By highlighting a series of dramatic episodes (both famous and not-so-famous), Death in the Peaceable Kingdom by
Dimitry Anastakis engages students in many of the political, social, economic, and cultural changes experienced by
Canadians in the last century and a half. Students will gain insight into the many ways in which Canada has changed since Confederation, and how these changes explain and contextualize aspects of present-day Canada.
While specific topics will vary by instructor, this sample syllabus contains common topics in post-Confederation Canadian history courses which correspond with chapters from Death in the Peaceable Kingdom . This syllabus is organized for a
3-day/week course comprised of two lectures and one group discussion over a 12 week semester. Weekly readings from
Death in the Peaceable Kingdom (DPK) provide core content, leaving room for instructors to assign primary documents, journal articles, or other readings. If a course contains a seminar or an in-class discussion component, relevant suggestions come from the “Active History” sections at the end of each chapter of Death in the Peaceable Kingdom .
Week 1 - Course Introduction & Confederation
Lecture 1 Course Introduction;
Pre-Confederation Canada
Lecture 2 The Process of Confederation
Discussion
Readings: DPK pp.2-17
Chapter 1 - Thomas D’Arcy McGee, Assassinated, Ottawa,
1868: Terror and Invasion in Confederation-Era Canada
• Active History: Questions to Consider ( DPK p.15)
Week 2 - Building a Nation
Lecture 1
Lecture 2
Discussion
Consolidating the Dominion
Western Expansion
Readings: DPK pp.18-61
Chapter 2 - Thomas Scott, Executed or Murdered? Fort
Garry, Winnipeg, 1870: The Red River Resistance and the
Politics of Westward Expansion
Chapter 3 - George Brown, Assassinated, Toronto, 1880:
Dreams of an Emerging Canada
Chapter 4 - Louis Riel, Executed, Regina, 1885: Open
Rebellion and the Fate of the Canadian West
• Active History: History and Historiography ( DPK pp.28-29)
• Active History: Primary Document Analysis ( DPK p.44)
• Active History: Primary Document Analysis, From the Final Statement of Louis Riel at his Trial in
Regina on Friday, July 31, 1885 ( DPK pp.53-56)

Week 3 - The Trial of War: Canada and WWI
Lecture 1
Lecture 2
Discussion
Canadians at the Front
The War at Home
Readings: DPK pp.62-90
Chapter 5 - Private Harold Carter, Executed, France, 1917:
The Tragedy and Heroism of the First World War, 1914–18
Chapter 6 - Four Rioters Killed by the Canadian Military,
Quebec City, Easter 1918: Conscription and the Politics of the Great War at Home
• Active History: Discovering the Diaries of Great War Veterans ( DPK p.78)
• Active History: Questions for Consideration ( DPK p.90)
Week 4 - War’s Aftermath & the 1920s
Lecture 1
Lecture 2
Discussion
Postwar Recovery & Social Strife
The “Roaring 20s” in Canada
Readings: DPK pp.91-132
Chapter 7 - Michael Sokolowiski and Steven Skezerbanovicz,
Murdered, Winnipeg, 1919: Capital and Labour Collide in
Industrializing Canada
Chapter 8 - Tom Thomson, Murdered? Canoe Lake, Ontario,
1917: Art, Nationalism, and Americanization in the Interwar
Period
Chapter 9 - Filumena Lassandro, Executed, Edmonton,
1923: Women, the Roaring Twenties, and the Law
• Active History: The Historiography of the Winnipeg General Strike ( DPK p.101)
• Active History: The Mystery of Tom Thomson’s Death ( DPK p.116)
• Active History: The Mackenzie King Diary ( DPK p.128)
Week 5 - Canada 1929-1945
Lecture 1
Lecture 2
Discussion
The Great Depression and the “Dirty 30s”
Appeasement or War?
Canada Enters WWII
Readings: DPK pp.133-165
Chapter 10 - Peter Markunas, Nick Nargan, and Julian
Gryshko, Murdered, Saskatchewan, 1931: Labour, the Great
Depression, Regional Alienation, and State Response
Chapter 11 - Eleven Canadian Soldiers, Murdered by the
Nazis, France, 1944: Canada’s War?
• Active History: Primary Document Analysis, The Regina Manifesto, 1933 ( DPK p.147)
• Active History: Oral History and its Challenges ( DPK p.164)

