Accomplished student
Before coming to the University of Guelph to pursue an MA in History, Lydia Kinasewich was an award-winning student. She received the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) Scholar’s award from 2018-2022 that was given to students in high school in Northern BC and the Yukon based on their academic performance in Grade 11, providing an opportunity for many students from northern communities in British Columbia to attend university.
Lydia published articles as well, including a Spring 2025 article in British Columbia History entitled, “From Health Resort to Pleasure Resort: Reconstruction Harrison Hot Springs as a Tourist Destination, 1920-1930.” The article was based on the 2022 W. Kaye Lamb Student Scholarship award for the best upper-level student essay in BC History.
Academic journey
In 2023, Lydia graduated from UNBC in Prince George with an Honours BA in History. After beginning bachelor studies in psychology, Lydia discovered that her interests lay more in Canadian history and food studies. When the time came to apply for a postgraduate degree, she was drawn to the History MA at the University of Guelph due to the strong reputation of its program and access to faculty who specialized not only in Canadian history but in food history and medical history.
BC dairy industry research
"While I was able to independently create research opportunities for my field of interest during my undergraduate degree," she says, "I was excited by the opportunity to work with and learn from professors who are experts within my field of interest at Guelph." A Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Canadian Graduate Scholarship for Masters students (CGS - M) helped fund her research at Guelph on the history of the British Columbia dairy industry during the twentieth century. She focused on the development of, and subsequent resistance to, food safety guidelines like pasteurization. This research built on her undergraduate work on federal and provincial food safety measures that were put in place in the early twentieth century to ensure the safety of milk products distributed to consumers both in the province and across provincial and national lines.
Lydia's Major Research Project (MRP) focused on the resistance to milk pasteurization in BC and examined how a fringe, yet vocal, movement emerged in support of raw milk in B.C. after the 1970s. This movement comprised of small-scale farmers and a subset of consumers who desired raw milk due to a belief in the cultural significance and health benefits of unpasteurized milk.
Lydia was invited to share the preliminary findings from her MRP at the University of Guelph Rural History Roundtable Speaker series in November 2025.
Choosing the University of Guelph and the Tri-U
"The resources at the University of Guelph, such as archive access, teaching and research contract positions, and the involvement in the Tri-University Program were all compelling factors that ultimately led me to apply here for an MA," Lydia explains. "The Tri-U program provided me many valuable opportunities to meet students and faculty outside the University of Guelph. I took courses at Wilfrid Laurier University which allowed me to broaden my learning opportunities and meet students enroled in history programs at other institutions."
The Tri-U program allowed me to feel like a part of a broader learning community. The chance to collaborate with other scholars and draw on resources from Laurier and Waterloo were major benefits. Graduate student events like mixers and the Tri-University Graduate History Conference provided opportunities to meet peers, present research, and grow as a scholar in a supportive and approachable environment.