The 50th anniversary conference of the British Association for Canadian Studies (BACS) took place in Edinburgh, Scotland from 24 to 26 April 2025. The Canadian Studies Centre at Edinburgh University, which was also celebrating its 50th year, hosted the event. The conference was attended by some 150 Canadianists from almost 20 countries across the globe and was one of the largest BACS events in recent years—rivalled only by the 2017 Conference held at Canada House in London at the time of the 150th anniversary of the establishment of the Canadian Confederation.
The packed program included three days of plenary lectures and parallel panels discussing the main themes of the conference, including indigeneity and multiculturalism, national identity, the environment, language and literature, governance and political institutions, and Canada-UK relations.
The conference dinner was held in the magnificent Playfair Library Hall and the guests of honour included Mary Duncan, the Honorary Consul of Canada in Scotland, and Marie-Pierre Olivier, representing the Québec Delegation in London, who announced the award of the Prix de la Délégation générale du Québec à Londres to Jane Lovell for her research on literary tourism in Québec. At the end of the dinner Tony McCulloch, the BACS President, thanked James Kennedy, Director of the Edinburgh University Canadian Studies Centre, for his splendid work in organizing the conference and presented him with a set of whiskies from the regions of Scotland.
Our thanks to Tony McCulloch, BACS President, for his report.
Québec Delegation in London photograph of Dr James Kennedy, Mrs Marie-Pierre Olivier and Dr Tony McCulloch