2024/25 Fort Garry Lecture Graduate Student Conference

My HGSA team and I were able to fulfil one of our major goals for the 2024/25 year by reviving the Fort Garry Lectures.

The day was a success, with only mild hiccups. Our presenters and notably active audience shared vibrant discussion and exchanged ideas, critiques and feedback towards each others papers.

We were thrilled to receive numerous submissions; however that meant that I was unable to present a paper. I had planned to present a paper titled: Episodes of History: Looking a Century Back to Those Who Were Looking Back, about the story of the creation of the Peguis Monument in Kildonan Park drawn from the Hudson’s Bay Company Canadian Committee Non-Departmental Correspondence file [RG2/3/18] I found at the Archives of Manitoba. Instead, I was happy to Chair Panel #3: Histories of Movement and Settlement in Canada.

Here is an excerpt of my address to open the event:

Thank you for joining us today at the 2025 iteration of the Fort Garry Lectures Graduate Student Conference. My name is Jayson Gislason, and I am the President of the History Graduate Students association. I’m going to offer a land acknowledgement and then we will introduce some of the guests we have invited to be here with us today before we get moving to our first panel of student research.

The University of Manitoba Land Acknowledgements States:

The University of Manitoba campuses are located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Ininiwak, Anisininewuk, Dakota Oyate and Dene, and on the National Homeland of the Red River Métis.

We respect the Treaties that were made on these territories, we acknowledge the harms and mistakes of the past, and we dedicate ourselves to move forward in partnership with Indigenous communities in a spirit of Reconciliation and collaboration.

If I were to offer just a brief moment of reflection upon this:

As we meet today at the end of the semester to share and to celebrate the academic work that has been undertaken in the past several years, we are reminded that life is a process that is constantly undergoing change.

Sometimes these changes are simple to observe, such as the Spring weather we are finally enjoying outside. Other times, we live in the shadow of the commemorations of these changes, such as today, when as we meet one day after the First of May, or May Day, an ancient festival that marks the beginning of summer, which has been repurposed to commemorate the push by American, British and to a lesser extent Canadian Trade Unions for improved working conditions and the 8-hour day.

One of these changes that this group collectively undertakes as an assembly of historically engaged individuals, is the education of our peers and future generations about a shared and diverse past. I would like to remind us that when we are studying our shared, violent and colonial past, the points of evidence that we use to support our interpretation of the past are often the worst days of the lives of the people we study. As a historically conscious group, a special burden falls to us, to educate, to inform and to support accountability about the harms and mistakes of the past, guiding the chaotic present to a unified and hopeful future.

I will now introduce our first speaker.

Elder Norman Meade:

I was introduced to Elder Meade a couple years ago when I audited Sean Carleton’s Residential School History class. Dr. Carleton arranged for Elder Meade to come speak to the class, not only about the ongoing and harmful legacies of Residential Schools, but about how, even in our role as students studying these histories, we carried a sacred and important responsibility to carry this knowledge out in the world and to those around us.

This past semester, in preparing for this event, I have enjoyed the rich experience of reconnecting with Elder Meade. When I approached him requesting guidance about how to offer an invitation for today, and unsure of the process to do so, I was met with grace and humility. I found comfort in our conversation when Elder Meade began to speak to me about melding science and spirit together, which served to challenge my own motivations for assembling this event.

Several weeks ago, when Cara and I met with Elder Meade to formalize our invitation, Elder Meade began by reminding us that, when we assemble in a group, our strength comes from the collective. That like a wheel, relies on its spokes, we rely on each other. He told us that when we come together, we bring our shared experiences and make the group stronger than the sum of its parts.

Elder Meade put it to us very simply: “Everyone contributes to a circle”. It is this teaching from Elder Meade that informs us of our arrangement and sitting the way that we are in the room today. The presenters who will share their work today are no better, or no worse than anyone else. They are members of our community reporting back on their academic achievements. But you, our audience, will also be valuable participants today, offering our presenters commentary, and asking questions that will cause them to reconsider their work. Like a wheel relies on its individual spokes, a community does not work well when excluding, ignoring or undermining its members.

Dr. Roisin Cossar:

Our next speakers are Drs. Roisin Cossar, Head of the Department of History at the University of Manitoba, and Adele Perry, Distinguished Professor

Roisin Cossar is the current Head of the Department of History, where she has taught since 1999. She is an archival historian, and her publications have explored the social history of the Christian church in 14th and 15th Century Italy, including Venice, Florence, and smaller centres such as Bergamo and Ferrara. She is also a dedicated teacher and looks forward to returning to the classroom regularly after next year. 

Dr. Cossar has been a vital point of contact at the History Department for the HGSA and has worked tirelessly to improve student experience both in the department, and at this event. Personally, she has taken on a role helping me navigate the shift between life as a graduate student, and how to effectively engage undergraduate students as an efficient and productive TA. I know that she has filled similar roles for many other students, and some of them are here presenting today.

 We’ve asked Dr. Cossar to speak a little bit about the History of the Fort Garry Lectures.

Dr. Adele Perry:

Adele Perry is a settler historian who grew up in British Columbia and has worked at the University of Manitoba since 2000. She works on histories of colonialism in northwestern North America in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and is committed to the transformative work of feminist and decolonizing scholarship.

In addition to numerous publications and a notable academic career, Dr. Perry has taught numerous students who planned or are presenting at the 2025 Fort Garry Lectures. Dr. Perry has consistently sought to blend academic rigor with experimental historical study beyond the classroom. (She’s the only professor I’ve ever had to impress with my dank memes). In doing so, she aims to make historical experiences and commemorations tangible – and, therefore, meaningful. She has been a strong support of the HGSA and has offered significant and meaningful assistance whenever we have called upon her. In addition, she is probably the person the most responsible for me standing in front of you today.

We have asked Dr. Perry to speak briefly about the role that Conferences play in the career of a Historian. Those of us who know Adele know that she is an incredible networker and seemingly knows everyone, and I enjoy any time I get the chance to tap into her extensive experience.

Thanks section:

While I have your attention, I do need to give some thanks to those who have helped plan and pull off this event:

·        Thank you to the other members of HGSA, Zac, Patrick and Cara for all your assistance in planning, creating, drafting, and motivating this event.

·        Thank you Elder Meade for receiving and fulfilling our request.

·        Thank you to Drs. Roisin Cossar and Sarah Elvins of the University of Manitoba Department of History for seeing the value in this event and allowing us to plan in under the department’s banner. Thank you also for the financial support that makes this event possible. Special thanks to Jennifer Cheslock for her efficient and accurate work, which has also been vital.

·        I want to shout out the crew that drove in from Brandon University. Thanks for making the trip, we’re happy to have you guys here.

·        Thank you to Drs. Adele Perry and Ryan Eyford for their affirmation that pursuing this event was a worthwhile endeavor, and their guidance along the way.

·        Thank you to our presenters. Sharing your research into a room of your peers and strangers can be intimidating. But thank you, and congratulations on your achievements this year.

·        And finally thank you to you, yes you, for coming to listen to these presentations. The role of the audience at a conference is often assumed and unappreciated. As a member of the audience, you hold an incredibly important role in helping us achieve our goals for this event. We encourage you to engage with our presenters, during and after their panels. Without you, this conference does not happen and is simply a bunch of nerds sitting around talking about old stuff. So thank you for taking the time to be here.