The History Department Mourns the Loss of Carman Bickerton (1930-2025)
On July 23, one of our former colleagues in the History Department, Professor Carman Bickerton, passed away. Those of you who had the good fortune to know him will remember his incredible good cheer and infectious laugh. Another former colleague, Del Muise, has written some rememberances:
CARMAN
Occasionally in life we are fortunate to encounter someone who you instantly recognize as an uber friend. I have been lucky to have a few. Carman was one; instantly relatable and somehow after a few minutes as if I had known him all my life. Our first encounter was in 1964 when he appeared as an examiner for my Masters thesis at Carleton, his first real encounter with a student after coming to Carleton just a month earlier.
Within hours we became close friends based on our mutual Nova Scotia roots; but also because of a common intellectual formation and similar interests in history. No matter the periods of separation over the six following decades, we actively shared mutual interest in regional and public history. His first question whenever we met was inevitably “What are you reading these days?”. It was often the start of a long conversation. We participated in a revolution in regional history that still is happening.
He had met his future wife Dorothy while doing graduate work in England, she in chemistry and he in history. They married shortly after their return to Canda. Before coming to Carleton, Carman spent a few years as the chief historian for the Fortress Louisbourg, a Parks Canada restoration project just starting in Cape Breton.
He came to Carleton in 1964, a cross appointment with the Institute of Canadian Studies, where he served as associate director with Rob MacDougall. There, he helped develop the Carleton Library project of original and reprints in Canadian studies. He had a profound impact on the development of their very innovative Masters program. He taught in both the history department and Canadian Studies, mostly courses on imperial and colonial history. But Carman, always the ultimate academic pinch-hitter, could teach most anything.
When I joined the department in 1978, after a decade with the National Museum of Man (now the Museum of Canadian History), we became close colleagues in the Canadian field and he helped redesign the honours program. Later in the 1980s he took a two-year secondment with the Department of Foreign Affairs to do research for the Gulf of Maine fishery and resource treaty that would eventually be signed by Canada and the United States. The massive study he completed is a benchmark for that area and also made him one of the leading experts on fishing relations between Canada and the United States. Back in the history department he helped develop our Masters in Public History, offering a distinctive approach based on his large experience in various fields.
Over the four decades of his tenure Carman was a consistent presence within the history department. He was a wonderful friend to everyone; especially the many graduate students and young faculty members who crossed his path. He was part of that second generation of faculty, along with such colleagues as Naomi Griffiths, Blair Neatby, Peter King, etc., all of whom were appointed around the same time. Together they oversaw a threefold expansion of the department, from about 8-10 in the early 1960s to almost thirty by the end of the 1970s.
Beyond the university Carman had an active role in developing local history with the Rideau Township Heritage Board, serving as its chair for some time and helping to organize their library and archival holdings into a few important publications. He was an excellent editor and organiser; so helped with the structuring of the activities of the Society, which continues to serve as a model for local historical societies in Ontario.
In his later life he became intrigued with a French surveyor who had operated in Rideau Township in the early 19th century. He never completed the biography he was working on, but did manage a brief entry in the Rideau Township website at: Theodore De Pencier: The Intriguing Life & Times of the Pioneer Surveyor of Marlborough Township – Rideau Township Historical Society
For me, Carmen was at first a mentor and always a friend. He and Dorothy frequently welcomed me at their Manotick home, particularly as I moved from place to place in my commuting between Cape Breton and Ottawa. He visited me a couple of times in Margaree; once with two of his brothers on a mission to visit another brother in Sydney. We played a lot of cribbage and told a lot of stories.
He was thrilled in recent months with the downfall of Pierre Poilievre, who he considered a carpet-bagger of the worst sort. And what a shame he is not around to see this year’s continuing revival of his beloved Blue Jays. Dorothy was as big a fan as Carman and I and always pointed out strategies we mostly missed.
He and Dorothy followed their two sons Angus and Steve around many early morning hockey games and every competitive baseball game within reach; as well as various precision skating performances by their daughter Carolyn. They shared all their kids’ accomplishments with me, which were only exceeded in pride of place with the arrival of grandchildren.
I miss him already and he is hardly gone.
You can find Carman’s obituary here: https://ottawacitizen.remembering.ca/obituary/carman-bickerton-1093008267