A knowledge-based, technologically enhanced research firm which provides professional consulting services in the areas of:

  • Aboriginal Land Claims and Litigation
  • Class Action Litigation
  • Institutional Abuse Litigation
  • Health Product Liability Litigation
  • Trade Litigation
  • General Litigation
  • Social Policy
  • Other Specialized Areas
label 1
label 1

Overview

Established in 1995, Public History began as a five-person Ottawa research firm. Public History maintains its reputation for excellence in providing knowledge-based, technologically enhanced professional research. Our specialized services are used in: Aboriginal land claims and litigation; class actions and other types of civil litigation; social policy research; environmental assessment and other professional areas.

Our staff have conducted research at over 75 libraries and archival institutions in Canada and the United States. Our corporate experience working with Library and Archives Canada is extensive as we continue building our comprehensive knowledge of historical and contemporary record-keeping systems.

Public History is not an advocacy firm. We are a proven leader in our field, committed to providing objective, high-quality research. We have successfully completed over 700 policy, writing, research, and analysis projects covering a wide range of issues, including: treaty history; legislative history; policy history; and the historical context of specific events.

Some of our current and past clients include:

  • Correctional Service Canada
  • Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development
  • Department of Justice Canada
  • Law Reform Commission of Canada
  • Waswanipi First Nation
  • Long Plain First Nation
  • Office of Indian Residential Schools Resolution Canada
  • Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General
  • Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources
  • Ontario Power Generation
  • Gowling Lafleur Henderson
  • Ogilvy Renault
  • TransCanada Pipeline
label 1

SERVICES

photo

Research Services

  • Document-based research and analysis
  • Research co-ordination and planning
  • Research project management
  • Report writing

Research Resources

  • Archives
  • Libraries
  • Corporate records
  • Government records
  • Worldwide web

Products

  • Reports
  • Chronologies
  • Document collections
  • Document databases
  • Document transcripts

Additional Services

  • Document preparation and organization
  • Specialized document coding
  • Document transcription
  • Document cataloguing
  • Document scanning
  • Data management

Specialties

  • Aboriginal history and issues
  • Government policy and practice
  • Legislative history
  • Access to Information requests
  • Freedom of Information requests
  • Site histories
label 2

Mercury Court

sunlife building mercury court building

Public History’s office is located in the historic Mercury Court building at 377 Dalhousie Street in downtown Ottawa. Originally built as the RCMP Headquarters, it was later converted to house the Laroque Department Store. As Ottawa’s only francophone department store, it was an important part of the City’s bilingual culture. It closed in the early 1970’s. In 1990, the building underwent a classic transformation combining all the elements of a modern office/retail building while maintaining the architectural integrity of this 95-year-old landmark.

Mercury Court features one of Ottawa’s historic architectural features. The Statue of Mercury, which is a functioning weather vane, was originally placed on the long since demolished Sun Life Building in 1898. The statue has been lovingly preserved and provided by the National Capital Commission for public display at Mercury Court. Located in the heart of Ottawa, amidst the heritage of the Byward Market and contemporary styling of the Rideau Centre, Mercury Court’s distinctive architecture and a strategic location merge to create a dignified and distinguished business address. Mercury Court is owned by Toth Equity Limited and was redesigned by Barry Padolsky, Architect.

label 3

cp locomotive

Locomotive #5068 was built in September 1913 by the Locomotive and Machine Company of Montreal. The locomotive continuously served with the Canadian Pacific Railway from 1913 until it was decommissioned and disassembled in December 1960. This historical photograph of locomotive #5068 was taken in 1913, in Leanchoil B.C., near the Kicking Horse pass.

label 3

History in Signatures

Each year, Public History researchers see thousands of pages of historical documents bearing signatures of people whose names are more recognizable than their signatures. Visit us periodically for additions to this feature.

Prime Ministers of Canada

label 3

Careers

photo

Due to the high volume of applications we receive each year, only candidates selected for an interview will be notified.

Public History welcomes job applicants from a wide variety of academic and professional backgrounds. We offer a broad compensation package which includes a group RRSP plan; sick leave and family leave allowances; an employee health plan; and alternative and flexible work schedules. Our employees enjoy interesting and challenging work and staff events which involve both learning and recreation.

All our staff are given training, mentoring and on-going career development opportunities. We foster a collaborative, team-based work environment, providing our employees with opportunities to refine their skills. In training and developing our staff, we rely on an extensive body of corporate knowledge developed during our more than ten years of project work.

To apply for a job at Public History, please complete an application for employment and send it by e-mail at jobs@publichistory.ca, with a résumé and a non-confidential writing sample of prose. Application materials can also be sent by fax or mail to our office.

Important note: To submit a completed job application by e-mail requires the full version of Adobe Acrobat.

label 5

contact

photo

377 Dalhousie St.,
Suite 200
Ottawa, ON
K1N 9N8

T: 613-236-0713  
F: 613-236-3961

Owners & Executive Management

Katherine O'Connor, M.A.

Co-President, Research Operations
k.oconnor@publichistory.ca

Pia Newell Santiago, Hon. B. Sc.

Co-President, Business Operations
p.newellsantiago@publichistory.ca

Aileen Baird, M.A.

Principal
a.baird@publichistory.ca

Betsey Baldwin, Ph.D.

Principal
b.baldwin@publichistory.ca

Gerard Hartley, M.A.

Principal
g.hartley@publichistory.ca

Stuart Manson, Hon. B.A.

Principal
s.manson@publichistory.ca

Tammy Robinson, Hon. B.A.

Principal
t.robinson@publichistory.ca

Administration

Sarah Montgomery

Office Administrator
s.montgomery@publichistory.ca

Kelly Johnston

Office Administrator and Associate
k.johnston@publichistory.ca

label 5
label 3
http://www.publichistory.ca/
www.publichistory.ca
crawl=CC-MAIN-2014-15
25194
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:VYCPPBNF7JAAMYMLOJO3RAUIMYBEO2Z3
<urn:uuid:87daeb8d-0adf-48e9-8782-b51f97cd357f>
2014-04-21T09:36:05Z
216.251.43.11
sha1:FXZNI6LBA4CW4ZENHCGYP7YNFKFLVAVV
<urn:uuid:5c3fb7ab-2fc5-4be2-bdd3-283fcec97a7f>
http://www.publichistory.ca/
length
response
<urn:uuid:cf14d858-42f6-4090-8aa0-43aa52a92af0>
robots: classic
hostname: ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal
software: Nutch 1.6 (CC)/CC WarcExport 1.0
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2014-15
operator: CommonCrawl Admin
description: Wide crawl of the web with URLs provided by Blekko for April 2014
publisher: CommonCrawl
format: WARC File Format 1.0
conformsTo: http://bibnum.bnf.fr/WARC/WARC_ISO_28500_version1_latestdraft.pdf