Trent University. Canadian Studies Department

The Canadian Studies department at Trent University was founded in 1972. Professor Alan Wilson was founding Chair of the department serving until 1984. John Wadland was Acting Chair from 1979-1980 and became Chair in 1984 until succeeded by Christl Verduyn in 1993. Jim Struthers became Acting Chair in 1997. For further information about the Department and its leadership over the years, see A.O.C. Cole, Trent: The Making of a University, pp. 126-129; D'Arcy Jenish, Trent University: Celebrating 50 Years of Excellence, 2014; and the course calendars (available in the Archives Reading Room).

TRENT CANADIAN STUDIES TIMELINE

Assembled by John Wadland

• 1964 – T.H.B. Symons, founding President of Trent University, noted in his inaugural address that “it is the hope and wish of everyone associated with Trent University that it may become in the fullness of time a useful and significant centre for Canadian Studies.”

• 1966 – Volume 1, No. 1, Journal of Canadian Studies. Published at Trent University, Denis Smith, Founding Editor. Subsequent Trent Editors: Ralph Heintzman, John Wadland, Michael Peterman, Michèle Lacombe, Stephen Bocking, Robert Campbell, Christl Verduyn, Marian Bredin. Trent Managing Editors and Assistants: Arlene Davis, Margaret Pearce, Jill Smith, Kerry Cannon.

• 1971—Formation of the Canadian Studies Program Committee (appointed by T.H.B. Symons and chaired by Alan Wilson) charged with the responsibility of hiring its first instructor. The Canadian Studies Program is to be the first formally interdisciplinary program established at Trent University. It becomes the model for all subsequent interdisciplinary programs. The permanent interdisciplinary Canadian Studies Program Committee eventually assembled by Alan Wilson included faculty and students from all the Humanities and Social Science disciplines and even some from the Sciences. It remained a fixture of the Program from 1971 to 2007, meeting routinely to determine the direction of the Program. It was truly a co-operative and inclusive project.

• Key faculty players in the earliest days of the Canadian Studies Program Committee: Canadian Studies: Alan Wilson (Chair), John Wadland, Jim Struthers, Jamie Benidickson. Politics: Vaughan Lyon, David Cameron, Bob Paehlke, Denis Smith, Joe Wearing, Margaret Doxey, Bill Neville. Philosophy: Lionel Rubinoff, John Burbidge. Geography: Peter Adams, George Nader, Al Brunger, John Marsh. English: Gordon Johnston, Michael Peterman, Gordon Roper, Orm Mitchell, Sean Kane. Indigenous Studies: Harvey McCue, Don McCaskill, Marlene Castellano, Fred Wheatley. History: Dale Standen, Elwood Jones, Douglas McCalla, W.L. Morton, John Jennings, Brian Heeney, Walter Pitman, Alf Cole, Bob Page, Bruce Hodgins. Sociology: Sandy Lockhart, Paul Reed, Roy Bowles. French: Jean-Pierre Lapointe, Fred Harper, Alan Franklin. Anthropology: Kenneth Kidd, Joan Vastokas. Canadiana Librarians: Jack Martin, Anna McCalla, Anne Taylor-Vaisey. Sciences: Roy Edwards, Ian Chapman. Writer-in-Residence and Chancellor: Margaret Laurence.

• 1972 –John Wadland joins Canadian Studies Program

• 1972 – CAST offers its first interdisciplinary core course, Canadian Studies 200 (Canada: The Land). The Canadian Studies mandate was to create an interdisciplinary program of which the first core course would set the model. The interdisciplinary dimension of this course was thematic, “The Land” being identifiable in terms understood differently by many disciplines, by many regions and peoples of Canada. An interdisciplinary course very quickly avoids absolutes and demands a conversation governed by rigorous critical thinking. To guarantee that students came armed with an understanding of what constitutes a discipline, the committee determined that the Canadian Studies Program would begin in 2nd year with the Land course, it being assumed at the time that student course choices in first year would all be based within the traditional disciplines. As a core course it would be required of all CAST majors. At each of the 300 and 400 levels, there was to be a core course, also broadly interdisciplinary, also required of majors. The theoretical dimension of all 3 interdisciplinary core courses would constitute the central framework for the content. The balance of a student’s course load in the CAST portion of their degree program would be Canadian content courses cross-listed with cognate departments. Some of these courses would be taught by CAST faculty. (Interestingly, CAST core courses were cross-listed by several departments.)

• 1972 – Alan Wilson appointed Chair of Canadian Studies (to 1984)

• 1972 – First Canadian Studies Temagami Field Trip. Launched initially (and for the first 30 years) as a field trip in the second-year core course, “Canada: The Land”. In 2003 it is renamed the Trent Temagami Colloquium and, since then, has been directed jointly by Stephen Hill (ERS, Trent) and Peter Andrée (Politics, Carleton). The trip was not offered in 2019 owing to kitchen repairs at Wanapitei. In 2021 it was not offered again owing to the COVID 19 pandemic. In 2022 it will be offered in what should have been its 50th Anniversary. The annual Temagami Trip began on Thursday and lasted until Sunday featuring evening lectures and seminars, readings, a square dance, canoe excursions on neighbouring lakes, hikes into the interior. Of special importance was the relationship established between Trent students and faculty and the community of Bear Island. Chief Gary Potts became closely associated with the Trip and eventually took courses at Trent. In 1988, his leadership of the Red Squirrel Blockade, based at Wanapitei, included the Bear Island (Teme-Augama Anishinaabe) community and many students and Faculty from Trent.

• 1973 – CAST offers its second interdisciplinary core course, Canadian Studies 300 (Canada: Communities and Identities).

• 1973 – John Wadland and Bob Page represent Trent University at the inaugural meeting of the Association for Canadian Studies at Queen’s University. The meeting was chaired by Stan McMullin, then at the University of Waterloo, later at Carleton.

• 1974 – CAST offers its third interdisciplinary core course, Canadian Studies 400 (Canada: Culture and Communication).

• 1974 – First Trent graduates with CAST “Emphasis”. CAST was not permitted to identify itself as a “Major” until somewhat later. Indeed, following abandonment of the “Emphasis” Canadian Studies could only be taken as a “Joint Major” with an established discipline. Not until the 1990s could an undergraduate student undertake a “Single Major” in Canadian Studies.

• 1975 – Ralph Heintzman, Editor Journal of Canadian Studies (to 1980)

• 1975 – John Wadland, Associate Editor Journal of Canadian Studies (to 1980 and again, with John Milloy, 1993-1995)

• 1975 – Report of the T.H.B. Symons AUCC Commission on Canadian Studies, To Know Ourselves

• 1975 – “Conference on Canadian Publishing” organized by Canadian Studies (Alan Wilson), English (Gordon Roper), Writers Union of Canada (Graeme Gibson). Proceedings published in JCS. At this conference was created the Canadian Book and Periodical Development Council (now the Book and Periodical Council).

• 1976—Tom Symons made an Officer of the Order of Canada

• 1977 – Jim Struthers joins the Canadian Studies Program

• 1977 – John Wadland, first recipient of the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching

• 1978—1984 the annual 4-day Canadian Images Film Festival at Trent University initiated by Canadian Studies (John Wadland) and English (Orm Mitchell) who remained Executive Directors until 1980, followed by Su Ditta to 1984. In the planning stages from 1976 and assisted in its development by Gerald Pratley, Director of the Ontario Film Institute. During its 7-year history, Canadian Images annually screened hundreds of films in 5 categories: Features, Documentaries, Animated, Experimental and Children’s films, taking over all the theatres on campus and in Peterborough theatres downtown. It also mounted a high-profile Photography component. Over the years an extraordinary array of speakers came to Trent, addressing audiences in panels on topics like “The State of the Industry” and “The State of the Art”: Michael Snow, Joyce Wieland, David Silcox, Michael Levine, Martin Knelman, Liam Lacey, Harry Gulkin, Budge Crawley, Al Razutis, Seth Feldman, Norman Jewison, Fil Fraser, Bruce Elder, Joyce Mason, Varda Burstyn, Martyn Burke, Peter Raymont, Andrew Sarris, Louis Applebaum, Robin Wood, Sophie Bissonette, Laura Sky, Joyce Rock, Paul Cowan, Peter Harcourt, Pierre Berton, Kirwin Cox, Dan Weinzweig, Sandra Gathercole, Michael McCabe, Sid Adilman, Ian McLaren, Seamus Flannery, John Sharkey, Len Klady, Jay Scott, Bob Verrall, Jonathan Welsh, Jim Henshaw, Susan Hogan, Michael Hogan, John Doyle, Francois Dupuis, Jean-Pierre Lefebvre, Linda Beath, Zuzana Pick, Glen Richards, John Forbes, Rick Hancox, Ross McLaren, Ted Riley, Bart Testa, Kay Armitage, John Greyson, Paul Wong, Lisa Steele, Lulu Keating, Lorraine Monk, John and Janet Foster, Jennifer Dickson, George Whiteside, Geoffrey James, Martha Langford, Gabor Szilasi, Sandra Semchuk, David Bierk, Francis Fox, etc. A number of young Trent students and recent graduates fulfilled major administrative roles at Canadian Images, some later going on to careers in filmmaking, and graphic arts, others into acting and arts administration: Margo Welch, Bradford Gorman, Jane Doidge, Bay Weyman, Annie McClelland, Su Ditta and Susan Newman. After the closing of Canadian Images in 1984, the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) picked up the ball, launching “Perspectives Canada” in 1984. Eventually (2001) this morphed into two separate programs at TIFF: “Canada First!” and “Short Cuts Canada”, the first emphasizing feature films, the latter shorts and documentaries. TIFF began in 1976 as “The Festival of Festivals”. Piers Handling, later CEO of TIFF, was a programmer for Canadian Images. Trent University copyrighted the name, “Canadian Images” which, in 2002-03, became the title of a course on Canadian visual culture offered by the undergraduate Department of Canadian Studies. Cultural Studies (Kelly Egan) has also initiated an annual program in Experimental Film called “Canadian Images in Conversation”.

