Raymond Blake

Contact Info

Research Interests

• Canadian Politics
• Nationalism and Identity
• Social Welfare
• Resource Policy
• Federal-Provincial Relations

Short Bio

Raymond B. Blake is Professor of History at the University of Regina. He was formerly Director of the Saskatchewan Institute of Public Policy and Director of the Centre for Canadian Studies at Mount Allison University. He is a specialist in the history of the Canada, focussing primarily on 20th century politics, nationalism and national identity, citizenship, and federalism. He has taught a wide variety courses in Canadian history and has taught Canadian Studies at Philipps-Universität Marburg in Germany and at University College Dublin in Ireland where he has twice held the Craig Dobbin Chair of Canadian Studies. His research has been supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and he has written and edited twenty books and a large number of scholarly articles. He is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

Research

Professor Blake’s innovative historical research has contributed to new ways of thinking about Canada. The animating intellectual themes of his research explore through various methodologies and theoretical frameworks how the Canadian state strives – but oftentimes fails – to find within itself the capacity to accommodate its constituent parts in the search for political stability and social and economic justice in Canada. From his early work on federalism and state-craft, he has been preoccupied with the fundamental question of how the Canadian state has attempt to accommodate its constituent parts while managing successfully competing national interest. Theories of citizenship, especially notions of social citizenship, influenced his important work on social policy throughout the 20th century where he challenged the orthodoxy surrounding the emergence of social policy to show that Canada’s welfare state emerged as part of a re-conception of notions of citizenship and social entitlements and a general demand from citizens that the state provide better for their basic needs. His work also demonstrates the interplay of statecraft, social policy, and citizenship and identity to show the complexity of approaches that are necessary to understand modern Canada. His most recent research and publications have provided a new interpretation of the 1949 Confederation by turning to voters and exploring the shift in the notion of citizenship from political and constitutional imperatives to social and economic ones. His current book project examines the role that prime ministers play in constructing national identity. It asserts that prime ministers, while possessing a degree of autonomy, reflect and are shaped by the social, cultural and political milieu in which they govern. It argues, moreover, that culture and identity are reconstituted through language and speech. It contends, too, that rhetoric and public discourse are transformative by identifying for citizens shared characteristics, ideas, principles, and interests. He is currently working on two SSHRC-funded book projects, one that proposes a reconceptualization of Pierre Elliott Trudeau’s valedictory Peace Initiative of 1983-84 for which he received a 3-year SSHRC Insight Grant in 2020; and two, a political biography of Joseph R. Smallwood, premier of Newfoundland and Labrador from 1949 to 1972.

Courses Taught

HIST 113: Issues in Canadian History
HIST 201: Canada From Confederation to World War II
HIST 202: Canada From World War II to the Present
HIST 301: Federalism and the Canadian Experience
HIST 303: Canada in the World
HIST 403/803: Studies in Canadian Political History
HIST 409/809: Canadian Nationalism in Comparative Perspective
HIST 415/815: The Writing of History

Recent Publications

Recent Books

Outport Woman: Life on the Ocean’s Edge. With Hayward C. Blake. St. John’s, NL: Flanker Press, May 2026.

A History of Canada in 15 Moments. Making and Remaking a Nation Since 1867. With Jeffrey Keshen. London, UK, Bloomsbury Academic Publishing, 2025. https://www.bloomsbury.com/ca/history-of-canada-in-15-moments-9781350408241/

Canada’s Prime Ministers and the Shaping of a National Identity. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2024.

Where Once They Stood: Newfoundland’s Rocky Road to Canada. Co-authored with Melvin Baker. Regina: University of Regina Press, 2019.

Celebrating Canada: Commemorations, Anniversaries and National Symbols. Volume 2. Edited by Raymond B. Blake and Matthew Hayday. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2018.

Conflict and Compromise. Post-Confederation Canada. Co-authored with Jeff Keshen, Norman Knowles, and Barbara Messamore. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017.

Conflict and Compromise. Pre-Confederation Canada. Co-authored with Jeff Keshen, Norman Knowles and Barbara Messamore. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2017.

Celebrating Canada: Holidays, National Days, and the Crafting of Identities. Volume 1. Edited by Matthew Hayday and Raymond Blake. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016.

Lions or Jellyfish: A History of Newfoundland-Ottawa Relations. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2015.

Borders, Interculturalism and the Construction of Identity. Whitney, UK: Inter-Disciplinary Press, 2014. Co-edited with Natalie J. Walthrust Jones. http://tinyurl.com/mm89rtd.

Narrating a Nation: Canadian History Post-Confederation, with Jeff Keshen, Norman Knowles, and Barbara Messamore. Toronto, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2011.

Narrating a Nation: Canadian History Pre-Confederation, with Jeff Keshen, Norman Knowles, and Barbara Messamore. Toronto, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2011.

Beyond National Dreams? Essays on Canadian Nationalism, Citizenship, and Identity. Edited with Andrew Nurse. Toronto, Fitzhenry and Whiteside Publishing Ltd., 2009.

From Rights to Needs: A History of Family Allowances in Canada, 1929-92.  Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, 2009.

