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John Belshaw

@belshaw.bsky.social
1.5K followers 1.8K following 506 posts

Writer. Historian. Cyclist. Writing a history of cycling. 🛋️ Vancouver based 📚 Open textbooks opentextbc.ca/postconfederation 🧭 Local stories www.anvilpress.com/books/vancouver-… Elbows up.

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Reposted by John Belshaw
Alan MacEachern @alanmaceachern.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Hey! Congratulations to @adeleperry.bsky.social on receiving the JB Tyrrell Historical Medal for outstanding work in the history of Canada.🍁 rsc-src.ca/en/about/pub... #cdnhist
rsc-src.ca
The Royal Society of Canada Announces its 2026 Award Winners | The Royal Society of Canada
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Huh, that headline didn't age well.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
Make a novel smaller (Canadian 🍁 culture edition) The Deptford Duology
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 20/08/2026
This is a whip-smart commentary on anti-trans b.s. in sports. Does it matter? Hell, yeah. People often forget that the Nazis rounded up and systematically murdered gay people -- as well as Jews, Roma, artists, writers, and socialists. If you're on that list...you're on THEIR list too.
rachelgilmore.substack.com
I’m glad that WNBA player Sophie Cunningham got booed -- and I hope it happens again. Here’s why
Listen now | For those of you who aren’t aware, Cunningham has become the latest face of the transphobic culture war that’s trying to strip rights away from trans people who just want to live their li...
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 27/07/2026
Took my bad hearing to the specialist today. Was asked to repeat aloud a series of words if I recognized them. One was “inkwell.” Now THAT is ageism.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 23/07/2026
I have started to disconnect from American academic organizations. I remain committed to the value, development, and use of Open Educational Resources and the democratization of knowledge. Belonging to ISKME, a US-based "international" structure advancing OERs now seems inconsistent with my values.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
CBC headline this morning: "Roughriders linebacker and captain Jayden Dalke killed in crash" Let me tweak that a bit: "Two people killed in collision, including 'Riders linebacker" Shocking lack of interest in the other victim.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 20/07/2026
I gained a pound in the night. I must consume enormous quantities of spiders, mosquitos, airborne mites, and cat hair as I sleep. It's the only possible explanation.
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Michael Spicer @michaelspicer.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
If art critics talked like football pundits.
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Brent Toderian @brenttoderian.bsky.social · 12/07/2026
Those top-tier teams in the semi-final #WorldCup games being played in particularly hot U.S. cities probably wish they were playing their games in the much cooler (and #1-ranked by Sports Illustrated) host city…Vancouver Canada.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 11/07/2026
A friendly reminder from the 1990s: no smoking in the exam hall.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 25/06/2026
Badda boom.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
It's a little thing to do, to add to evidence for increasing use of --and potential growth of --active and micro mobility.The annual pedal poll is two hours of sitting somewhere nice, watching happy people wheel by. #PedalPollSondoVelo
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Scott Robertson @sarobertson.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
"Imagine China or Iran inviting Canadian citizens to top-level meetings in national capitals with a plan to break up our country. They'd be charged with treason." Charlie Angus on Alberta separatists meeting with US officials.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 03/06/2026
And this is a good reason to call that shite Hoekstra onto the carpet in Ottawa, pick him up by his lapels and throw him down the stairs. An ambassador who threatens our sovereignty?!? Kick him out now.
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Max Fawcett @maxfawcett.bsky.social · 25/05/2026
There aren't many columnists in this country better than @sproudfoot.bsky.social, and she was especially good in this piece. www.theglobeandmail.com/politics/opi...
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
It amazes me how historians of the USA reliably turn themselves inside out to translate evidence of a shitty culture into tales of virtue. theconversation.com/how-americas...
theconversation.com
How America’s independence from England revolutionized US philanthropy
US charitable institutions rapidly changed in the 1780s as Americans established groups to support people in need and to reform society.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 12/05/2026
Another book club scam: "In Private Grief, Public Mourning, you reveal a tension between lived immigrant memory and its literary transformation into a stabilizing cultural narrative for children." No. No, that's not it at all and now you're creeping me out....
