Category Archives: Canadian Studies Program UC Berkeley

Happy Year of the Tiger! 🐯 Protecting academic free speech; innovating Inuit throat singing

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A newsletter from one of our fellow Canadian organizations in the Bay Area.
Canadian Studies Announcements
In this issue:
  • Happy Year of the Tiger!
  • Next week: “Models for Repatriation of Indigenous Cultural Property from First Nations, Canada”
  • Cosponsored event: “Legal and Constitutional Protections for Free Speech in Academia in the US, UK, and Canada”
  • The New Yorker reviews Tongues, the new album from Inuit singer Tanya Tagaq
  • Grant deadline tomorrow: British Library Visiting Fellowships
  • External event: “Boeing 737 MAX: Money, Machines, and Morals in Conflict”
  • External event: “Canadian Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal: Building A Strong, Sustainable North”
  • External event: Book talk on Bootlegged Aliens: Immigration Politics on America’s Northern Border
Happy Year of the Tiger!
Canadian Studies wishes a happy and prosperous Year of the Tiger to our friends around the world! While the Lunar New Year is often most associated with (and referred to as) the Chinese New Year, it is actually celebrated by a variety of East Asian cultures. While COVID is dampening celebrations for the third year in a row, the CBC checked in with several Ottawa families to see how they were continuing their cherished New Year traditions in spite of the pandemic. And in San Francisco, Chinatown business owners hope this New Year is the turning point for a better 2022.
Image: Chinese New Year vector created by Freepik – www.freepik.com.
NEXT WEEK
Panel Discussion: Models for Repatriation of Indigenous Cultural Property from First Nations, Canada
Tuesday, February 8 | 12:30 pm PT | Online | RSVP here
How can repatriation be built from mutual respect, cooperation and trust? North American museums and institutions have historically engaged in the collection and categorization of Indigenous cultural property and knowledge without the consent or active involvement of Indigenous people. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was enacted in 1990 to return Native American “cultural items” to lineal descendants and culturally affiliated American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, and Native Hawaiian organizations. Despite this and further state legislation, many institutions including the University of California, have obfuscated or denied repatriation claims. Across the border, the Canadian government does not currently have legislation addressing the repatriation of Indigenous Ancestors and cultural heritage, but is working to create national support for repatriation through legislation Bill C-391. Some Canadian provinces have passed repatriation acts or provincial museum polices that have facilitated the return of ancestors and belongings. This panel discussion seeks to learn from what is being done in Canada. What is the cultural and nuanced work that builds successful repatriations? How can repatriation and indigenizing the institution from within preserve and strengthen tribal cultural heritage?
Join Canadian Studies affiliate Sabrina Agarwal (Professor of anthropology and chair of the UC Berkeley NAGPRA Advisory Committee) in conversation with Dr. Louis Lesage (Director, Nionwentsïo Office, Huron-Wendat Nation), Lou-ann Neel (Curator and Acting Head of Indigenous Collections and Repatriation Department, Royal BC Museum), and Michelle Washington (Repatriation Specialist, Royal BC Museum) to explore these questions and hear about their experiences in repatriation.
Image: Kwakwaka’wakw house posts from British Columbia in the Hearst Museum of Anthropology, UC Berkeley.
COSPONSORED EVENT
Legal and Constitutional Protections for Free Speech in Academia in the US, UK, and Canada
Friday, February 11 | 10 am PT | Online | RSVP forthcoming
The Public Law and Policy Program and the Anglo-American Legal Studies Program at the UC Berkeley School of Law invite you to an expert discussion comparing traditions and laws around free speech in university settings in three common law jurisdictions: the United Kingdom, United States, and Canada.
Professor Eric Kaufmann of the University of London, who is Canadian, will be participating from London. He will discuss his research on freedom of speech in academia in the U.S., the U.K. and Canada as well as proposed legislation in the U.K. parliament to protect free speech in colleges and universities in the UK.
Professor Nadine Strossen of the New York School of Law and former head of the ACLU will join from New York. She will comment on Professor Kaufmann’s findings, her own work on this subject, and legal and policy implications of the proposed legislation.
