A message from our Board Chair about Congress 2021: "There is no doubt Congress 2021 will be a different kind of Congress – not least because it will be virtual. The past year has been turbulent. But it has forced us to stop, reflect, listen, learn, make space and to act. We must honour the decision of the Black Canadian Studies Association (BCSA), and others who have chosen not to attend Congress this year. " Read the statement by Patrizia Albanese.

Congress Advisory Committee on EDID report to be released next month: The Congress Advisory Committee on Equity, Diversity, Inclusion, and Decolonization (EDID) has completed its Final Report and Recommendations and will present it at the next Federation Board meeting on March 26. The Federation is committed to releasing the full report in early April. We look forward to receiving and sharing their recommendations and working with you on their implementation.  

The Federation Board and staff wish to express their deepest sympathy and support for the victims of the recent and horrific acts of anti-Asian violence in Atlanta. These brutal racist and misogynistic acts and the recent widespread outbreak of anti-Asian racism are part of longstanding, deeply-rooted and ongoing systemic discrimination against Asians in Canada. We stand in solidarity against anti-Asian racism, with Asian colleagues, students and communities.

Layerings of risk: Researchers document the experiences of racialized communities during COVID-19: Based in academic fields as diverse as administrative studies, sociology, social work, English and cultural studies, scholars are working alongside Chinese diaspora communities to discover how to best support their physical and mental health, and sense of belonging, during this pandemic and in public health crises to come. Read more. 

Submit your #RoleofHSS research story: Does your research touch on issues related to the pandemic third wave, conspiracy theories, vaccine hesitancy, or remote learning/back to school? We want to hear from you! Submit your research story. Stories will be considered for additional coverage via our blog or media pitching program. Submit your research. 

Democracy in the classroom: Struggles for mental equilibrium, trust and knowledge: Saint Paul’s University scholar Constance Morley discusses her experience grappling with cryptofascism in the classroom: “During the 2016 U.S. election campaign, I was teaching a 2nd year level course on Social Justice, Inequality & Conflicts (Saint Paul University) and felt a duty to engage students in discussions of ideologies, misogyny, racism and violence (among other topics) due to the appalling nature of Trump’s speeches, personal history and political rallies. . ." Read more.  

Big Thinking video: Canada’s hidden cooperative system: The legacy of the Black Banker Ladies: On March 9, Dr. Caroline Shenaz Hossein delivered the first Big Thinking lecture of 2021 about her research into the solidarity economics of Black diaspora women and the ROSCA cooperative banking system. A video of the lecture is available on our website - watch it now!

Big Thinking speaker at Congress announced: Alice Sheppard is Artistic Director of Kinetic Light, a project-based ensemble, working at the intersections of disability, dance, design, identity, and technology to create transformative art and advance the intersectional disability arts movement. Sheppard will give a talk entitled Disability Will (re) Make The Arts as part of Big Thinking at Congress.

The Big Thinking lecture series is made possible thanks to the generosity of the Social Sciences for the Humanities Research Council and Universities Canada. 

See what we will be talking about at Congress 2021: The Congress team at the University of Alberta asked some of their scholars what their hopes are for Congress. See what they had to say:

Check out the Career Corner programming at Congress! 

Career Corner is a professional development workshop series

at Congress for everyone from graduate students to established faculty members. Some exciting workshops have recently been announced: How "Leadership" Gets in the Way of Leading, Confronting the Legacies of Colonialism in Academic Publishing, Practicing Indigenous-Engaged Scholarship, and more. Check out the Career Corner page for the full schedule. Special thanks to University Affairs for sponsoring the Career Corner series! 

Have you registered for Congress yet? Don’t forget to sign up before March 31 to take advantage of the early bird rate! 

Community passes registration is now open! Reminder: community passes are complimentary for those who self-identify as Black or Indigenous, and Congress fees are complimentary for students who self-identify as Black or Indigenous. Register now!

Racial equity leadership in COVID times: “Having spent much of the past decade researching, teaching and writing about the diversity gap in Canadian university hiring, the distribution of research chairs and major awards, and especially in institutional leadership, I crossed over to the proverbial ‘dark side.’ I became one of a few Black academics, particularly women, in a senior academic administrator role in a Canadian university.” Read Dr. Malinda S. Smith’s inaugural column in University Affairs.  