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André Picard @picardonhealth @picardonhealth.bsky.social · 08/05/2026
Let's talk about hantavirus. In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, a virus spreading on, and off, a cruise ship might seem like a burgeoning nightmare scenario. But this is not COVID or measles or the flu, by @deonandan.bsky.social medium.com/@deonandan/l...
medium.com
Let’s Talk About Hantavirus
Raywat / blog, epidemiology / 0 comment
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Matt Parreira @mattparreira.bsky.social · 25/04/2026
Hopefully this clears it up for anyone still not understanding what the US is after. They are not looking to trade - they want to take absolutely everything and bleed us dry. They want us in the dirt begging for scraps. You cannot negotiate with someone who is looking to rob you.
cbc.ca
Trump offers immediate tariff relief to Canadian aluminum and steel companies that commit to U.S. expansion | CBC News
The Trump administration is now offering Canadian and Mexican aluminum and steel companies immediate tariff relief if they commit to moving production to the United States in the future.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 24/04/2026
The Vancouver Historical Society is hosting a very noisy evening of Expo 86 show and tell right now!
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
@kellyblack.ca is a dogged and scrupulous historian. This is a tidy description of the kind of research that historians juggle among other projects, always with one eye open for that scrap of evidence that settles the question. Short read, enjoy it.
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Cameron Maltby @cameronmaltby.bsky.social · 18/04/2026
@cityofnorthvan.bsky.social what’s stopping you, now that you’ve been shown where you can find the space?
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 13/04/2026
A tight article about America's descent into evil. The sinking of the Dena, an unarmed Iranian frigate with a crew of cadets, by a US submarine has been met with American gloating. Even the refusal of Americans to rescue drowning Iranian sailors is applauded. Time to be the porcupine, Canada.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Why they changed it I can't say.
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Brandon Yan 甄念本 @brandonyan.com · 10/04/2026
Weird how mayors can actually do things that make a city better
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
And once again an American historian writes the Loyalists out of history. theconversation.com/1776s-declar...
theconversation.com
1776’s Declaration of Independence inspired Washington’s troops to fight against the odds – and also helped bring in powerful allies
The Declaration of Independence isn’t just a philosophical breakup letter. It was a strategic move to secure vital support for America after its first declaration of war.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
I'm not at all surprised that xenophobia is at the heart of the Albertan Death Cult. Good article!
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Forrest Pass @forrestpass.bsky.social · 01/04/2026
Did no one even vett this, @royalbcmuseum.bsky.social? Even by generative AI standards, it is a horrifyingly inaccurate depiction of gold prospecting... #bchist
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Brandon Yan 甄念本 @brandonyan.com · 22/03/2026
Do not fly to the US.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
According to the CBC: American officials & Doug Ford believe that Iranian sleeper cells exist in Canada. Probably not. But if that's a model US officials understand, maybe there are AMERICAN sleeper cells in Canada. Hmmm? Might explain Brock Boesser's limp performance this season. #GolfCanucksGolf
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 17/03/2026
And where are we on this, Canada? If sun-starved Old Blighty can get these numbers, where are ours?
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Rebecca Bollwitt @miss604.com · 12/03/2026
Posted by the Tla’amin Nation on Facebook. This is epic. 𝗠𝗣 𝗰𝗿𝗮𝘀𝗵𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗺𝗹𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗹𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄𝗹𝗲𝗱𝗴𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝙇𝙤𝙘𝙖𝙡 𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙚𝙛𝙨 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙨𝙨𝙪𝙧𝙚 𝘼𝙖𝙧𝙤𝙣 𝙂𝙪𝙣𝙣: “𝘾𝙝𝙞𝙡𝙡𝙖𝙭, 𝙗𝙪𝙙.” www.facebook.com/tlaaminnatio...
screenshot of press release from four nations with their logos: Tla’amin Nation; Homalco Nation; K'ómoks Nation; Klahoose Nation.  March 11, 2026
Chiefs from four First Nations communities are urging the public to please approach Aaron Gunn with no caution whatsoever. He is completely harmless, though momentarily unsettled by the alarming possibility that someone might acknowledge the land before a meeting.