Professor Keith Whittington of Princeton University and Dean Erwin Chemerinsky of the UC Berkeley School of Law will participate from Berkeley. They will also comment on Professor Kaufmann’s research and recommendations for legislation.
Steven Hayward of UC Berkeley will serve as moderator.
Please check the Public Law and Policy website above for forthcoming RSVP information.
The New Yorker Reviews Tongues, the New Album from Inuit Throat-Singer Tanya Tagaq
Canadian Inuit singer Tanya Tagaq has worked hard to bring the Inuit tradition of throat-singing to a wider audience. But her award-winning performances are anything but conventional, blending the ancient Inuit techniques with contemporary music production and spoken word poetry. Last week Sheldon Piece, music writer and editor for The New Yorker, gave a glowing review to Tagaq’s latest album, Tongues, which he calls her boldest and most experimental yet:
“The Canadian Inuit throat singer Tanya Tagaq makes music that seems to cleanse the body. The form that she practices uses guttural sounds and breaths to produce a physical performance of groans, gasps, and sighs, conjuring a sonic landscape which is by turns rhythmic and melodic. Her performing, at once animalistic and operatic, brings a spirit of experimentation to an old tradition… It is her technique and vision that have made her one of the most celebrated and innovative practitioners of her culture’s visceral style.”
Read the full piece online via The New Yorker.
Grant Deadline Tomorrow: British Library Visiting Fellowships
Application deadline: February 1, 2022, 9:00 am PT
Applications are due tomorrow for the 2022 Visiting Fellowships at Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library in London. These fellowships are open to academics, postgraduate students, creatives and independent scholars and cover all regions of the Americas, including Canada. For more information about the fellowship programme, please look here. The deadline for applications is 5pm GMT (9:00 pm PT) on Tuesday, 1 February 2022 and the Fellowship needs to be taken by 30 April 2024. For more information about the four themes, please look here.
EXTERNAL EVENTS
Boeing 737 MAX: Money, Machines, and Morals in Conflict
Tuesday, February 1 | 2 pm PT | Online | RSVP here
Canadian Studies faculty affiliate Brian Barsky addresses the troubled development of the Boeing 737 MAX, which crashed twice within its first two years of commercial flight, leaving no survivors. Professor Barsky has been personally involved in the investigation of this disaster. He was featured prominently in a recent Smithsonian documentary, and his full-page op-ed in The Globe and Mail was debated in the Parliament of Canada. Professor Barsky will elucidate how these tragedies were the consequence of a corporation prioritizing profits over safety as well as of regulatory capture of the government agency which was derelict in its duty to protect the public. This event is sponsored by the Berkeley Retirement Center.
Canadian Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal: Building a Strong, Sustainable North
Friday, February 4 | 10 am PT | Online | RSVP here
The Government of Canada, Indigenous peoples, and 6 territorial and provincial governments came together to develop Canada’s Arctic and Northern Policy Framework, a transformative vision of the future where northern and Arctic people are thriving, strong and safe. The Framework includes goals relating to eight overarching themes—people and communities, strong economies, comprehensive infrastructure, environment and biodiversity, science and Indigenous knowledge, global leadership, safety, security and defence, and reconciliation. It incorporates regional and distinctions-based lenses while integrating domestic and international dimensions. Canada’s Minister of Northern Affairs, Daniel Vandal, will discuss federal, Indigenous, and community-driven partnerships and programs to address short-term and long-term climate change adaptation and mitigation, supporting healthy ecosystems in the Arctic and North in a conversation by moderated by Jothsna Harris.
Book Talk: Bootlegged Aliens: Immigration Politics on America’s Northern Border
Friday, February 18 | 12 pm PT | Online | RSVP here
Join Professor Ashley Johnson Bavery for a discussion of her new book, Bootlegged Aliens. The book explores immigration on America’s northern border before World War II, situating Detroit, Michigan as America’s epicenter for unauthorized immigration. In this industrial center, thousands of Europeans crossed the border from Canada each year, prompting nativist backlash and complicating the labor politics of the automobile industry. This event is jointly hosted by the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UC San Diego and UCLA Center for the Study of International Migration. UCLA professor Tobias Higbie will join as a discussant.
