Annual Meeting of the Canadian Historical Association

Confluences and Crossroads in History

The confluence of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers has been a meeting place for millennia. Located within the homelands of the Anishinaabeg, Dakota Oyate, Ininiwak, and Nakoda, by the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries ‘the Forks’ had become a hub of the fur trade, bringing Indigenous nations into contact with French and British traders. This period also saw the emergence of a new Indigenous nation, the Red River Métis, who in 1869 forcefully challenged Canada’s imperial ambitions, and reshaped Confederation. In 1871, Anishinaabe leaders and Canadian officials negotiated Treaty 1, the first of the Numbered Treaties. The rapid advance of settler colonialism followed the treaty, attracting diverse immigrants and tying the region into the emerging global economy through railways and networks of commodity exchange. Winnipeg, the city that grew up around the confluence of the two rivers, became a hotbed of feminist activism, working class struggle, multiculturalism, and Indigenous resurgence. It remains a vital crossroads of the North American continent today.

The 2027 Canadian Historical Association annual meeting will be held in Winnipeg at St John’s College, University of Manitoba, from Monday to Wednesday, June 14 to 16. This in-person conference will be the first CHA annual meeting held in the Prairies since 2018, and the first in Winnipeg since 2004. It coincides with the 150th anniversary of the University of Manitoba, formed in 1877 when three denominational colleges—Manitoba (Presbyterian), Saint-Boniface (Roman Catholic), and St John’s (Anglican)—converged to form the first degree-granting university in Western Canada.

The gathering of historians and archivists in Winnipeg in June 2027 will also include the Association of Canadian Archivists (ACA), the Canadian Society for the History of Medicine (CSHM), and the Canadian Catholic Historical Association (CCHA). These conferences will all be held either concurrently or contiguously with the CHA annual meeting, creating opportunities for collaboration and dialogue.

The CHA 2027 Program Committee invites proposals for panels and papers that illustrate themes of confluence and crossroads in history. The deadline to submit proposals is October 16, 2026. Proposals can be submitted here, in French or English: https://event.fourwaves.com/5a3ec203-c9d2-418a-8cd7-112bad4b0e69/submission