We take questions from curious Edmontonians about local history. Then we find out the answers together.
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This episode: About the Whale Society of Edmonton (or Don't Go Anywhere Without a Porpoise) A story about the people who decided to run a save-the-whales group from the prairies, and the splash they made in the media. This episode is a live show recorded on March 3, 2026 at the City of Edmonton Archives. From 1979 – 1984, the Whale Society of Edmonton led public education programs about whales and…
This episode: Parks for Tomorrow. We’re going to look at one protest in Banff on a drizzly October day in 1977. And we’re going to peek behind the scenes to see how and why organizers tried to get media attention. We’re sharing three stories about Albertan environmental groups and journalists way back in the 70s. It's part two of our mini-series… You Can Change the World! Or… Why Would I Talk to…
This episode: a story about Hilary McDowall - a journalist based in Lake Louise in the 1960s and 70s. We talk about World War II spies, skiing, failed Olympic bids, and how difficult it can be to be a reporter in a small town without being engulfed in conflicts of interests. This is part one of a three-part mini-series about Alberta environmental groups and journalists in the 1970s. It was a…
Yes, Edmonton really used to have a save-the-whales club. No, they weren't based at West Edmonton Mall. But they did make a big splash. Join Let's Find Out host Chris Chang-Yen Phillips for a live podcast recording, exploring the fascinating history of the Whale Society of Edmonton. Live Podcast Tuesday March 3 2026 6:30 – 8 PM City of Edmonton Archives Prince of Wales Armouries 10440 108 Avenue…
The second episode of Clock In - An ECAMP Podcast, produced by Chris from Let's Find Out. Each episode, host Jay Gilday helps people talk to their parents about the work they did when they were younger. Along the way, we learn how working life has changed in the city. We're sharing the first two episodes in the Let's Find Out feed. New episodes of Clock In come out on Mondays here . Shima Robinson…
The first episode of Clock In - An ECAMP Podcast, produced by Chris from Let's Find Out. Each episode, host Jay Gilday helps people talk to their parents about the work they did when they were younger. Along the way, we learn how working life has changed in the city. We're sharing the first two episodes in the Let's Find Out feed. New episodes of Clock In come out on Mondays here . Meet Jay…
Two little updates on things coming soon to the Let's Find Out feed! In the new year, Chris will be sharing a three-part mini-series about environmental groups in Alberta in the 1970s. Chris has been helping produce a show called Clock In - An ECAMP Podcast. The first two episodes will be published here next week.
Did you know that Elk Island National Park used to have a bison abattoir? Have you ever heard of the national parks in Alberta that were dissolved? In this live podcast recording, we explore the wild history of making national parks in our area, and what it can teach us about the current plans to build a new urban national park in Edmonton’s river valley. Ever see wardens feeding the animals in…
Kathryn Gwun-Yeen 君妍 Lennon asks: what is the best playground in Edmonton? We crawl and swing through the past and present of playgrounds in our city to help her and her toddler on their quest. Kathryn and her family find themselves easily visiting 4 playgrounds in a weekend lately, and she estimates she visited around 30 different playgrounds last summer. So she’s been curious about finding the…
You may be tired of parks named after dead white men. Kyla Tichkowsky? She's railing against a different kind of tyranny. We have parks named for: Elk. Wood Buffalo. Aspen Beach. Cypress Hills. Dinosaurs even! And yet, not one single lichen. Why not? Lichen are, in fact, fantastically diverse and fascinating organisms. From a conservation standpoint, they are excellent bioindicators. So for…
Zulima Acuña noticed that some of Edmonton's old riverlots are highly developed, and some not at all. She asked us to help her learn why some of them became parks and others didn't. Zulima is a mom, teacher, and artist who has lived in Edmonton for the last ten years, and is eager to know as many stories about the land in Edmonton as her old hometown. It’s easy to take our spaces for granted: the…
Back in 2016, the very first episode of Let’s Find Out was about a festival in Tofield, a town about 45 minutes southeast of Edmonton: The Snow Goose Festival. In that episode, we set out to find out how this big festival that started in the 90’s with thousands of bird watchers coming to Tofield to admire the geese migrating through in the spring became a convoy of school bus tours run by the…
Edmonton calls itself a winter city, which partly means we’ve got a lot of wintery festivals. This episode, our producer Trevor Chow-Fraser asks: what does that mean for our parks? How are they changing to live up to the winter city ideal? Trevor started out by taking his daughter Eliot to Victoria Park to take advantage of its free snowshoeing and fort building. He spoke to activity leader Ryanne…
Soni Dasmohapatra asks: Who is Sohan Singh Bullar? Why is there a park named after them?