Ashley Johnson Bavery is assistant professor of history at Eastern Michigan University. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Urban History and the Journal of American History and her book, Bootlegged Aliens: Immigration Politics on America’s Northern Border (2020) won the First Book Award from the Immigration and Ethnic History Society.
Tobias Higbie is a professor of history and labor studies at UCLA, the chair of the Labor Studies and the associate director of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. His research explores social movements, migration, and the politics of community in the United States. Higbie’s most recent book, Labor’s Mind: A History of Working Class Intellectual Life (2019), recovers the social world of self-educated working people and the politics of working-class identity during the early 20th century.
Canadian Studies Program
213 Moses Hall #2308
Canadian Studies Program | Univ. of California, Berkeley, 213 Moses Hall #2308, Berkeley, CA 94720

New faculty affiliate studies politics of climate change; mapping the future of the Arctic

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A newsletter from a fellow Canadian organization in the Bay Area.
Canadian Studies Announcements
In this issue:
  • Upcoming panel discussion: “Models for Repatriation of Indigenous Cultural Property from First Nations, Canada”
  • New faculty affiliate, Daniel Aldana Cohen, studies politics of climate change
  • External event: “Canadian Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal: Building A Strong, Sustainable North”
  • External event: Book talk on Bootlegged Aliens: Immigration Politics on America’s Northern Border
UPCOMING EVENT
Panel Discussion: Models for Repatriation of Indigenous Cultural Property from First Nations, Canada
Tuesday, February 8 | 12:30 pm | Online | RSVP here
How can repatriation be built from mutual respect, cooperation and trust? North American museums and institutions have historically engaged in the collection and categorization of Indigenous cultural property and knowledge without the consent or active involvement of Indigenous people. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was enacted in 1990 to return Native American “cultural items” to lineal descendants and culturally affiliated American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, and Native Hawaiian organizations. Despite this and further state legislation, many institutions including the University of California, have obfuscated or denied repatriation claims. Across the border, the Canadian government does not currently have legislation addressing the repatriation of Indigenous Ancestors and cultural heritage, but is working to create national support for repatriation through legislation Bill C-391. Some Canadian provinces have passed repatriation acts or provincial museum polices that have facilitated the return of ancestors and belongings. This panel discussion seeks to learn from what is being done in Canada. What is the cultural and nuanced work that builds successful repatriations? How can repatriation and indigenizing the institution from within preserve and strengthen tribal cultural heritage?
Join Canadian Studies affiliate Sabrina Agarwal (Professor of anthropology and chair of the UC Berkeley NAGPRA Advisory Committee) in conversation with Dr. Louis Lesage (Director, Nionwentsïo Office, Huron-Wendat Nation), Lou-Ann Neel (Curator and Acting Head of Indigenous Collections and Repatriation Department, Royal BC Museum), and Michelle Washington (Repatriation Specialist, Royal BC Museum) to explore these questions and hear about their experiences in repatriation.
Image: Kwakwaka’wakw house posts from British Columbia in the Hearst Museum of Anthropology, UC Berkeley.
New Faculty Affiliate Daniel Aldana Cohen Studies Politics of Climate Change
Canadian Studies is pleased to welcome professor Daniel Aldana Cohen, an assistant professor of sociology, as our newest program affiliate.
Professor Cohen joined the Berkeley faculty in July 2021. He completed his undergraduate schooling at McGill University, where he was also editor of the McGill Daily, and received a master’s and doctorate in sociology from New York University. He is also an Azrieli Global Scholar with CIFAR, a Toronto-based organization that provides support for outstanding early-career researchers studying the most important questions facing science and humanity.
Professor Cohen’s research focuses on the politics of climate crises, investigating the intersections of climate change, housing, political economy, social movements, and inequalities of race and social class in the United States and Brazil. He conducts comparative qualitative research on social movements and elite climate policymaking, as well as creating equitable, practical pathways to a low-carbon emissions future.
