Dr. Raymond Blake

Dr. Raymond Blake is the head of the Department of History and specializes in Canadian political history with a particular interest in identity and nationalism. He has written and edited 14 books, numerous articles and book chapters, and has held four SSHRC Standard Research/Insight Grants, several Aid to Scholarly Conference Grants from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and was co-applicant on a SSHRC Strategic Partnership Grant. In 2010 and 2011, he co-authored a two-volume history of Canada: Narrating a Nation: Canadian History Pre-Confederation and Narrating a Nation: Canadian History Post-Confederation. More recently, he edited Borders, Interculturalism and the Construction of Identity. Whitney, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2014. His most recent book, Lions or Jellyfish: A History of Newfoundland-Ottawa Relations which examines Ottawa-Newfoundland relations since the late 1950s, will be published in early 2015 by the University of Toronto Press. He is currently engaged in several other research projects, including a new book on prime ministers and national identity since 1945.

“Newfoundland and the Confederation Debates: New Notions of Citizenship and Engagement”

The constitutional debates in Newfoundland in the late 1940s that resulted in union with Canada focused on social rights and the obligations of the state to provide for the well-beings of its citizens. The debate did not revolve around the constitution per se as most scholars have concluded but rather what each constitutional option would provide in social and economic terms, and which options would bring relief from the poverty of the past, such as that experienced during the Great Depression. Notions of right were broadened in the 20^th Century and social and material dimensions were added to traditional notions of citizenship. There was an expansion of social rights and such basic rights and freedoms as freedom from hunger, the right to a job, the right to dignity in old age, the right to schools and education, the right to an acceptable level of public services (electricity, indoor plumbing, etc.), and the right to access to an acceptable level of health care came to the forefront. In Canada, governments and political parties embraced the new philosophy that the state had to address the social and economic injustices that their citizens faced. The new ideas were driven in large part by demands from citizens. There emerged a commitment to notions of social rights, that all citizens should enjoy a common set of social welfare programs, a decent standard of living, and reasonable access to modern public services that would alleviate the burdens that citizens faced. Social citizenship expanded over time to include not only access to health care and the provision of family allowances and public pensions or what might be broadly defined as the benefits of the social welfare state, but also access to such public services as electricity, running water, schools with qualified teachers, and medical services. No modern, progressive society could leave its citizens without these and other amenities. Social rights promised to strengthen citizen’s level of attachment to the nation.  Newfoundland and Labrador was not isolated from those changed notions of citizenship. In fact, the people there were caught up in them, and I contend that they were central to the Confederation debates that began with the election of delegates to the National Convention in 1946. The search in Newfoundland for a better way of life through notions of expanded social citizenship and social rights – in essence, the search for economic and social security – was captured in the fierce constitutional debates that animated politics in the country after the Second World War.

Update January 2016:

New Books: 

Lions or Jellyfish: A History of Newfoundland-Ottawa Relations. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015.

Borders, Interculturalism and the Construction of Identity. Whitney, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2014. Co-edited with Natalie J. Walthrust Jones. http://tinyurl.com/mm89rtd. 

Books Accepted by University Presses and Forthcoming:

Celebrating Canada. Volume I.  National Holidays and the Evolving Contours of Canadian Identity. Co-edited with Matthew Hayday. University of Toronto Press. The book manuscript has been recommended for publication by two external readers and approved for publication by the UTP Manuscript Review Committee. Expected Publication, 2017.

Books Under Contract and in Progress:

Celebrating Canada. Volume II. Commemorations, Anniversaries and Nation-building Projects. Co-edited with Matthew Hayday. University of Toronto Press. Manuscript submitted in March, 2015 and one reader’s report has been received. Expected Publication, 2017.

 Conflict and Consensus: A Narrative History of Canada. Volume 1. Pre-Confederation. Co-authored with Jeff Keshen, Norman Knowles, and Barbara Messamore. University of Toronto. Manuscript will be delivered in March 2016. (My chapters have been submitted.)

Conflict and Consensus: A Narrative History of Canada. Volume 2. Post-Confederation. Co-authored with Jeff Keshen, Norman Knowles, and Barbara Messamore. University of Toronto. Manuscript will be delivered in March 2016. (My chapters have been submitted.)

