On Saturday, 10 November 2007, the Tri-University History Conference was held in Waterloo. I was able to see the plenary address by Geir Lundestad, Professor of History at Oslo University and President and Director of the Nobel Prize Institute, and some of the few but excellent papers on Canadian history. Prof. Lundestad spoke about his specialty, American-European relations after the end of the Cold War, describing NATO’s formation and purpose as an attempt to keep the Russians out, the Germans down, and the Americans in and the difficult trans-Atlantic relationship in the post Soviet period and during the war on terror.

Perhaps as interesting to Canadianists was a panel on “Untangling identities: religion, ethnicity and multiculturalism in Canada.” The most tangled identities, those of Aboriginal converts to Christianity and Mennonites in Canada, were presented in the second and third papers. Dr. Susan Neylan, Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University, examined notions of identification and dialogue in the journal of Arthur Wellington (Clah), a Tsimshian Christian who ministered to his own people using elements of cultural spirituality that sometimes incensed Protestant clergy. Neylan found that Aboriginal Christianity reflected integration not replacement and that the best way to observe it was to look for points of meeting, not points of difference. Unfortunately, there was no time for Q&A but I was intrigued by the way First Nations people entered the ministry and will hopefully have an opportunity to ask Prof. Neylan how it compared to the normal path of becoming a Shaman. Clah argued that his training was from God and was as effective as any clergy’s. Did his sense of leadership reflect the nineteenth century Evangelical move to lay ministry or was it a cultural transfer from Aboriginal spirituality?

Dr. Royden Loewen, Chair of Mennonite Studies at the University of Winnipeg and visiting scholar at the University of Guelph, discussed “Fragmenting an Ethno-Religious Identity: The Case of Canadian Mennonites.” In this paper he distilled his research on Mennonite identities (presently slotted for a publication on identity formation in North American ethnic groups) to six discourses or typologies of Mennonites today. I have heard Prof. Loewen present on other elements of the Mennonite diaspora and read some of his writing, and it was wonderful to hear this synopsis of Canadian Mennonite history. He identified secular Mennonites who embraced their ethnicity but not its religion; evangelicals who had adopted a non Mennonite Evangelicalism; Neo-Anabaptists who saw traditional Anabaptist faith as a tool for transforming postwar society; old order Mennonites, the sort who use very visible markers to define ethnic and religious identity; the most common Mennonite who found meaning in parallel but incongruous streams of Mennonite religion and ethnicity; and Asian Mennonites who had immigrated, often from Korea, to urban areas and found the Mennonite faith. The research reveals a fascinating fragmentation of identities within one part of the Mennonite diaspora.

Adam Stewart a graduate student at University of Waterloo presented a stimulating and timely discussion of the history of public education and multiculturalism in Ontario, especially the school system’s implementation (or lack) of federal multicultural standards in the late twentieth century. Not surprisingly, his paper attracted most of the questions as his coverage of education policy before WWII required clarification and support. The conference was well attended and overall a big success. Congrats to the two doctoral students who won awards for historiographical and research papers!