On May 26th, 2014, a panel discussed recent developments in the archives world in Canada and the challenges archives face today. The panel was part of the Canadian Historical Association’s annual meeting in St. Catharines, Ontario.

Moderated by Erika Dyck (University of Saskatchewan), the panel featured Nicole Neatby (CHA Liaison – Archives), Peter Baskerville (Chair Modern Western Canadian History, University of Alberta) and Heather Moore (Former Chief Librarian at Public Safety Canada Library).

On September 18 at the Canadian Museum of History, there was a roundtable discussion on the issues surrounding national celebrations and commemorations in Canada. The roundtable was part of the Celebrating Canada Workshop, which was chaired by Matthew Hayday and Raymond Blake.

Moderated by Matthew Hayday (University of Guelph), the roundtable featured Yves Frenette (Université de Saint-Boniface), Marc-André Gagnon (University of Guelph), Robert Talbot (University of New Brunswick), and Mark Kristmanson (CEO, National Capital Commission).

This was a bilingual session.

On Wednesday May 28, 2014 as part of the Canadian Historical Association Annual Meeting, Activehistory.ca sponsored a roundtable discussion on the presence of Canadian historians in the media. The session was chaired by Ian Milligan of the University of Waterloo and featured Ian Mosby (McMaster University), Maureen Lux (Brock University), Sean Kheraj (York University), Mark Brosens (TVO), and James Cullingham (Seneca College/Tamarack Productions).

ActiveHistory.ca is happy to feature the inaugural talk of the Fall 2014 History Matters lecture series: historian Robert Rutherdale’s “Hometown Horizons: Local Responses to Canada’s Great War.”

Rutherdale delivered the talk at the Toronto Public Library’s North York Central Branch. He explores issues such as the demonization of enemy aliens, wartime philanthropy, and state authority and citizenship – all while asking what the study of the “local” can add to our understanding of the First World War and historical research in general.

History Chats is pleased to present a recording of Lynda Baril’s talk ‘Nos Glorieuses’: 100 Years of Women’s Hockey in Quebec. The talk was delivered as part of the Ottawa Historical Association Lecture Series on September 16, 2014.

Russia’s so-termed anti-gay propaganda law, passed in 2013 by the Russian parliament, raised an array of issues relating to the status and rights of LGBT people in Russia, the lack of specific protections in the Olympic Charter relating to sexual orientation, and expected negative impacts of this law on scholarship in history, the humanities and social sciences. The roundtable brought together the perspectives of Erica Fraser, historian of Russia and Eastern Europe; Michael Dawson, historian of sport and popular culture; Lyle Dick, past-president of the CHA and practitioner of LGBT history; and CHA President Dominique Marshall, a specialist on Canada’s transnational history.  The panel was chaired by Yves Frenette, Chair of Advocacy for the Canadian Historical Association.  It considered the historical background to Russia’s anti-gay law and its justifications in “traditional values,” the status of LGBT human rights in the context of the Olympic movement, the particular challenges confronting researchers of LGBT history in Russia in light of Canadian experience, and the position of the Canadian Historical Association on the Russian law in terms of its core mandate and practice of defending the human rights of historians.

On Friday April 25, 2014 as part of the annual Pierre Savard Conference at the University of Ottawa, there was a roundtable discussing the future of history. Entitled ‘The Future of the Past: Transmitting History to Future Generations” the roundtable was chaired by Adria Midea and featured Jennifer Anderson (Canadian Museum of History), Stéphane Lévesque (University of Ottawa), Jo-Ann McCutcheon (University of Ottawa), and Jean-Pierre Morin (Aboriginal and Northern Development Canada).

On October 7, 2014 Professor Chad Gaffield of the University of Ottawa addressed the issues facing universities in the 21st century as part of the University of Ottawa History Department’s Brown Bag Lunch Series.

For the first time the winners of the two highest distinctions given annually by the Canadian Historical Association met for an exchange with the public and between each other. Jim Daschuk, author of the account of the “forced starvation” of aboriginal peoples in the Canadian plains in the 19th century, and Mark Phillips, whose book explores the many ways by which historians and their object are “distant” and close, met for a public conversation on a Saturday afternoon, November 1, 2014 at Ottawa’s City Hall.

On October 21, 2014 Madelaine Morrison delivered a talk entitled The Sweetest Sounds: Musical Life in Ontario, 1880-1920 as part of the Ottawa Historical Association lecture series. In her address, Morrison discussed the evolution of the piano and its place in Ontario’s social life during these years.