Writing in 2021, Munroe Eagles, then President of the International Council for Canadian Studies argued for a reinvigorated repositioning of Canadian Studies programmes in Canada and abroad. His proposed shift came in response to criticisms of parochialism, methodological ambiguity, and the formidable challenges of overcoming University level bureaucratic inertia at a time of significant budget cuts. Eagles made a strong case for reinvestment in international Canadian Studies networks, noting 40 years of Canadian Studies network development has generated an expansive list of Canadian Studies Journals and more than two dozen Canadian Studies programs in Universities around the world.
Never has there been a greater need for strengthening Canadian Studies networks. We often proclaim the world needs more Canada, then complain when we learn the world does not know enough about us. Perhaps, it is because the world does not recognize ‘us’ and how we have changed over the last thirty years.
To date, Eagle’s call for increased federal funding in support of a reinvigorated international Canadian Studies presence has yet to be realized. But that may soon change for two reasons. First, as government support for international students diminishes, Canadian universities must find alternatives to participating in an increasingly complex and competitive world. One option is to create more opportunities for Canadian University students to study, work, and volunteer abroad.
Canada in the World and the World in Canada?
Creating a new generation of ‘young ambassadors’ is appealing in the same way that previous generations worked and volunteered around the world through federally funded initiatives such as the World University Service of Canada (WUSC), Canadian University Students Overseas (CUSO), and the Federal Government’s Youth Internship Programme (YIP).
However, efforts like this must be founded on the assumption that our students possess core competencies and fundamental knowledge about Canada, its peoples, its regional variations, and its colonial-settler history. Chief among these competencies is understanding Quebec’s rightful place in Canadian studies. As Anne Trepanier notes, an emphasis on domestic monolingualism puts Canadian Studies between a rock and a hard place.
A second answer emerges from the reality of Canada’s declining international influence and along with it our productivity, innovation, and competitiveness. The study of Canada makes good economic and political sense from a problem-solving perspective. To be sure, Canada’s material well-being is an issue that relates not only to Canadian Studies programmes but schools of international affairs, area studies, and line departments as well.
That is because, Canada’s economic productivity and competitiveness are challenged on a number of fronts, including internal barriers to trade and rising global protectionism. An obsession with domestic security from our neighbour to the South detracts from our own leaders’ capacity to achieve economic growth through immigration and trade. At the same time, Canada’s domestic politics are increasingly sensitized to global issues as our factionalized provincial and federal leaders confront seismic shifts in world politics that pull the country in different directions.
In brief, Canadian Studies stands at a crossroads. Before us lay very distinct paths. The changing global order represents an important opportunity to strengthen Canadian Studies networks.
Key Principles Underlying Canada’s Place in the World
To achieve that goal means critically reflecting on the key principles that drive this country forward and remembering that engaging in the global economy can often mean disruptive but positive change. For example, an indigenized foreign policy represents an opportunity for Canada to show leadership on the world stage. As Indigenous self-determination is becoming an increasingly important element in Canada’s policy making domestically so too should that be reflected internationally.
More broadly, Canada’s multilateral agenda of supporting human rights abroad needs fixing. Part of that weakening has arisen from America circumventing or undermining the Bretton Woods institutions it helped create after World War II (such as the United States of America [USA] invasion of Iraq in 2004). Part of that weakening is our own hypocrisy in selecting where, when, and how we choose to advance human rights abroad while failing to uphold such rights at home.
With the decline in USA influence, there is a concomitant increase in conflicts around the world stemming from geopolitical rivalries, struggles over freedom of expression, challenges to ineffective governments, democratic backsliding, and mounting economic inequality at home and abroad.
Canada’s current leaders are still at a loss on how to develop a coherent strategy to ‘kick-start’ multilateral renewal to address shared global problems such as rising inequality, climate change, and pandemics. Our shared humanity has never been more at risk. Yet a solution to weakened global governance remains elusive. Canadian Studies has a role to play here.