Professor Cohen is director of the Socio-Spacial Climate Collaborative, or (SC)2, a hub for critical social science research on climate change, and is a founding co-director of the Climate and Community Project. He has served as a policy advisor to several nonprofits and American political campaigns. His writing has appeared in publications including Nature, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Jacobin, and Vox, and he co-hosts the Dissent magazine affiliated podcast Hot & Bothered: A Climate Podcast for the 99%. He co-authored the book A Planet to Win: Why We Need a Green New Deal (2019), and is currently working on his next book, Street Fight: Climate Change and Inequality in the 21st Century City. Professor Cohen can be found on Twitter at @aldatweets.
EXTERNAL EVENTS
Canadian Minister of Northern Affairs Dan Vandal: Building a Strong, Sustainable North
Friday, February 4 | 10 am PT | Online | RSVP here
The Government of Canada, Indigenous peoples, and 6 territorial and provincial governments came together to develop Canada’s Arctic and Northern Policy Framework, a transformative vision of the future where northern and Arctic people are thriving, strong and safe. The Framework includes goals relating to eight overarching themes—people and communities, strong economies, comprehensive infrastructure, environment and biodiversity, science and Indigenous knowledge, global leadership, safety, security and defence, and reconciliation. It incorporates regional and distinctions-based lenses while integrating domestic and international dimensions. Canada’s Minister of Northern Affairs, Daniel Vandal, will discuss federal, Indigenous, and community-driven partnerships and programs to address short-term and long-term climate change adaptation and mitigation, supporting healthy ecosystems in the Arctic and North in a conversation by moderated by Jothsna Harris.
Book Talk: Bootlegged Aliens: Immigration Politics on America’s Northern Border
Friday, February 18 | 12 pm PT | Online | RSVP here
Join Professor Ashley Johnson Bavery for a discussion of her new book, Bootlegged Aliens. The book explores immigration on America’s northern border before World War II, situating Detroit, Michigan as America’s epicenter for unauthorized immigration. In this industrial center, thousands of Europeans crossed the border from Canada each year, prompting nativist backlash and complicating the labor politics of the automobile industry. This event is jointly hosted by the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UC San Diego and UCLA Center for the Study of International Migration. UCLA professor Tobias Higbie will join as a discussant.
Ashley Johnson Bavery is assistant professor of history at Eastern Michigan University. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Urban History and the Journal of American History and her book, Bootlegged Aliens: Immigration Politics on America’s Northern Border (2020) won the First Book Award from the Immigration and Ethnic History Society.
Tobias Higbie is a professor of history and labor studies at UCLA, the chair of the Labor Studies and the associate director of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. His research explores social movements, migration, and the politics of community in the United States. Higbie’s most recent book, Labor’s Mind: A History of Working Class Intellectual Life (2019), recovers the social world of self-educated working people and the politics of working-class identity during the early 20th century.
Canadian Studies Program
213 Moses Hall #2308
Canadian Studies Program | Univ. of California, Berkeley, 213 Moses Hall #2308, Berkeley, CA 94720

New migration data resource; when Detroit was an immigration hub

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A newsletter from a fellow Canadian organization in the Bay Area.
Canadian Studies Announcements
In this issue:
  • Upcoming panel discussion: “Models for Repatriation of Indigenous Cultural Property from First Nations, Canada”
  • New resource: UBC Migration Hub
  • March 2022 ACSUS conference cancelled
  • Grant opportunity: Visiting fellowships at the British Library
  • External event: Book talk on Bootlegged Aliens: Immigration Politics on America’s Northern Border
UPCOMING EVENT
Panel Discussion: Models for Repatriation of Indigenous Cultural Property from First Nations, Canada
Tuesday, February 8 | 12:30 pm | Online | RSVP here
How can repatriation be built from mutual respect, cooperation and trust? North American museums and institutions have historically engaged in the collection and categorization of Indigenous cultural property and knowledge without the consent or active involvement of Indigenous people. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was enacted in 1990 to return Native American “cultural items” to lineal descendants and culturally affiliated American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, and Native Hawaiian organizations. Despite this and further state legislation, many institutions including the University of California, have obfuscated or denied repatriation claims. Across the border, the Canadian government does not currently have legislation addressing the repatriation of Indigenous Ancestors and cultural heritage, but is working to create national support for repatriation through legislation Bill C-391. Some Canadian provinces have passed repatriation acts or provincial museum polices that have facilitated the return of ancestors and belongings. This panel discussion seeks to learn from what is being done in Canada. What is the cultural and nuanced work that builds successful repatriations? How can repatriation and indigenizing the institution from within preserve and strengthen tribal cultural heritage?