Articles Published in 2014-15:

“Confederation and Conspiracy: An Extended Essay on Greg Malone’s Don’t Tell the Newfoundlanders.” Review Essay. Newfoundland and Labrador Studies 29 2 (2014): 303-317. This journal was published in January 2015.

“Politics and the Federal Principle in Canada: Offshore Oil Development and the Quest for Political Stability and Social Justice,” Canadian Historical Review 96 1 (March 2015): 32-60.

“Confederation and Conspiracy: An Extended Essay of Greg Malone’s Don’t Tell the Newfoundlanders.” Review Essay. Newfoundland and Labrador Studies 29 2 (2014): 303-317.

“Canada, Post-Multiculturalism and the Search for Interculturalism.” In Borders, Interculturalism and the Construction of Identity. Raymond B. Blake and Natalie J. Walthrust, editors. Whitney, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2014. E-book.

“Intergovernmental Relations Trumps Social Policy Change: Trudeau, Constitution, and Family Allowances,” in Modern Canada: 1945 to Present. Catherine Briggs, Editor. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2014: 137-53. Reprint.

“Defining a Nation and a Province: Ottawa Newfoundland Relations,” The Newfoundland Quarterly 106 (3) 2013/14” 47-54.

Articles and Book Chapters Forthcoming:

“Dreams of a National Identity: Trudeau, Citizenship and Canada Day”, co-authored with Bailey Antonishyn. Celebrating Canada. Volume I. National Holidays and the Evolving Contours of Canadian Identity. Co-edited with Matthew Hayday. University of Toronto Press. Manuscript submitted in March, 2015. Expected Publication, 2017.

«L’Ouest, les protestations et la recherche de stabilité au Canada: Un assaut contre l’hégémonie du Centre du Canada » in  L’OUEST ET LES AMERIQUES, Marie-Cristine Michaud, ed. Rennes, France, Presses universitaires de Rennes, Forthcoming 2016.

“The Resettlement of Pushthrough, Newfoundland in 1969,” Newfoundland and Labrador Studies. Forthcoming, January 2016.

Book Reviews:

Donald Barry, Bob Applebaum, and Earl Wiseman, Fishing for a Solution. Canada’s Fisheries Relations with the European Union, 1977-2013. Calgary: University of Calgary Press. International Journal. Submitted and Forthcoming.

Commentaries and Op-Ed Publications:

“Governor general above political fray.” Op-ed, Regina Leader-Post, 19 October 2015. http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Opinion+Governor+general+above+political+fray/11448776/story.html

Conference Papers and Public/Invited Lectures

“The Canadian Confederation and the Dreams of an Inclusive Citizenship.” Presentation to Bank of Canada Committee Workshop Designing a New Bank Note on the 150^th Commemoration of Confederation. Ottawa, January 2015.

Canada and Shifting Notions of Citizenship. Paper presented to British Association of Canadian Studies, London, UK. May 2015.

“The Ottawa-Newfoundland Relationship: Lessons from History.” Presentation to Harris Centre for Public Policy Syngergy Session, Memorial University, November 2015. Available as a video at http://www.mun.ca/harriscentre/news.php?id=6529.

“The Importance of Citizenship: Understanding the Past in Newfoundland and Labrador.” Presentation to the Holyrood History Club, Holyrood, NL, November 2015.

“Veterans, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction: The Remaking of Canadian Citizenship.”Paper presented to Graduate History Remembrance Day Symposium, University of Regina, 10 November 2014.

“The Revolt of the West, or the Canadian West Assaults Hegemony,” Keynote Address to the COLLOQUE L’OUEST ET LES AMERIQUES, Université de Bretagne-Sud, Lorient, France, October 2014.

“Citizenship Dreams: Notions of Citizenship and Identity in Canada.” Conférence. Université de Bretagne-Sud, Lorient, France, October 2014.

“Canada and the Search for Identity: Nationalism, Multiculturalism and Sustainability.” Conférence. Université de Bretagne-Sud, Lorient, France, October 2014.

