Can Students Help Save Canada's Queer History? | The Rundown

For generations, many 2SLGBTQ+ stories were left out of history books, archives, and classrooms, raising questions about whose experiences are preserved and whose are forgotten. Now, some educators are working to recover that history before more of it is lost. Ian Duncan, a history teacher at Garth Webb Secondary School in Oakville, joins Jeyan to discuss how students are helping uncover, document, and share Canada's queer history. Then, Windsor teacher Chris Rabideau explains how a local project is preserving 2SLGBTQ+ stories from the community, one story at a time, and why documenting these experiences matters for future generations. 00:00 Intro 01:00 The History Tellers Project 02:10 Finding joy, resilience, and community in the archives 03:01 The editors behind the student stories 04:14 The speech that inspired Ian Duncan 05:28 What was the LGBT Purge? 06:10 Gaps in Ontario's history curriculum 07:18 Archival stories: Breaking Barriers and activism 09:18 Archival stories: Zami, immigration rights, and identity 11:48 Gay Asians of Toronto and Pride history 12:57 How students responded to the project 14:47 Building empathy, allyship, and civic awareness 15:45 Governor General's History Award 17:16 What students taught their teacher 18:13 Where to see the History Tellers exhibit 19:04 Windsor's overlooked LGBTQ+ history 20:16 Canada's earliest recorded same-sex trial 21:23 The Westside House and Windsor's queer nightlife 23:26 John Damien's fight for human rights 25:19 Canada's first bathhouse raid and why history matters About The Rundown: The Rundown is your nightly half-hour deep dive into just one headline. With host Jeyan Jeganathan, we’ll cover everything from housing and health care to climate and AI. We’ll break down why each topic matters, who’s living it, and what’s being done to make things better – starting right here in Ontario. Slow down. Tune in. Make sense of the moment. And tell us what you think. Follow on social media: Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/therundowntvo Facebook- https://www.facebook.com/TheRundownTVO X- https://twitter.com/therundowntvo Bluesky- https://bsky.app/profile/therundowntvo.bsky.social Subscribe to TVO Today to watch more content like this: https://www.youtube.com/@tvotoday Listen to the podcast: https://www.tvo.org/podcasts/the-rundown-audio Check out the rest of the TVO ecosystem TVO Docs - https://www.youtube.com/@tvo TVO Kids - https://www.youtube.com/@TVOkids TVO Learn - https://www.youtube.com/@tvolearn Download the TVO Today App Apple - https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/tvo-today/id1616182112 Available on: Roku, Apple TV, Android TV, Samsung, LG, Amazon Fire TV Enjoying this content and want to make a meaningful impact? Consider donating today! https://support.tvo.org/site/Donation2?mfc_pref=T&idb=599945504&df_id=16843&16843.donation=form1&DONATION_LEVEL_ID_SELECTED=1661&mfc_pref=T