Join Canadian Studies affiliate Sabrina Agarwal (Professor of anthropology and chair of the UC Berkeley NAGPRA Advisory Committee) in conversation with Dr. Louis Lesage (Director, Nionwentsïo Office, Huron-Wendat Nation), Lou-Ann Neel (Curator and Acting Head of Indigenous Collections and Repatriation Department, Royal BC Museum), and Michelle Washington (Repatriation Specialist, Royal BC Museum) to explore these questions and hear about their experiences in repatriation.
Image: Kwakwaka’wakw house posts from British Columbia in the Hearst Museum of Anthropology, UC Berkeley.
New Resource: UBC Migration Data Hub
The UBC Centre for Migration Studies (UBC) is pleased to announce the launch of its UBC Migration Data Hub with a series of nine interactive, searchable visual dashboards drawn from the Government of Canada’s Open Government Portal. More than 20 different datasets available from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) are used to create visualizations that provide monthly updates on statistics related to permanent and temporary residents.
These dashboards allow users to quickly search for the information they want from these monthly open data reports and have them readily available in graphic form. It is an ideal tool for teaching and learning, research and for our community service providers interested in understanding immigration flows and trends. Dashboards provide not only general, national level information since 2015, but also breakdowns by province, metropolitan area, immigration program category, citizenship, gender, and age. It also allows users to specify the date range they wish to see in visual form as well.
Dashboards are updated monthly and drawn directly from government datasets making Canadian migration data more accessible and easier to manage. The CMS hopes to expand the data available on the UBC Migration Data Hub in future so be sure to check out the site and provide suggestions or comments to admin.migration@ubc.ca.
March 2022 ACSUS Conference Cancelled
As a result of the current Omicron wave, the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS) Executive Council has decided to cancel their upcoming conference previously scheduled for March 24-27, 2022. While this decision is unfortunately, ACSUS believes it is best for the health and safety of its members. Those who have already registered may either request their payment be credited to a future conference or reimbursed by emailing info@acsus.org. The association’s next scheduled biennial conference will be in Fall 2023.
Grant Opportunity: British Library Visiting Fellowships
Application deadline: February 1, 2021
The Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library in London welcomes Canadianists to apply for their 2022 Visiting Fellowship programme. These fellowships are open to academics, postgraduate students, creatives and independent scholars and cover all regions of the Americas.
For those living in North America, the fellowships are worth £3,000 (approximately $4,000 USD) and should enable around a month’s research in London. Due to the popularity of these fellowships, the Centre will focus most of this year’s fellowships on four research themes: sounds and music of the Americas; Americans beyond the Americas; American environments; and religion and spirituality.
For more information about the fellowship programme, please look here. The deadline for applications is 5pm GMT (9:00 pm PT) on Tuesday, 1 February 2022 and the Fellowship needs to be taken by 30 April 2024. For more information about the four themes, please look here.
EXTERNAL EVENTS
Book Talk: Bootlegged Aliens: Immigration Politics on America’s Northern Border
Friday, February 18 | 12:00 p.m. | Online | RSVP here
Join Professor Ashley Johnson Bavery for a discussion of her new book, Bootlegged Aliens. The book explores immigration on America’s northern border before World War II, situating Detroit, Michigan as America’s epicenter for unauthorized immigration. In this industrial center, thousands of Europeans crossed the border from Canada each year, prompting nativist backlash and complicating the labor politics of the automobile industry. This event is jointly hosted by the Center for Comparative Immigration Studies at UC San Diego and UCLA Center for the Study of International Migration. UCLA professor Tobias Higbie will join as a discussant.
