As recently as 2009, Canadian Tourism Commission spokesperson conceded that "Canada has had a kind of vanilla pudding image -- safe and nice, like the girl next door -- not the hot chick you'd want to go on vacation with." In other words, we're perceived as "uninteresting." Will the Museum of Canadian History change that? The Americans think they have the monopoly on those adjectives when it comes to their country's history. They don't. A Canadian History Museum can showcase the contribution of people who fall outside the dreary stereotypes and repetitive platitudes.

This story is written in honour and recognition of a Canadian hero: Canada's first black university graduate and our country's first black lawyer, Robert Sutherland (1830-1878). Today, Mr. Robert Sutherland's legacy lives on through a memorial room at Queen's University and scholarships established in his name.

The most influential man in the history of the province of British Columbia is James Douglas. Curiously overlooked by Ottawa, no statue of Sir James Douglas adorns the capital. Fact is, the capital region bestows no parks, no bridges, no street or stretch of highway to Douglas -- an honour reserved for the monarchy and Canadian heroes of European heritage.

Our country now mourns the passing of a great Canadian hero, Lincoln Macauley Alexander. He died on Friday October 19th, 2012 at the age of 90. Reading the many tributes to this outstanding Canadian makes it clear that Alexander's exemplary life was lived as an emphatic declaration that blackness and Canadianness can seamlessly exist in synergetic harmony, and that there is a black experience that is inextricably and simultaneously a Canadian experience. Indeed the passing of this legendary black Canadian should encourage us all to live lives that would leave us similarly criticized for our expressed concerns for the lot of the average Canadian, black and otherwise.

Canada has lost one of its fiercest, most uncompromising, contentious and passionate pursuers of justice and equality, Mr. Charles Roach. On October 2, Roach passed away after a hard-fought battle with cancer. Of all his pursuits for a fairer and more just society, however, the most controversial of Roach's advocacy efforts was his push, since 1988, to get a Canadian court to recognize that it is a violation of individuals' constitutionally guaranteed freedom of conscience to require prospective Canadians to swear an oath of allegiance to Queen Elizabeth II.

At first glance, the Canadian Pacific Railway contract fiasco of the early 1870s is the granddaddy of all Canadian scandals. But only the tip of the iceberg has been recounted ad nauseam by historians. The real story is far more gripping, and is actually one of the more fascinating events in Canadian business and political history.

In a powerful book published in 1998, Professor Jack Granatstein fiercely demanded, "Who Killed Canadian History?" The question is all too easy to answer. The professional historians killed it. The good news is that the amateurs at the Dorchester Review may yet save it.

A study of genealogical history going back to some of Quebec's earliest settlers is providing a tantalizing clue about how human evolution was shaped ...

The War of 1812 presentation is a painless history lesson that changed the direction of both Canada and the U.S -- and was completely unnecessary. As one soldier of 1812 laments, it pitted people of the same background against one another. For what? No one is sure.

A recent CBC television movie about John A. MacDonald, Canada's first Prime Minister, highlighted the debates and struggles that preceded Canadian con...

Three subsequent important prime ministers -- Brian Mulroney, Jean Chretien and Stephen Harper -- invested their energies cleaning up the wreckage left by Pierre Trudeau. Finally, nobody speculates any more about Canada defaulting on its debt, or splitting apart, or being isolated from all its major allies.

I suspect most Canadians don't mind the monarchy being in the background. However, if the Conservatives keep trying to reinforce our ties to the monarchy, the public will begin to take a closer look at the issue and evaluate what remains of those ties.

I am enjoying all the debate that Harper's addition of the word "Royal" to our navy and air force has created. Some suggest that Harper is trying to recast our history so that it is seen from a conservative slant. But there is nothing wrong with knowing and understanding our history and that includes our symbols and traditions.

THE CANADIAN PRESS -- MONTREAL - Hidden underneath a narrow, shrub-lined parking lot in Old Montreal is an important piece of Canada's political past,...