• 1980 – John Wadland, Editor, Journal of Canadian Studies (to 1984)

• 1980 – Michael Peterman, Associate Editor, Journal of Canadian Studies (to 1984)

• 1980 – Canadian Studies and History colleagues combine to organize a campaign to endow the annual W.L. Morton Lecture in memory of our colleague Bill Morton, first Vanier Professor, first Master of Champlain College, and Chancellor of Trent, 1977-80.

• 1980-1984 – The Journal of Canadian Studies faced difficult times following the creation of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council which took over the funding of scholarly journals from the Canada Council in 1978-79. In 1979-80 the JCS was also hit by new regulations from Canada Post requiring a reduction in its mailing size and weight. In 1980-81 the Editors reformatted the publication to meet the new postal and SSHRC requirements, in addition purchasing (with the assistance of a grant from the Bronfman Foundation) a used typesetter on which, with the help of Louis Taylor, it set the next several years of issues. Increased costs were also accommodated by a new policy of selling typesetting to other publications, including the Trent University Calendar. Until 1984 Editors of the JCS performed their duties on overload from full teaching loads. In 1984-85 the University Administration finally initiated a policy of allowing Editors an annual course reduction.

• 1980 – Ontario Council on University Affairs (OCUA) establishes “Differentiation Grants” available to universities “which accepted a clearly differentiated role, demonstrated an intention to pursue their strengths efficiently and effectively and required special funding to drop disciplinary graduate programs in favour of multidisciplinary ‘umbrella programs’ in areas where it had special strengths and the ability to make a distinctive contribution to post-secondary education in Ontario.” Trent qualifies for and receives an annual Differentiation Grant in deference to its commitment to drop discipline-based graduate programs (History, Physics and Chemistry) in favour of interdisciplinary programs (Canadian Studies, Freshwater and Watershed Ecosystems, Art and Archaeology, at that time).

• 1980-1982 – Trent establishes the MASSH Committee to explore the possibility of developing an interdisciplinary MA program in the Social Sciences and Humanities.

• 1981 – Encouraged by Professor Sandy Lockhart, President Donald Theall applies to SSHRC under the new program of “Special Grants to Small Universities in Aid of Research and Research Training Capacities” requesting funding of $25,000 annually for three years to foster the creation of “a research centre through which interdisciplinary research and graduate teaching in specifically Canadian focused social science and humanities subjects may be encouraged, supported and integrated.”

• 1981—Margaret Laurence appointed Trent University Chancellor (to 1983)

• 1981 – John Wadland Recipient of City of Peterborough Civic Award of Merit

• 1982 – Windy Pine (now the Windy Pine Conference Centre) in Haliburton assumed by Canadian Studies Program, with endowment, from Mary Northway and Flora Morrison. This 25-acre property on Lake Kushog serves as a conference centre, retreat, meeting and workshop venue for faculty, staff and students associated with Canadian Studies. In its early years it was maintained almost entirely by faculty and students. Not until the University established detailed risk assessment procedures in the years following 2000 did Trent require a more formal policy of staffing and maintaining the site. Skilled carpenters and regular tradespeople have included Ken Yates, Jack Scott, Don Stewart and Dave Vasey, among others.

• 1982 – Creation of the Frost Centre for Canadian Heritage and Development Studies (now the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies). Initially a research centre without a graduate program.

• 1982 – Alan Wilson chairs the search committee choosing Sandy Lockhart (Sociology) as the first Director of the Frost Centre (to 1985)

• 1982 – Frost Centre receives $25,000 each year (to 1987) from the SSHRC Aid to Small Universities Program.

• 1982 – Jim Struthers Guest Editor, JCS, Special Theme Issue on “Multiculturalism: The Second Decade.”

• 1983 – Premier William Davis attends a special convocation celebrating the 20th anniversary of Trent University and formally announces the launch of the Frost Centre for Canadian Heritage and Development Studies. On this occasion the Centre is named for Leslie Frost, former Premier of Ontario and the first Chancellor of Trent University. The undergraduate Canadian Studies Program was the residuary legatee of his estate. The endowment created by this gift was later transferred to the Frost Centre by the Canadian Studies Program.

• 1984 – John Wadland, Chair of Canadian Studies (to 1993)

• 1984 – Alan Wilson returns .7 to the History Department but retains a .3 affiliation with Canadian Studies.

• 1984 – Michael Peterman, Editor of Journal of Canadian Studies (to 1993)

• 1984—Jim Struthers, Associate Editor, Journal of Canadian Studies (to 1987)

• 1984 – 1988 annual “Anti-Nuclear Symposium” organized by Canadian Studies (John Wadland) and Physics (Alan Slavin).

• 1984 – Robert Page recipient of the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching

• 1985 – Council of Ontario Universities (COU) certifies that the Frost Centre has passed its appraisal and is now authorized to offer the M.A. degree. The appraisers are Malcolm Ross (Dalhousie), Fred Wien (Dalhousie) and J.G. Nelson (Waterloo). The Frost Centre M.A. program features three interdisciplinary clusters (Environment and Heritage; Regionalism; Native (now Indigenous) Studies), each of which offers a course. Students are required to complete two cluster courses in addition to the Colloquium. They must also write a thesis supervised by a committee and examined by an external examiner. Governance of the Frost Centre is based in a Board. Membership on the Frost Centre Board includes faculty and graduate students. No effort in this document has been made to include all the names of Board or Board committee members over the years. Suffice it to say that the Board is always chaired by the Director with the membership rotating through all the faculty directly involved in the Centre’s activities, priority being accorded to graduate student supervision.

• 1985 – Robert Page, Director of the Frost Centre (to 1986)

• 1985 - 1986 – John Marsh, Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies, Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan.

• 1985 – “Price of Progress” Conference organized by Canadian Studies (John Wadland and Jim Struthers)) and Politics (Ted Schrecker and Robert Paehlke)

• 1986 – The first talk in the Northern Chair Lecture Series features Justice Thomas Berger. The funds for the original $750,000 Northern Chair Lecture endowment were raised from two sources: (1) a detailed grant application to Secretary of State, Canada, from the Frost Centre authored by Sandy Lockhart, Larry Gemmell and John Wadland and (2) matching money authorized by the Trent Board of Governors chaired by Jon Grant. The Northern Chair Lecture series continued until 2006 after which (2008) it was redefined to become the Roberta Bondar Post-Doctoral Fellowship in Northern and Polar Studies, to recognize the work of Chancellor Bondar. By this time the endowment exceeded $1 million. The list of speakers in the Northern Chair Series is truly breathtaking. After Tom Berger came Terence Armstrong, Peter Schledermann, Dennis Patterson, John Parker, Fred Roots, Mary Simon, Jill Oakes, Ric Riewe, Mathew Coon-Come, Boyce Richardson, Harvey Feit, Mary Ellen Turpel, Alan Penn, Gary Potts, Hugh Brody, Chris Burn, Leonard Barrie, Ian Sterling, Rob Macdonald, Robert Conover, Leo Norwegian, George Blondin, Elizabeth Mackenzie, Paul Wright, Tom Andrews, Joan Barnaby, Douglas Stenton, Peter Adams, Ludger Muller-Wille, Peter Doran and Joseph Boyden. Bondar Post-Doctoral Fellows to date: Scott Heyes (2009-2011), Allice Legat (2012-2014), Rafico Ruiz (2015-2017), Lisa Janz (2017-2019), Mark Stoller 2019-2022). The Northern Chair Lectures were, and the Bondar Fellowship continues to be administered by the Frost Centre and School for the Study of Canada.

• 1986 – First external appraisal of the undergraduate Canadian Studies Program (Alan Artibise, University of Victoria)

• 1986 – Bruce Hodgins, Director of the Frost Centre (to 1992)

• 1986 – John Milloy Recipient of the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching

• 1986 – OCUA approves funding for the Frost Centre M.A. program

  • 1986 – First M.A. students admitted to the Frost Centre

• 1986 – John Wadland Recipient of the Secretary of State, Canada Award for Excellence in the Teaching of Canadian Studies

• 1986-1987 – The final year for the receipt of the $25,000 SSHRC grant under the Program of Aid to Small Universities. After the 1986-87 academic year the grant was divided between the Frost Centre and the newly created Methodologies graduate program.

