Canada’s 1950s defence sprint looked like science fiction: Arctic radar lines, a research reactor at Chalk River, and the Mach-2 Avro Arrow. In this episode of The Rum Ration, hosts Rejoy Chatterjee and Colin Robinson talk with Dr. Joanne Archibald to ask what that “blueprint era” can teach today’s Canada about NORAD modernization, Arctic posture, and industrial capacity right now.

Dr. Archibald traces how layered radar networks (Pinetree, Mid-Canada, and the DEW Line) forced binational integration and faster decision-making, while still protecting sovereignty through clear legal terms. She then unpacks Chalk River’s nuclear reactor promise and price, from the 1952 NRX accident to the 1958 NRU fire, highlighting the human cost of “build fast, learn later.” Finally, the Avro Arrow becomes a procurement case study: world-class tech without aligned strategy, buyers, and budgets.

Eight takeaways land hard: be useful to allies, pick niches, pre-delegate authority, build dual-use value, integrate industry, and govern risk early.

On this special Valentine’s Day episode of Rum Ration, retired infantry officers Colin Robinson and Rejoy Chatterjee celebrate a different kind of “Valentine”: the Infantry Tank Mk. III. They start with the martial origins of February 14th, from Saint Valentine’s defiance on behalf of soldiers to wartime traditions that kept troops connected to home. Then the story shifts to steel and diesel as Dunkirk’s disaster forces Britain to lean on Canada, a country with no tank-building tradition, to produce a finished design at speed.

At CPR’s Angus Shops in Montréal, 3,500 workers assemble 40,000 parts into the Canadian Valentine, swapping in a GM 6-71 diesel and a Browning machine gun while wrestling with early production growing pains and design changes like cast armour. The twist: most Canadian Valentines ship to the USSR via brutal Arctic convoys, where Soviet crews praise the tank, improvise solutions, and fight on. The episode closes with the Archer variant and the remarkable journey of Montréal-built Tank #838—lost in 1944, recovered decades later, and preserved today in Ottawa.

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And as always...Cheers to history! 🥂

In this special Winter Olympics episode, Rum Ration heads to St. Moritz 1948, when Canada needed to fix the national bruise of 1936. But the enemy wasn’t another team, it was the IOC’s amateur oath.

With senior clubs unable to pass the paperwork test, RCAF medical officer Squadron Leader Dr. Sandy Watson pulls a military loophole: airmen are paid for service, not hockey. In 48 hours he assembles the Ottawa RCAF Flyers, scrounges equipment, and funds the tour through 34 exhibitions, despite early public humiliation. Upgrades like George Mara and Wally Haider add bite, and midnight call-up goalie Murray Dowey arrives on a three-hour warning order and posts five shutouts.

In Switzerland, the Flyers adapt to new rules, altitude, and lopsided officiating, then go undefeated. A 0–0 tie with Czechoslovakia turns gold into goal-quotient math, so coach Frank Boucher locks it down, finishing 3–0 cleanly in slush. Gold, restored pride.

Episode 37, is the third of a three-part series where the Rum Ration Podcast works to correct the myth of French-Canadian reluctance in the world wars.

Social scientist and Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Garon joins the hosts for this episode to explain how the record-keeping in the First World War itself made francophone service “invisible”: CEF attestation papers never captured first language, so researchers leaned on crude proxies like Quebec enlistments or the 22nd Battalion's service records, when in fact there were more than 43 additional units in artillery, cavalry, engineers, medical services, signals, and support roles. The French-Canadian effort was massive, but much of it was absorbed into reinforcement pools, home defence, or imperial garrisons — roles that were essential, yet far less visible than front-line infantry combat — and overshadowed by the powerful symbol that the R22eR (Vandoos) has become of French-Canadian military service.

But when Richard re-checks individual files across Canada’s “archipelagos of francophonie,” the picture flips. He estimates roughly 76,000 francophones served in the CEF, including about 48,000 volunteers—equal to, or higher than, English-Canadian enlistment rates. The episode also revisits the Royal 22e’s impossible burden as the lone French-speaking front-line infantry battalion, paying for its reputation at Courcelette and Regina Trench, while still working inside an English command system. We close with a reminder that courage looked like the 14th Battalion's (RMR) Sergeant François Narcisse Jérôme: three Military Medals, earned during the war. It’s a reset of remembrance, and a toast to countrywide sacrifice today.

📬 Have Questions or Suggestions? Send us a message at info@rumration.ca.