*TODAY* Revitalizing Democracy: A Forum on campus-based democratic engagement Do you care about building a resilient democracy? Worried about democratic engagement on campuses? Join the Revitalizing Democracy forum today. Meet inspiring leaders across North America and share your passion! Hosted by the Democratic Engagement Exchange in the Faculty of Arts at Ryerson, this event will bring together academic, community, public sector and student leaders to explore how we can better foster democratic engagement in our universities and colleges. Read more. 

USask COVID-19 research to track online hate directed at Asian community: What makes a social media post racist and how does that hatred spread? These are some of the questions University of Saskatchewan (USask) researchers are tackling, measuring how social media hatred directed at the Asian community has risen dramatically during the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more. 

Fully francophone University of Sudbury: government sets conditions: After announcing its desire to become a fully francophone campus, University of Sudbury’s executive team sparked hope in many Franco-Ontarians. However, the Ministry of Colleges and Universities implied that such an independent operation would be subject to certain conditions. Learn more (in French only).

Young people develop initiatives to bring together Indigenous and non-native peoples: Bridging the gap between Indigenous and non-native peoples has been a key topic for the past several years. As part of the Generation Sustainable Development Goals spearheaded by the United Nations Association in Canada, three young people from different backgrounds want to promote Indigenous knowledge in schools. Learn more (in French only).

The University of Ottawa joins forces with the Carrefour communautaire de Windsor: In response to the urgent need to increase the number of qualified francophone teachers in Ontario, the University of Ottawa’s Faculty of Education is partnering with the new Carrefour communautaire francophone (CCF) de Windsor to expand its training programs for French-language teachers. Learn more (in French only).

Indigenous students: Quebec universities develop action plans: Five years after the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada submitted its report, universities are trying to better align Indigenous and university realities. Approximately 2,000 Indigenous students attended a Quebec university in 2019, according to the Bureau de coopération interuniversitaire (BCI) report, L’action des universités québécoises pour, par et avec les Premiers Peuples (Quebec university action for, by and with First Peoples) published last February. Learn more (in French only).

Nos racines, notre identité (Our roots, our identity): Kicking off the sixth annual Indigenous Week at UdM: The celebrations will begin at noon on March 15 with the conference Nos racines, notre identité. As part of a panel co-hosted by Caroline Gélinas, Senior Advisor, First People Relations at UdeM, members of the Kwe Kwe Indigenous employees committee will talk about how they express their culture and identity in their daily lives. Learn more (in French only).

Ajo, Osusu, Sandooq, Chit or Arisan? These are cultural names for systems of mutual aid and collectivity — known by academics as rotating savings and credit associations, or ROSCAs for short. ROSCAs are hidden forms of co-operatives that Black and racialized people practice all over the world, including in Canada and United States. Read more. 

* Watch our Big Thinking video on the topic!*

How can you stop COVID-19 conspiracy theories? Nova Scotia professors explain why they exist and how to help: “The vaccine is full of nanobots, put there by Bill Gates to track people and increase his world power. Not only will the vaccine change your DNA, but it will also emit a coloured dye throughout your body, so when scanned, authorities can easily see who has been vaccinated or not. […] Sounds ridiculous, right? It would be funny if people didn’t believe it.” Read more. 

McMaster appoints new director of Indigenous research institute: McMaster University has named Tracy Bear, an Indigenous scholar and education advocate, as the new director of the McMaster Indigenous Research Institute (MIRI). Bear, a nehiyaw iskwew (Cree woman) and member of the Montreal Lake Cree Nation in northern Saskatchewan, will also hold joint academic positions in the faculties of social sciences and health sciences. Read more. 

Waubageshig’s half-century championing Indigenous students: How Waubageshig launched the country’s first Indigenous-studies program — and helped shape the teaching of Indigenous history and culture. Read more.  

Government of Canada invests to increase equity, diversity and inclusion in research: Sean Fraser, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Finance and to the Minister of Middle Class Prosperity and Associate Minister of Finance, announced that St. Francis Xavier University in Nova Scotia is receiving an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Institutional Capacity-Building Grant totalling $400,000. Read more. 

Government of Canada helps over 30,000 research staff through ongoing COVID-19 crisis: The 

Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced that the Government of Canada has provided wage support for up to 32,000 research staff whose salaries were adversely affected by COVID-19, and who were not eligible for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. Read more.