Yesterday on social media, the MP appeared to crash out and demand to speak to the manager of land acknowledgements, a position that observers confirm does not exist.
Chiefs whose territories make up the riding had two words for the MP - Chillax, Bud. 
Land acknowledgements have never seized private property, cancelled a mortgage, repossessed a pickup truck, or altered a single title deed anywhere in Canada.
They are simply people recognizing the history of the place where they are standing.
No one is going anywhere. Canada will survive the brief moment of honesty.
Until then, Chiefs across the region continue to reassure the public that land acknowledgements have not, to date, resulted in any land back.
Hegus John Hackett, Tla’amin Nation
Chief Darren Blaney, Homalco Nation
Chief Nicole Rempel, K'ómoks Nation
Chief Kevin Peacey, Klahoose Nation
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Beijing embraced automobilism and paid a high price for it. To make these reductions now is super impressive.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 06/03/2026
Ever wondererd about plans for dramatic changes to your city, changes that didn't get off the drawing board? Happy to circulate this video of last week's Vancouver Historical Society presentation by Bronwyn Smyth. www.youtube.com/watch?v=PFAO... #vancouverhistory #urbanism
youtube.com
LEFT ON THE DRAWING BOARD-UNBUILT CIVIC DESIGNS 1912-1950- BRONWYN SMYTH
YouTube video by Vancouver Historical Society
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 04/03/2026
Drat. It's the return of the world's least attractive superhero, the Human Cough. "Phlegm on!"
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Soooo, he approves?
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Leo Hickman @leohickman.carbonbrief.org · 14/02/2026
China's Xinhua news agency has just published this editorial cartoon in response to Trump's rejection of climate policies. It is pretty clear that China views this as a HUGE geopolitical fumble by the US leaving the field clear for China's to win the global race to clean-tech hegemony
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Maryn McKenna @marynmck.bsky.social · 08/02/2026
la subtilité, la précision:
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Margie @margiesanderson.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Summer, winter - apparently it's always the weather
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 05/02/2026
American attempts to destabilize Canada and to undermine its sovereign stability have accelerated. We are now in the war before the war (probably have been for some time already). Alberta is not the prize here, it's the wedge. www.cbc.ca/news/politic...
cbc.ca
ANALYSIS | U.S. interest in Alberta separatism raises red flags over what might come next | CBC News
Communications between the Trump administration and Alberta's separatist movement raised alarm at the highest levels in Canada last week. It also raised questions about Washington's possible intention...
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 01/02/2026
I'm N. Everyone says I'm negative. (Somedays it's so bad, I find that life has R.)
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Cool Bike Art @coolbikeart1.bsky.social · 29/01/2026
Victoria, BC: “You can pretend, in Portland and Vancouver, that no one bikes in those cities, because you don’t see bicyclists – they’re off on side streets. So politically, they’ve vanished. And I think that’s a big reason why Portland and Vancouver have stalled and we haven’t.”
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Kelly B @kellyblack.ca · 26/01/2026
If we accept that BC/Canada’s history tells us how we might succeed in this moment, one might expect to hear about renewed government support for the cultural institutions that help explain who we are – especially in the face of annexation talk from our neighbour. buttondown.com/leftcoastdis...
buttondown.com
Do Archives Matter?
There has been much talk lately of defending BC and Canada. Canadian flags are flying in apartment windows and on lawns. There’s a giant maple leaf pinned to...
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
To my cycling pals out there. I've met cyclists who are absolute zits, but they are vastly outnumbered by the cyclists who are filled with inexpressible joy in the world. Can you look at this guy and not think he'd be fun to hang with?
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 26/01/2026
Canadians: the Second American Civil War is underway.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
Credit to Tomflood.bluesky.social
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
More tariffs? Bring it on.
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John Belshaw @belshaw.bsky.social · 22/01/2026
Some folks are wondering if the US will descend into civil war. It already has. Look, if what is happening in Minnesota were inflicted on Georgia or Alabama, that's what it would be called. And we'd have another stupid Lynyrd Skynyrd song to prove it.
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