Support the Podcast - If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your friends.

And as always...

Cheers to history! 🥂

Episode 36 continues our three-part series on French-Canadian participation in Canada’s world wars, with historian Julien Lehoux joining us to examine Hong Kong as Québec’s forgotten battle.

We revisit how “C Force” was assembled as a symbol of a united, bilingual Canada, including the Royal Rifles of Canada: an officially English-language regiment drawn largely from Eastern Québec, with a significant Francophone contingent. From the first shells to the Christmas Day fighting at Stanley Village, Hong Kong was Canada’s first land battle of the Second World War against impossible odds, ending in surrender, captivity, and silence.

We also discuss how POW censorship pushed Francophones to write home in English, and how veterans’ associations became their refuge decades after the war. Julien then explains how sparse Francophone press coverage, Dieppe’s emotional pull, and the Conscription Crisis redirected Remembrance, leaving Hong Kong’s volunteers outside Québec’s public memory.

For additional resources, check out Julien's paper "« Souvenons-nous de Hong Kong » : la bataille de Hong Kong et son absence mémorielle au Québec de 1941 à aujourd’hui" here and don't forget the Je Me Souviens website for their interactive online exhibition about the Canadians at Hong Kong titled “Impossible Odds.”

Episode 32 kicks off a three-part Rum Ration series that shatters the myth that French-Canadians were unwilling to serve in Canada’s wars.

Hosts Rejoy Chatterjee and Colin Robinson sit down with historians Richard Garon (First World War) and Julien Lehoux (Second World War/Hong Kong) to explain why the story is less about “reluctance” and more about barriers.

They unpack the pre-1914 climate: an English-only military culture, limited advancement for Francophones, and political flashpoints like Ontario’s Regulation XVII. Then they follow the call to arms, from the hard-won creation of the 22nd Battalion (“Van Doos”) to strong volunteerism again in 1939, even as “one-way bilingualism” persisted.

The episode also confronts the bitter legacy: conscription, riots, and how collective memory elevated Dieppe while Hong Kong’s Quebec volunteers faded from view. Next up: stay tuned for episodes that will focus on Richard’s new numbers for WWI participation, and Julien’s deep dive on Hong Kong: Québec's Forgotten Battle.

Rum Ration turns one!

In Episode 33, former infantry officers Rejoy Chatterjee and Colin Robinson celebrate together a full year of rum, banter, and battlefield history, plus their ongoing hunt for a sponsor.

Listen in as they revisit Canada’s early conflicts, from Queenston Heights to the 1775 march on Quebec, then fast-forward to Paardeberg’s “Bloody Sunday.” The First World War dominates a lot of their episodes: the grind of trenches and logistics, the Ross Rifle’s failures, and the shock of chlorine gas at Second Ypres, where Canadians and their beloved unit, The Royal Montreal Regiment (RMR), helped hold a collapsing line. Vimy Ridge returns as a turning point, alongside lessons from General Sir Arthur Currie at Vimy and in a separate episode about Hill 70.

The recap also ranges across Hong Kong, Canadian volunteers for the Vietnam war, the Sten gun, the RMR’s fight for an armory (and survival!), Hannibal’s Cannae, and the Avro Arrow vs Bomarc missile debate, before landing on the show’s core theme: selflessness, remembrance, and camaraderie, plus a teaser of what’s ahead in 2026.

Cheers to history!

In this special Christmas episode of The Rum Ration, Colin and Rejoy head to Ortona, December 1943, the “Italian Stalingrad,” where Canadians fought for every doorway. A minor port guarding Highway 16 became a fortress held “at all costs” by the German Fallschirmjäger “Green Devils,” as record rain and the Moro River’s mud turned approach routes into misery. Inside Ortona, the Loyal Edmonton Regiment and the Seaforth Highlanders improvised “mouse-holing,” blasting through adjoining walls to stay off kill-zone streets.

The cost was savage: leaders exposed, buildings booby-trapped, civilians trapped in cellars, and over 1,300 Ortonesi killed. Yet on Christmas Day, the Seaforths staged a proper dinner in a ruined church, officers serving troops, while machine guns rattled outside, a moment that even impressed nearby Germans. Days later the enemy slipped away, leaving “Bloody December” and a legacy of resilience, ritual, and hard-earned truth about the famous Ortona Dinner photo, for Canada today.

Shout out to Petula Clark for her musical inspiration!