The CHA Best Scholarly Book in Canadian History Prize is an annual book prize awarded by the Canadian Historical Association. According to the CHA, the award is for the "non-fiction work of Canadian history judged to have made the most significant contribution to an understanding of the Canadian past."[1] Recipients may be either English or French language works. First awarded in 1977, the prize was originally named for Canada's first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. However, in 2017, the CHA council proposed changing the name of the award given Macdonald's contentious legacy, particularly in relation to Indigenous peoples.[2] In May 2018, a significant majority of CHA members voted in favour of the change at the Association's annual meeting.[3]
This prize is also part of the Governor General's Awards for excellence in scholarly research.[4] It comes with a prize of $5,000 and is presented by Canada's Governor General at Rideau Hall.
| Year | Winner | Title | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1977 | Fernand Ouellet | Le Bas-Canada 1791-1840: Changements structuraux et crise | |
| 1978 | Robin A. Fisher | Contact and Conflict: Indian-European Relations in B.C. 1774-1890 | |
| 1979 | Richard J. Diubaldo | Stefansson and the Canadian Arctic | |
| 1980 | Maria Tippett | Emily Carr: A Biography | |
| 1981 | Gregory Kealey | Toronto Workers Respond to Industrial Capitalism 1867-1892 | |
| 1982 | Paul-André Linteau | Maisonneuve: Comment des promoteurs fabriquent une ville, 1883-1918 | |
| 1983 | Irving Abella and Harold Troper | None is too Many: Canada and the Jews of Europe, 1933-1948 | |
| 1984 | Marcel Trudel | Histoire de la Nouvelle-France, volume III, La Seigneurie des Cent-Associés, 1627-1663 | |
| 1985 | Gerald Friesen | The Canadian Prairies, A History | |
| 1986 | Allan Greer | Peasant, Lord, and Merchant: Rural Society in Three Parishes, 1740-1840 | |
| 1987 | Christopher Armstrong and H. V. Nelles | Monopoly's Moment. The Organization and Regulation of Canadian Utilities, 1830-1930 | |
| 1988 | Cole Harris and G. J. Matthews (eds.) | From the Beginning to 1800, volume I of the Historical Atlas of Canada | |
| 1989 | Veronica Strong-Boag | The New Day Recalled: Lives of Girls and Women in English Canada, 1919-1939 | |
| 1990 | John English | Shadow of Heaven: The Life of Lester Pearson, Vol. I; 1897-1948 | |
| 1991 | Joy Parr | The Gender of Breadwinners: Women, Men and Change in Two Industrial Towns, 1880-1950 | |
| 1992 | Julie Cruikshank | Life Lived Like a Story: Life Stories of Three Yukon Native Elders | |
| 1993 | Olive Patricia Dickason | Canada's First Nations: A History of Founding Peoples from Earliest Times | |
| 1994 | Bettina Bradbury | Working Families: Age, Gender and Daily Survival in Industrializing Montreal | |
| 1995 | Harold Kalman | A History of Canadian Architecture, 2 Vols. | |
| 1996 | Jan Noel | Temperance Crusades Before Confederation | |
| 1997 | Gérard Bouchard | Quelques arpents d'Amérique | |
| 1998 | Jonathan F. Vance | Death So Noble: Memory, Meaning, and the First World War | |
| 1999 | Mary-Ellen Kelm | Colonizing Bodies: Aboriginal Health and Healing in British Columbia, 1900-1950 | |
| 2000 | H. V. Nelles | The Art of Nation-Building: Pageantry and Spectacle at Quebec's Tercentenary | |
| 2001 | Nancy Christie | Engendering the State: Family, Work, and Welfare in Canada | |
| 2002 | Bruce Curtis | The Politics of Population. State Formation, Statistics, and the Census of Canada, 1840-1875 | |
| 2003 | Cole Harris | Making Native Space. Colonialism, Resistance, and Reserves in British Columbia | |
| 2004 | Jerry Bannister | The Rule of the Admirals: Law, Custom and Naval Government in Newfoundland, 1699-1832. | |
| 2005 | Dominique Deslandres | Croire et faire croire. Les missions françaises au XVIIe siécle | |
| 2006 | Michael Gauvreau | The Catholic Origins of Quebec’s Quiet Revolution, 1931-1970 | |
| 2007 | Tina Loo | States of Nature. Conserving Canada’s Wildlife in the Twentieth Century | |
| 2008 | Franca Iacovetta | Gatekeepers: Reshaping Immigrant Lives in Cold War Canada | |
| 2009 | Reasoning Otherwise. Leftists and the People's Enlightenment in Canada, 1890-1920 | ||
| 2010 | Béatrice Craig | Backwoods Consumers and Homespun Capitalists: The Rise of a Market Culture in Eastern Canada | |
| 2011 | Michel Ducharme | Le concept de liberté au Canada à l’époque des Révolutions atlantiques (1776-1838) | |
| 2012 | François-Marc Gagnon, with Nancy Senior and Réal Ouellet (eds.) | The Codex Canadensis and the Writings of Louis Nicolas | |
| 2013 | William C. Wicken | The Colonization of Mi’kmaw Memory and History, 1794-1928: The King v. Gabriel Sylliboy | |
| 2014 | James Daschuk | ||
| 2015 | Jean Barman | French Canadians, Furs, and Indigenous Women in the Making of the Pacific Northwest | |
| 2016 | Robert C. H. Sweeny | Why Did We Choose to Industrialize? Montreal, 1819-1849 | |
| 2017 | Sarah Carter | ||
| 2018 | E. A. Heaman | Tax, Order, and Good Government: A New Political History of Canada, 1867-1917 | |
| 2019 | Shirley Tillotson | Give and Take: The Citizen-Taxpayer and the Rise of Canadian Democracy | |
| 2020 | Eric Reiter | Wounded Feelings: Litigating Emotions in Quebec, 1870-1950 | |
| 2021 | Brittany Luby | ||
| 2022 | Benjamin Hoy | A Line of Blood and Dirt: Creating the Canada-United States Border Across Indigenous Lands | |
| 2023 | Lianne C. Leddy | Serpent River Resurgence: Confronting Uranium Mining at Elliot Lake |