The Canadian Historical Association (CHA; French: Société historique du Canada, SHC) is a Canadian organization founded in 1922 for the purposes of promoting historical research and scholarship. It is a bilingual, not-for-profit, charitable organization, the largest of its kind in Canada. According to the Association, it "seeks to encourage the integration of historical knowledge and perspectives in both the scholarly and public spheres, to ensure the accessibility of historical resources, and to defend the rights and freedoms of emerging and professional historians in the pursuit of historical inquiry as well as those of history degree holders who utilize the analytical, research, communication, and writing skills they acquired during their studies to pursue a variety of career paths inside or outside of academia."

The CHA represents historians in Canada and acts as a public advocate for the field. Within the historical profession, the CHA helps to set ethical standards for research and has published a Statement on Research Ethics. The Association organizes annual meetings for members and publishes the Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, The CHA Bulletin and series of booklets featuring concise treatments of particular aspects of Canadian history in an international context. The CHA has also created a microsite, What Can you Do With a History Degree? [1], which profiles individuals with history degrees who work in a variety of fields. Other activities include lobbying government agencies, libraries, and archives on matters related to document preservation and availability.

The current CHA president is Colin M. Coates of York University.

An affiliated committee of the Canadian Historical Association, the Canadian Committee on Labour History, publishes the journal Labour/Le Travail. It holds an annual conference together with other scholarly groups as part of the Congress of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (the "Learneds").

Other affiliated committees include:

The Canadian Historical Association was founded in 1922 by Lawrence Burpee. That year, Burpee presented a new constitution for the Historic Landmarks Association (founded in 1907), which was adopted, changing the name and objectives of the organization. Burpee's model for the Canadian Historical Association was based on the American Historical Association, which was founded in 1884.

The first Canadian Historical Association Executive and Council included George Wrong, Chester Martin, Arthur Doughty, Pierre-Georges Roy, James Kenny, Lawrence Burpee, William Douw Lighthall, and Frederic William Howay. Marius Barbeau was its founding Secretary. Lighthall nominated Burpee for the presidency of the Canadian Historical Association, and Burpee was president from 1923 to 1925 and continued his involvement as chairman of the management committee until 1934.

Over the course of the 1920s, the Canadian Historical Association saw its annual meeting become a scholarly conference. It also became a social event for historians to reconnect with each other. In 1926, Frank Underhill wrote a letter to Charles Cochrane, the Secretary-Treasurer at the time, encouraging the Canadian Historical Association to model its annual meeting after the American Historical Association. Underhill later suggested that the annual meeting be organized around a particular theme. Cochrane agreed to both suggestions. In 1927, the annual meeting was held at the University of Toronto. The format in 1927 became the basic format of the annual meeting. In 1928, the annual meeting was held in Winnipeg.