• 1987 – John Wadland, External Appraisal of the Canadian Studies Program, Laurentian University.

• 1987 – Conference on “New Economics” organized by Canadian Studies and Politics

• 1987—Robert Campbell, Associate Editor, Journal of Canadian Studies (to 1988)

• 1987 – Formal bequest of Windy Pine to the Canadian Studies Program by Mary Northway. Mary Northway also leaves an estate of $2.6 million to Trent University, $500,000 of which is earmarked for the undergraduate Canadian Studies Program.

• 1987—With the support of Alan Franklin and the French Section, Modern Languages Department, CAST introduces Canadian Studies Pilot Seminars in French

• 1988 – Margaret Laurence Tribute organized by Canadian Studies (John Wadland), Women’s Studies (Christl Verduyn) and English (Orm Mitchell). Proceedings of the conference component published. Readings to packed houses by Al Purdy, Alice Munro, Pierre Berton, Roo Boorson, Timothy Findley, Robert Kroetsch, W.O. Mitchell, Adele Wiseman, and many others. Poet George Johnston was MC. This occasion generated two separate endowments: (1) for the Margaret Laurence Lecture, and (2) for the Margaret Laurence Writer-in-Residence Fellowship. The poster advertising the occasion featured a drawing of Margaret that we commissioned from Harold Town, then still living at his home on the Old Norwood Road. This image is now used for the annual Margaret Laurence Lecture.

• 1988 – Michèle Lacombe joins Canadian Studies Program.

• 1988 – Alan Wilson Recipient of the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching

• 1988 – James Allum (Governor General’s Gold Medal) first student to graduate from the Frost Centre M.A. program.

• 1988 – Robert Campbell Co-Editor Journal of Canadian Studies (to 1990)

• 1989 – Conference on Lord Durham and the Durham Report organized by Canadian Studies (Alan Wilson) and Politics (Jim Driscoll). Proceedings published in JCS.

• 1989 – Retirement of Alan Wilson – Alan Wilson Reading Room established at Kerr House, Traill College, to recognize Professor Wilson’s dedicated service to the Canadian Studies Program.

• 1989 – Joan Sangster Recipient of the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching

• 1989 – Canadian Studies faculty and friends of the Program and from all the cognate disciplines join together to raise funds to establish an endowment to create and maintain the Alan Wilson Reading Room in Kerr House, Traill College.

• 1989 – Bruce Hodgins, John Eddy, Shelagh Grant and Jim Struthers, eds. Federalism in Canada and Australia: Historical Perspectives, 1920-1988. Canadian Heritage and Development Studies, Trent University, 1989.

• 1989 – Tom Whillans (ERS) and John Wadland (CAST) launch their 4th year Honours research course on Bioregionalism which evolves ultimately into U-LINKS (in Haliburton) and the Trent Centre for Community-Based Education (in Peterborough).

• 1990 – Joan Sangster and Christl Verduyn organize 'Moving Forward: Creating a Feminist Agenda for the 1990s Conference' at Trent University

• 1990-1992 – Dr. Katharine Arnup, SSHUC Post-Doctoral Fellowship with Joan Sangster.

• 1991 – Michèle Lacombe, Associate Editor Journal of Canadian Studies (to 1993)

• 1992 – Conference on “Religion in Canada” organized by Michèle Lacombe Canadian Studies) and John Burbidge (Philosophy). Proceedings published in JCS.

• 1992 – John Wadland Recipient of the OCUFA Teaching Award

• 1992 – John Wadland Recipient of the Association for Canadian Studies Award of Merit

• 1992 – Carolyn Sarah Thomson Scholarship established by the late Carolyn Sarah Thomson, a Canadian Studies graduate who was intensely loyal to Trent and to the people -- faculty, staff and students -- who make the University unique. Carolyn died of cancer at the age of 29 in 1992. The funds used to endow this scholarship were provided in Carolyn’s will, where CAST was made the beneficiary of her life insurance policy. The Scholarship was created at her request. The red maple planted on the lawn of Kerr House remembers Carolyn who was an outstanding student and a kind and generous person. After graduating from Trent, she went on to complete her M.A. in History at the University of Ottawa and then worked for the New Democratic Party. Awarded for excellence to a student entering the third year of the Canadian Studies Program.

• 1992 – John Marsh, Director of the Frost Centre (to 1996). John Marsh was deeply committed to encouraging research relating to heritage and heritage management. He was President of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society from 1979-1982 and a Member of the Canadian Committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites, 1993-1998. He organized several major conferences in the Frost Centre on applied Canadian Studies. He was particularly interested in fostering research on trails and he became well known in Peterborough and Northumberland Counties for his work and the work of his graduate students designing trails. These trails have become important fixtures in our local communities, gaining special appreciation during the COVID 19 pandemic when urban dwellers sought respite in nature from the density of cities. John was also an active member of the original group fostering the development of the Canadian Canoe Museum.

• 1992 – Conference on “Managing Science in Northern National Parks,” Peterborough, October 16-17.

• 1993 – The Frost Centre and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources combine to host a conference celebrating the centennial of Ontario Provincial Parks. Proceedings of the conference were published as Changing Parks: The History, Future and Cultural Context of Parks and Heritage Landscapes, edited by John Marsh and Bruce Hodgins. Toronto: Natural Heritage/Natural History, 1998.

• 1993 – Conference on “Watercraft Museums,” Jointly with the Canadian Canoe Museum, Peterborough, February 5-6.

• 1993 – Annual Conference of Interpretation Canada.

• 1993 – First National “Rails to Greenways” Conference. This conference resulted in a publication: John Marsh, ed. Rails to Greenways. Frost Centre, Trent University, 1994.

• 1993 – John Wadland Recipient of the Ontario Lieutenant-Governor’s Award for Teaching Excellence

• 1993 – Christl Verduyn joins the undergraduate Canadian Studies Program as a cross-appointment with Women’s Studies

• 1993 – Christl Verduyn Chair, Canadian Studies (to 1999) Professor Verduyn introduced the first-year course in Canadian Studies. This initiative aimed to increase Canadian Studies majors by engaging students from their first year of study. Students often decided on their major during first year. Students had been entering Canadian Studies in their second year of study via Professor Wadland’s interdisciplinary core course, Canada: The Land (Canadian Studies 200). The development of a first year Canadian Studies course initially encountered a degree of opposition from the History Department, but concerns were allayed, in the first instance through a jointly offered course, and eventually Canadian Studies offered its own introductory interdisciplinary first year core course.

• 1993 – Robert Campbell Co-Editor, Journal of Canadian Studies (to 1994)

• 1993 – Michèle Lacombe Editor, Journal of Canadian Studies (to 1997)

• 1993 – John Milloy and John Wadland joint Associate Editors, Journal of Canadian Studies (to 1995)

• 1993-1994 – Christl Verduyn organizes student/ faculty Intercultural/Interregional Exchange Program with Trent and Université du Québec à Trois Rivières sponsored by the Association for Canadian Studies. This was a continuation/version of student exchange trips with Université de Sherbrooke spearheaded by Jean-Pierre Lapointe and John Wadland in previous years. Douglas McCalla and Michèle Lacombe were also central to the success of the UQTR exchange.

• 1993 – Joan Sangster organizes 'Teaching Canadian Women's History Conference' Trent University, 1993. An edited book, Teaching Women’s History: Challenges and Solutions is published out of the conference by University of Athabasca Press.

• 1994 – “Canada’s River Heritage,” a Conference organized jointly with the Canadian Canoe Museum, Canadian Parks Service and the Atlantic Centre for the Environment, Peterborough, October 28-30. This resulted in a publication: John Marsh, Bruce Hodgins and Eric Hanson, eds. Canada’s River Heritage. Frost Centre, Trent University, 1996.

• 1994-1995 – The Frost Centre, Community Opportunity and Innovation Network (COIN) and Peterborough Social Planning Council (PSPC) partnership (John Wadland, Jim Struthers, Tom Whillans, Sandy Lockhart, Kevin Edwards, Jackie Powell, Jennifer Bowe, Ruth Blishen and Marg Hobbs) meet routinely to plan the creation of the Trent Centre for Community-Based Education at Monture House.

• 1994-1995 – Christl Verduyn organizes “Making Canadian Culture”, six workshops exploring changing cultural expression and experience in Canada as part of a goal during her term as CAST Chair to facilitate discussion of and attention to issues of difference, race/racism, and urban experience in Canada and Canadian Studies.

• 1994 – Robert Campbell recipient of the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching.

• 1995 – “The Windy Pine Colloquium: Ethnic and Racial Minority Writing and Criticism in Canada” 24 27 August. Organized by Christl Verduyn who conceived, developed, and raised external funds for the four day event, which took place at Windy Pine. This location proved to be unique for the speakers, among them Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Himani Bannerji, George Elliott Clarke, Smaro Kamboureli, Janice Kulyk Keefer, Lucie Lequin, Arun Mukherjee, Enoch Padolsky, Joseph Pivato, Drew Hayden Taylor, Aritha van Herk, all early scholars of and commentators on issues of cultural difference and racism in Canada. The initiative led to two publications, a special issue of the Journal of Canadian Studies “Pulling Together” (31.3 Fall 1996) and a subsequent expanded collection of essays Literary Pluralities (Broadview Press, 1998).

