Dr. John E. Foster spent many years researching and interpreting the Metis, continually re-examining his own thinking about the fur trade and the West, trying to find new lines of inquiry across disciplinary boundaries, and, playing with ideas that re-imagined the Canadian West. In From Rupert's Land to Canada, in tribute to John's work, his friends and colleagues further explore themes related to "Native History and the Fur Trade," "Metis History," and the "Imagined West". Contributors include Michael Payne, Nicole St-Onge, Jan Grabowski, Jennifer Brown, Heather Rollason, Frits Pannekoek, Heather Devine, Gerhard Ens, Gerry Friesen, Ted Binnema, Ian MacLaren, Rod Macleod, Tom Flanagan and Glen Campbell.

Dr. Binnema entered the historical profession after teaching high school English and social studies for several years. He has been teaching at UNBC since 2000, where he now teaches in the fields of Canadian and United States history, aboriginal history, and environmental history. He has written several books that examine various aspects of environmental history, aboriginal history, and the history of science. Common and Contested Ground (2001) examines the human and environmental history of the northwestern plains of North America from AD 200 to 1806. With Gerhard Ens of the University of Alberta, he published The Hudson's Bay Company Edmonton House Journals, Correspondence, and Reports: 1806-1821 (2012). That book consists of primary documents and a long essay offering a new interpretation of the history of the northern plains and Athabasca region between 1806 and 1821. "Enlightened Zeal": The Hudson's Bay Company and Scientific Networks, 1670 to 1870" (2013), is the first book to examine the relationship between science and a major chartered monopoly over its entire lifetime. Dr. Binnema also co-edited two collections of original articles, New Histories for Old: Changing Perspectives on Canada's Native Pasts (2007) and From Rupert's Land to Canada (2001). He has also published many scholarly articles including articles in Environmental History, The Canadian Historical Review, Journal of the Early Republic, Western Historical Quarterly, and The Journal of Canadian Studies.

Ted Binnema's profile page

Born and raised in Manitoba, Gerhard Ens is Associate Professor of History and Classics at the University of Alberta in Edmonton. He has spent his professional career researching and writing about the fur trade, the Métis, and First Nations communities in Canada. In recent years he has also worked as a consultant and testified as an expert witness in various Métis and First Nations land claims and treaty rights court cases.

Gerhard J. Ens' profile page

Rod Macleod, Professor Emeritus, was professor of History and Classics at the University of Alberta from 1969 until he retired in 2005. During his tenure he served as Chair of the Department of History and later as Associate Dean of Arts. He has written extensively on the history of Western Canada as well as Canadian legal and military history. His books include The Mounties and Prairie Fire: The 1885 North West Rebellion as well as The North West Mounted Police and Law Enforcement 1873-1905. Rod is the official historian for the University of Alberta. In that capacity he researched and wrote All True Things: A History of the University of Alberta, 1908 – 2008, published by the University of Alberta Press. He served two terms as the Alberta representative on the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada. Rod Macleod lives in Edmonton.

Rod Macleod's profile page

• The Alcuin Society Citations for Excellence in Book Design in Canada - Honourable Mention Non-Fiction

"This book is a fitting tribute to a fine historian." Alberta History

".ce recueil demeure un ajout fort utile au domaine en plein essor des études sur la Terre de Rupert." Carolyn Podruchny, Revue d'histoire de l'Amérique française

"This collection of a dozen essays by the late John Foster's colleagues and students forms a fitting tribute to a scholar whose influence on Western Canadian studies extended far beyond his list of publications....Taken together, this impressive collection of essays forms a handy summary of the current state of Western Canadian scholarship in its chosen areas, and takes pains to point the way forward to future research." British Journal of Canadian Studies