Ashley Johnson Bavery is assistant professor of history at Eastern Michigan University. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Urban History and the Journal of American History and her book, Bootlegged Aliens: Immigration Politics on America’s Northern Border (2020) won the First Book Award from the Immigration and Ethnic History Society.
Tobias Higbie is a professor of history and labor studies at UCLA, the chair of the Labor Studies and the associate director of the Institute for Research on Labor and Employment. His research explores social movements, migration, and the politics of community in the United States. Higbie’s most recent book, Labor’s Mind: A History of Working Class Intellectual Life (2019), recovers the social world of self-educated working people and the politics of working-class identity during the early 20th century.
Canadian Studies Program
213 Moses Hall #2308
Canadian Studies Program | Univ. of California, Berkeley, 213 Moses Hall #2308, Berkeley, CA 94720

Happy New Year! First look at our spring events 🌷

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An item from one of our fellow Canadian organizations in the Bay Area.
Canadian Studies Announcements
In this issue:
  • Our Spring 2022 Events Calendar is here!
  • Panel discussion: “Imagining a New Model for Repatriation of Indigenous Cultural Property: Lessons from Canada and the United States”
  • Hildebrand Graduate Research Showcase
  • “Establishing Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace”
  • “‘Practically American’: What a Canadian Schoolteacher’s Fight Against California’s Anti-Alien Laws Reveals About the Boundaries of American Identity”
  • Conference: Implementing Migration Policy: Excavating the Administrative and Bureaucratic Processes Behind Migrant Admissions and Deportation
  • COVID update for UC Berkeley events
  • Grant opportunity: Visiting fellowships at the British Library
SPRING 2022 EVENTS CALENDAR
While 2022 is off to a challenging start with a new COVID upsurge, we at Canadian Studies are delighted to share our exciting Spring colloquium line-up, which revolves around new scholarship and practice on Indigeneity and immigration. We’ll hear about museums, cyberspace, Bay Area history, energy autonomy, and new agrarian projects in the Northwest Territories. Do join us!
Panel Discussion: Imagining a New Model for Repatriation of Indigenous Cultural Property: Lessons from Canada and the United States
Tuesday, February 8 | 12:30 pm | Online | RSVP here
How can repatriation be built from mutual respect, cooperation and trust? North American museums and institutions have historically engaged in the collection and categorization of Indigenous cultural property and knowledge without the consent or active involvement of Indigenous people. The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) was enacted in 1990 to return Native American “cultural items” to lineal descendants and culturally affiliated American Indian tribes, Alaska Native villages, and Native Hawaiian organizations. Despite this and further state legislation, many institutions including the University of California, have obfuscated or denied repatriation claims. Across the border, the Canadian government does not currently have legislation addressing the repatriation of Indigenous Ancestors and cultural heritage, but is working to create national support for repatriation through legislation Bill C-391. Some Canadian provinces have passed repatriation acts or provincial museum polices that have facilitated the return of ancestors and belongings. This panel discussion seeks to learn from what is being done in Canada. What is the cultural and nuanced work that builds successful repatriations? How can repatriation and indigenizing the institution from within preserve and strengthen tribal cultural heritage?
Join Canadian Studies affiliate Sabrina Agarwal (Professor of anthropology and chair of the UC Berkeley NAGPRA Advisory Committee) in conversation with Dr. Louis Lesage (Bureau du Nionwentsïo, Huron-Wendat Nation), Lou-Ann Neel (Curator and Acting Head of Indigenous Collections and Repatriation Department, Royal BC Museum), and Michelle Washington (Repatriation Specialist, Royal BC Museum) to explore these questions and hear about their experiences in repatriation.
Image: Kwakwaka’wakw house posts from British Columbia in the Hearst Museum of Anthropology, UC Berkeley.
