Since 2004, The Avie Bennett Historica Chair in Canadian History has served to promote the study of Canada’s heritage as a vital and lively academic discipline. The Chair was established by the Historica Foundation of Canada, endowed by York Chancellor Emeritus Avie Bennett. Each year, an esteemed lecturer is invited to share their research with historians, students, faculty, and the public at large.
2021 Avie Bennett Historica Lecture
Chief Clarence Louie on Indigenous Peoples and the wine industry in B.C.
September 23, 2021
For the Avie Bennett Historica Canada Public Lecture in Canadian History, Settler Vines was honoured to welcome Chief Clarence Louie of the Osoyoos Indian Band. The Osoyoos community created the first Indigenous-owned winery in North America. Chief Louie discussed Indigenous Peoples and the wine industry in British Columbia in the context of globalization and climate change.
Past Events
Carried Away: Forgetting and Remembering the Great Influenza Pandemic in Canada
March 26, 2021
In this timely lecture, Professor Esyllt Jones, author of the award-winning book Influenza 1918: Death, Disease and Struggle and professor at the University of Manitoba, explores the Great Influenza (1918-1920) in light of renewed interest following the COVID-19 pandemic. By following work by writer Alice Munro, Jones to suggests a new interpretation of how pandemic disease survivors remembered their experiences, and how those intimate histories interacted with large-scale social forces and upheavals.
Traces of the Animal Past: Methodological Challenges in Animal History
November 7, 2019
University of Calgary's Professor George Colpitts has dedicated much of his research to understanding the very meaning of wildlife and how that definition has changed over time. His 2019 keynote address explored the ways in which historians have been at the forefront of new research in human-animal studies, blending traditional archival and oral history research methods with interdisciplinary theoretical frameworks that de-centre humans in historical narratives in order to better understand the past from non-anthropocentric perspectives.
Prairie Settler Suffragists and Indigenous People
September 27, 2018
Award-winning author and Native Studies Professor Sarah Carter, from the University of Alberta, delivered a lecture titled “Prairie Settler Suffragists and Indigenous People,” drawn from her book, Ours By Every Law of Right and Justice: Women and the Vote in the Prairie Provinces. The book is part of the Women’s Suffrage and the Struggle for Democracy series by the University of British Columbia Press.
Indigeneity, the World, and Canada
March 30, 2017
In 2017, keynote speaker Justice Murray Sinclair, Senator and former Chair, Truth and Reconciliation Commission spoke on Indigeneity, the World, and Canada. In his talk, he examined what Canada could learn from other nations and their relationships to Indigenous peoples.
Canada at 150: The Secret Handshake
October 12, 2017
Well-known across Canada as an author and public speaker, Charlotte Gray explores the past with wit and a sense of drama. Reflecting on 150 ideas that shaped Canada, she pulls from her latest book, The Promise of Canada: 150 Years — People and Ideas That Have Shaped Our Country. Her previous non-fiction bestsellers include The Massey Murder; Gold Diggers, Striking It Rich in the Klondike; Reluctant Genius, The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell, Sisters in the Wilderness, and The Lives of Susanna Moodie.
John A. Macdonald: The Good, the Bad, the Great
Award-winning author and journalist Richard J. Gwyn examined the legacy of Canada’s first prime minister during his keynote presentation at the 2015 Avie Bennett Historica Lecture.
Canada and the Great War
September 18, 2014
Highlighting the day-long "First World War: History, Memory and Commemoration" conference held at York University in 2014, Margaret MacMillan delivered a keynote address at the Avie Bennett Historica Lecture delving into the literary, aesthetic, critical, political and historical perspectives of Canada’s participation in the war.
Champlain, Humanist: The Founding of New France and the History of Canada
October 24, 2013
Pulitzer Prize-winning historian David Hackett Fischer gave the keynote address at the 2013 Avie Bennett Historica Lecture, using his talk to explore the legacy of founder of Quebec, Samuel de Champlain, the subject of his 2008 book Champlain's Dream.