Welcome to the Canadian Studies Program and the ICSC at UBC

As poet Lionel Kearns writes, "being a Canadian . . . requires plenty of imagination." However, it also requires critical engagement. In our undergraduate program and in our research centre, Canadian Studies at UBC attempts to ask some important questions about the past, present, and future of Canada.

Canadian Studies UBC

In 2008, the Faculty of Arts decided to combine the undergraduate program in Canadian Studies with the academic research centre. The result is a vibrant multidisciplinary community of students and faculty who critically engage with the pressing issues in Canada today. We ask how Canada has been imagined in culture, policy, the environment, and society in the past and suggest directions for the future.

• Is nationalism dead?
• What is Canada's role as a "global citizen"?
• How will climate change and global warming affect the Arctic?
• Should Canada sell renewable resources to the United States?
• What does it mean to be mashed potatoes without the gravy?

These are just a few of the kinds of questions that drive Canadian Studies. With over 90 faculty in Arts working on aspects of Canada from the disciplines of Anthropology, Asian Studies, Art History, Economics, Film, First Nations Studies, French, Gender Studies, Geography, History, Literature, Political Science, Psychology, Social Work, Sociology, and Theatre, Canadian Studies at UBC is truly a multidisciplinary community.

Through the generosity of David and Brenda McLean, Canadian Studies at UBC has the good fortune of being an endowed program and centre. "The Brenda and David McLean Chair in Canadian Studies" is currently occupied by the dynamic John O'Brian, Professor in the Art History Department. The endowment also grants the Program an entrepreneurial role within the Faculty, allowing it to bring together multi-disciplinary initiatives and to support a range of academic events.

In 1961, novelist Hugh MacLennan satirically wrote, "Boy Meets Girl in Winnipeg and Who Cares?" Almost fifty years later, things have changed. Many people "care" about Winnipeg, St. John's, Inuvik, Smith's Falls, Montreal, Nanaimo, and well beyond. At UBC, Canadian Studies draws people together who care about a variety of aspects of Canada from a diversity of perspectives. Even at a time when the "nation" is being reconsidered as a category, Canadian Studies knows how vital it is to critically engage the nation in its social, political, and cultural contexts. I hope you enjoy our new website and revamped program and centre.

Laura Moss,

Director International Canadian Studies Centre and Chair of the UBC Canadian Studies Program.

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