A Pedagogical Revolution
From a pedagogical perspective, one must ask how is it that despite significant university-level investments in research, teaching, and advocacy our defence, security, and diplomatic institutions continue to be plagued by reputational and performance issues. Recently, Global Affairs Canada underwent a significant diplomatic review. Those who produce Canada’s future diplomats must also rethink their purpose, if not their core competencies. Defence and Security institutions have not fared much better. Despite the copious funding invested in University-level defence and security research and advocacy, recruitment and morale within the Department of National Defence remain unmet challenges.
The absence of critical thinking and problem-solving skills in combination with careerism run counter to making Canada matter on the world stage. Former Canadian Security and Intelligence Service officer, Huda Mukbil speaks about how she confronted and overcame the fundamental and long-standing problem of systemic racism within Canada’s Security and Intelligence institutions. Mukbil’s experience shows that failing to heed diverse and critical voices has a direct impact on realizing Canadian interests in an increasingly competitive world.
I and others have written on how intelligence and security institutions have contributed to anti-Chinese racism which is detrimental to social cohesion at home. No better evidence of that corrosive relationship can be found than allegations of foreign interference in our electoral system. The crisis has become so deeply politicized that members of our Chinese community including many notable politicians have been wrongly accused of being spies for China. At risk are people’s democratic rights and personal safety.
This is a recurring theme. During the Second World War, the Canadian government uprooted and dispossessed 23,000 Japanese Canadians because some people accused them of being spies for Japan, allegations that proved to be unfounded. Similar accusations wrecked the reputations of distinguished Canadians such as Carleton University professor Hassan Diab, diplomat Herbert Norman and McGill graduate Maher Arar.
The problem of not preparing for the future extends beyond professional programmes. For example, lamenting funding cuts to Canadian Studies, a professor of history notes, ‘We won’t have PhDs who specialize in Canadian economic, political and military history. This is a huge threat to national identity and, ultimately, national unity.’
Overcoming Hierarchy and Indifference
Beyond the need for international networks, two more barriers to development and transformation must be addressed. The first is the diminished capacity for Canadian Studies programmes to jointly share in the development of their research and teaching programmes. For example, the School of Canadian Studies at Carleton University dissolved its near 15 year joint PhD programme with Trent University through mutual agreement. This joint programme was unique within Canada. Innovations like it should not be forgotten.
Closer to home there is a need to overcome the pervasive hierarchy of teaching and research agendas that dominates Canadian studies at many Universities including my own. Canadian Studies is not the sole domain of the humanities nor social sciences. It is by definition, interdisciplinary and independent of faculty and departmental agendas. Indeed, inventories of Canadianists will show there are many commonalities that bridge research and teaching interests across departments and across faculties.
Opportunities for growth are there but often remain unrealized. Success is possible. For example, Carleton’s School of Canadian Studies’ winning partnership with its School of Architecture offers a graduate and undergraduate degree in Heritage Conservation. This specialization is the most important joint programme of its kind in Canada. Carleton’s contributions to the study of public history are equally innovative and timely.
For those at Carleton University who consider themselves ‘Canadianists,’ a stocktaking and sharing of ideas can make a significant contribution to the delivery of Carleton University’s core strategic objectives. These objectives include: interdisciplinarity, inclusivity, entrepreneurialism, pedagogical innovation, problem-based learning and research, policy outreach, and serving the world and the community.
Looking Ahead
In sum, bridge building can come in three forms. It can reinvigorate international networks. It can establish functional partnerships across Canadian Universities. And it can strengthen capacities within Universities to deliver core competencies among our students, including political, economic, environmental, legal, social, historical, and cultural literacy.
In this spirit, the Vickers Verduyn Annual Lecture titled Canadian Studies in Turbulent Times: Challenges, Ideas and Opportunities, featured four notable Canadians engaged in a conversation in the context of Canada’s changing demography, culture, and policies. Among the issues our esteemed panellists discussed are the impact of declining international student enrollment on research productivity; the long-term impact of COVID-19 on marginalized communities and student well-being; the importance of inclusiveness and diversity in University environments amidst the rise of populism and; shifting Canadian attitudes in the context of disruptive events in Canada and elsewhere.
These issues all point to key challenges facing Canada today.
A key question, still unanswered, is can those who study Canada adapt to these challenges?
Originally published in the Journal of Australian, Canadian, and Aotearoa New Zealand Studies 4 (August 2024): 158-165