Transforming the Nation: Brian Mulroney and Canada. Montreal and Kingston, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2007. Edited.

Social Fabric or Patchwork Quilt?  The Development of Social Welfare in Canada.  Edited with Jeff Keshen, Broadview Press, 2006.

Canadians at Last:  Canada Integrates Newfoundland as a Province.  Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 2004. Republished from 1994 with a new introduction.

Trajectories of Rural Life:  New Perspectives on Rural Canada, co-edited with Andrew Nurse.  Regina, Canadian Plains Research Centre, 2003.

From Fishermen to Fish:  The Evolution of Canadian Fishery Policy.  Toronto, Canadian Institute for International Affairs and Irwin Publishing, 2000.

Canada and World Order:  Facing the New Millennium, co-edited.  Toronto, Irwin Publishing, April 2000.

The Welfare State in Canada:  Past, Present and Future, co-edited.  Irwin Publishing, Toronto, March 1997.

A History of Social Welfare in Canada: Selected Readings, co-edited with Jeff Keshen. Toronto, Copp Clark Longman, 1995.

Canadians at Last:  Canada Integrates Newfoundland as a Province.  Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1994.

Articles and Book Chapters

“It is always about Freedom: The Rhetoric of Canadian Prime Ministers,” co-author, Daniel S. Whittle. British Journal of Canadian Studies, vol. 38, no. 1: 15-36 https://doi.org/10.3828/bjcs.2026.3 

That rare moment when a prime minister shapes the country,” Policy Options, the digital magazine of the Institute for Research on Public Policy. 13 March 2026  https://policyoptions.irpp.org/2026/03/carney-canada-national-story/

“Brian Mulroney: Statecraft for Radical Change,” in Stephen Azzi and Patrice Dutil, eds., Statecraft: Canadian Prime Ministers and their Cabinets, Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2025: 329-53.

“King’s Radical Turn,” in The Enduring Riddle of Mackenzie King. Edited Patrice Dutil. Vancouver: UBC Press, 2025: 259-75,

 “Mulroney: A Study in Greatness,” The Dorchester Review, 30 (Winter 2024): 44-50.

“Locating the Right in Canadian Political History,” American Review of Canadian Studies 54 (1) 2024: 1–8. doi:10.1080/02722011.2024.2326264.

“Ethnicization and National Stories: Managing Diversity in Canada,” Zeitschrift Für Kanada-Studien. 44 (2024): 9-30.

“William Lyon Mackenzie King's Role in the Reconstruction of National Identity,” Canadian Historical Review 101 no. 3 (2020): pp. 370-396. https://www.utpjournals.press/doi/full/10.3138/chr-2019-0026  

“Canada and the Dreams of Citizenship, 1867: A New Way of Constituting Canada.” Forthcoming Australasian Canadian Studies. Expected 2020.

“Citizenship, National Identity, and the Search for Stability in Canada,” AUC Studia Territorialia, 19, no. 2, (2019): 11-38. https://stuter.fsv.cuni.cz/index.php/stuter/issue/view/54/showToc.

« La diversité et le sentiment d’appartenance au Canada » in Le sentiment d'appartenance aux Amériques. Marie Michaud & Mariannick Guennec (coord.). Éditions du Cygne, Paris, 2019.

« Terre-Neuve et le Canada : la quête de stabilité » in La Confédération, 1864-1999: nouvelles perspectives. D. Heidt, ed., avec C. M. Coates. Calgary: U of Calgary Press, 2019: 253-80.

“Newfoundland’s 1948 Referendum: A People’s Victory? Active History, 23 July 2018. http://activehistory.ca/2018/07/newfoundlands-1948/#more-24075.

Awards and Recognition

Shaughnessy Cohen Prize for Political Writing for an exceptional book of literary nonfiction that captures a political subject of relevance to Canadian readers, Writers’ Trust of Canada.

Craig Dobbin Chair of Canadian Studies, University College Dublin, Dublin, Republic of Ireland, 2019-20.

Pierre Savard Award from the International Council of Canadian Studies that is designed to recognize and promote each year outstanding scholarly monographs on a Canadian topic.

Peter Cashin Prize by Memorial University for the best piece of scholarly work on the history and/or political economy of Newfoundland.

Canadian Historical Association-Canadian Historical Association-Société historique du Canada the Clio Prize for Best Book in Atlantic Canada History.

Canadian Studies Network-Réseau d'études canadiennes Prize for the Best Book in Canadian Studies, awarded annually for the outstanding scholarly book on a Canadian subject that best advances our knowledge and understanding of Canada and Canadian Studies.

Governor General’s International Award for Canadian Studies. Awarded by International Council of Canadian Studies to a scholar who has made an outstanding contribution to scholarship and to the development of Canadian Studies internationally through research, teaching, outreach and the promotion of the study of Canada, 2026.

The Queen Elizabeth II Platinum Jubilee Medal.

Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.

University of Regina Excellence Award for Research, University of Regina.

Paul Pare Excellence Award which recognizes a combination of excellence in teaching, research/creative performance and scholarship at Mount Allison University.