The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences held their 2026 Canada Prizes ceremony in Edmonton, AB on June 10. Seven Canadian writers who authored five Canadian books were recognized with 2026 Canada Prize awards for their impactful, inspiring and transformative works that are initiating and informing national conversations.
This year, Canada Prize celebrates a range of voices from first-time authors to established scholars. The awards champion French and English language works amplifying a broad scope of perspectives across disciplines reinforcing the federation’s commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization.
Revitalizing Indigenous languages through Indigenous women writers
Langue(s) en portage: Résurgence littéraire et langagière dans les écritures autochtones féminines (Language(s) in Transition: Literary and Linguistic Resurgence in Indigenous Women’s Writing) by Marie-Ève Bradette, was a decade in the making.
The assistant professor in the Department of Literature, Theatre, and Film at Université Laval and Chair of Leadership in Teaching Indigenous Literatures in Quebec, is one of the first scholars to explore and compare literary works of contemporary Indigenous women in both French and English.
At a time when Indigenous languages risk extinction, Bradette’s work demonstrates how writings by authors including Virginia Pesemapeo Bordeleau, Kateri Akiwenzie-Damm, Marie-Andrée Gill, Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Natasha Kanapé Fontaine, and Cherie Dimaline, contribute to the revitalization of Indigenous knowledges and linguistics.
Through novels, poetry, short stories and non-fiction, Bradette argues that Indigenous women writers are theorists of language by bringing back Indigenous epistemologies through figures of speech, literary imagination and intersecting themes of body, land and spirituality.
“The main question I grappled with was how Indigenous women writers negotiate with languages in their work when they don’t speak, have lost that language to colonial languages like French and English, or are in the process of relearning it,” Bradette told rabble.ca.
Bradette, a settler Francophone, developed a self-described fascination for the representation of Indigenous languages in literature and appreciation for the lens through which Indigenous people view the physical and spiritual world. She explained that throughout history, Indigenous women kept the language alive by orally transmitting stories and culture to their children, and now contemporary Indigenous female authors have reinvented those traditional roles and through contemporary literature, continue to be keepers of the language.
“Not only does this book open a window to Indigenous literary works and different ways of thinking about the colonial land in which we live, but it can also offer tools – for teachers or any others – on how to engage with Indigenous literatures in a respectful, thoughtful and relational way,” Bradette said.
Revealing Canada’s hidden violent expansionist history
Land and the Liberal Project: Canada’s Violent Expansion, based on historical archival research, explores the territorial making of Canada during the 30-year period following Confederation in 1867.
Éléna Choquette, associate professor in the Department of Social Sciences at the Université du Québec en Outaouais, gathered insights from personal correspondence between government officials, heads of expeditions and military personnel, as well as Parliamentary transcripts that revealed Canada’s rapid geographic expansion was built on forceful appropriation of Indigenous lands.
“The questions driving my book are how it was possible to take over lands so quickly from Indigenous peoples who inhabited them from time immemorial, and how the ideas underlying the expansion have impacted Canada territorially and politically to this day,” said Choquette.
“What struck me as interesting and surprising was how clear it was that the project of expansionism was made in the name of liberalism – supporting principles such as liberty, self-government, and the importance of maintaining peace and private property – which became Canada’s main ideology in the late19th and early 20th centuries and continues to be foundational to the country today,” Choquette added.
With the goal of having Canadians rethink their relationship to the land and state-Indigenous relations, this book encourages readers to look at today’s liberal ideologies through a different lens.
Wampum peacemaking means listening to the land and water
Deyohahá:ge:: Sharing the River of Life, a compilation of stories by Six Nations members and their neighbours, demonstrates how Indigenous ways of being have always fostered peace, friendship and respect. Deyohahá:ge: also reveals how this knowledge can be applied to living harmoniously with others today.
Authors Daniel Coleman, professor in the Department of English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University; Ki’en Debicki, associate professor in the Departments of English and Cultural Studies and Indigenous Studies at McMaster University; and Bonnie M. Freeman, associate professor in the School of Social Work and Indigenous Studies at McMaster University; are all also associate professors at Six Nations Polytechnic.