• 1995—Frost Centre Faculty nominate Mary Simon to become Trent’s 7th Chancellor. She serves from 1995 to 1999 and once again in 2002, following the death of Peter Gzowski.

• 1995—Christl Verduyn co-organizer, with Shelley Ambrose and Ron Ward, of the inaugural Lakefield Literary Festival, and each year thereafter, until 1999. Ron Ward, then owner of Margaret Laurence’s former Lakefield home on Regent Street, contacted Christl in the spring of 1995 about the possibility of University/Canadian Studies support for an event for which Laurence’s Lakefield connection would serve as base. Shelley Ambrose, then personal assistant to Peter Gzowski, learned of the idea and became involved. This developed into the Lakefield Literary Festival, now a sturdily successful annual (COVID years excepted) summer Canadian cultural event.

• 1995-1997— Jim Struthers supervises Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dr. Edgar-André Montigny, “Employment, Income, and Living Arrangements of the Elderly in Ontario, a Study of the 1901 Manuscript Census.” While at Trent, Dr. Montigny initiated the historical anthology, Family Matters: Papers in Post-Confederation Canadian Family History, (Toronto: Canadian Scholars Press, 1998), which he co-edited with Dr. Lori Chambers and to which Professor Struthers was also a contributor. In 1997 Dr. Montigny also published Foisted Upon Government? State Responsibilities, Family Obligations and the Care of the Dependent Aged in Late Nineteenth Century Ontario (Montreal-Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press)

• 1996 - Joan Sangster wins Harold Adams Innis Award (now Canada Prize) from the Humanities and Social Sciences Federation of Canada for best book in the Social Sciences: Earning Respect: The Lives of Working Women in Small-Town Ontario, 1920-1960, (University of Toronto Press, 1995).

• 1996-1998 – Jim Struthers supervises Dr. Michael Stevenson, Post-Doctoral Fellow, “The Federal Government and Job Training After World War II.” While at Trent, under Professor Struthers’ supervision, Dr. Stevenson worked on revising his 1996 doctoral dissertation for publication. His monograph, Canada’s Greatest Wartime Muddle: National Selective Service and the Mobilization of Human Resources During World War II, was published by McGill-Queen’s University Press, in 2001. He is now an Associate Professor in the Departments of History and Interdisciplinary Studies at Lakehead University.

• 1996 – Frost Centre Conference on “Research in Protected Areas,” Jointly with the University of Waterloo, Buckhorn, April 11-12.

• 1996 – Frost Centre Conference on “Trail Development and Tourism,” Jointly with the Ontario Trails Council, April 27-28.

• 1996 – Canexus 2 – A Frost Centre conference on “The Canoe and Canadian Culture(s)”, Peterborough, May 10-12. Canexus 1 was held at Queen’s University in 1987 and directed by James Raffan. It resulted in a publication featuring essays by many of the national advocates for the Canadian Canoe Museum. See James Raffan and Bert Horwood, eds. Canexus: The Canoe in Canadian Culture (Betelgeuse Books, 1988).

• 1996 – Community Heritage Ontario Annual Conference, Frost Centre, Peterborough, September 21.

• 1996 – John Wadland, Director of the Frost Centre (to December 31, 2000)

• 1996 – Christl Verduyn Recipient of the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching

• 1996 – Christl Verduyn, Gabrielle Roy Book Prize (for Lifelines: Marian Engel’s Writing, 1995.)

• 1996—Larry Turner (1951-1996) died tragically of a heart attack. He graduated with a B.A. in History and Canadian Studies from Trent in 1976 and completed his M.A. at Queen's University in 1984. He was a well-known Ontario historian. He published nine books and also wrote several entries in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. His papers were donated to the Trent Archives and his Library is housed in Kerr House, a gift to the Frost Centre from his family.

• 1996 – Frost Centre joins in partnership with the Community Opportunity and Innovation Network (COIN) and the Peterborough Social Planning Council (PSPC) to create the Trent Centre for Community-Based Education (TCCBE) and U-Links. Founding Board members include Jim Struthers, Marg Hobbs, Tom Whillans, Sandy Lockhart and John Wadland. The TCCBE changed its name in 2015 to the Trent Centre for Community Research (TCRC). The community-based research project grew in part from the CAST/ERST 470 course on “Bioregionalism” (1989-2003) created and taught by John Wadland and Tom Whillans in fulfillment of our commitment to Mary Northway to give back to the Haliburton community. The Bioregionalism course also spun off U-LINKS, the community-based education program in Haliburton which also remains affiliated with Trent.

• 1996 – Presidential Advisory Committee to establish the mandate of the newly established T.H.B. Symons Endowed Trust for Canadian Studies (Ralph Heintzman, John Wadland and David Morrison.) The creation of the Trust was spearheaded by Ralph Heintzman, with contributions (now totaling well over $1 million) coming from the family and friends of Tom Symons, before and after his death.

• 1996 – Dr. Jack Goodman, a Toronto Dermatologist, donates 34 original 19th century Canadian art works to the Canadian Studies Program to hang in the Wilson Room and adjacent spaces in Kerr House. In a supplementary gift he added 7 more paintings.

• 1996 – Bruce Hodgins retires.

• 1996 – “Refiguring Wilderness: A Symposium to Honour Bruce Hodgins," Conference organized by John Wadland, Jonathan Bordo, John Milloy, Peter Kulchyski, Wanapitei, Temagami, August 29-September 2. Proceedings published as a special issue of the JCS.

• 1996-1997 – Julia Harrison Chair of the Board of the Art Gallery of Peterborough.

• 1997-2005 – Summer Explorations in Canadian Cultures, an 8-year initiative launched by the Canadian Studies Program, with the assistance of the Frost Centre and Julian Blackburn College to bring international academics to Trent for five, seven or 14-day courses, on core themes relevant to the interdisciplinary study of Canada. Staff included Laurie Westaway and Melanie Sedge. At the time of this writing, and with the assistance of students enrolled in the Trent Centre for Community Research, Melanie is preparing a detailed, illustrated volume on the extraordinary success of this program as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the Canadian Studies project.

• 1997 – “Beyond the Postcard: Missing Snapshots of Canada,” National Student Conference organized by Frost Centre students. The Proceedings of this conference were published in the 1997 issue of Avancer: The Student Journal for the Study of Canada.

• 1997 – Symposium on “Endangered Traces,” to celebrate the visit of Ashley Fellow, Professor John Mulvaney, University of Sydney, Australia, Bata Library, Trent University, Peterborough, November 1997 Co-organized by John Wadland (Frost Centre) and Jonathan Bordo (Cultural Studies).

• 1997 – The formal inauguration of the Canadian Canoe Museum. The museum had been established originally by Kirk Wipper as the Kanawa Canoe Museum at Camp Kandalore in Haliburton, immediately adjacent to Windy Pine. For many years prior to 1997, faculty associated with the Frost Centre (led by Bruce Hodgins, John Marsh, John Jennings, Tom Symons, Jack Matthews, Shelagh Grant and Dale Standen in particular, and encouraged by then Trent President, John Stubbs) worked with Wipper, James Raffan (Queen’s) and others in the Peterborough community to bring the Museum to Peterborough. Frost Centre members (John Jennings, Julia Harrison, Michael Peterman among them) served on the Canoe Museum Board and Jeremy Ward, a Trent Canadian Studies graduate, became (and remains) the first Curator.

• 1998 – Bruce Hodgins recipient of Honorary Degree, LLD, Wilfrid Laurier University.

• 1998 – Robert Campbell Editor, Journal of Canadian Studies (to 2000)

• 1998-2001 – Jim Struthers Co-Editor, with Margaret Conrad, of the Canadian Historical Review (CHR)

• 1999 – John Milloy publishes his pathbreaking study, A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System 1879-1986. University of Manitoba Press: Winnipeg, 1999. This was republished in 2017 with a Forward by Mary Jane Logan McCallum Ph.D. of the University of Winnipeg. Mary Jane is a graduate (M.A.) of the Frost Centre. This book was one of the products of Professor Milloy’s work with the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (RCAP). It was described by The Literary Review of Canada as “One of the 100 most important Canadian books ever written.” The Globe and Mail said, “Milloy’s book should be mandatory reading for all citizens of the Americas.”

• 1999 – Jim Struthers, JCS Guest Co-Editor, with Edgar-Andre Montigny, Special Issue on “Families, Restructuring, and the Canadian Welfare State”.

• 1999 – Christl Verduyn conducts field trip to Montreal for students enrolled in the Canadian Studies 362 course, Quebec Contexts, to visit and experience various notable cultural and political sites of Montreal.

