The Cordilleran Tectonics Workshop (CTW) began in 1975 with a suggestion from John Reesor, then Chief of the Crustal Geology Division of the Geological Survey of Canada (GSC) to Ray Price at Queen’s University, that students doing field work in the southeastern Canadian Cordillera with GSC support should meet to report their findings and engage as a group in informal discussions. The workshop was hosted at Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario from 1975 to 1981 and involved students working with Dick Brown (Carleton University), Philip Simony (University of Calgary) and Eric Mountjoy (McGill University).

The first workshop was held over one day and included presentations by 10 students, but interest in this informal gathering grew rapidly and the workshop became a two-day affair with presentations from students and professionals. Attendance was 30-40 participants in those years.

By 1982, the CTW entered its nomadic phase and has since been hosted by various universities across Canada involved in Cordilleran research. By the late 1980s, the Lithoprobe program began acquisition of crustal geophysical data in the Canadian Cordillera and supported related geoscience studies. From 1989 to 1992, the workshop was held in conjunction with Lithoprobe’s Southern Canadian Cordillera Transect (SCCT) and then from 1996 to 2002, CTW was combined with Lithoprobe’s Slave-Northern Cordillera Lithospheric Evolution (SNORCLE) transects. During those years, the workshop began branching out of its focus on stratigraphy and structure of the southern Canadian Cordillera and presentations included both geophysical and geological studies and covered the extent of the Cordilleran orogen, and even parts of the adjacent Canadian Shield. During the SNORCLE years, as many as 150 geoscientists participated in the workshop while still maintaining its informal setting for constructive discussions.

Following the end of the Lithoprobe program, the CTW reverted to its small number of participants (~35 in 2003) and Sharon Carr (Carleton University) and Maurice Colpron (Yukon Geological Survey) worked at keeping the workshop’s momentum after the end of SNORCLE. With fewer universities and students involved in Cordilleran research, geological surveys took an increasingly important role in funding geoscience research and keeping the tradition of CTW alive. In 2005, the Yukon Geological Survey hosted the workshop for the first time North of 60 in Whitehorse, Yukon. Now entering its 5^th decade, the CTW lives on and has expanded its reach to Alaska. Year over year, between 60-100 Cordilleran aficionados continue to assemble and share their passion.

The CTW continues to be the forum for informal discussions on the latest advances in Cordilleran geology, as envisioned by Ray Price and John Reesor in 1975, and a friendly setting for students of the Cordillera to mingle and test their research ideas. The CTW is a volunteer, non-profit entity that aims at advancing understanding of the Cordilleran orogen of western North America.