Canadian Studies News and Notes

Canadian Studies News and Notes I. "Law for the Buffalo, Law for the Musk Ox," The Osgoode Society for Canadian Legal History and the University of Calgary, 2-5 April, Calgary, Alberta. The conference topics include: First Nations and Peoples; law, politicsand justice in frontier communities; gender and the law; and law in colonial, imperial, continental and national settings. Contact: Jonathan Swaigner, History Dept., University of Northern British Columbia, Fort St. John, BC, VIJ 6Kl ; telephone: (604) 787-6228; e-mail: swaigner@unbc.edu 2. "Canadian Short Story Symposium," University of Ottawa. Department of English, 25-26 April 1997, Ottawa, Ontario. The University of Ottawa's Department of English will hold a two-day public symposium entitled ''The Canadian Short Story." Friday evening features a panel discussion, chaired by David Staines, on "Writing Canadian ShortStories."The panel brings together three leading practitioners from three distinctive regions of the country to discuss their craft and their views of the continuum of the Canadian short story: Guy Vanderhaeghe, Bonnie Burnard, and Alistair MacLeod. Six Saturday morning sessions will present new research on such previouslyignored influences on the Canadian short story as the short fiction that arose from the distinctive cultural context5 of some of the important nineteenth-century women writers; the shaping influencesofjin-de-siecle symboliste aesthetics ; and the determining role played in the lives ofearlier Canadian readers by the nineteenth-century young adult story. Papers dealing with the early-twentieth century will consider the heretofore overlooked importance of social(ist) realism in the short fiction of the Depression era; the legal vocabulary of Morley Callaghan's short stories; and, in a paper parallelling the one on the nineteenth-century young adult short story, compelling findings on the wide 198 influence of the popular short story of this century. The four afternoon sessions will assess the short fiction of three of Canada's most popular and respected writers - Margaret Laurence, Sheila Watson and Alice Munro and one that examines the conceptofthe hero in contemporary Canadian short fiction. The symposium ends with another panel discussion , this one addressing translation - "Stories from French into English" - with noted translators and editors, Matt Cohen, Sheila Fischman and Wayne Grady. To register , send your name, address, and institutional affiliation, along with a $50 cheque (made payable to the UniversityofOttawa) to: Marie Tremblay-Chenier, Dept. of English, University of Ottawa, 70 Laurier Street, Ottawa, ON, KlN 6N5; tel: (613) 562-5800, ext 1133; e-mail: s578407@aixl.uottawaca 3. ''MargaretLaurence and Her Times," Institute for the Humanities, St. John's College; Canadian Studies Programme, University of Manitoba and Faculty of Arts & Science, University of Winnipeg, 2-4 May, Delta Hotel, Winnipeg, Manitoba. This conference marks the fiftieth anniversary of the graduation of Margaret Laurence from United College, then affiliated with the University of Manitoba and now with the University of Wmnipeg. There will be a bus trip to Neepawa for participants . For information contact: Barbara Kelcey, Institute for the Humanities, !08 Isbister Bldg., University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Man. R3T 2N2; fax: (204) 2755781 ; e-mail: UMIH@cc.umanitoba.ca 4. ''Rights and Democracy in Canada and the UK," School of Law, University of Warwick, 17 May 1997, Coventry, England. The conference will address: the impact of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms on Canadian constitutional thought and practice; the Supreme Court of Canada's treatment of particular rights and freedoms, including expression, association and equality; the Charter's role in the political process,including its impact on the executive and judiciary, and the use of the legislative over-ride; the implications for the UK, including comparison of the European Revue d'etudes canadiennes Convention and the Charter; and the potential effect of rights discourse on public law thought. Furtherinformation and registration forms are available from: Aileen Stockham, School of Law, University of Warwick, Coventry CV47ALEngland; tel: [44] (1203) 523175; Fax: [44] (1203) 524105; e-mail: Gavin Anderson at gavin@thernis.law.warwick.ac.uk 5. "A History ofthe Book in Canada/Une histoire de I'imprime au Canada," Bibliographical Society ofCanada/Societe bibliographique du Canada, 23-25 May/mai Ottawa, Ontario. Contact: The Bibliographical Society of Canada I Ja Societe bibliographiquedu Canada, P.O. Box 575, Postal Station...