• 1999 – Jim Struthers, Chair of Canadian Studies (to 2005)

• 1999 – Beginning in 1999, following her tenure as Chair of CAST, Christl Verduyn assumed formal responsibilities with the then national Association for Canadian Studies (ACS) 1999-2003 (President Elect, President, Past President) This experience later informed Christl’s role, with many others, in the creation of the new Canadian Studies Network (CSN). To understand the origin of the CSN, consult its website: https://www.csn-rec.ca/about-csn-rec/origins

• 1999 – Following a conversation beginning in 1996, the Frost Centre Board renames the Centre: The Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Native (now Indigenous) Studies. This change coincided with the publication of John Milloy’s book, A National Crime, and was meant also to acknowledge the importance of the Oka Crisis (1990), the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples (1991- 1996), the Ipperwash Crisis (1995) and the creation of Nunavut (1999) for the future of the Frost Centre.

• 2000 – Journal of Canadian Studies special Millennium volume (35) Robert Campbell, conceived and developed this special volume examining Canada and Canadian Studies at the outset of the new millennium. The volume comprised four issues of which three were guest-edited, including by Robert, who also edited the first issue: 35/1 – Canadian Studies at the Millennium (Robert Campbell, editor); 35/2 – Women (Jill Vickers and Micheline de Sève, editors); 35/3 – Canadian Cultures in the 21st Century (Christl Verduyn, editor); 35/4 – Reforming Canadian Political Institutions for the 21st Century Thérèse Arsenault, Robert Campbell, Brian Tanguay, editors) The volume garnered the international recognition of the Council of Editors of Learned Journals as runner up to the prestigious Phoenix Award for Editorial Achievement.

• 2000 – “Sound Escape: International Conference on Acoustic Ecology” a SSHRC funded conference privileging the work of R. Murray Schafer organized by the Frost Centre (John Wadland) and Cultural Studies (Ellen Waterman), June 28-July 2. Proceedings published: Ellen Waterman, ed. Sonic Geography: Imagined and Remembered. (Peterborough: Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies and Penumbra Press, 2002)

• 2000 – Second external appraisal of the undergraduate Canadian Studies Program (Colin Howell, St. Mary’s University)

• 2000 – OCGS approval of the joint (with Carleton) Ph.D. in Canadian Studies. This was the result of several years of negotiation, spearheaded by Christl Verduyn (Trent) and Jill Vickers (Carleton) during the Frost Centre Directorship of John Marsh. From 1993 to 2000 negotiations proceeded to a happy conclusion. Trent’s Frost Centre Ph.D. Planning Committee: John Wadland (Chair), Jim Struthers, Michèle Lacombe, Christl Verduyn, Joan Sangster and Paul Healy. Throughout our deliberations three different faculty members served as Director of the Carleton contingent: Natalie Luckyj (who became seriously ill with cancer in the middle of her term and, in 2002, tragically died), Pat Armstrong and François Rocher. The three external appraisers assigned by OCGS: Roland Lorimer (SFU), James Harding (Regina), John Conway (Regina). An absolute pillar of the Committee’s work was our secretary, Winnie Janzen, in whose name an endowed graduate student bursary was established on the occasion of her retirement.

• 2000 – Christl Verduyn and Robert Campbell depart Trent for Wilfrid Laurier University (2000-2006), then for Mount Allison University (2006-2018). At each of these universities Christl becomes a central player in the Canadian Studies project. Chair, Canadian Studies Program, Wilfrid Laurier (2001-2005), Recipient of the Governor General’s International Award for Canadian Studies; Director, Centre for Canadian Studies, Mount Allison (2010-2018); Davidson Chair of Canadian Studies, Mount Allison (2010-2020). While at Mount Allison, Christl connects Canadian Studies to the annual Symons Lecture on the State of Canadian Confederation at the Confederation Centre of the Arts in Charlottetown, PEI, bringing a busload of students to the lecture each year from 2007 to 2017. She conducted the External Reviews of the Canadian Studies Programs at Dalhousie (2003), McGill (2015), and the University of Toronto (2017).

• During their respective tenures at Mount Allison Christl Verduyn becomes a 3-M Teaching Fellow and a Member of the Order of Canada, while Robert Campbell becomes University President and a Member of the Order of Canada.

• 2001 – Stephen Bocking, Editor, Journal of Canadian Studies (to 2003)

• 2001 – John Wadland, External Appraiser (with John English and Rusty Bitterman) of the Canadian Studies Program, University of Waterloo.

• 2001 – Bryan Palmer joins undergraduate Canadian Studies Program from Queen’s University as Tier 1 Canada Research Chair (Trent’s first CRC)

• 2001 – Joan Sangster, Director of the Frost Centre and first Director of the Ph.D. Program (to 2006)

• 2001 – First Ph.D. students admitted to the Frost Centre

• 2001 – Joan Sangster Recipient of the Trent University Distinguished Research Award

• 2002 – Bryan Palmer editor of Labour/Le Travail (until 2017), providing intern support to a number of Frost Centre MA and PhD students

• 2002 – “Labour/Le Travail at 50,” a conference on writing working-class history and the journal Labour/Le Travail, sponsored by the Frost Centre, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and the Canada Research Chairs Program is organized by Bryan Palmer, with the help of Frost Centre PhD candidate, Donica Belisle. Participants include academics from across Canada, as well as from the United States, Brazil, Ireland, and Australia. Proceedings were published in a special issue of Labour/Le Travail, 50 (Fall 2002

• 2002 – John Wadland, Visiting Professor, Albert-Ludwigs-Universität, Freiburg, Germany, Seminar für Wissenschlaftliche Politik

• 2002 – Bryan Palmer elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC)

• 2002 – Davina Bhandar joins Canadian Studies Program

• 2002-2003, Joan Sangster is awarded Seagram Visiting Chair in Canadian Studies, Institute for the Study of Canada, McGill University

• 2002 – Conference on “Writing Canadian Labour History”, organized by Bryan Palmer, CRC, and co-sponsored by the Frost Centre.

• 2002-2004 – Jim Struthers sole author of the 236-page Report, “Historical Review of the Veterans Independence Program” for Veterans Affairs Canada, a project that launched Professor Struthers as a senior academic advocate for the importance of research on aging in Canada.

• 2003 – John Wadland, Chair, Department of Political Studies (to 2005).

• 2003 – Sally Chivers joins the Canadian Studies Program as a joint appointment with the Department of English Literature.

• 2003—Jim Struthers serves as External Appraiser of the Canadian Studies undergraduate program, Glendon College, York University.

• 2003 – Joan Sangster elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada (FRSC)

• 2004 – Sally Chivers establishes the Trent “Brown Bag Lunch” series at Traill College

• 2004 – John Milloy transfers from Indigenous Studies to the Canadian Studies Program

• 2004 – “Inter/Sections” Conference organized by Michèle Lacombe at Windy Pine

• 2004 – First Trent National Canadian Studies Undergraduate Student Conference, "Producing Canada", March 5-7. Organized by Portage, the undergraduate Canadian Studies Student Association at Trent.

• 2004-2007 – Jim Struthers supervises Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dr. Carole Roy, “Social Activism and Contributions of Women Over 60.” Dr. Roy is now a Professor in Adult Education at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish Nova Scotia. While at Trent, Dr. Roy initiated the Peterborough “Travelling World Community Film Festival,” (2005-2007) which subsequently evolved into Peterborough’s ReFrame Film Festival, still (in 2022) a centrepiece of documentary film culture in Canada.

• 2004-2006 – Julia Harrison, President, Canadian Anthropology Society (CASCA)

• 2005 – Jim Driscoll, Chair of Canadian Studies (to 2006)

• 2005-2006 – Bryan Palmer supervises Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dr. Dennis Pilon, “Democracy and Comparative Working-Class Politics.” Dr. Pilon subsequently published Wrestling with Democracy: Voting Systems as Politics in the Twentieth-Century West (Toronto: University of Toronto Press,2013), established himself as one of Canada’s leading authorities on electoral reform, and is currently an Associate Professor of Political Science at York University.

• 2005 – “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on the Costs and Contributions of Care: The Hidden Costs/Invisible Contributions” Research Project Symposium organized at Trent by Jim Struthers (with Sally Chivers) for the partners in a SSHRC Major Collaborative Research Initiatives Grant.

• 2005 – Second Trent National Canadian Studies Undergraduate Conference, "The Good, the Bad and the Ugly," March 4-6. Organized by Portage, the undergraduate Canadian Studies Student Association at Trent.

• 2006 – Julia Harrison, Chair of the External Review Committee, University of Victoria, Department of Anthropology

• 2006-2007 – Bryan Palmer supervises Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dr. Wade Matthews, “The British Marxist Historians.” While at Trent Dr. Matthews taught courses in Canadian and comparative labour history and later published The New Left, National Identity, and the Break-up of Britain (Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2013 and Chicago: Haymarket, 2014).

• 2006-08 Joan Sangster receives SSHRC Killam Research Fellowship

• 2006 – Jim Struthers, Director of the Frost Centre (to 2009)

• 2006 – Michael Peterman elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

• 2006 – Christl Verduyn elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada

• 2006 – Brian Thorn 1st Ph.D. student to graduate from the Frost Centre. His PhD dissertation was published as From Left to Right: Maternalism and Women’s Political Activism in Postwar Canada. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2017. Brian is currently a faculty member at Nipissing University.

