Table Of ContentTelling Stories of Food, Community and Meaning Lives in
Post-1945 North Bay, Ontario
by
Jennifer Beatrice Evans
A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements
for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy
Graduate Department of History
University of Toronto
© Copyright by Jennifer Beatrice Evans (2015)
Telling Stories of Food, Community and Meaningful Lives in Post-1945
North Bay, Ontario
Jennifer Beatrice Evans
Doctor of Philosophy
Graduate Department of History
University of Toronto
2015
Abstract
“Telling Stories of Food, Community and Meaningful Lives” uses the memories of
nearly seventy women who lived in northern Ontario during the post-1945 period. These women
represent a diverse cross-section of the population including English- and Franco-Ontarians,
European immigrants as well as Anishinaabe and Métis peoples. Although northern Ontario has
been understood as a white and masculine space, this project provides a corrective narrative by
uniting the food stories of Euro-Canadian and Indigenous women to consider cross-cultural
perspectives, inter-relationships as well as complex racial, colonial and religious dynamics. This
project largely argues that women from diverse backgrounds used food to negotiate the physical,
cultural and ideological spaces they inhabited. For these women, food and its related activities
became a critical site for identity formation and a sense of belonging but also a source of fear,
loneliness, exclusion and discrimination.
Each chapter is organized to examine a facet of women’s food experiences. Chapter 1
analyzes how the North and northern Ontario impacted the availability and cost of food, and the
strategies women used to ensure they obtained food including berry-picking, hunting and
fishing. In chapter 2, I combine women’s memories and cooking literature to consider the ways
women learned to cook as well as the imaginative, transformative and healing elements of
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preparing dishes. Chapter 3 discusses the complex connections between food and family
relationships, as episodes of familial happiness were recalled alongside those of struggle,
neglect and abuse. Chapter 4 looks at the consumption of food-related items and technologies as
the fulfillment of creativity, desires and cultural norms as well as a symbolic movement away
from the pains and struggles of their past. And finally, chapter 5 investigates the community
building and interactions centered on the making, eating and sharing of food.
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Acknowledgments
I have been privileged to benefit from the support of two dynamic an dgenerous feminist
mentors. I first met Franca Iacovetta in 2007 ,as she came to North Bay to give a keynote
address at Nipissing University organized by Katrina Srigley. As blizzar-dlike conditions
threatened to shut down the university (a common occurrence in North Bay), I found myself in
awe by Franca’s presence as she gave her talk and, most of all, by the time she put aside to meet
and talk with undergraduate students. Since this time, Franca has become my supervisor and
mentor pushing me to develop and sharpen my skills as a researcher and writer, providing me
with exceptional opportunities and introductions in academia and, consistently reminding me
through her example, about the importance of teaching and maintaining an enthusiasm for our
students. I am more than happy to be known as one of “Franca’s girls.” Without reservation, I
can say I would not be where I am without the teachings, support and intellectual generosity of
Katrina Srigley. After meeting over ten years ago in her oral history seminar at Nipissing
University, Katrina has guided me through life in academia, challenged me to develop my skills
as a researcher, teacher and writer, and most importantly, offered me her friendship. She has
invited me into her home and family, providing delicious food, a place to stay and a sounding
board during too-many-to-count research trips to North Bay.
I have benefited from the support of many professors. As members of my committee,
Elspeth Brown and Steve Penfold asked probing questions, made insightful observations and
provided constructive feedback. I am grateful as they both really came to shape and improve this
dissertation project. Hilary Earl and the late Anne Clendinning, consistently encouraged my
efforts, informed my feminist sensibilities and provided positive role models. For their help and
guidance at various points, I would also like to thank Heidi Bohaker, Davina Joseph, Barbara
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Lorenzkowski, James Murton, Françoise Noël (who generously shared interviews and images),
Jan Noel, Ian Radforth and Rob Teigrob.
As close friends, I would like to express my gratitude to Camille Bégin, Laura Glass,
Stefanie Kennedy, Kyra Knapp, Noula Mina, Kathryn Segesser and, especially, Erika Harding
and Cheryl Partridge. They provided me with perspective, helpful advice, the occasional glass of
wine (or two) and their friendship. Thanks also to friends and colleagues Dale Barbour, Bret
Edwards, Sean Graham, Stacy Hushion, Kirsten James, Benjamin Landsee, Alexandra Logue,
Vojin Majstorović, Jonathan McQuarrie, Lindsay Sidders and Michael Wilcox.
I have been lucky to benefit from the financial support of numerous grants. Thanks to the
generosity of the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program, the Jeanne Amour Graduate
Scholarship, the University of Toronto Fellowship, the School of Graduate Studies Travel Grant
and the Women’s Canadian History Society of Toronto Fellowship.
