In 1967 the Alberta Teachers' Association published, in honour of Canada's Centennial, a history of the public school system in Alberta entitled Schools of the Foothills Province. This informative book published for the Association by University of Toronto Press is now followed by a companion volume written by the same author, which tells the story of the Association itself, and its long and sturdy efforts to improve the position of teachers and the quality of education in the province. After providing the background to the formation of the ATA (which officially began on July 24, 1918) the author goes on to describe the growth of the organization from its beginnings as a spare-time activity for teachers to a strong influential union. From its earliest years it was affiliated with the labour movements of the Twenties, and fought with increasing strength for the rights of Alberta teachers. Throughout this study, the ATA's concern is evident not only for the economic aspects of teaching for higher salaries and pension schemes, but also for other features: departmental examinations and curricula, preparation and certification of teachers, and educational research. The ATA's mercurial relations with the provincial government are related, its struggle through the depression years and its blossoming in the first decade after 1935 under a Social Credit Government. Leading personalities move through this story against the turbulent background of a growing young province, contributing an air of vigorous controversy and achievement to the story of the ATA.

Among countries in the industrialized world, Canada is the only one without a national department of education, national standards for education, and national regulations for elementary or secondary schooling. For many observers, the system seems impractical and almost incoherent. But despite a total lack of federal oversight, the educational policies of all ten provinces are very similar today. Without intervention from Ottawa, the provinces have fashioned what amounts to a de facto pan-Canadian system. Learning to School explains how and why the provinces have achieved this unexpected result. Beginning with the earliest provincial education policies and taking readers right up to contemporary policy debates, the book chronicles how, through learning and cooperation, the provinces gradually established a country-wide system of public schooling. A rich and ambitious work of scholarship, it will appeal to readers seeking fresh insights on Canadian federalism, education policy, and policy diffusion.

Christian organizations have always played a large role in Canadian education. By 1949, five provinces had constitutionally protected denominational schools. The federal government’s responsibility for the education of Indigenous Peoples was effectively contracted out to the churches for more than a century, resulting in a history of abuse that has only recently come to light. From the 1950s to the 1970s, several initiatives in different provinces set the stage for significant reforms to education. Some of these tested the limits of denominational protections, but could not shake the underlying constitutional structures. Patriation of the Constitution and adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in 1982 codified fundamental changes in thinking about civil rights. The Charter allowed existing denominational rights to be challenged on many fronts. However, all such challenges were rebuffed by the courts on the grounds that the Charter cannot be used to override other parts of the Constitution. By the 1990s, it became apparent that another route to reform was available, through the amending formula. Constitutional amendments were used to end denominational control of schools in Newfoundland and Quebec in 1997 and 1998. The circumstances around those constitutional amendments are discussed in detail as possible precedents for similar outcomes in Alberta, Ontario, and Saskatchewan. This book contends that change will certainly come to these provinces and several paths to reform are explored. This reform aims to remove the discrimination inherent in denominational institutions while preserving some form of religious involvement in certain schools.

Stuart Ramsay Tompkins belonged to the generation of scholars that came of age in Canada after the turn of the century and was tempered by the First World War. His letters to his wife, Edna, from 1912 to 1919, provide an eloquent record of his courtship and marriage; sharp observations of government and politics, both military and civil; an articulate participant's view of war in the trenches; and discerning and sensitive reactions to Siberia and China in 1919. The letters recount pivotal experiences that shaped the future professor who would become one of North America's pioneer specialists in Russian history. Edited by Doris H. Pieroth.

In this, the companion to the landmark volume The Literary History of Alberta, Volume One: From Writing-on-Stone to World War Two, George Melnyk examines Alberta literature in the second half of the twentieth century. At last, Melnyk argues, Alberta writers have found their voice--and their accomplishments have been remarkable. The contradictory landscape, the stereotypes of the Indian, the Mountie, and the Cowboy, and the language of the Other, speaking from the margins--these elements all left their impressions on the consciousness of early Alberta. But writers in the last few decades have turned this inheritance to their advantage, to create compelling stories about this place and its people. Today, Melnyk discovers, Alberta writers can appreciate not only this achievement, but also its essential source: the symbolic communication of Writing-on-Stone. The Literary History of Alberta, Volume Two extends the study of Alberta's cultural history to the present day. It is a vital text for anyone interested in Alberta's vibrant literary culture.

This work examines how Albertans have interpreted themselves and their world through history and social studies curricula and texts from 1905 to 1980, and shows that these courses, more than others, addressed issues of identity by creating the country and region's past.