• 2006 – Jim Driscoll returns to the Department of Political Studies

• 2006 – John Wadland, Chair of Canadian Studies (to 2007)

• 2006 – Third Trent National Canadian Studies Undergraduate Conference, "From Far and Wide. . . Which Canada? Reflections on Imagination, Nature and Community," February 10-12. Organized by Portage, the undergraduate Canadian Studies Student Association at Trent.

• 2007 – Mark Dickinson and Donica Belisle (Governor General’s Gold Medal), 2nd and 3rd Ph.D. students to graduate from the Frost Centre. Donica Belisle’s revised dissertation (supervised by Bryan Palmer), was later published under the title Retail Nation: Department Stores and the Making of Modern Canada (Vancouver: UBC Press), 2011, and was awarded the Pierre Savard Prize in Canadian Studies by the International Council for Canadian Studies and the Annual Book Award in Canadian Studies by the Canadian Studies Network. Mark Dickinson has taught at OCAD University and is currently teaching in the School for the Study of Canada at Trent University. Mark has published 3 books: Lyric Ecology: An Appreciation of the Work of Jan Zwicky. Toronto: Cormorant Books: Toronto, 2010; Listening for the Heartbeat of Being: The Arts of Robert Bringhurst. (Edited, with Brent Wood) Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2015; Canadian Primal: Poets, Places, and the Music of Meaning. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2021.

• 2007 – The undergraduate Canadian Studies Program becomes the Department of Canadian Studies.

• 2007 Joan Sangster organizes “Canada on Display” History and Canadian Studies Conference, Trent University, April.

• 2007 – Bryan Palmer, Chair of Canadian Studies (to 2009)

• 2007 – September-October, Bryan Palmer and Joan Sangster host Ashley Fellow, Dr. David Montgomery, Yale University, who presents four public lectures on “Workers Movements & Imperialism, 18902 to 1950s,” and meets with a number of MA and PhD students in the Frost Centre.

• 2007 – Jim Struthers Recipient of the Trent University Distinguished Research Award

• 2007 - Fourth Trent National Canadian Studies Undergraduate Conference, "Wasting and Wanting," February 9-11. Organized by Portage, the undergraduate Canadian Studies Student Association at Trent.

• 2008 – Retirement of John Wadland

• 2008 – Title of Professor Emeritus conferred on John Wadland

• 2008 – “Teaching Canada” 26 April. A day-long set of student-organized panel discussions, presentations and reflections on three themes in Canadian Studies: “Where in the World is Canada?”; “What Culture, What Heritage?”; “Climate Change and Canadian Responsibility”. To honour John Wadland’s role as a university teacher in the fields of Canadian Studies and Environmental Studies, on the occasion of his retirement.

• 2008 – Bryan Palmer’s CRC renewed for second 7-year term

• 2008 – Caroline Langill, Rebecca Pollock (Trudeau Scholar and Governor General’s Gold Medal) and Molly Blyth, 4th, 5th and 6th Ph.D. students to graduate from the Frost Centre. Caroline Langill is currently Associate Professor and Dean, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Sciences, OCAD University, Toronto. Rebecca Pollock is Executive Director of the Georgian Bay Biosphere Reserve Mnidoo Gamii.

• 2008 – Christl Verduyn (Trent Alumna, former Trent CAST Chair, Professor of Canadian Studies, Mount Allison University) Editor, Journal of Canadian Studies (to 2012)

• 2008-2010 – Jim Struthers, Christl Verduyn and Julia Harrison serve on the new Canadian Studies Network (CSN) Steering Committee.

• 2008 – Bryan Palmer awarded the Canadian Historical Association Wallace K. Ferguson Prize for his book, James P. Cannon and the Origins of the American Revolutionary Left, 1890-1928.

• 2008 – Julia Harrison, Co-Chair, External Review Committee, Wilfrid Laurier University, Department of Anthropology.

• 2008 – Joan Sangster awarded Laurence G. Pathy Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies and History, Princeton University.

• 2008, 26 February, Bryan Palmer organizes public lecture, “2008: Finish the Job,” in which Shawn Brant spoke on “Mohawk Militancy and the Struggle for Aboriginal Rights,” sponsored by Canadian Studies, Political Studies, History, Sociology, Indigenous Studies, Champlain College, Frost Centre, and the Peterborough Coalition Against Poverty.

• 2009 – Sally Chivers, Chair of Canadian Studies (to 2011)

• 2009 – Molly Blyth Recipient of the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching.

• 2009 Joan Sangster awarded Fulbright Chair in Canadian Studies and History, Duke University.

• 2009 – Julia Harrison, Director of the Frost Centre (to 2013). John Marsh had developed a newsletter for the Frost Centre called The Frostline. This appeared intermittently in hard copy and reported on events occurring in the CAST graduate program. Copies are still to be seen in Frost Centre Office. During John Wadland’s tenure as Director, Kim Krenz began to appear regularly at Frost Centre lectures and special events. Dr. Krenz was a Physicist who had worked on the Manhattan Project and at Atomic Energy of Canada and who lived in Lakefield. During Julia Harrison’s tenure as Director, Dr. Krenz donated funds to produce a new hard copy document, The Frost Report, an end of year summary which Julia had initiated to replace The Frostline. In her first year as Director, Julia produced the first hard copy issue of The Frost Report. But for the following years both hard copy (for mailing) and online versions of the document appeared, so that there would be a consistent record of Frost Centre activities. See https://www.trentu.ca/frostcentre/frost-report/frost-report-2011 https://www.trentu.ca/frostcentre/frost-report/frost-report-2012 https://www.trentu.ca/frostcentre/frost-report/frost-report-2013 Dr. Krenz remained interested in the Frost Centre for many years. He died at the age of 101 in 2021.

• 2009-2013 – Julia Harrison initiated and hosted the annual September 3-day retreat for incoming and upper year CAST Carleton and Trent Ph.D. students at Windy Pine Conference Centre.

• 2009 – Third External Appraisal of Trent’s undergraduate Canadian Studies Department (Ian Angus, Simon Fraser University)

• 2009 – Sally Chivers and Julia Harrison begin talks towards the development of what would become the School for the Study of Canada.

• 2010 – Maggie Quirt and Edward McCoy 7th and 8th Ph.D. students to graduate from the Frost Centre. Edward McCoy’s revised dissertation (supervised by Bryan Palmer) was later published under the title Hard Time: Reforming the Penitentiary in Nineteenth-Century Canada (Athabasca: Athabasca University Press, 2012). McCoy is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology, Calgary and has been the Chair of the Legal Studies program. Maggie Quirt is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Equity Studies at York University.

• 2010 – Bryan Palmer Recipient of the Trent University Distinguished Research Award.

• 2010 – Joan Sangster appointed Dean of Graduate Studies, 2010-2013

• 2010 – Jim Struthers Recipient of the Award for Educational Leadership and Innovation

• 2010 – John Wadland Recipient of Trent’s Eminent Service Award

• 2010-2013 – Julia Harrison, Board Member, Trent Centre for Community-Based Education (TCCBE)

• 2010 – 2013 – Julia Harrison Founding Member of the Executive (Secretary- Treasurer), Canadian Studies Network (CSN) along with Christl Verduyn, Member-at-Large and Vice President (2013-2015).

• 2010 – Julia Harrison establishes the “North at Trent” Lecture Series at the Frost Centre. https://www.trentu.ca/canadianstudies/community/north-trent-lecture-series/north-trent-lecture-series-previous-years and https://www.trentu.ca/canadianstudies/community/north-trent-lecture-series

• 2011 – Ralph Heintzman, ed. Tom Symons: A Canadian Life. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, 2011. This collection contains an essay by David Cameron on Tom’s contribution to Canadian Studies.

• 2011—Jonathan Pinto, supervised by Sally Chivers, writes his CAST BA Honours Thesis, “Charting Interdisciplinarity: The History of Canadian Studies at Trent.” Following graduation, Jonathan became a CBC Peter Gzowski Intern. He went on to work at CBC Radio Windsor Morning and then at CBC Radio Up North, based in Sudbury.

• 2011 – Julia Harrison worked with a committee of current Ph.D. students to organize the conference, “Continuing the Conversations: Celebrating Ten Years of the Trent-Carleton Canadian Studies Ph.D. Program”, May 10-13, 2011. Carleton University celebrated the 10th Anniversary on March 16, 2011, coinciding with the Trent-Carleton Graduate Conference on March 17. On this occasion the annual Vickers-Verduyn Lecture at Carleton was established to recognize our two colleagues who initiated the conversation that launched the joint-Ph.D. program.

• 2011 – Dimitry Anastakis, Chair of Canadian Studies (to 2014)

• 2011 – Joan Sangster and Canadian Studies PhD student James Onusko organize workshop on “Canadian Childhood and Adolescence: Blueprinting the Past, Present and Future”.

• 2011 – Dimitry Anastakis, Sally Chivers and Jim Struthers revamped the first year course offerings in CAST, abandoning a single full year core course in favour of 3 half year courses available to all students, Majors or not, along the lines of “local”, “national” and “global” Canada. Next were added new upper year courses, with each CAST faculty member being tasked with developing at least one new half course.

