Manitoba Historical Society: Speakers at the MHS Annual Fundraising Dinners

This event is held annually as the primary fundraising for the Manitoba Historical Society. Dinners feature guest speakers on a variety of topics. The featured speaker at past dinners are listed below.

Year	Speaker
2021	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2020	Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic
2019	Terry MacLeod Former CBC Radio personality “It's a bird of a day - my life at CBC”
2018	Gary Doer Former Premier of Manitoba and Former Canadian Ambassador to the United States
2017	Bruce Tascona Military Historian “Camp Hughes - The War Years, 1914-1916”
2016	Jennifer Ditchburn Journalist “The History of Women in the Parliamentary Press Gallery & Women in Federal Politics Today”
2015	Richard Gwyn Author, Historian “Sir John A. Macdonald, The Man Who Made Us”
2014	John Einarson Musician, Educator, Historian “Preserving Manitoba’s Music Heritage”
2013	Morris Mott Hockey Player, Professor (Brandon University) “Before the Jets: The People and Problems of Pro Hockey in Manitoba, 1906-1972”
2012	Sylvia Kuzyk Broadcaster
2011	Ken McGoogan Author
2010	Jerry L. Gray (?-2025) Professor (University of Manitoba)
2009	Alan Latourelle Parks Canada
2008	Roland Penner (1924-2018) Lawyer, Professor (University of Manitoba), Author
2007	Margaret Sweatman Author “Bull in a China Shop: Making Fiction at the Archives”
2006	Mike Ford Musician
2005	John Turner (1929-2020) Prime Minister of Canada
2004	Jake MacDonald (1949-2020) Author
2003	Calvin Murray Sinclair (1951-2024) Lawyer, Judge, Senator “Pocketful of Mumbles”
2002	Jamie Brown CEO, Frantic Films
2001	Mel Hurtig Publisher
2000	Rex Murphy Broadcaster
1999	Phil Fontaine Indigenous Leader
1998	John Crosbie Former politician
1997	Stan MacKay Cleric
1996	John Maxwell “Jack” Bowman (1925-2005) Physician and medical researcher
1995	Pearl McGonigal Journalist, Lieutenant Governor of Manitoba
1994	Henry Edmison “Harry” Duckworth (1915-2008) Educator, Administrator
1993	Israel Harold Asper (1932-2003) Politician, businessman
1992	Bryan Schwartz Law Professor (University of Manitoba)
1991	Gerald A. Friesen Historian (University of Manitoba)
1990	Leo Pettipas Archaeologist
1989	Jennifer Brown Historian (University of Winnipeg)
1988	John C. Lehr Geographer (University of Winnipeg)
1987	Timothy Francis “Tim” Ball (1938-2022) Geographer (University of Winnipeg)
1986	Douglas Lloyd Campbell (1895-1995) Premier of Manitoba
1985	?
1984	?
1983	Robert DuVal Guy (1912-1985) Lawyer, Judge
1982	James Alexander “Jim” Coleman (1911-2001) Journalist
1981	?
1980	?
1979	Gerald Wayne “Gerry” Mercier Attorney-General of Manitoba “Current Discussions on Constitutional Reform”
1978	?
1977	?
1976	Peter Busby Waite (1922-2020) Historian “Chartered Libertine? A Case Against Sir John A. Macdonald and Some Answers”
1975	Cornelius John Jaenen Historian “Ethnic Factors in Canadian History”
1974	William Lewis Morton (1908-1980) Historian “Two Young Men, 1869: Charles Mair and Louis Riel”
1973	Eugene Alfred Forsey (1904-1991) Politician “In Defence of Macdonald's Constitution”
1972	John Henry Warkentin Historical Geographer “Water and Adaptive Strategies in Settling the Canadian West”
1971	James Henry Gray (1906-1998) Journalist, Historian
1970	James Maurice Stockford Careless (1919-2009) Historian, Biographer “George Brown and Confederation”
1969	John G. Diefenbaker (1895-1979) Prime Minister of Canada “Sir John A. Macdonald”
1968	Dufferin Roblin (1917-2010) Premier of Manitoba “Confederation in Perspective”
1967	Donald G. Creighton (1902-1979) Historian “John A. Macdonald, Confederation and the Canadian West”
1966	Testimonial for William Lewis Morton (1908-1980)

Page revised: 18 October 2025