The 'Advancing Canada Coalition' - a group of leading Canadianists and public intellectuals - has been working hard to convince the Government of Canada to restore funding for Canadian Studies programs around the world.
As the current Canadian federal budget cycle heats up, the Coalition is hoping that our goal may be achievable. Towards that end, it is encouraging Canadianists from all over the world to send a message supporting our cause to the Prime Minister, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Minister of Finance. All three of these individuals have received a letter requesting the restoration of Canadian Studies funding from Nik Nanos, our Coalition leader. You can see a copy of the letter on the coalition website - advancingcanada.org.
Some highlights concerning the Coalition's activities over the past year include:
- The Senate of Canada recently issued a report supporting the creation and funding of a modernized Canadian studies initiative. https://sencanada.ca/en/info-page/parl-42-1/aefa-cultural-diplomacy/
- The mandate letter for Minister Champagne includes mention of cultural diplomacy which in our opinion is intertwined with academic diplomacy. https://pm.gc.ca/en/mandate-letters/2019/12/13/minister-foreign-affairs-mandate-letter
- The Government is currently deliberating on budget priorities and we are hoping that both cultural and academic diplomacy are funded.
- Over the past year we have been engaging stakeholders in the federal government to advance the case for a newly funded and modernized program which supports Canadian Studies around the world.
- In addition to leading Canadians like Margaret Atwood who are part of the coalition, we are pleased to welcome the Rt. Hon. Joe Clark, former Prime Minister of Canada and former Minister of Foreign Affairs as a coalition leader. (Full list of leaders here > https://advancingcanada.org/our-coalition-leaders)
What you can do to help – it’s time to mobilize:
- Post on social media your support for funding for academic diplomacy and a new modernized Canadian Studies program as proposed by the Advancing Canada Coalition (details on website www.advancingcanada.org )
- Create your own message as to why this is an important initiative for the Government of Canada to fund
- When you post add www.advancingcanada.org to the message so we can drive traffic and more signups to our website and further build our network of supporters.
- When you post tag @justintrudeau @FP_Champagne @bill_morneau to get the message of your support through to them. Also tag our Coalition leader Nik Nanos @niknanos (so he can amplify your message through his 16000 twitter followers). The social media campaign is to help show that there are Canadianists in Canada and around the world committed to the Study of Canada.
- Send out emails to your network to mobilize support. We need people who are committed to supporting and elevating Canadian Studies and new modernized initiative to mobilize. Ask them in turn to forward to their networks and to post on social media.
As you might imagine this is a critical period in the Government of Canada’s delibertations please act today.