Here in Canada, you can get clean drinking water simply by turning on a tap. Unless you live in one of the many First Nations communities that are subject to long-term drinking water advisories. In which case, you have to boil the water first before you can use it. Or you have to use bottled water for everything, including brushing your teeth or cooking with.

How is it that in a first-world country like Canada, we still have communities of people who don't have access to clean drinking water?

Joining me to help better understand what's going on here, is Ken Coates. He is a man with many titles, but one of them is that he is a distinguished fellow at the Macdonald Laurier Institute where he co-authored a paper called The Water Conundrum and Indigenous Communities in Canada.

Links:

• The Water Conundrum and Indigenous Communities in Canada
• Ken Coates

For more about the podcast, check out the website: longformnorth.com

Sign up for the Longform North Newsletter: longformnorth.com/newsletter/

Music by Aaron Barth

Hosted and produced by Ian Van Harten

A little over 25 years ago, a book by the historian Jack Granatstein came out, called Who Killed Canadian History? It sparked some controversy back then about how ignorant most Canadians are about Canadian history, and how riddled it is with politics and bureaucracy. And, Granatstein said, if you don't have any memory of your history, then you don't really know who you are, other than maybe 'not being American.'

But that was 25 years ago. What about today?

Joining me for a discussion about Who Killed Canadian History? is J.D.M. Stewart. He was a high school history teacher for 30 years. Now he's a writer, historian and author, most recently of a book called Being Prime Minister, and he has another one coming out later this year.

Links:

• J.D.M. Stewart at the Hub
• Christopher Dummitt at the Hub: We Are Telling the Wrong Story About Canada
• Who Killed Canadian History? by Jack Granatstein

For more about the podcast, check out the website: longformnorth.com

Sign up for the Longform North Newsletter: longformnorth.com/newsletter/

Music by Aaron Barth

Hosted and produced by Ian Van Harten

Welcome to Longform North -- a longform interview podcast featuring Canadian voices and stories about Canada.

Canada is a federal country, which means power is divided between two levels of government - the federal government and the provinces.

And even though it's all one country, the provinces are very different from each other. They have different economies, different cultures, different politics, different languages, and different interests.

And sure, diversity is our strength and all that, but trying to balance all those interests isn't always easy. At least one province has tried to separate a couple times, while similar threats from other provinces have bubbled up, too.

So how do all these governments work together? And what, if anything, keeps the country from falling apart?

Joining me again to help out with these questions is Dr. Tom Bateman. He is a professor of political science at St Thomas University, and he is one of the co-authors of a book called The Canadian Regime: An Introduction to Canada's Parliamentary Democracy.

Some of the topics we discuss include:

• Why did Canada choose to have a federal system back in 1867?
• How John A. MacDonald was originally against federalism and aimed to create a strong central government.
• How are the different powers divided up between the federal government and the provinces?
• How the impact of health and education gave the provinces much more influence and power than what was originally planned.
• How the lines get blurred as to who has jurisdiction over what. For example the environment, where natural resources is provincial, but climate change and environmental sustainability is federal.
• Equalization payments and how they work.
• The separatist movements in both Alberta and Quebec, and what is behind them?
• Could Canada fall apart? What is it that's keeping it together?

Links:

• The Canadian Regime: An Introduction to Canada's Parliamentary Democracy
• Dr. Tom MJ Bateman

*Note: This episode was recorded on March 15th, 2025.

For more about the podcast, check out the website: longformnorth.com

Sign up for the Longform North Newsletter: longformnorth.com/newsletter/

Music by Aaron Barth

Hosted and produced by Ian Van Harten