Iain Wilson is announced as the recipient of the 2017 Gunn Award

The 2017 Gunn Award prize has been awarded to Iain Wilson, an MA student in the Department of History at Queen’s University, Kingston. He has a bachelor’s degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto. Iain has also won the Michael Bliss Essay Prize in Canadian Political History and the George Metcalfe Memorial Scholarship for High Standing in Canadian History. He is currently studying Canadian state policy towards Indigenous peoples in the late 19th century.

Iain’s essay is titled, “Organic Settlement in Pre-19th Century Newfoundland.” The essay explores why, despite the considerable value of Newfoundland’s fisheries (one of the most potent in the world until recently) and the strong state interest of the English Crown in maintaining this economy, European migration to Newfoundland remained relatively inconsiderable until the 19th century. It also explores why those who did settle chose to do so, and how these organic communities created the foundations for future migration influxes.

About the Gunn Award

In their effort to preserve the legacy of Canada’s immigration history and to support continued excellence in research in Canada on international migration, the International Migration Research Centre (IMRC) and the Canadian Immigration Historical Society/ Canadian Historical Association are jointly offering an award for the Gunn Award for the Best Historical Essay on International Migration in Canada.

The $1,000 award is given to a fourth-year undergraduate or graduate-level research paper on the historical evolution of Canadian immigration policy or a historical analysis of Canadian immigration related to specific places, events or communities.