Upcoming Events


VU Gallery: Beyond Borders

When: On display until Friday, May 25, 2012
Mon - Fri, 11am - 5pm
Where: VU Gallery (VU 507)
Info: The title, "Beyond Borders" exempifies our dedication to encourage communication across community, national, international and social borders. The title also serves to remind viewers and participants that art has the power to transcend all boundaries.



Monsieur Lazhar: Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film

Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly Photo
When: Friday, May 4, 2012
Where: Pickford Theater
Info: Monsieur Lazhar, an Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language Film (Canada), comes to the Pickford Theater.

For more information and show times contact the Pickford Theater


Presentation by Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly: “Borders, Boundaries and Frontiers in the 21st Century”

Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly Photo
When: Wednesday, May 9, 2012 12:00am - 1:20pm
Where: Fairhaven College Auditorium
Info: From Hadrian’s wall in Roman England and the Great Wall of China, to walls on the US/ Mexico border as well as in Jerusalem, Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly asks why build walls and how human communities border themselves. He will discuss what borders, borderlands, boundaries and frontiers are, and how these words help us understand contemporary issues such as the US/Mexico wall, the Canada/US Beyond the Border dialogue, or the European Schengen Agreement and the idea of a ‘fortress Europe’. Taking examples from around the world, this presentation asks if borders are vanishing and if there are new ways of understanding borders.



Jours du Québec (Québec Days) at WWU

Frédéric Tremblay
When: Tuesday, May 15 - 16, 2012
Where: Western Washington University
Info: The Center for Canadian-American Studies is pleased to host Mr. Frédéric Tremblay, Director for Governmental Relations and Public Affairs at the Québec Government Office in Los Angeles, CA for Québec Days (Jours du Québec).

Frédéric is Director of Governmental Relations and Public Affairs at the Quebec Delegation in Los Angeles since January 2012. Before his recent posting in the United States, Frederic served with the North America Division of the Quebec Ministry of International Relations from 2006 to 2011. He began his career in Québec’s civil service in 2002. Frederic holds a master degree in Political Science from University of Montreal and a diploma in Public Management from the Quebec University of Public Administration.

Mr Tremblay will speak in several classes while at WWU, have lunch with students and speak about study opportunities in Québec. He will also meet with faculty, students and community members at a reception held to honor the Government of Québec's relationship with the Center for Canadian-American Studies and WWU.

For more information, contact Chuck Hart at Chuck Hart

Presentation by Thomas Collombat:
“The Labor Movement in North America: Challenges and Opportunities in a Time of Crisis.”

Thomas Collambat Photo
When: Wednesday, May 23, 2012
Where: Bellingham City Club
Info: For more information contact the Bellingham City Club







Past Events


The Center for Canadian-American Studies' 40th Anniversary

Canadian-American Studies Center
More Info: View Dinner Page
More Info: View Conference Page

Return to the Center for Canadian-American Studies' 40th Anniversary Dinner Event and Bridging Distances Conference. View a photo gallery of the dinner and papers by panelists John Thompson, Ian Brodie, Greg Anderson, Deborah Meyers, Colin Robertson, Monica Gattinger, Steven Globerman, and Chris Sands.



Newly appointed US Consul General in Vancouver to speak to WWU students about Canada-US relations

Canadian-American Studies Center
When Wednesday, Nov 8, 10:00am
Where Haggard Hall 353, WWU
More Info: For more information contact Chuck Hart by email at Chuck.Hart@wwu.edu.

Anne Callaghan is a career senior Foreign Service officer with the U.S. State Department, with the personal rank of Minister Counselor. Before her assignment as Consul General in Vancouver, she was posted in southeastern Iraq, overseeing the Maysan Provincial Reconstruction Team in its last year of operation. Ms. Callaghan has also served as Minister Counselor for Public Affairs in Rome, Italy, where she directed public diplomacy for the U.S. Embassy and three Consulates General (2006-2009); and as Counselor for Public Affairs in Bogota, Colombia (2004-2006). Her last Washington, D.C. tour was in the senior assignments division of the Bureau of Human Resources (2009-2010).

Ms. Callaghan joined the Foreign Service with the U.S. Information Agency in 1984. After a rotational tour in Mexico City, Mexico, she opened the first public affairs office in Tijuana (1986-1990) and was responsible for public diplomacy for the six U.S.-Mexico border consulates. She then served two tours in East Asia as Public Affairs Officer in Perth, Australia (1990-1992) and as an Assistant Press Attache and Deputy Cultural Attache in Tokyo, Japan (1992-1997). Following a year of graduate study at the National War College, Anne worked in Washington, D.C., in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs as the public diplomacy desk officer for Canada, Mexico, and Cuba (1998-2000). In 2000, she moved to Rome, Italy as Cultural Attache (2000-2004).