Media Interviews: Interview with CBC Radio, National News, “Harper reincarnates family allowance with universal child-care benefit, 2 April 2015. http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/harper-reincarnates-family-allowance-with-universal-child-care-benefit-1.3018557  Interview with Robin Levinson King, “Dominion Day enthusiasts pine for the past. While the rest of us raise a glass for Canada Day, some diehard history fans long for a return to the holiday’s prior name.” Toronto Star 1 July 2015. http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2015/07/01/dominion-day-enthusiasts-pine-for-the-past.print.html Interview, Tristian Hopper, National Post, July 14. 2015, “A history of the baby bonus: Tories now tout benefits of program they once axed”http://news.nationalpost.com/news/canada/a-history-of-the-baby-bonus-tories-now-tout-benefits-of-program-they-once-axed.  Guest, VOCM Radio Openline Show to discuss federal-provincial relations. St. John’s, NL, 28 July 2015.  Interview with Omar Sachedina, National Correspondent, CTV National News for story on relationships between Prime Minister and Premiers, 11 August 2015. Interview with Cameron MacIntosh, CBC News, The National, on “What Makes us Canadian?” A Report on Canadian Symbols released by Stats Canada, 2 October 2015. http://www.msn.com/en-ca/video/news/what-makes-us-canadian/vi-AAf1snA Interview with Bonnie Allen, CBC Radio National News, on “What Makes us Canadian?” A Report on Canadian Symbols released by Stats Canada, 2 October 2015 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/89-652-x/89-652-x2015005-eng.htm

Research Awards Held in 2015:

Social Science and Humanities Insight Grant, 2013-16, for “The Politics of Speech: How Prime Ministers Have Defined National Identity in Canada Since 1945.” Value $74,000.

Award to Scholarly Publications Program (ASPP) of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences for Lions or Jellyfish: Newfoundland-Ottawa Relations Since 1957. Value $8000 and awarded 2015.

Social Science and Humanities Connections Grant, 2014-2015, for Conference on National Day, with Matthew Hayday, University of Guelph. Value $25,000. Two edited collections from the Conference submitted to University of Toronto Press, March 2015.

Applications for Research Awards Submitted in 2015:

Social Science and Humanities Insight Grant, “Confederation and the Quest for Citizenship: Social Rights and the Union of Newfoundland and Canada” Amount Requested: $92,422. Decision pending.

Publishing Awards:

Lions or Jellyfish: Newfoundland-Ottawa Relations Since 1957 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015) won the Canadian Studies Network-Réseau d’études canadiennes Prize for the Best Book in Canadian Studies, 2015. This prize is awarded annually for an outstanding scholarly book on a Canadian subject that best advances our knowledge and understanding of Canada and Canadian Studies.

Lions or Jellyfish: Newfoundland-Ottawa Relations Since 1957, shortlisted for the International Council for Canadian Studies-Conseil international d’études canadiennes for the Pierre Savard Awards which are designed to recognize and promote each year outstanding scholarly monographs on a Canadian topic.

 Academic Service:

SSHRC Adjucation Committee for SSHRC Insight Development Grants, 4-6 May 2015 (National Grant Agency, Ottawa).

Member, Publications Committee of the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program (ASPP), Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences-Fédération des sciences humaines, Ottawa. Member since 2009.

SSHRC Advisory Committee, Vice President Research Office, University of Regina, 2015.

University of Regina Press Publication Board, University of Regina, 2015.

Prairie Forum, Publication Board, University of Regina, 2015.

Member, Advisory Council, Committee of Canadian Studies Network-Réseau d’études canadiennes, 2015.

Referee for peer-review submission to Newfoundland and Labrador Studies. March 2015.

Referee for peer-review submission to Acadensis, November 2015.

Member, Committee of Canadian Studies Network-Réseau d’études canadiennes Prize for the Best PhD Dissertation in Canadian Studies, 2015.

Member, Committee of Canadian Studies Network-Réseau d’études canadiennes Prize for the Best Undergraduate Essay in Canadian Studies, September 2015.

Member, Political History Group, Canadian Historical Association, Committee Member to select best published article in Canadian political history, 2015.

Member, Research and Graduate Studies Committee, Faculty of Arts, University of Regina. 2015.