Canada 150 Lecture Series: Vimy Ridge - The Battle and the Myth

As we recognize 150 years of Confederation, this lecture series explores Canada's past, present, and future. These are free public lectures brought to you by the University of Waterloo and Wilfrid Laurier University, in partnership with Waterloo Public Library and the City of Waterloo.

Vimy Ridge: The Battle and the Myth

Speakers

• The Battle and Myth - Historian Mark Humphries (Wilfrid Laurier University) will talk about what happened during the famous battle, how it fit into the larger picture of military operations in 1917, and why Canadians have come to see it as the beginning of our national identity.
• Why Vimy? And Why Now? - Historian and post doctoral fellow Mary Chaktsiris (Wilfrid Laurier University) will discuss why Canada's First World War memorial was built on Vimy Ridge—and share some of the other proposed memorials that were not constructed. She will also explore contemporary commemorations of the battle to explore what they can tell us about the Canada of today.
• Re-inscribing Vimy - Art historian Joan Coutu (UWaterloo) will explore memory and permanence by looking at how the Vimy memorial has faded and re-entered Canadian consciousness since World War II.
• Remembering and Forgetting the Great War - Professor of English Carol Acton (St Jerome's University, UWaterloo) will discuss how the male body is at the centre of war commemoration yet excludes physical and psychological war injury. She will then compare representations of injury in women’s fiction and memoir against public images.

Canada 150 lectures