Prior to entering the Foreign Service, Ms. Callaghan worked at the Center for Research in International Studies at Stanford University. A native of New Jersey, she received her undergraduate degree in East Asian Studies from Colby College (Maine) and graduate degrees from the University of Michigan School of Library and Information Science and the National War College. She speaks Japanese, Spanish, and Italian, and is the recipient of U.S. State Department Superior Honor and Meritorious Honor awards and the Department of the Army Superior Civilian Service award.


The Edge of America: Writing the Edge in the Pacific Northwest

A presentation by Katherine Roberts
Canadian-American Studies Center
When Thursday, Nov 10, 12:00pm
Where College Hall 131, WWU
More Info: For more information contact Chuck Hart by email at Chuck.Hart@wwu.edu.

This presentation will examine how fiction by David Guterson (East of the Mountains (1999), The Other (2008) and Anne Dillard (The Living, (1992)) portrays region, nature and community in the Pacific Northwest. To what extent is this region experienced by these authors and their characters as a marginal/borderland space (at the edge of America), or as one embedded in a Cascadian regional cross-border awareness? How do this literature contribute (if at all) to the debate on the emergence of a socio-economic cross-border region on the West Coast?


Preston Schiller, Specialist on Canada-US Transportation issues, will present the 2nd Fall 2001 Border Colloquium

Canadian-American Studies Center
Prestion schiller is Adjunct Faculty in Canadian-American Studies at WWU and Visiting Lecturer, School of Urban and Regional Planning, Queen's University, Kingston Ohio
When Thursday, Nov 3, 12:00pm
Where College Hall 131, WWU
More Info: For more information contact Chuck Hart by email at Chuck.Hart@wwu.edu.

To the casual eye many Canadian urban areas appear similar to their U.S. counterparts: congested roads, suburban sprawl, and many struggling urban cores. Comparative analysis reveals a few similarities and many significant differences in terms of urban densities, amounts of individual driving, rates of car ownership, walking and transit use. Transportation policies at the federal levels of each county are vastly different. Examples, including comparison of "Cascadian Cities" Vancouver, Seattle and Portland as well as brief explorations of several other areas of similarity and contrast, such as Toronto Mayor Rob Ford's "stop the war against cars" demagoguery will be offered.


Seminar Session to explore high value Loonie and other money issues with Canada-US Trade

Seminar session explores high-value loonie and other money issues with Canada/USA trade
When Thursday, Nov 3, 8:30am-4:30pm
Where DeltaTown & Country Inn, 6005 Highway 17 (at Highway 99), Delta, BC
More Info: For more information contact Carol Jackson at 1-800-799-8848 or visit www.UCanTrade.com.

A November 3rd international trade seminar will feature a stand-alone afternoon session to specifically explore various money issues associated with Canada/USA trade and business transactions. In particular, the effect of the current high-value loonie, and strategies for hedging and pricing of products and services in the U.S. market. The special session called "Money, Money, Money!" will feature several international financial experts to discuss key issues, and will be followed by an opportunity to meet with them one-on-one.

According to seminar organizer, Jim Pettinger, "Money is the driving force and measuring stick for all forms of enterprise. But when international transactions are involved, complexity increases and the stakes go up." Resources scheduled to be available include: Wells Fargo Bank, Export Development Canada, Moss Adams LLP, Pacifica Partners, First Vancouver Finance and International Market Access, Inc.

Topics up for discussion include, cross-border banking, credit cards, money transfers, foreign exchange, billing, collection, financing your business, cash flow, pricing, personal investments, wealth management, venture capital and more. Pettinger further emphasizes, "Now is a great time for a Canadian company to invest in expansion to the USA. The strong loonie will buy 20 to 50 percent more marketing services in the still-depressed U.S. economy (e.g., tradeshows, travel, hotel rooms, advertising), but the U.S. economy has officially turned the corner and will soon return full force. Now is the time to build your company's presence for when the economy starts booming again."

The special session, called "Money, Money, Money!" is part of an all-day seminar entitled, "Doing Business in the USA", which will be held on Thursday, November 3 at the DeltaTown & Country Inn, 6005 Highway 17 (at Highway 99), Delta, BC from 8:30am to 4:30pm. Cost for the full day is $195 pre-registered or $225 at the door ($145 each for 2 or more, and $25 further discount for registration before October 28). The special "after lunch only" rate is $75. For more information contact Carol Jackson at 1-800-799-8848 or visit www.UCanTrade.com.