• 2011 - Joan Sangster, awarded Honourable Mention, John A. Macdonald Prize, Canadian Historical Association /Société historique du Canada, for Tranforming Labour, best book in Canadian history.

• 2011-2014 – Joan Sangster and Dimitry Anastakis continue to press the development of the School for the Study of Canada, holding roundtables and events to push the project forward. This required a major reorganization of the Department and of Canadian Studies at Trent more generally, and was not without controversy, as it meant, effectively, ending the CAST undergraduate program as a stand-alone Department. The aim was to streamline Canadian Studies at Trent by bringing the Frost Centre and the undergraduate program into a more integrated whole.

• 2012 – Christl Verduyn and Jane Koustas, eds. Canadian Studies: Past, Present, Praxis. Fernwood Publishing: Black Point N.S., 2012. A collection of essays that “provides an overview of the development and evolution of Canadian Studies as a field of research and teaching.”

• 2012 – Julia Harrison conducts the External Review of the Canadian Studies Program, Dalhousie University.

• 2012 – Julia Harrison, External Review of the Department of Anthropology Graduate Program, University of Manitoba.

• 2012 – Sally Chivers leaves Canadian Studies and joins Department of English Literature full time.

• 2012 – Casey Ready (President’s Medal) and Kristi Allain 9th and 10th Ph.D. students to graduate from the Frost Centre. Dr. Ready’s revised dissertation (supervised by Jim Struthers) was published under the title Shelter in a Storm: Revitalizing Feminism in Neoliberal Ontario (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2017). Kristi Allain is currently Associate Professor and CRC, Department of Sociology, St. Thomas University, Fredericton, New Brunswick.

• 2012-2014 – 40th Anniversary of the undergraduate CAST program. Dimitry Anastakis organizes several events to celebrate the 40th anniversary – including talks by Alanis Obomsawin, Sarah Diamond, Scott McIntyre and others. This year also witnessed the CAST Northern Field School based in Yellowknife with Allice Legat, then Bondar Fellow in the Frost Centre. See the Trent Magazine, 44:2 (Spring 2013) for Dimitry’s interview.

• 2012 – Ralph Heintzman receives Honorary LL.D. at Convocation. Ralph Heintzman was present at the birth of Trent, as Assistant to President Tom Symons, his mentor and friend. He has served it since in many capacities – as a teacher, as a researcher who helped draft Tom Symons’ path breaking volume, To Know Ourselves, as Editor of the Journal of Canadian Studies, as a member of the Board of Governors. Ralph Heintzman’s career in service to Canada spanned the terms of seven Prime Ministers. It saw him occupy positions of extraordinary responsibility as an authority on constitutional matters, particularly in the areas of federal-provincial relations, language and cultural policy and senate reform. Never really abandoning his academic roots, he was for three years Director of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, and from 1990 to 2003, Vice-Principal of the Canadian Centre for Management Development. But it was in the world of ethics that Ralph Heintzman left his indelible signature. At Treasury Board, and later as Vice President of the Public Service Human Resources Management Agency of Canada Ralph Heintzman’s project was to help the Public Service of Canada improve itself, not only by delivering more efficient service but also by ensuring that its practitioners live by ethical standards of conduct – with each other, with government and with the public. Ralph Heintzman has been recognized with many awards, including, in 2006, the Vanier Medal, the highest honour in Canadian Public Administration. In 2011 Ralph Heintzman edited Tom Symons: A Canadian Life (University of Ottawa Press: Ottawa, 2011), a collection of scholarly essays arranged chronologically to provide a biography, including a chapter by David Cameron, formerly of Trent University, who covers Tom’s work in Canadian Studies. Ralph has also published Rediscovering Reverence: The Meaning of Faith in a Secular World (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2011) and The Human Paradox: Rediscovering the Nature of the Human (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2022).

• 2012-14 Lisa Pasolli, SSHRC Post-Doctoral fellowship at Frost Centre to work with Joan Sangster. Professor Pasoli is now Professor of Canadian History at Queen’s University.

• 2013 – Joan Sangster, Acting Director of the Frost Centre (to 2014). For Professor Sangster’s reflections on this year of service, see https://www.trentu.ca/frostcentre/frost-report/frost-report-2014

• 2013-2015 – Jim Struthers supervises Post-Doctoral Fellow, Dr. David Tough, “The Charisma of Poverty and the Crisis of Redistributive Politics in Canada, 1962-1972.” Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies, Trent University. Under Professor Struthers’ supervision, Dr. Tough also successfully worked on revising his 2013 doctoral dissertation for publication. His monograph, The Terrific Engine: Income Taxation and the Modernization of the Canadian Political Imaginary, was published by UBC Press in 2018.

• 2013 – Marian Bredin, Trent CAST BA Alumna, Associate Professor, Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film, Brock University), Editor Journal of Canadian Studies (to 2015)

• 2013 – Meaghan Beaton, Caitlin Gordon-Walker, Andy Hanson, Jo Anne Colson and John Marris, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th and 15th Ph.D. students to graduate from the Frost Centre. After completing her PhD in Canadian Studies, Meaghan Beaton was the 2013-15 W. P. Bell Postdoctoral Fellow at the Centre for Canadian Studies at Mount Allison University. From 2015-17 she was a Visiting Assistant Professor of Canadian History in the Department of History at Western Washington University. Since 2017 she has worked at Parks Canada, first as a historian and now as a legislation analyst for Canada's historic places.

• 2014 – Amy Twomey, James Onusko and David Rapaport (Governor General’s Gold Medal), 16th, 17th, and 18th Ph.D. students to graduate from the Frost Centre.

• 2014 – Julia Harrison retires

• 2014 - Joan Sangster recipient of he International Labor History Association Book of the Year Award for Workers in Hard Times, with Leon Fink, Joseph McCartin (University of Illinois Press)

• 2014 - Jeremy Milloy, postdoctoral fellow at the Frost Centre. Jeremy Milloy and Joan Sangster edited a volume, Violence at Work: New Essays in Canadian and American Labour History (University of Toronto Press, 2021)

• 2014 – The North at Trent lecture featured Perry Bellegarde, Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations and close friend of John Milloy, speaking on “Saskatchewan First Nations and the Province’s Future”. Perry was accompanied by his Executive Assistant, Valerie Galley, a graduate, M.A., of the Frost Centre.

• 2014 – Title of Professor Emeritus conferred on Julia Harrison

• 2014-2020 – Julia Harrison, Chair of the Board of the ReFrame Film Festival

• 2014 – John Milloy, Director of the Frost Centre (to 2015). For John Milloy’s reflections on his year of service, see https://www.trentu.ca/frostcentre/frost-report/frost-report-2015

• 2014 – Mark Dickinson (Frost Centre PhD graduate) recipient of the Symons Award for Excellence in Teaching

• 2014 – Christopher Dummitt, Chair of Canadian Studies (to December 2015)

• 2014 – James Daschuk, Trent CAST BA (1984) now Professor at the University of Regina, received 5 Saskatchewan Book Awards and three prizes from the Canadian Historical Association, including the Sir John A. Macdonald Prize for best scholarly book in Canadian History, and the Governor General’s Award for Scholarly Achievement at the Annual Governor General’s History Awards for his book, Clearing the Plains: Disease, Starvation and the Loss of Aboriginal Life (2013). This book has proven to be central to the national conversation on Indigenous issues falling out from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

• 2014 – Shelagh Grant receives Honorary D.Litt. at Trent Convocation. Shelagh was a Trent CAST BA graduate who returned to teach as an Adjunct Professor in Canadian Studies and as a Research Associate of the Frost Centre. A Fellow of the Royal Canadian Geographical Society, she authored three vitally important books on the Canadian Arctic. The first person to influence Shelagh’s research trajectory was Politics Professor Margaret Doxey in her lecture on Arctic Sovereignty in CAST 200, Canada: The Land, 1975-76. Shelagh’s books: Sovereignty or Security: Government Policy in the Canadian North 1936-1950 (University of British Columbia Press: Vancouver, 1988); Arctic Justice: On Trial for Murder, Pond Inlet, 1923 (McGill-Queen’s University Press: Montreal and Kingston, 2002); Polar Imperative: A History of Arctic Sovereignty in North America (Douglas and McIntyre: Vancouver, 2010) The family and friends of Shelagh Grant have generously established an Endowment in her name to support graduate students in the Frost Centre.

• 2014 – John Wadland, “Canadian Studies at 50,” an address to the Peterborough Historical Society on the occasion of Trent’s 50th Anniversary.

• 2015 – Christopher Dummitt formally transfers from the Department of History to the Department of Canadian Studies.

• 2015 – Retirement of Jim Struthers, John Milloy and Davina Bhandar

• 2015 Jim Struthers recipient of Trent’s Eminent Service Award.

• 2015 The title of Professor Emeritus conferred on Jim Struthers.

• 2015 – “Future History of the Welfare State” Conference co-organized by David Tough and Lisa Pasolli (Frost Centre SSHRC Post-Doctoral Fellows) in honour of the retirement of Jim Struthers, March 6-7. Made possible by the support of Canada Research Chair Bryan Palmer; the Symons Trust Fund for Canadian Studies, the Department of Canadian Studies, the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies, the Nind Fund and the Vice-President Research Strategic Initiatives Fund.

