David Wilson on The Dictionary of Canadian Biography

What happens when a national biography doesn’t just celebrate—or condemn, but strives to understand? In this episode, I sit down with historian David A. Wilson to explore how the DCB is rethinking who gets included, how language is updated without “rewriting” the past, and why a birdseed magnate—James Nicholson—helped launch Canada’s most important biographical project.

In this episode, I sit down with historian David Wilson, General Editor of the Dictionary of Canadian

Biography, to discuss the origins and history of this great institution that has been ongoing now for more

than seventy years. We cover how the DCB decides who gets included, how the language of older

biographies can be updated without “rewriting” the past, and why a birdseed magnate—James

Nicholson—helped launch Canada’s most important biographical project. I was particularly struck by

David’s line: “the goal of the dictionary is not to celebrate Canadian history, but nor is it to join the

bandwagon of those who condemn Canadian history; the goal of the dictionary is to understand

Canadian history in all its complexity.” We also touch on David’s award-winning two-volume biography

of Thomas D’Arcy McGee and his most recent book, Canadian Spy Story: Irish Revolutionaries and the

Secret Police, (McGill-Queen’s, 2022)—including the 3,000 letters in Macdonald’s papers that reveal a

real Fenian underground in Canada and why Macdonald downplayed the threat publicly while, in

contrast, he later amplied the threat from the Plains Cree in 1885. Along the way, David shares how he

accidentally became a Canadian historian, the DCB’s precarious funding reality, and three must-read

books for anyone who loves Canadian history.

If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe and share. Find History Matters on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Write to us at info@cihe.ca and learn more about the Canadian Institute for Historical Education.If you enjoyed this conversation, please subscribe and share. Find History Matters on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. Write to us at info@cihe.ca

and learn more about the Canadian Institute for Historical Education.