Federation news

Feb 1

When pandemics and discrimination collide: researchers track the impacts of COVID-19 on Chinese Canadians and learn from their community capacity   

The scale of the coronavirus pandemic has created unprecedented challenges for Canada's public health system. Yet, in diverse areas from education to seniors' care, from housing affordability to gender inequality, it has become clear that many problems facing Canadians today are not altogether new. If you look closely at our most acute social issues, you can see fault lines that have existed within our communities for generations and that have only deepened in the context of a pandemic.    

According to Dr. Cary Wu, Assistant Professor within the Department of Sociology at York University, this sentiment appears to ring particularly true for Canada's East...

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Jan 20

Canadian researchers examine the effects of COVID-19 within the disability community

Everyone has stories about how their life has been altered due to COVID-19 and related containment measures, but it is also clear that the direst effects of dealing with the pandemic have not been distributed equally. Some argue that the disability community has been largely overlooked in the design of COVID-19 precautions and has been left with few resources to mitigate negative impacts. Researchers across the country are working with community partners to better understand the impacts of the pandemic on people with disabilities.

At the University of Alberta, Professor Michelle Maroto, in collaboration with Professor David Pettinicchio at the University of Toronto, is studying the social and economic effects of COVID-19 among people with disabilities, chronic illnesses, and other underlying health conditions.

Preliminary findings from a nationwide survey demonstrate that people with disabilities and chronic health conditions are not only very worried about getting...

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Jan 19

How do people assess the credibility of COVID-19 related information? Personal beliefs a strong influence

Guest post by Jaigris Hodson, Associate Professor, College of Interdisciplinary Studies, Royal Roads University, Christiani Thompson-Wagner, Ph.D. Candidate, Department of Linguistics, University of Saskatchewan and Darren Reid, Ph.D. student, Department of History, University College London  

Understanding an Infodemic
Misinformation related to COVID-19 has been declared an infodemic since it has the capacity to cause almost as much damage to people’s health as the disease itself. Since misinformation is often spread on social media platforms, it is important that public health communicators understand how and why people share COVID-19 related information online, and what decisions they make that could inadvertently lead to misinformation spread. In an effort to understand some of the...

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Dec 16

Canadian researchers analyse the spread of Covid-19 misinformation online

As local and global information about COVID-19 continues to shift rapidly, social science and humanities researchers are investigating the nature of misinformation and conspiracy theories, methods of transmission for false information, and the impact of fake news on our behaviours and psychological well-being. 

A multidisciplinary team from the Université de Sherbrooke (UdeS), along with international partners, are compiling a macro-analysis of responses to COVID-19 related information from a broad range of sources and platforms. 

Canadian survey results compiled as part of the project show the pervasiveness of misinformation online.  

  • 38.4% believe that their government is hiding important information about COVID-19 
  • 15.0% believe that the pharmaceutical industry is involved in spreading COVID-19 
  • 52.7% of respondents were aware that they had been exposed to news about COVID-19 that proved to be false 

"From these...

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Mar 20

Le français vue de chaque côté : une conversation entre deux membres de notre équipe de communication à l’occasion de la journée internationale de la Francophonie

Pour encourager chacun à réfléchir à son lien avec la langue française, nous avons demandé à deux de nos collaboratrices bilingues de parler de leur expérience: l'une dont la langue maternelle est le français, l'autre qui parle le français comme langue seconde. Bonne journée internationale de la Francophonie !

Géraldine Gautier: Née et élevée à Paris, je me suis établie au Canada il y a 21 ans. Quand je repense aux facteurs qui m’ont conduits à vivre ici, il y en a eu beaucoup. Sans doute l’un marquant a été d’abord mon environnement familial porté sur d’autres cultures et langues étrangères. J’habite Ottawa depuis 1999 mais j’ai fait une parenthèse de 5 ans dans la région de Toronto. Une chance car grâce à cette dernière expérience, j’ai vraiment réalisé que le bilinguisme et la Francophonie ne...

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Mar 5

What does International Women's Day mean to you? Federation staff perspectives.

Lily Polowin, Communications Coordinator at the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

The Federation currently has 18 staff members, 14 of which are women. Being part of a team of strong women inspires me daily, and so this International Women’s Day, I wanted to probe my colleagues to see what empowering thoughts were blooming within. I asked staff if they’d be interested in answering this question: What does International Women’s Day mean to you? Here are the answers I received. Enjoy, and Happy International Women’s Day!

Lamis El-Zein, Executive Assistant:

International Women’s Day is an opportunity to celebrate girls and women all over the word, and to honour those who...

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Aug 3

Remembering Terry D’Angelo (1962-2018)

Nicola Katz, Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Terry laughed easily, and with gusto. Her joie de vivre was sincere, and she had a knack for finding the upside even where others could not.

In fact, as it was recently pointed out by Terry’s brother-in-law, never once in the nearly year-long battle she had with cancer, did Terry ever ask “Why me?” Instead, in typical Terry style, she remained practical and got right down to the business of making the best of the situation at hand: caring for the needs of her loving family, organizing every last detail of their fundraising efforts, making time for farewells to friends and colleagues, and ultimately planning the details of one final event – her own celebration of life.

This engagement and dedication comes as no...

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Apr 14

Gabriel Miller addresses March for Science 2018

Speech made at the March for Science in Toronto on April 14, 2018

[Check against delivery]

Thank you. It’s wonderful to be here with you marching for knowledge, for evidence, and for science!

And I want to thank the organizers. Thank you for all the hard work that you put into today. And thank you for inviting me, someone who represents the humanities and social sciences to be part of today’s festivities.

You understand that there’s lots of space for everyone in this parade – everyone, that is, who cares about learning. Who cares about facts. Who cares about truth.

The tools and methods we use will differ depending on the subject, but beneath those differences is something much bigger and more important that unites us – a drive to better understand ourselves and the world we...

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Dec 18

Members come first

Guy Laforest, President, Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences

It’s important to keep your promises.  Since taking on the role as President of the Federation, my number one priority has been to build a closer, more collaborative relationship with our members. The organization made a strong commitment to improve member engagement in its 2016-2020 Strategic Plan, and it is a commitment I plan to uphold in my tenure over the next 18 months.   

In my first six months, I have been actively listening and learning about member needs, looking for ways to improve the work we do:

  • as a voice in Ottawa for scholars,
  • as the organizer of the Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences...

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Mar 23

Budget 2017 focuses on innovation and skills

 

Federal Budget 2017 sets out a goal to boost Canada’s prosperity and to ensure this prosperity is shared across society. To achieve this, the government is relying primarily on innovation and lifelong skills development. 

This budget may not have had the kind of major funding announcements for science and research as Budget 2016 (which included significant new increases of $95 billion that year to the research granting councils' base budgets and $2 billion over three years for university and college infrastructure), but it offers some important commitments. Furthermore, much of the story remains to be written, as we look for more details and watch for significant reports and reviews to come. You can read the Federation’s media release here and find a more detailed review of Budget highlights of relevance to our sector in the Federation’s...

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