Canadian Archaeological Association Annual Meeting 2019 - Québec City
It’s been one week since the Canadian Archaeological Association (CAA)’s Annual Meeting ended; this year hosted in Québec City in collaboration with the Association des Archéologues du Québec (AAQ). The Québec City Hilton’s halls were packed with archaeologists attending an eclectic array of sessions from Huron-Wendat Engagement to Archaeology of the Recent Past. TMHC’s contingent had a great time catching up with old colleagues and meeting new ones.
First off, on Thursday May 16th, TMHC’s sponsored the session Continuities and Change in Canada: Exploring Black Settlement and Experience through Archaeology. Holly Martelle, Matt Beaudoin, Nicole Brandon, and Josh Dent delivered papers with Chuck Orser rounding out the day as discussant. Other contributors included Heather MacLeod-Leslie, Sara Beanlands, and Catherine Coltreau-Robins from Nova Scotia and Sarah Clarke from Ontario. The session demonstrated both the potential for archaeologies of Early Black Settlement in Canada and the merit of working with Descendent communities. With much enthusiasm, participants expressed hope that this is a first step towards a national conversation about the relationship between Black heritage and archaeology in this country. Holly’s day continued with her second paper, delivered in the Archaeology of the Recent Past Session organized by Manon Savard and Nicolas Beaudry. The paper explored the archaeology of the immigrant working class in St. John’s Ward in Toronto.
On Friday, Josh Dent presented his second paper of the conference, in the session Canadian Archaeology, The Next Generation: Embodying an Engaged Practice in Archaeology organized by Erin Hogg and Chelsea Meloche. The paper highlighted increasing community-engaged practice in both commercial archaeology and from heritage greater stewardship in Indigenous communities. Examples included, the ongoing Mush Hole project, MCFN’s Standards and Guidelines for Archaeology, the Fugitive Slave Chapel, and Lead Legacy among others. The evening saw a trip to Wendake and the Hôtel - Musée Premières Nations for cocktails and a preview of a new exhibit.
Saturday, TMHC attended an important conversation about working conditions in CRM organized by Pierre Desrosiers and colleagues. After a chance to explore Quebec City, the CAA’s AGM saw the appointment of Western University’s own Lisa Hodgetts as President-Elect. Congratulations Lisa! That same meeting, Lisa and her colleague Kisha Supernaut summarized some of their data from the recent Equity & Diversity in Canadian Archaeology Survey; data they had shared during an earlier session at the conference. With almost 600 responses the survey represents an important dataset in addressing systemic issues in academic and commercial archaeology.
Saturday evening, the annual Banquet included the CAA/AAQ awards and TMHC is proud to celebrate the awarding of the Public Communications Award (Professional/Institutional) to The Ward Uncovered. Editor Holly Martelle and contributors Matt Beaudoin and Nicole Brandon were in attendance to receive the award. Other winners included the Saskatchewan Archaeological Society (Public Communication), the Húy̓at Eco-Cultural History Project (Social Media), Claude Chapdelaine (Smith-Wintemberg Award), Greg Mitchell (Margaret and James F. Pendergast Award), and Greg Hare & Ruth Gotthardt (Roscoe Wilmeth Award).
By Sunday, conference fatigue was setting in and only Victoria Day stood between a whirlwind visit to Québec City and another eventful week back in London. In the end, Québec City 2019 resonated with the future potential of Canadian archaeology. You couldn’t help but feel the fast approaching horizon of new ideas, new ways of organizing archaeologists, new technologies, and new challenges. When the CAAs reconvene in Edmonton next year, how much closer will those horizons be?
