Ross Fair

Dr. Ross Fair’s academic interests focus on pre-Confederation Canada, particularly governance and settlement issues in Upper Canada. His Improving Upper Canada: Agricultural Societies and State Formation, 1791-1852, a study of the ideology of improvement’s role in Upper Canadian state formation, will be published in June 2024 by University of Toronto Press. He currently is writing a second book, tentatively titled The British Hempire: Hemp in the Canadas, 1786-1834, which analyzes efforts by imperial and colonial officials to encourage hemp cultivation in Upper and Lower Canada to supply British naval dockyards. Dr. Fair’s work has appeared in the Canadian Historical Review, the Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, Ontario History, and elsewhere. A public historian, he has curated historical exhibits and has served on the board of directors for Heritage Toronto and the Ontario Historical Society. Dr. Fair teaches a range of courses for the department and has received three teaching awards at TMU: the Faculty of Arts Slobodan Drakulic Cross-Disciplinary Teaching Award, the Faculty of Arts Dean’s Teaching Award for Contract Lecturers (CUPE 1), and the Joe Zboralski Teaching and Community Engagement Award. He has served as Academic Coordinator, Continuing Education, for the Department of History since 2010 and is a member of TMU’s Senate (2023-24), representing the G. Raymond Chang School of Continuing Education.