Thanks also to the assistance from various libraries and archives: Archives of Ontario,
Institute for Community Studies and Oral History (Nipissing University), Multicultural History
Society of Ontario, Nipissing First Nation Library, Nipissing University Library, Ontario Jewish
Archives, Toronto Reference Library and the William Ready Division of Archives and Research
Collections (McMaster University).
To my family, thank you for your love, patience and support. Thanks to Kathy and Kerry
Leitch, for raking up their long distance phone bill as they caught up on my progress from
Florida. Many thanks to my siblings and their expanding families: Janice Evans and Andrew
Rooke as well as Scott Evans, Lana Kern and Tyler Evans. My sister-in-law Mandie Sulker
always seemed to know when I needed a reassuring phone call or text, and I am grateful for her
friendship. My brother Jonathan Evans never ceases to help me laugh and smile, and he has
been a constant source of positivity, understanding and encouragement in my life. My parents
Sandra and David Evans have moved me countless time, picked me up from train and bus
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stations when they knew I needed to recharge (eat and sleep) and taken great pride in all I have
accomplished. More than anything, they have provided me with emotional support as well as
their unwavering belief in my abilities—thank you.
And finally, thank you to the women who shared their memories. They invited me to
have tea and cake in their homes, over which they shared the intimate, happy and difficult
moments of their lives.
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For my mom, dad and brother
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Table of Contents
Abstract ii
Acknowledgements iv
List of Figures ix
Introduction 1
I. Growing, Hunting and Finding Foods in Northern Ontario 27
II. Reading Cookbooks, Creating Real and Imaginary Spaces 67
III. Intimate Lives, Intimate Food Spaces 111
IV. Designing Women: Filling Up Home and Kitchen Spaces 145
V. Community Bonds, Community Divides 185
Conclusion 214
Bibliography 222
viii
List of Figures
Figure 1: “Welcome: Gateway of the North.” Kiwanis Souvenir Book, 1959. Image courtesy of
Françoise Noël. Printed with permission of the Kiwanis Club of Nipissing, North Bay, Ontario.
21
Figure 2: “Wholesome Youth and the Great Outdoors.”N orth Bay Nugget: Summer Guide
1952-1953. Printed with permission of the North Bay Nugget. 34
Figure 3: “All Dressed Up…and a Week to Go.” North Bay Nugget. 22 September 1956. Printed
with permission of the North Bay Nugget. 62
Figure 4: “The Daily Nugget Cook Book.” North Bay Nugget. 25 February 1958. Printed with
permission of the North Bay Nugget. 86
Figure 5: “Home Builders’ Page.” North Bay Nugget, October 1957. Printed with permission of
the North Bay Nugget. 152
Figure 6: “Davedi Kitchen in Action,” “Davedi Club, North Bay Ontario: The First 25 Years,
1953-1978.” Institute for Community Studies and Oral History. Nipissing University, North
Bay, Ontario. Printed with permission of The Ladies Auxiliary, the Davedi Club, North Bay,
Ontario. 194
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1
Introduction:
Welcome to the Gateway of the North
During her interview, Pamela Handley shared a snapshot under the famous welcome
sign, “Gateway of the North: City of North Bay.” It captured her standing sharply with her dark
blazer, hands folded in pant pockets and short-bobbed hair. Like other tourists, passerbys and
residents entering North Bay, Ontario, Handley posed under this sign to take a postcard-like
photograph marking her entry into northern Ontario. The sign and moniker represented a
particular conceptualization of the city. As a 1960 vacation brochure explained of the sign,
“It is a true symbol of the north…its spirit…its people…its industry…its way of life. On
passing through the famous gateway one suddenly feels the intangible spirits that is the
‘Northern Way of Life.’ For here we are home again, in the land of lakes and forests, of
cities and towns, of farms and mines, of lumber and pulpwood. Here in the north we find
true friendships regardless of racial origin, religious differences, education or monetary
1
wealth. Here people are judged on merit and not by what they represent.”
North Bay was posed as the entry point for northern Ontario. Passing under the sign women and
men, the public relations material declared, left behind the complicated class, ethno-racial and
religious dynamics of southern Ontario. They entered into an idyllic setting where they were
accepted and judged individually on the basis of ability, values and work ethic. This region
offered wildlife, the rugged outdoors and a rural landscape as well as the amenities of modern
city-life. A reportedly positive and tolerant space, people could easily form a homelike
attachment and adopt the northern way and pace of life. The sign, and the city, framed itself as
the gateway to northern Ontario—a transition into a new space on both physical and imagined
levels.
Many women, like Pamela Handley, passed under the well-known “Gateway of the
North” sign, symbolically signaling their entrance into northern Ontario. British-born Handley
first passed under the Gateway sign in 1957, meeting her husband and eventually building her
1
“The Gateway That Refused to Die,” North Bay Nugget, July 1960.
2
Pamela Handley, interview with author, 8 May 2009. Unless otherwise indicated all interviews were conducted by