The concept of deyohahá:ge: – meaning two paths in the Cayuga language – is the foundation of the Two Row Wampum, a 1613 treaty between the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) and Dutch that embodies the principle of sharing the river of life through peaceful coexistence, mutual respect, and non-interference in each other’s cultures, beliefs, and laws. Wampum refers to beaded “belts” used by northeastern Indigenous people to record treaties, histories, and cultural traditions.
“For the Haudenosaunee people, the stories and knowledge of
Wampum have been passed down from generation to generation, so we’ve always lived these philosophies, but for non-Indigenous people, many of these teachings have been lost, so we’re trying to revive them through this book,” said Freeman, a Six Nations member.
She emphasized that central to Indigenous knowledge is listening to the natural environment – the water and land – “which have a language of their own that teaches us how to live.” The book’s writers delve into the eco-philosophy, legal evolution, and ethical protocols of two-path peacemaking.
Historically, Quebecers respectfully debated alternative perspectives
Dominique Garand, a professor in the Department of Literary Studies at l’Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) and member of the Centre for Interuniversity Research on Literature and Culture in Quebec (CRILCQ), authored the book, Anthologie du pamphlet et de la polémique au Québec de 1800 à 2000 (Anthology of Pamphlets and Polemics in Quebec from 1800 to 2000).
This anthology is the first in Quebec to shine a light on the major ideological divides while disputing perspectives around politics, religion, literature and the arts that existed in the province during that period.
“There’s a misconception among Quebecers that we’ve always had a tendency to shy away from controversy, but that’s not true,” Garand explained.
Garand provides evidence that communication tactics ranging from subtle irony and playful caricature to direct expressions of hate were consistently used to publicly denounce, condemn, attack, and insult opposing opinions – sometimes times violently.
Showcasing nearly 140 texts from Quebec authors, politicians and other public figures across gender and political lines, Garand’s anthology demonstrates that while the writers’ ideas and leanings varied throughout the years, they shared the same conviction that one must not remain silent in the face of what is deemed to be offensive.
Interestingly, writers from these earlier periods were able to move on in a respectful way and agree to disagree, contrary to what is happening on social media with conflicts escalating and permanently fracturing relationships.
Cobra dancers support entire Rajasthan economy
Les femmes cobra : La danse comme espace de transgression des normes de genre au Rajasthan (Cobra Women: Dance as a Space for Transgressing Gender Norms in Rajasthan), examines the transformation of gender norms within marginalized communities in Rajasthan, India.
Marianne-Sarah Saulnier, associate professor at the Institute for Feminist Research and Studies at UQAM and a researcher at the Quebec Observatory on Inequalities, explores the ways Cobra dancers lives have changed over the past 25 years.
Cobra dancers have increasingly gained popularity among tourists and audiences at home and abroad. That fame brought new constraints and opportunities as well as complex and often ambivalent forms of empowerment.
Saulnier spent three years immersed in Rajasthan communities conducting her study with the support of three local Cobra dancers acting as peer researchers. Her book gives a voice to Cobra women’s struggle to respect themselves, their children and their bodies while also highlighting the ways in which they navigate and reclaim forms of power through dance.
In recognition of their inspiring, impactful, and transformative contributions, each winning title received a $4,000 prize.
“At a time when many of the questions before us demand deeper context and more careful attention, these books show the indispensable value of humanities and social sciences scholarship,” said Karine Morin, President and CEO of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, in congratulating the winners. “The 2026 Canada Prizes winners have produced works of extraordinary depth and public relevance, helping readers better understand the forces that shape our histories and shared future.”
The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences is a national non-profit organization advancing scholars and leaders in the humanities and social sciences in Canada. Canada Prizes was made possible thanks to the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
Support rabble today!
We’re so glad you stopped by! Thanks for consuming rabble content this year.
rabble.ca is 100% reader and donor funded, so as an avid reader of our content, we hope you will consider gifting rabble with a donation during our summer fundraiser today.
Whether it be a one-time donation or a small monthly contribution, your support is critical to keep rabble writers producing the work you’ve come to rely on as a part of a healthy media diet.
Become a rabble rouser — donate to rabble.ca today.
Nick Seebruch, editor
