The Director of the Centre for Canadian Studies, Dr. Anthony Kinik, recently wrote about 40 Years of Canadian Studies at Brock University – ‘The Centre for Canadian Studies at Brock University’, Journal of Australian, Canadian, and Aotearoa New Zealand Studies 6 (September 2026): 127-136, https://doi.org/10.52230/EVDH8573
Read it here:
anthony-kinik-40-years-of-canadian-studies-at-brock-university
The Centre for Canadian Studies at Brock has been preparing to host the annual Two Days of Canada focusing on Canadian Sovereignty, followed by the Comparative Borders student conference. Professor Liam Midzain-Gobin from the Department of Political Science will be the third keynote speaker addressing both conferences on Friday March 27 starting at 5 p.m. in RFP 214/215. This keynote address is open to the public and free of charge, and followed by a light reception.
Professor Midzain-Gobin’s new book, titled Settler Colonial Sovereignty: Visions of Improvement and Indigenous Erasure, examines how Canada’s settler colonial governments have relied on narratives of productivity to justify harms to Indigenous communities, and was the focus of a recent Brock News article.
Read the recent Brock News article here.
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CALL FOR PAPERS
Annual Two Days of Canada Conference
Brock University | March 26 and 27, 2026
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Two Days of Canadian Sovereignty
NEW DEADLINE to submit – January 25, 2026
https://brocku.ca/humanities/canadian-studies/two-days-of-canada-conference/
The Centre for Canadian Studies at Brock University, in collaboration with the Departments of History, Political Science, and Communication, Popular Culture, and Film, invites submissions for Two Days of Canadian Sovereignty, to be held on March 26 and 27, 2026.
This transdisciplinary conference, part of the Centre’s annual Two Days of Canada conference series, will bring together students, scholars, and researchers from diverse fields to deliver presentations, take part in workshops and roundtables, and attend events in an inclusive and collaborative atmosphere. This year’s conference addresses the issue of Sovereignty in Canada and of Canadian Sovereignty.
Two Days of Canadian Sovereignty will feature two keynote speakers:
It has been decades since Canada, Canadian identity, and Canadian sovereignty have been such hot topics among Canadians. These issues have dominated our news cycle and been front and centre in our political discussions, they are visible at the grocery stores and other retail outlets, they have severely impacted our labour market, they have completely altered our border regions, and they are affecting how we travel and where we spend our time and money. While there will surely be a great deal of interest in this topic in relation to current events, as well as the future of Canada, sovereignty has always been a thorny and fascinating issue in this country, one worthy of our sustained attention. Canada is a pluralist society, and, accordingly, the issue of sovereignty has taken on a variety of forms, including Indigenous, French, British, and Canadian variations, among others.
The topics we’re suggesting for this conference have been designed to be as broad and inviting as possible, in order to inspire wide-ranging and highly interdisciplinary work. We’re certainly open to other suggested topics as well. Our only restriction is that proposals should have a Canadian or Indigenous focus to them. Again, the following list of topics is not exhaustive, it is only meant to provide a sense of the kinds of research that might be carried out on the topic of sovereignty.
The program committee invites submissions for both individual presentations and for full panels of 3-4 presentations. We are also open to creative submissions that move beyond these two formats.
Those submitting proposals for individual presentations should send an abstract of no more than 300 words, along with a brief CV or biography. Panel proposals should include a brief outline of the panel topic (maximum 300 words) and of individual presenters’ proposals (maximum 200 words each), along with brief CVs or biographies for the panelists. Panels should also ideally identify a chair or moderator. The committee also welcomes suggestions for round table discussions, given the richness and contentiousness of the topic at hand.
In addition to faculty members and graduate students, we are also interested in proposals from community members and groups outside of the academic sphere.
The deadline for submission is January 25, 2026. Successful applicants will be informed of the program committee’s decision by February 9, 2026.
Please send any inquiries or session proposals to [email protected]
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Professor Gregory Betts
Craig Dobbin Professor of Canadian Studies
The Centre for Canadian Studies in partnership with the St. Catharines Public Library presents their third Canada Talks event featuring Professor Gregory Betts.
The Centre for Canadian Studies will once again host the ever popular interdisciplinary student conference again in March 2026. To better reflect border issues around the world, including those pertaining to Canada and the United States, the conference will now be known as Comparative Borders (formerly Crossing Borders).
The Call for Proposals has now been released with a deadline of February 17, 2026 to submit an abstract. For students interested in competing for the Best Paper Award, the deadline for submission of full paper is March 3, 2026.
Click here to download the Comparative Borders CFP.
Click here to download the Call for Papers in text format.
The Centre for Canadian Studies Canada Talks Series
“An Incomplete History of the Interactive Documentary in Canada”
A presentation and discussion with Dr. Michael Brendan Baker, Sheridan College,
Co-editor and co-author of the book The Interactive Documentary in Canada (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2024)
Thursday November 27, 2025, from 6-8 p.m.
Sankey Chamber
Free event, all welcome
In the early 2000s, Canada made a push to become a global leader in the developing field of interactive documentaries, or i-docs. This effort was led in large measure by the National Film Board of Canada (NFB), a state-funded film studio that had long been known for its commitment to three things: 1) nonfiction filmmaking and documentary representation; 2) advancing the state of the art through technical and technological sophistication; and 3) politically engaged and socially committed filmmaking. In many ways the launch of the NFB’s Digital Studio in 2008 was a continuation and an expansion of these traditions. It placed Canada at the cutting edge of the digital interactive documentary in all its many forms. This lecture will revisit this history, highlight some of its most significant projects, and discuss its contemporary relevance.
Michael Baker is Professor of Film Studies in the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences at Sheridan College and President of the Film & Media Studies Association of Canada (FMSAC). He specializes in documentary film and video, music and the moving image, and film history. He holds a PhD in Communication Studies from McGill University and is author of numerous book chapters and journal articles on a range of subjects including documentary, popular music and film, and new media.
Brought to you by the Centre for Canadian Studies in partnership with the Department of Communication, Popular Culture, and Film at Brock.
Click here for event poster
Professor Anthony Kinik teaches in Communications, Film, and Popular Culture at Brock and has been a long-standing advisory member of the Centre for Canadian Studies. He took over the helm as Director of CANA on July 1 and has been busy organizing a new series titled Canada Talks, leading fundraising efforts for CANA’s Terry Fox team, and promoting the Centre.
He is also scheduled to guest lecture at Sir Wilfrid Laurier University on November 4. You can register for his talk titled “Expo is Celluloid City” Art, Commerce, Film, and Urbanism at Expo 67 by clicking this link. Attendance can be in person or virtually via Zoom. Admission/registration is free.
As part of the Welland Canal Bicentennial Travelling Lecture Series, Michelle Vosburgh will speak on November 15 at 1 p.m. at the Port Colborne Museum, 286 King Street, Port Colborne.
Her talk “Conflicts and Controversy on the Early Welland Canals” focuses on labour disputes, political animosity, local jealousies, and competition to malicious disinformation campaigns, construction and operation of the early Welland Canals. It was not all smooth sailing in the beginning!
Free admission, all welcome.
Click here for a copy of the event poster.
