Call for Proposals- Canadian Heritage Rivers

Scroll this

Call for Proposals- Canadian Heritage Rivers

A NiCHE Series

Abstract Deadline – 15 February 2026

All of the forty-two federally recognized heritage rivers in Canada hold outstanding recreational, cultural, and natural heritage. This recognition of their rich and deep heritage incentivizes their preservation. Or so goes the rationale. Some, like the Detroit River, are binational border heritage rivers, recognized by both the Canada and the United States.

Rivers and water have long played an important discursive role in Canadian history. Heritage rivers offer a material vantage point to understand the historical, rhetorical, and discursive analytics at play.

What does it mean to be a heritage river in 2026? What does a designation mean/bring with it? How do these designations honour First Peoples? How are heritage rivers portrayed in Canadian media and public imageries? What is the future of heritage rivers?

NiCHE invites submissions for a blog series on Canadian Heritage Rivers. Final posts should be 800-1200 words. The series will focus on the historical and cultural place of heritage rivers in Canada, including comparative stories and/or lessons. Blog posts are welcome in a variety of styles, including but not limited to, traditional academic writing, reflective pieces, interviews, narrative pieces, visual essays and more. The central goal of the series is to examine the evolution, role, and significance of the designation of a heritage river in Canadian environmental history, defined capaciously.

Possible topics include but are not limited to:

Histories of heritage designation
Comparisons of rivers across territories/ provinces
Indigenous participation/ leadership in and of the process
Impacts of heritage designations on river use and/or quality.
Ecological/Social/Economic/Recreational impacts of heritage rivers
Heritage rivers and urban history
Teaching about heritage designations  
Energy and/or Economic histories of heritage rivers.  

Those interested should submit a proposal of 250 words by February 15, 2026. Accepted contributors will be notified by February 22, 2026. The publication will begin in March 2026 and will be ongoing based on contributions.

Send proposals of 250 words as well as a brief bio of 100-150 words via the submission form below. 

Feel free to reach out with any questions to Ramya Swayamprakash at swayampr [AT]gvsu(dot)edu
We look forward to your submissions!

Contributions should ideally focus on a specific river, but we also welcome a macro-overview as well as comparative pieces.

The following two tabs change content below.

Ramya Swayamprakash

Ramya is an Assistant Professor at Grand Valley State University in Allendale MI. A transnational and interdisciplinary environmental scholar who focuses on rivers, dredging, and the place of nature in the Great Lakes, Ramya’s research has been published in academic and public-facing avenues. She takes tea and dredging (not necessarily in that order) seriously. Ramya has also published work on dams in South Asia. As a survivor of domestic abuse and as a single parent, Ramya’s scholarship is driven by a commitment to social/ecological justice and equity. Website: www.riverborders.com Twitter: @ramyasat | Bluesky: @ramya.bsky.social

NiCHE encourages comments and constructive discussion of our articles. We reserve the right to delete comments that fail to meet our guidelines including comments under aliases, or that contain spam, harassment, or attacks on an individual.