- Playing
- Shadows on Sparks Street
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- Sarah Boothroyd
140 years ago one of the Fathers of Canadian Confederation was gunned down just a few blocks from Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Thomas D’Arcy McGee remains the only Canadian federal politician ever to be assassinated. He has been called “Canada’s JFK” – a charismatic politician, poet, and journalist, shot on the doorstep to his rooming house on Sparks Street. He was killed six days before his 43rd birthday, and left behind a wife, a brother, and a 10-year-old daughter.
This is the story of Canada’s first political assassination – one that happened less than a year after the new Dominion of Canada was formed – and one that many think led to the wrongful conviction and execution of Patrick James Whelan, an Irish tailor. Shadows on Sparks Street by Sarah Boothroyd explores this mystery, drawing on various archival materials as well as the expertise of historians David Wilson and David Shanahan, as well as lawyer Lawrence Greenspon.
View related images and archival materials online at http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/features/2009/12/18/shadows-on-sparks-street-cd/ and view the short video trailer for this story at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aADI7iTszYA
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Piece Description
140 years ago one of the Fathers of Canadian Confederation was gunned down just a few blocks from Parliament Hill in Ottawa. Thomas D’Arcy McGee remains the only Canadian federal politician ever to be assassinated. He has been called “Canada’s JFK” – a charismatic politician, poet, and journalist, shot on the doorstep to his rooming house on Sparks Street. He was killed six days before his 43rd birthday, and left behind a wife, a brother, and a 10-year-old daughter.
This is the story of Canada’s first political assassination – one that happened less than a year after the new Dominion of Canada was formed – and one that many think led to the wrongful conviction and execution of Patrick James Whelan, an Irish tailor. Shadows on Sparks Street by Sarah Boothroyd explores this mystery, drawing on various archival materials as well as the expertise of historians David Wilson and David Shanahan, as well as lawyer Lawrence Greenspon.
View related images and archival materials online at http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/features/2009/12/18/shadows-on-sparks-street-cd/ and view the short video trailer for this story at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aADI7iTszYA
Broadcast History
-Broadcast nationally in Canada on CBC Radio One's IDEAS program in March, July, and December 2009
-Broadcast on Talking History on WRPI in New York in May 2010
-Broadcast on Radio Zero during the RadiaLX International Radio Art Festival in Lisbon, Portugal, in July 2010
-Awarded a Bronze World Medal in the History category of the 2010 New York Festivals Radio Awards
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