• 2015 – Bryan Palmer, Acting Chair Department of Canadian Studies (December 2015 – June 30, 2016)

• 2015 – Official launch of the new School for the Study of Canada. Essentially this brought about the amalgamation of the undergraduate and graduate programs as one unit. There is now a Director of the School of Canadian Studies and a Director of the Frost Centre for Canadian Studies and Indigenous Studies.

• 2015 – James Conolly First Director of the School for the Study of Canada, and Director of the Frost Centre (to 2016) See Professor Conolly’s reflections on his year of service in this role at https://www.trentu.ca/frostcentre/frost-report/frost-report-2016

• 2015 – “Contesting Canada’s Future.” International Conference organized by Joan Sangster and Bill Waiser (Trent Alumnus and Emeritus Professor of History, University of Saskatchewan) as part of Trent’s 50th Anniversary celebrations. May 21-23.

• 2015 – “Dissenting Traditions” Conference organized by Bryan Palmer, with the help of Frost Centre PhD candidates, Julia Smith and Sean Carleton, and support of the Canada Research Chairs Program. Present at the conference were academics and activists from across Canada, as well as scholars from the United States, the United Kingdom, Brazil, and the Netherlands. October 23-24.

• 2015 – Joan Sangster becomes Vanier Professor at Trent.

• 2015- 2017 – Joan Sangster, President, Canadian Historical Association

• 2016 – Launch of the Canadian Difference Project by the Canadian Studies Program. This was a bilingual interactive website that provided resources and a forum for critical discussions of what makes Canada, Canada.

• 2016 –Trent joins the International Network for Circumpolar Studies. Trent’s acceptance as a member of the University of the Arctic (UArctic) creates new experiential learning opportunities for both students and researchers, solidifying Trent’s commitment to higher education and research in the North.

• 2016 – After 50 years of publication at Trent University, the Journal of Canadian Studies moves to the University of Toronto Press.

• 2016 – “History and Legacy of the Omnibus Bill”, Workshop at the Windy Pine Conference Centre organized by Chris Dummitt and Christabelle Sethna (University of Ottawa), August.

• 2016 – Sean Carleton 19thth Ph.D. student to graduate from the Frost Centre. Carleton’s revised dissertation (supervised by Bryan Palmer) was subsequently published under the title, Lessons in Legitimacy: Colonialism, Capitalism, and the Rise of Schooling in British Columbia (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2022). Carleton is currently an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Indigenous Studies and History, University of Manitoba.

• 2016 – Shiri Pasternak joins the Department of Canadian Studies (to 2017)

• 2016 – Heather Nicol, Director, School for the Study of Canada and Chair, Department of Canadian Studies

• 2016 – Joan Sangster, Director of the Frost Centre (to 2018 December)

• 2017 - Julia Smith (Governor General’s Gold Medal), 20th Ph.D. student to graduate from the Frost Centre. Julia Smith is currently Assistant Professor, Department of Labour Studies, University of Manitoba.

• 2017 – John Horgan, Trent CAST BA becomes Premier of British Columbia.

• 2017 Joan Sangster awarded Eccles Fellowship by Eccles Foundation for North American Studies in the UK for research in Canadian Studies at the British Library.

• 2017 -- Bryan Palmer awarded the Canadian Association of Work and Labour Studies Annual Book Prize for Best Book Published in the fields of Work and Labour Studies for his co-authored, with Gaetan Heroux, Toronto’s Poor: A Rebellious History (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2016)

• 2018 – Julia Smith one of eight Governor General’s Medallists to be honoured at the first Ontario Council of Graduate Studies Celebration of Academic Excellence in Ottawa.

• 2018 – Mary Anne Martin, Karen Everett, and Kingsley Hurlington, 21st, 22nd, and 23rd Ph.D. students to graduate from the Frost Centre.

• 2018 – Whitney Lackenbauer becomes second CAST Tier 1 CRC

• 2018 - Bryan Palmer retires.

• 2018 – Title of Professor Emeritus conferred on Bryan Palmer

• 2018 – Joan Sangster awarded the Clio Prize by the Canadian Historical Association for her book, The Iconic North: Cultural Constructions of Aboriginal Life in Postwar Canada.

• 2019 – Joan Sangster retires.

• 2019 – Title of Professor Emeritus conferred on Joan Sangster.

• 2019 – “Feminism, History, and Theory: A Conference to Celebrate the Work of Joan Sangster,” Trent University, June 21-23.

• 2019 – Stephanie Dotto, Lauren Hill, Matthew Hayes and Eyitayo Aloh, 24th, 25th, 26th and 27th Ph.D. students to graduate from the Frost Centre. Matthew Hayes’ dissertation, supervised by Christopher Dummitt, is published as Search for the Unknown: Canada’s UFO Files and the Rise of Conspiracy Theory. (Montreal: McGill Queen’s University Press, 2022).

• 2019 – Janet Miron Director of the Frost Centre (to 2021). For Professor Miron’s reflections on her years of service in this role, see https://www.trentu.ca/frostcentre/frost-report/frost-report-2021

• 2019 – Bruce Hodgins (1931-2019).

• 2020 – Shelagh Grant (1938-2020).

• 2020 – Frost Centre Student Association, Virtual Graduate Student National Conference, “Uprooting Canada: Resistance and Resurgence,” November 12-13.

• 2021 – Thomas H. B. Symons (1929-2021).

• 2021 – Heather Nicol assumes role of Director of the Frost Centre as well as Chair of the Department of Canadian Studies and Director of the School for the Study of Canada.

• 2021 – Sean Carleton, Ted McCoy and Julia Smith, eds. Dissenting Traditions: Essays on Bryan Palmer, Marxism and History. AU Press and the Canadian Committee on Labour History, 2021.

• 2021 – Kate Gentle Viscardis, Amber Johnson, Anne Showalter, 28th, 29th and 30th Ph.D. students to graduate from the Frost Centre. Kate Viscardis, recipient of the Governor General’s Gold Medal for her dissertation, is now a Professor at Northern Lakes College.

• 2021 – Professor John Jennings, colleague in Canadian Studies and the Frost Centre and one of the central players in the creation of the Canadian Canoe Museum in Peterborough, is appointed to the Order of Ontario, the Province’s highest order. Professor Jennings’ book, The Canoe: A Living Tradition (2002) is a testament to his ongoing work with the Canadian Canoe Museum.

• 2021 – Jeannette Menzies, M.A. Frost Centre Graduate, becomes Canadian Ambassador to Iceland.
  2021 - James Onusko, PhD student of Joan Sangster, publishes Boom Kids: Growing Up in the Calgary Suburbs, 1950-1970 (Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Prof. Onusko is now a professor at Northern Lakes College, Alberta.

• 2021 – Sally Chivers Recipient of Trent’s Distinguished Research Award.

• 2021-2022 -- Joan Sangster receives Canadian Historical Association’s Hilda Neatby prize for best book in women’s history for Demanding Equality: One Hundred Years of Canadian Feminism (UBC Press, 2021).

• 2022 – Michèle Lacombe retires.

• 2022 – The title Professor Emeritus conferred on Michèle Lacombe.

• 2022 – Armand LaBarge, MA graduate of the Frost Centre, Chair of the Trent University Board of Governors (2019-2021), named to the Order of Ontario

• 2022 – October 22, “Northern Nationalisms, Arctic Mythologies, and the Weight of History: A Conference in Memory of Shelagh Grant” organized by CAST CRC Professor Whitney Lackenbauer, with presentations by former Trent Chancellor and Governor General, Mary Simon, Rosemarie Kuptana, Deborah Kigjugalik Webster, Sherrill Grace, James Raffan, John Moss, Whit Fraser, Elizabeth Elliot-Meisel, Ken Coates, Peter Kikkert, Amanda Graham, John English, Franklyn Griffiths, Rob Huebert, Stephen Bocking, Heather Nicol, Geoff Green, Lynda Brown, Mark Stoller, Clive Tesar, Bridget Larocque. This conference was part of the CAST 50th Anniversary Celebrations.

• 2022 - “The World as We Know It is Always Ending”, a film written and directed by Trent Alumna Natalie Vaughan-Graham launched at the Wenjack Theatre as part of the CAST 50th Anniversary Celebrations. The film follows the experiences of students of all ages, from many faculties, in a summer course offering of CAST 204H, “Canada: The Land”. It is a story about what young people worry about, their desires to transform, their fears and their frustrations, and how differences can be reconciled when we are all asked to stop, listen, be slow.

Heartfelt thanks to all the Secretaries and Administrative Assistants who, throughout its 50-year history, have served the Canadian Studies project with such deep commitment: May Irwin, Thelma Cuter, Gloria Jones, Rita Young, Mary Snack, Vivienne Hall, Elsie Scott, Winnie Janzen, Jeannine Crowe and Cathy Schoel.

All errors and omissions attributable to John Wadland. Please send additions and corrections to jwadland@trentu.ca