Mathew Thomson asks: what’s the process for naming a park in Edmonton? We investigate: who has authority, how much do names mean, and what happens when someone goes rogue on Google Maps?
Karen Unland asks: When did we stop dumping garbage into river valley spaces and start turning them into parks? In this episode, former historian laureate Shirley Lowe walks us through three stories: how the Grierson Hill dump became Louise McKinney Park, how the Strathcona dump and gravel mine became Hawrelak (aka Mayfair) Park, and how the Beverly Dump became Rundle Park.
Shelley Jodoin-Chouinard asks what Edmonton’s smallest park is.
Kay Rollans asks who hung two effigies from the 142nd Street Bridge amid 1965 protests against a freeway slated to be built through MacKinnon Ravine. This episode is part of our season exploring the history of parks and natural areas in Edmonton.
Edmontonians take a lot of pride in our parks and natural areas. But how did they come to be the way they are, and how well do they make space for humans and other species? On September 29, Let’s Find Out hosted a live podcast recording at the Aviary, with short talks and activities about parks. At the end, listeners had a chance to submit a question for our upcoming season about parks and natural…
As Chris wraps up year one of his history master’s degree, Chris and Trevor do one last regular check-in about the pile of essays, grantwriting, and paddling. After this episode, we’ll be back to doing another season of listener questions! Send us your questions about parks and natural areas around Edmonton. What are you curious about? Email us at chris@letsfindoutpodcast.com or drop us a line on…
In this episode, we travel to the Burgess Shale: a set of incredible fossil beds in Yoho National Park, preserving 500-million-year-old soft-bodied sea creatures. Today, it is part of a huge World Heritage Site: it has expanded to encompass all of Yoho National Park here in BC, Jasper and Banff, Kootenay, and three BC provincial parks. But back in 1980, the Burgess Shale sites at the Mount Stephen…
In this episode, Chris tells Trevor about some of the comic (and cosmic) roadblocks on the road to learning about paleontology and power in Yoho National Park, and just generally the challenges facing students right now. Trevor offers some advice (and a hug). Guest co-host Eliot joins us for hot tips about the best songs from Encanto.
What’s the difference between a library and an archive? Why might you want to go into one versus the other? In this episode, Chris talks about some heartbreaking and complicated diary entries he read in the City of Edmonton Archives, what it’s like getting into libraries and archives right now with Omicron, and why it matters that it’s so tough.
This December, Dr. Andrew Woolford delivered the Western Canadian Lecture, presented by the University of Alberta’s Department of History, Classics, & Religion the 2021 Western Canadian Lecture. Dr. Woolford is a prominent scholar in Genocide Studies who has worked on the history of Indian Residential Schools in Canada. His talk was titled: “With intent to destroy a group: Genocide’s past and…
How do you form a good historical question? In this episode, Chris and Trevor talk about trying to do that for a very specific reason: a Canada Graduate Scholarship grant application.
Chris just started a masters in history at the University of Alberta. In this episode we wanted to give you a peek into his day to day life studying to be a historian. Hopefully you’ll understand a little more what it’s actually like in the fall of 2021 to go to grad school when the pandemic’s still on, the university’s open, and most of your classwork and job are actually in person on campus.
Chris talks to Trevor about what it’s like being on campus in a pandemic (surprisingly great), feelings of FOMO picking classes, and studying with John Acorn the Nature Nut. Plus, a little bit about Tacitus and a lot of thoughts on what we owe each other (and/or the state).
The next chapter for Let’s Find Out (and Chris). Trevor Chow-Fraser asks Chris Chang-Yen Phillips to talk through his days as a wee student starting school, what the purpose of a university education is, and why he’s headed to the University of Alberta to pursue a Masters’ degree in history. In the next phase of Let’s Find Out, Chris will be sharing what he’s learning, and how. We won’t be taking…
Chris and Trevor rifle through listener questions and messages.
Part 4 of our miniseries about the Mirama Dining & Lounge dim sum restaurant: what exactly happened at the 2004 fight in the restaurant and what is there to know about Asian gangs in Edmonton around the early 2000s?
Part 3 of our miniseries about the Mirama Dining & Lounge dim sum restaurant: Mike Tulley is a former sound engineer with CJSR. Reporter Nathan Fung talks to Mike about his time working at fundraising events held at the Mirama restaurant, which were organized to help out Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN) veterans in Edmonton.