Week 5 - Canada 1929-1945
Lecture 1
Lecture 2
Discussion
The Great Depression and the “Dirty 30s”
Appeasement or War?
Canada Enters WWII
Readings: DPK pp.133-165
Chapter 10 - Peter Markunas, Nick Nargan, and Julian
Gryshko, Murdered, Saskatchewan, 1931: Labour, the Great
Depression, Regional Alienation, and State Response
Chapter 11 - Eleven Canadian Soldiers, Murdered by the
Nazis, France, 1944: Canada’s War?
• Active History: Primary Document Analysis, The Regina Manifesto, 1933 ( DPK p.147)
• Active History: Oral History and its Challenges ( DPK p.164)
Week 6 - The Postwar Boom
Lecture 1
Lecture 2
Discussion
Midterm Exam
Postwar Prosperity:
Myths & Realities
Readings: DPK pp.166-180
Chapter 12 - Death by Car: 2,921 Canadians Killed in Motor
Vehicle Accidents, 1953: Cars, Consumption, and Postwar
Canadian Society
• Active History: Questions to Consider ( DPK p.178)
Week 7 - Canada’s Place in a Cold War World
Lecture 1
Lecture 2
Discussion
An Internationalist Canada
Red Scares: Ideological Battles at
Home & Abroad
Readings: DPK pp.181-194
Chapter 13 - Herbert Norman, Suicide, Cairo, Egypt, 1957:
Cold War Diplomacy, Repression, and Relations with the
United States
• Active History: Understanding the Canada-US Relationship ( DPK pp.191-192)
Week 8 - The 1960s & A Shifting Cultural Landscape
Lecture 1 Liberalization of the Canadian State
Lecture 2 Counterculture & Protest in a “Just
Society”
Readings: DPK pp.195-207; 224-237
Chapter 14 - Ronald Turpin and Arthur Lucas, Executed,
Toronto, 1962: The Death Penalty, Diefenbaker, Pearson, and Social Change in Postwar Canada
Chapter 16 - Rochdale College’s Cindy Lei Commits Suicide,
Toronto, 1975: The Counterculture and the Sixties Revolutionary Moment in Canada
Discussion • Active History: Primary Document Analysis, Cabinet Documents ( DPK p.205)
• First Person Oral History Assignment: Remembering the Sixties ( DPK p.235)
Week 9 - A Nation Divided
Lecture 1
Lecture 2
Discussion
Quebec: The Quiet Revolution &
Separatism
Debating the Canadian Constitution
Readings: DPK pp.208-223; 238-249
Chapter 15 - Pierre Laporte, Assassinated, Montreal, October
1970: Quebec, the Quiet Revolution, and the FLQ
Chapter 17 - Three Employees of the Quebec National
Assembly, Murdered, Quebec City, 1984: The Constitutional
Wars Turn Deadly
• Active History: Primary Document Analysis, The FLQ Manifesto ( DPK pp.219-221)
• Active History: Media Analysis ( DPK p.249)

Week 10 - Canada & the United States: Friends or Foes?
Lecture 1 Free Trade & End of
The National Policy
Readings: DPK pp.250-263
Lecture 2 Canada-US Relations &
North American Integration
Chapter 18 - “Leap of Faith”: Brian Mulroney (and Ronald
Reagan) Kill the National Policy, 1989: Trade Policy and
Postwar Economic Development
Discussion • Active History: The Free Trade Agreement Debate ( DPK p.261)
Week 11 - The Struggle for Equal Rights in Postwar Canada
Lecture 1 Second Wave Feminism in Canada Readings: DPK pp.264-288
Lecture 2 “Red Power” and Aboriginal Rights
Chapter 19 - Fourteen Quebec Women, Murdered,
Montreal, December 6, 1989: Women in Postwar Canada and Violence
Chapter 20 - Dudley George, Murdered, Ipperwash, Ontario,
1995: Aboriginal Rights and Resistance in Postwar Canada
Discussion • Active History: Film Review ( DPK p.286)
Week 12 - Citizenship & Identity in Canada
Lecture 1 Immigration & Multiculturalism
Lecture 2 Conclusion & Exam Review
Readings: DPK pp.289-305
Chapter 21 - The 329 People on Air India Flight 182,
Murdered over the Atlantic Ocean, 1985: Challenges to
Immigration and Multiculturalism in an Age of Terror
Discussion N/A