Hildebrand Graduate Research Showcase
Tuesday, March 15 | 12:30 pm | Moses Hall
Learn about the research Canadian Studies funds through our Edward Hildebrand Graduate Research Fellowships, as recipients present short overviews of their projects. This panel will have a special focus on issues of Indigenous resource sovereignty and development in Canada. Participating scholars will be Mindy Price (Environmental Science, Policy, and Management), with her project “New Agrarian Frontiers: Power, Sovereignty, and Public-Nonprofit Partnerships in the Northwest Territories, Canada”, and Aaron Gregory Young (City and Regional Planning), with “Kinship Infrastructures: Indigenous Energy Autonomy and Regulatory Sea Change in Beecher Bay”.
Establishing Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace
Thursday, April 7 | 12:30 pm | Moses Hall
Jason Lewis, founder of Obx Labs, will discuss his work using virtual environments to assist Aboriginal communities in preserving, interpreting and communicating cultural histories. Lewis co-founded and co-directs the Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace research network that is investigating how Aboriginal people can participate in the shaping of our digital media future. He also co-directs the Skins workshop, combining traditional stories and game design at the Kahnawake First Nations’ high school. Professor Lewis teaches design and computational arts at Concordia University in Montreal and holds a University Research Chair in Computational Media and the Indigenous Future Imaginary.
“Practically American”: What a Canadian Schoolteacher’s Fight Against California’s Anti-Alien Laws Reveals About the Boundaries of American Identity
Thursday, April 28 | 12:30 pm | Moses Hall
Brendan Shanahan, a Yale lecturer and former Hildebrand Fellow, explores the case of Katharine Short, a Canadian immigrant to California who challenged an early 20th-century law that banned non-citizens from state employment. Shanahan will discuss what her campaign – and the case overall – shows about the disparate impact of the state’s anti-alien hiring laws, comparing the experiences of favorably portrayed immigrants (like white, middle-class Canadians) vs. less favored non-citizens.
Conference: Implementing Migration Policy: Excavating the Administrative and Bureaucratic Processes Behind Migrant Admissions and Deportation
May 2-3 | UC Berkeley Campus
In a globalized world, one of the most difficult tasks facing governments is how to effectively manage cross-border migration. In recent years, many have highlighted the ways in which elected officials and lobby groups influence the politics that drives immigration policy. However, less attention has been paid to those tasked with carrying out immigration policy, such as bureaucrats who may work in conjunction with non-governmental organizations. With the aim of shedding light on how bureaucratic agencies and civil society organizations influence immigration policy and resettlement, we invite the public to attend a series of conversations exploring the dynamics of implementing immigration policy by showcasing cutting-edge academic research by an international group of leading experts. Further details to come!
Image: Peace Arch Border Crossing between the United States and Canada. David Herrera, Wikimedia Commons.
UC Berkeley Coronavirus Update
Last week, the University announced that all courses would be held online through January 28 due to the current Omicron wave. While this does not directly affect Canadian Studies, we will continue to monitor the situation and ensure our events conform with updated University guidelines. Please double-check all event listings before attending as details may change due to public health directives. All our events will continue to offer a virtual option this semester for those unable to attend in person. For the latest updates on the campus COVID situation, please visit the coronavirus resource hub.
Grant Opportunity: British Library Visiting Fellowships
Application deadline: February 1, 2021
The Eccles Centre for American Studies at the British Library in London welcomes Canadianists to apply for their 2022 Visiting Fellowship programme. These fellowships are open to academics, postgraduate students, creatives and independent scholars and cover all regions of the Americas.
For those living in North America, the fellowships are worth £3,000 (approximately $4,000 USD) and should enable around a month’s research in London. Due to the popularity of these fellowships, the Centre will focus most of this year’s fellowships on four research themes: sounds and music of the Americas; Americans beyond the Americas; American environments; and religion and spirituality.
For more information about the fellowship programme, please look here. The deadline for applications is 5pm GMT (9:00 pm PT) on Tuesday, 1 February 2022 and the Fellowship needs to be taken by 30 April 2024. For more information about the four themes, please look here.
Canadian Studies Program
213 Moses Hall #2308
Canadian Studies Program | Univ. of California, Berkeley, 213 Moses Hall #2308, Berkeley, CA 94720

Season’s greetings from Canadian Studies! 🎅🏻

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A newsletter from a fellow Canadian organization in the Bay Area.
