The Western Canadian Studies Group (WCSG) comprises Canadianists associated with the WSSA/Canadian Studies Section. For 48 years, the Western Social Sciences Association has held an annual conference that has provided a venue for the largest annual conference of Canadian Studies held in the western USA . At each WSSA Conference, the Canadian Studies Section is a significant component, welcoming proposals on all aspects of Canadian Studies. The WSSA/Canadian Studies Section embraces Canadianists representing all academic disciplines, not just the social sciences. At each WSSA Conference, there are ten to twelve Canadian sessions involving thirty to fifty Canadianists presenting papers on panels and roundtables. The Government of Canada, through its Consulates General in the western USA, has been generous in providing support for the WSSA/Canadian Studies Section, regularly hosting a reception at the WSSA Conference and often providing a keynote speaker for the conference. The WSSA/Canadian Studies Section often has a Western theme related to the conference location.

Courtesy of the Association for Canadian Studies in the US (ACSUS), the Western Canadian Studies Group has as its logo the artwork created for the ACSUS in Canada: Western Mindscapes Colloquium. This represents the physical profile of Western Canada from the Pacific Ocean to the Rocky Mountains and the Prairies.

Anyone who participates in a WSSA/Canadian Studies Section becomes a member of the Western Canadian Studies Group. Whoever serves as the Section Coordinator concurrently serves as President of the Western Canadian Studies Group.

The WCSG President organizes the Canadian Studies Section of the WSSA conference, cross listing as many panels as possible in order to expose as many conference-goers as possible to Canadian subject matter, and maintains both a website and a contact list for the group. The current (2005-2006) WCSG President is Diddy R. M. Hitchins, Professor of Political Science & Director of International and Canadian Studies at the University of Alaska Anchorage.