda Healy, Yichen Fei, and Ruth Suh
Sir John A Macdonald and the Controversy of Statues Dedicated to Him, Seuyng-Min Hyun, Dingding (Jess) Lu, Meghan Grade Cade, and Sahar Rana
Stalin Township to Hansen Township, Duncan Levings, Paula Miquelarena, Zhenlin Liu, and Natalie Sandoval-Prieto
The Monument to SS Galicia, Alex Morano, Dominic Searles, Lev Kamenskyi, and Hayder Mahmood
The Controversy of the St. Volodymyr Ukrainian Cemetery Monument, Matthew Mosley, Bentein Anderson, Muhammad Shahid, and Art Belghali
The Renaming of Dundas: The History of Dundas St, Toronto Ontario, Sarah Nguyen, Melanie Ramos, and William Stevenson
The Public History of Sir John A. Macdonald, Dylan Pawluk, Colin Biliau, Jayden Wilson, and Aedin Novakowski
The Controversy behind Amherstburg, Cody Pelacek, (Elisha) Shi Qin Wang, and Kaiden Collver
Jarvis Street, Genevieve Pitre, Carson Flemons, Tiago Massochin, and Zi Xin Wang
The History of Kitchener, Formerly Known as Berlin, Daniel Prikhoji, William Herman, and Tyler Burns
Swastika the Town at Odds with History, Katherine Stadelman, Xingchen Meng, Hubery Chu, and Jacob Dean
Henry Dundas and "Dundas" Named Places in Canada, Duran Wang, Zhouli Shi, Joohoon Lee, and Mikayla Kwan