🎄 Canadian Studies Announcements 🎄
In this issue:
  • Happy holidays from Canadian studies!
  • A brief history of the Christmas tree in Canada
  • Holiday recipe: The tourtière, a Québécois holiday pie
  • Support Canadian Studies with an end-of-year gift
Happy Holidays from Canadian Studies!
It’s hard to believe, but 2021 is almost at an end. While the pandemic is once again creating challenges to celebrating our most cherished year-end traditions, we hope that you are able to spend this special time of year with those who matter to you. From Christmas roasts to New Year’s toasts, we hope that whatever you’re doing, the next two weeks are a time of peace, joy, and celebration.
On behalf of all of us at Canadian Studies, we look forward to seeing you in the New Year. Stay safe, stay warm, and be well! ☃️
A Brief History of the Christmas Tree in Canada
While last-minute shoppers across North America are scrambling to get popular items before they sell out, it turns out gifts aren’t the only thing affected. As the CBC reported last month, Canada is currently experiencing a Christmas tree shortage, particularly for highly-prized trees like the Fraser or Balsam fir. But while the Christmas tree may be today a Canadian holiday must-have, it didn’t start out that way. In the classic Canadian tradition, it actually began as a foreign custom that has since been thoroughly integrated into Canadian society.
The modern Christmas tree originated in 16th-century Germany, and is commonly credited to Martin Luther, though it possibly had earlier precedents. The first recorded Christmas tree in all North America appeared in Canada in 1781, at a party hosted by the German baroness Charlotte Riedesel in Sorel, Quebec. However, the custom was not popularized until the reign of Queen Victoria, who established an official royal tree along with her German husband, Prince Albert. Fashionable families rushed to copy the royal couple, and by the end of the century the custom had spread across Canada. And in another first, one of the world’s first electrically-lit Christmas trees was set up in the Westmount suburb of Montreal in 1896.
As the Christmas tree established itself across North America, this new demand brought new opportunities to enterprising farmers. The first dedicated Christmas tree farm was founded in the United States in 1901. Nevertheless, Canadians overwhelmingly used locally-cut wild trees up until around WWII. After this, increasing demand and urbanization made sourcing local trees impractical, and led to the growth of the Christmas tree industry, which today tops over $100 million annually in Canada alone.
So, what’s the future of the industry? Canada today produces up to 6 million Christmas trees annually, almost half of which are exported. The trees form a significant industry in several provinces, with 80% grown in Quebec, Ontario, or Nova Scotia. Demand continues to soar, with sales continue growing almost 15% a year since 2015.
Farmers say current shortages can be partially explained by a drop in trees planted during the last recession. However, the industry also faces several long-term challenges: despite increasing demand, the number of acres under cultivation dropped 15% between 2011 and 2016. Land prices in Ontario incentivize farmers to use land for other, more profitable purposes. And as older farmers retire, they say few young people are interested in continuing the family business. So just as Canadians adopted the Christmas tree one hundred years ago, they may soon find themselves adjusting to a new holiday tradition: the Christmas tree shortage.
Image #1: Engraving of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert with their children. Anonymous artist, 1848. Webster Museum.
Image #2: Nova Scotia farmer prunes a balsam fir. Source: Madereugeneandrew on Wikimedia Commons.
Holiday Recipe: The Tourtière, a Québécois Holiday Pie
In the dark days of winter, there’s nothing as satisfying as tucking into a dish of warm comfort food with friends and family. For the people of Quebec, that dish is the savory meat pie called the tourtière. Dating back to the 1600s, this dish has become a staple of French-Canadian Christmas celebrations. Traditionally, it’s eaten as part of the réveillon, a long dinner held on Christmas Eve and New Year’s Eve. Regional variations made with various meats or fishes exist across Canada, including a famous version from the Lac-Saint-Jean region.
While the dish requires some preparation, it’s relatively forgiving (for baking) and easily adapted to taste. For simplified take on this holiday classic, visit AllRecipes.com; experts wanting to try a more traditional recipe can check out this one from the New York Times.
Image source: AllRecipes.com.
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