Part 2 of our miniseries about the Mirama Dining & Lounge dim sum restaurant: How does Mirama fit in the wider history of Edmonton’s Chinatown? How did business go for Mirama after the alleged gang incident in 2004? And why did Mirama eventually shut down? Reporter Nathan Fung asks Lan Chan-Marples and Games Choi for their insights.
Reporter Nathan Fung asks Grace Law what she remembers of the old Mirama restaurant on 94 St. and Jasper Ave, and what did this old dim sum place mean to her and possibly other Chinese Canadians living in Edmonton. Part 1 of a miniseries about the Mirama restaurant.
With Covid-19 rolling through all of our lives right now, we had a really basic question: how are you holding up? For this bonus episode, we held a live call-in show to find out. Karen Unland, Marlena Wyman, Jaya Chauhan, and Allan Farrell called in.
How are you doing? We’re hosting a live call-in show this week to find out. It’ll be Thursday March 26 from 10 AM – 11 AM Mountain Time, and we’ll share it later on the podcast. Join by clicking the Zoom meeting link: https://us04web.zoom.us/j/897659176
We’re back with another historical walking tour of Edmonton’s Ritchie neighbourhood, presented by the Ritchie Community League. In this bonus episode, we explore the history of meatpacking, German immigration, and iconic local species in the neighbourhood.
The way we think about a thing can totally change the way we behave. We talk about nature as if it’s something outside of us. Separate from us. In this live episode wrapping up our season on humans and nature, we present three short talks to help you shake up your ideas about what’s natural and what’s not. Luke Wonneck, Emily Riddle, and Stephen Raitz share three different lenses on how we build…
Dylan Hall and Chris Chang-Yen Phillips take a road trip to the Rockies, to figure out whether Jasper National Park is a wild place.
Join us for an afternoon of short talks at a live recording of Let’s Find Out . Throughout this season of the podcast, we’ve answered listener questions about how humans and nature have shaped each other in Edmonton. At this event, we’ll share stories that’ll really make you think about how we create nature where we live, and you’ll have a chance to get your hands dirty playing around with visions…
Marlena Wyman asks what wildlife species are so adapted to city life that they depend on the city to survive. We decided to answer with a gameshow, pitting a cockroach, a magpie, an elm, and a hare against each other to claim the title of The Most Edmonton Species.
Dustin Bajer asks whether we have a responsibility to help local species adapt to climate change by helping them migrate.
Brooklin Schneider asks us to help her find out who planted the Capilano apricots – three apricot trees growing beside the road on 75 Street.
Coming up on Sunday, September 8 we’re offering another historical walking tour of Edmonton’s Ritchie Neighbourhood. This year’s walk will be led by Oumar Salifou. Grab your free tickets here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ritchie-historical-walking-tours-tickets-66142380641
Denise Chang-Yen (yes, Chris’ mom) asks whether climate change will end up being a net benefit for farms in our area.
Shelley Jodoin-Chouinard asks if the proliferation of lawns in Edmonton has anything to do with the absence of bears in the city. More on this story: http://letsfindoutpodcast.com/2019/06/26/episode-35-bear-country/
Allan Farrell asks what’s up with a picture of a gold dredge he saw on a plaque downtown, and where the gold in the North Saskatchewan River comes from.
Alison Brooks-Starks asks how folks from Ukraine settled where they did in Canada – was it because the landscapes here looked like places in the Ukraine? To explore her question, we dug into a stack of academic research. We also went to the University of Alberta’s Pembina Hall to meet Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies Director Jars Balan. That inspired us to try making some juice from kalyna…
Amandah van Merlin asks how have dams changed our relationship with the North Saskatchewan River. To explore her question, we brought Amandah to the Provincial Archives of Alberta, to dig for files on the two dams upstream of Edmonton: the Brazeau Dam and the Bighorn Dam. We also met up with local writer Billie Milholland, author of Living in the Shed: Alberta’s North Saskatchewan River Watershed…
This year, we’re embarking on a new season of Let’s Find Out, exploring these ideas. We kicked things off with a live show at The Almanac this February. It featured short talks about humans and natural history in the Edmonton area, and games for audience members to play. In this episode, you’ll hear from Marlena Wyman, Miranda Lucas, Jacquelyn Cardinal, and Hunter Cardinal. More info and a bevy of…
From clearing the prairies with fire to planting elm trees along our streets, humans have been shaping the land in the Edmonton area for millennia. And it’s been shaping us right back. Join us Saturday, February 9 at 2 PM for an afternoon of short talks and a live recording of Let’s Find Out! Ever wondered how Edmontonians helped create the river valley parks? Curious about how lawns mould the…