Rainbow Creek Dancers to Perform with Robert Davidson at WWU on Oct. 21

Contact: Courtney Hiatt, College of Fine and Performing Arts Marketing and Special Projects, (360) 650-2829, Courtney.Hiatt@wwu.edu
Davidson dancers
When Friday, Oct 21, 7:30pm
Where WWU's Performing Arts Center, Mainstage Theater
More Info: Contact Courtney Hiatt at (360) 650-2829, or email Courtney.Hiatt@wwu.edu

BELLINGHAM - Western Washington University's College of Fine and Performing Arts will present the Rainbow Creek Dancers at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21, in the Performing Arts Center Mainstage Theater. The evening will celebrate the important role of song, dance, and art in Native culture and is being held in conjunction with "The Art of Robert Davidson" exhibition in the Western Gallery from Oct. 3 through Nov. 22. The performance will feature the Rainbow Creek Dancers from Vancouver, B.C. as well as the Git-hoan Native Dance Group from Seattle, along with special narration by renowned Native artist, Robert Davidson.

Tickets range from $9-$15 and are available through the WWU Box Office at (360) 650-6146 or http://www.tickets.wwu.edu.
For more information, please call (360) 650-2829. To learn more about the Western Gallery Davidson exhibition, please visit http://westerngallery.wwu.edu.


The Challenge of Earthquake Recovery in Haiti

Roger Annis, Director of the Canadian Delegation to Haiti; Coordinator of the Canada Haiti Action Network
When and Where October 19, Noon-1:15 at Fairhaven College Auditorium
October 19, 7:00pm at Herald Building Conference Room
More Info: Click HERE for a pdf with more info.

In Haiti, more than 600,000 survivors of the 2010 earthquake are still without adequate shelter. In the survivor camps, clean water, sanitation, medical service, schooling and child care are in short supply. Haiti is without a robust reconstruction plan or a functioning national government. How can global aid and relief assistance improve in Haiti? How can international solidarity assist Haiti to recover its national sovereignty?

Roger Annis resides in Vancouver BC and is a coordinator of the Canada Haiti Action Network (CHAN). The network was founded in 2004 as an advocacy agency for social justice and sovereignty in Haiti. Mr. Annis has traveled twice to Haiti on fact-finding missions, in August 2007 and June 2011. He is a frequent writer on Haiti and an editor of the CHAN website, www.canadahaitiaction.ca. The website is a comprehensive repository in English and French of documents, news articles, human rights reports and book reviews on Haiti's history and current affairs.

Cross-Border Update: Promoting the Canada/USA, Partnership in the Pacific Corridor

When: Friday, Feburary 24, 2012 11:30am - 2:15pm
Where: Silver Reef Casino Spa, Ferndale, WA
Info: View the flier


HS Amendments 2012 & NAFTA Update Seminar

When: Thursday, December 8, 2011 9:00am - 4:00pm
Where: Vancouver, BC - Delta Vancouver Airport Hotel
Cost: $225 member, $385 non-member
Info: iecanada.com

The new HS edition will bring no less than 220 sets of amendments that importers, brokers and other international trade players will have to implement in their daily business activities. This session will highlight some of these amendments and give specific examples of how the tariff will be modified both in Canada and the U.S. In addition, an attorney from Canada and from the United States will discuss common NAFTA compliance and enformement issues as they are handled in each country.



Small Business Strategies for USA Marketing

When: Wednesday, January 18, 2012, 7:30am - 9:30am
Where: Delta, BC, Chamber Boardroom
Cost: $35.00 (or as otherwise specified)
Info: Delta Chamber of Commerce, 604-946-4234
Register online at www.deltachamber.com
When: Tuesday, March 13, 2012, 10:00am - Noon
Where: Vancouver, BC - Small Business BC Training Room
Cost: $35.00 (or as otherwise specified)
Info: Register online at www.SmallBusinessBC.ca

Presented by the sponsoring organization in conjunction with International Market Access, Inc. and Pacific Customs Brokers Inc. This introductory two-hour seminar is aimed at entrepreneurs who are starting a new international business or who are currently operating in international market places. You will learn practical, cost effective methods and strategies. Topics include: (1) Overview of the U.S. Market, (2) USA Marketing and Distribution (Strategies, Lessons & Pitfalls), (3) U.S. Customs Compliance Overview, and (4) Roundtable: Questions, Answers, and Discussion. You need to know these basics before you commit to the design, manufacture or purchase of your product or service.